Memorial Day

With Memorial Day having passed, I feel it is an appropriate time to talk about the personal impacts war can have on our veterans. To be honest until this year I had not realized the true purpose of Memorial Day. I had been watching CBS when a short clip played showing shots of our lost men and women in Iraq. While playing these images a voice over was saying that there are thousands of smiles that only exist in memories, thousands of laughs that can never be heard again. This really struck me hard.

Death is permanent, while any victory that may be achieved is only fleeting. These fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters are paying the highest price and we need to respect and honor them for it. Unlike previous wars all of these men and women had decided to join the war. As cliche as it sounds, while I do not agree with their decision, I must support their right to decide for themselves. And regardless of what decisions a human makes they are still a human and their life was precious and should be respected and honored.

With that being said I wish to offer my advice to anyone considering joining the armed forces or anyone with friends considering joining the armed forces. Seriously consider your decision. Truly think about it, write out why you wish to join, what influences have made you want to join and which have made you not want to join. Which of these influences do you regard higher? Ask your deity (whatever your higher power may be). Do they really want you to go? Do they want you to possibly kill anyone? Do they want you to be in harms way? Ask your friends and family. Do they want you to kill anyone or be killed yourself? Will it bring honor to your name? Will you be able to justify any killing you do? Who really is the 'enemy'? Can you handle it in a war zone? Can you look another human in the eyes and kill them knowing that they would kill you?

Most importantly ask yourself, Is it worth it? Everything in life is a trade off, you can have it all if you give your all. Will the honor, respect, pride for fighting for your country, etc be worth living the rest of your life with the knowledge that you ended someone's life or perhaps you won't get to live the rest of your life at all? These are important questions to consider and not to be taken lightly. These shouldn't be answered now or even tomorrow, take at least a week to consider the true impact of your decision, not just on your life but on everyone's life around you and all the lives over in Iraq.