Pagliacci
Crane Style
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2002
- Posts
- 2,189
"It's the soldier, not the reporter, who gave us our freedom of the press.
It's the soldier, not the poet, who gave us our freedom of speech.
It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gave us our freedom to demonstrate.
It's the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves others with respect for the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag."
The above is from a poem that has been making the rounds here at Lit and it is a good one.The only problem I have with it are these lines that really stick in my craw.
The reason is simply that it doesn't hold true.
The soldier doesn't give anything,his job is to defend his country from outside aggression and serve the elected government.He has the choice to disobey unlawful orders and to resign from the forces if he feels that he can't defend the values of his country as enacted by the government.
If he and his comrades does take action against his own government then it's a coup d'etat,or at least an attempted one.
The ones who gave us all of the above is the citizen not the soldier.
As stated the soldier merely governs.
In ending I can only say that I'm heartened at all the support people here give members of the armed forces,wheter currently serving or former members.
It's the soldier, not the poet, who gave us our freedom of speech.
It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gave us our freedom to demonstrate.
It's the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves others with respect for the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag."
The above is from a poem that has been making the rounds here at Lit and it is a good one.The only problem I have with it are these lines that really stick in my craw.
The reason is simply that it doesn't hold true.
The soldier doesn't give anything,his job is to defend his country from outside aggression and serve the elected government.He has the choice to disobey unlawful orders and to resign from the forces if he feels that he can't defend the values of his country as enacted by the government.
If he and his comrades does take action against his own government then it's a coup d'etat,or at least an attempted one.
The ones who gave us all of the above is the citizen not the soldier.
As stated the soldier merely governs.
In ending I can only say that I'm heartened at all the support people here give members of the armed forces,wheter currently serving or former members.
