The other day there was a Pro-Life march that went through one of the streets on my college campus. It was pouring down rain, and I couldn't help at being a little moved at the strength of their convictions. I will shout untill I pass out to opposed their veiw, but this is America, and the ability to fight for something you would spend your life opposing is what makes this country what it is.
My sympathy didn't last though. They had a bugler with them.
That bugler was playing Taps.
Taps is one of the simplest but most poingnant melodies ever written. I'll not bore you with the history, but if you want you can find it
here. It sounds at 2200 hours every night on every American military installation around the world to remind us of those who died to keep this country free. It is played at memorials and funerals so that we may mourn those men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
It is not to be played to garner sympathy for a political point. Playing Taps for people who not only never served in the military but never existed at all cheapens the memory of every person the call has ever been played for.
It is the same kind of dishonor done to the memory of these brave Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen whenever a flag-draped casket flies home under cloak of night and there is no reporter there to take its picture, to report this human cost to this was of choice. President Bush keeps these images from the public to santitize our reality. 2,237 is a number too large to fathom without visual representation. Without that visiual it is too easy for the American people at large to forget and fail to comprehend how many families have been torn apart because of one mans arrogance and ineptetude.
It is the same kind of dishonor those who drive around with yellow ribbons on their SUV's without thinking what that ribbon means do every day. The yellow ribbon should never be a statement of Pro-War. It should never be politized. It is to remind us that there are young men and women on forein soil putting their lives on hold so we don't have to. It is so we don't forget that they are out there, being maimed and killed so our future sons and daughters can take advantage of the opportunities we take for granted. It does our uniformed force a disservice to use the ribbon for a partisan agenda. That's why we need to all use stickers like this.
I told the bugler at the march that what he was doing was incredibly disrepectful. He ignored me. That was when I walked away.
I was afraid I would do something rash.