Top Comments: For Those Who Have Given Much

I don’t visit the Walter Reed blog enough. It’s one veteran’s chronicle of life at the hospital as a "warrior in transition." In a recent entry, he talks about how painful it was, post-surgery, to walk even a short distance across the campus. He writes that he was on his way to get a bite when he ran into another veteran, this one in a wheelchair:

As he pulled up beside me he commented, "I really like those shoes you got, I used to wear them all the time." The only thing that I could think of at the time was, "Yeah, they are nice, but they are wearing out after only two years." In the flattest of tones he replied, "Yeah, I used to go through pairs of them at [a] time, until I lost my legs."

What can you say after that?
I couldn't and didn't say a thing.

I just made my way back to my room. And was grateful that I had been the one left speechless.
And ashamed.

To those who have given much and suffered much: Thank you. I’m grateful. And ashamed.

Ashamed, because one day of thanks seems so inadequate compared to the countless hours served by members of the military – and to the numberless hours their loved ones have spent worrying about them, praying for them and just plain missing them. Those who are left behind are also veterans of a sort, and they also have my thanks for every letter and phone call that helped a service member make it through the day. As testvet6778 often says: SALUTE. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby, I feel how small and unimportant my thanks are, but I cannot refrain from tendering them. Thank you.

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It’s been 25 years since I first saw the letters, flowers, stuffed animals, patches and other remembrances piled at the base of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I was there a week after it opened, and even after a quarter of a century, I can’t forget the men in fatigues, fingers on the granite wall, crying in the drizzling rain. They were all so much older than I was. Now I could be one of them, at some memorial to those lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, looking for a name and weeping.

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Remember, too, future veterans – and especially those who now serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you don’t want to wait until next Veterans Day to say thank you, consider participating in Anysoldier.com; Ninepatch has the skinny on what to send and how to send it. Maybe you live near a VA hospital and have a little spare time to volunteer. Remember their animal companions. Doing Christmas cards early? Include one that’s addressed to:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

Be aware of the challenges that many veterans face, from loss of limbs to homelessness, to denial of benefits, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, to readjustment to everyday civilian life. Alex from "Army of Dude" puts it well in a blog entry about coming home:

After a month I'm still not quite comfortable with being in small, crowded and loud places like bars. My senses are more refined now. I'm a more attentive driver and I can see and hear things a lot differently. A club with a thousand different conversations used to be collective noise. Now I hear an endless amount of distinct voices and every note coming from the DJ. I'm agitated by people coming too close or brushing up against me like never before. I don't jump, twitch or moan when I hear an expected loud noise. You know the feeling you get when you narrowly avoid a car crash? That's what I get. I'm perfectly fine at first glance, but the blood drains from my face and my scalp tingles. I may or may not break into a sweat at this point.

As he says in his incarnation as ThisDudesArmy, "(P)lease don't ask about the gruesome details. Rather, ask them their most cherished memory during their time in the service."

Avenging Angel provides this link to a number of organizations that assist veterans in various ways; go have a look. Recognize the often silent and heartbreaking struggles to cope with what’s been lost: Not only body parts, but jobs, marriages, friendships. The losses are more than we can know or measure.

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Finally, I salute the day itself. Here is then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954, declaring the change of name from "Armistice Day" to "Veterans Day" :

On that day let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.

Honor our veterans. Work for peace.

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There was so much great writing today that I’m tempted to list entire diaries (like FrankFrink’s "11/11  -- Why I Remember," bmaples’ "What We Have Lost," Jeff Huber’s "Breakfast of Veterans," and Blueness’ "The Killer Awoke Before Dawn," as well as the dual investigations into milk labeling in Pennsylvania from BobB and shirah).

I got engrossed by the comments in RenaRF’s deservedly front-paged story – so my thanks go out to commentersjakbeau (especially the last sentence), Joy Busey, profmarcus, for the last paragraph, and Eddie Haskell.

Fortunately for me, our submitters pointed out some great comments elsewhere.

From Carolita:

ChapiNation386 launches a righteous rant on Mukasey in yesterday's Top Comments diary.

From filmgeek83:

Lithium Cola, on why the Right Wing Media has been silent on the writer's strike.(Corrected for link.)

From noweasels:

These comments from RenaRF and SpamNunn in RenaRF's superb diary about homeless veterans -- The Visual Veteran -- were so wise, so sad, and so true.

From MBNYC:

Have to nominate this ...even if it a) features/starts out with myself and b) this qualifies as shameless self-promotion, but this thread contains, from a boring start delivered by yours truly, some gems.

In amazing synchronicity, from kath25:

MBNYC says the funniest thing I've heard in weeks.

Ed. Note: Hahahahaha. Ewwwww.

And now... Top Mojo, generously compiled by BeninSC ... Remember:

If you spot a comment that’s worth wider readership, send it to topcomments (@) gmail (dot) com by 9:30 p.m. Eastern. Let us know your user name, give a link to the comment, and tell us the title and author of the diary in which it appears.

Top Mojo - excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments and C&J comments (top 30 of each plus ties):

1 Yes by Liberal Thinking - 127
2 Impeachment Now! by Magnifico - 118
3 davefromqueens by Carnacki - 118
4 key was keeping my cool by davefromqueens - 118
5 i work in a law office by davefromqueens - 113
6 don't back down by robbk - 93
7 don't back down Dave by MadAsHellMaddie - 88
8 You're either with it -- or against it. by STOP George - 86
9 Strong progressive by Magnifico - 79
10 whoa wait a minute by FireCrow - 78
11 Big mo' by lapis - 72
12 We Are the People We Are Waiting For by Christopher Day - 72
13 LOL ... by Nightprowlkitty - 72
14 I can hardly believe that Diane Feinstein by The Fat Lady Sings - 70
15 Kucinich's star is rising by taraka das - 70
16 Hi sweetie. by ElizabethJames - 70
17 seriously by robbk - 66
18 Without A Doubt by webranding - 65
19 The thing I fear the most is the entirely by Asinus Asinum Fricat - 61
20 I remember when you first showed up here... by kredwyn - 58
21 Wait a minute! by Magnifico - 58
22 Is this laying the groundworks? by Ephemera - 54
23 Edwards struck a live nerve by vigilant meerkat - 52
24 You haven't paid enough attention to her by debcoop - 51
25 That was his best speech to date!!!! by pioneer111 - 51
26 You got that right by slatsg - 51
27 Video Replay of Kucinich's Tucker Take Down by Magnifico - 49
28 I am so sorry by Just This - 49
29 I'd still follow up with the police by gsbadj - 48
30 Hindsight Is Always 20/20 by webranding - 47
31 You should listen to your wife by cosette - 47

Top Mojo - everything included:

1 scary stuff by davefromqueens - 555
2 To veterans everywhere by Anglico - 274
3 On the other hand ... by Nightprowlkitty - 178
4 Excellent analysis, blitz boy. by Blue Waters Run Deep - 136
5 Yes by Liberal Thinking - 127
6 Tips forgiving the by TomP - 123
7 tips and comments and to all veterans  SALUTE by testvet6778 - 119
8 Impeachment Now! by Magnifico - 118
9 davefromqueens by Carnacki - 118
10 key was keeping my cool by davefromqueens - 118
11 i work in a law office by davefromqueens - 113
12 Tips by jamess - 107
13 She's been aweful by jeremybloom - 104
14 don't back down by robbk - 93
15 Tip Jar - 11 November by Jerome a Paris - 90
16 don't back down Dave by MadAsHellMaddie - 88
17 You're either with it -- or against it. by STOP George - 86
18 Tips and Recs for Senator Barack Obama... by icebergslim - 80
19 Strong progressive by Magnifico - 79
20 whoa wait a minute by FireCrow - 78
21 Peace, and of equal importance, courage by teacherken - 76
22 We Are the People We Are Waiting For by Christopher Day - 72
23 Big mo' by lapis - 72
24 LOL ... by Nightprowlkitty - 72
25 Thanks for reading. by RenaRF - 71
26 Kucinich's star is rising by taraka das - 70
27 I can hardly believe that Diane Feinstein by The Fat Lady Sings - 70
28 Hi sweetie. by ElizabethJames - 70
29 Yepsen really has by Hawkjt - 68
30 seriously by robbk - 66

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Remember. And act.