Monday May 30th, 2011 - Fox Lake, IL Memorial Day - or as my grandparents used to call it ‘Decoration Day’. I don’t need any more sadness in my life right now, but how can it be avoided? I’m very thankful for every freedom I have as an American, but I never lose track that it comes with a gigantic price. As I get older I find myself really tiring of needless stupidity, and war is at the top of the list. Maybe I’m turning into some retro hippie flower child, but that’s how I feel. I see the brevity of life and how delicate it is, and I feel bad for those who have to lose it in a war. Believe me, I’m no pansy ass. There are plenty of people in this world I can’t stand, but I don’t plan on killing them. My strategy has been to completely avoid them and focus on those people I do get along with. So far it’s worked out pretty well, and nobody has died. Not at my hands anyway. Yes, there are some idiots I’m not fond of that no longer exist, but I had nothing to do with that. They lived out their days and that was it. Hopefully they discovered whatever it was that made them repulsive to me, and they became better for it. That theory goes both ways too. My sister Tammy hasn’t spoken to me in over 18 years now, and no matter how many times I’ve tried to patch it up, she wants no part of it. I get the message, and even though it’s not pleasant both of us are still alive to try to improve. I just don’t think any wars should be necessary where innocent people have to die over an argument that’s not even theirs. Why does that have to happen? I know I couldn’t have any more naïve thoughts, but I want answers. Why do we humans like to kill each other? I don’t get it. I don’t have anything against anyone in Iraq or Afghanistan. I don’t really care about those people at all. Let them live where they live and do what they do as long as it doesn’t mess with us here. If they want to be religious kooks, fine. But I like bacon. If I want to eat it three meals a day, I should be able to do that and they shouldn‘t care. But it’s not like that, and it probably never was. There have been wars as long as we’ve had ‘civilization’, but how civil can it be if we’re slaughtering everyone? I know we have to defend ourselves, but how much? Can’t we just agree to disagree about whatever we’re fighting about and move on with life? No, because it’s all about money, greed and power. My German grandmother used to tell me how she had relatives in both World Wars on both sides. She told of meeting her cousin from Munich who was a struggling farmer who was injured by our side and had a hell of a time making ends meet afterward. He wasn’t a Nazi killing machine, he was just a farmer who was called to serve his country of origin. Life is hard enough without wars to rip families apart even more. We’ve been doing this killing thing long enough. Wouldn’t a few uninterrupted decades of peace come in handy so we can fix some problems here at home? My utmost thanks and respect to all veterans, but I’m for stopping the need to have them by stopping the wars that use them altogether.
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