Let’s Play Soldiers 1
21st Aug 2009
Hello lovely people
I have been bothered about the fuss over the deaths of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan for a long time, but could not quite put my finger on the reason for feeling bothered about it.
Was my concern about the fact that people died? Not really. People die, and that is a law of nature. People choose to die in many different ways, and that is destiny.
Was my concern about soldiers dying in a war? No. This was more sadness about the choices that these soldiers made. But then they planned the blueprints for their lives before they came into this world. They had reasons to plan dying in a war. We have to respect their choices, even if we do not understand them.
Was my concern about soldiers dying far from home? No again. Where a person dies far from loved ones, the focus should really be on the loved ones, because they are left with questions and grief. The soldier is gone and taken care of in another dimension.
I was also more irritated than concerned about the fuss in the press regarding the number of soldiers that have died recently. For goodness sake, if you go to war there is a very good chance that you may kill or get killed. So why on earth do people get so excited about the number of people that got killed because of a lack of equipment? If the equipment was available, they would probably have been killed by their own equipment.
And why do people get upset about soldiers getting killed in a war? This does not mean injustice or foul play. They did not attend a tea party, they went to war, and people die in wars. And if more people die on my side than on your side, is it suddenly unfair, like when you buy a hotel in Monopoly because I have run out of money? War is not a game, it is real and real blood flows. I want to say to the body-counters: grow up!
I realised this week what was bothering me about this whole war business and the fuss about the soldiers who died. One of these forward-me-to-ten-people-or-you-will-get-rabies emails were sent to me. For a change I did not simply delete it, because it hit me that this is the reason for feeling disturbed about the soldier deaths.
The email was allegedly written by a soldier in Iraq. The author describes the way Americans are mourning Michael Jackson, even with a moment of silence in Congress. His argument is that Michael Jackson was just an entertainer. OK, not just an entertainer, because he was hugely successful as an entertainer worldwide. But still, he was an entertainer who did not “give his life”, and therefore people should have given far less attention to his death.
On the other hand, the author argues, soldiers give their lives “so that others may live” and therefore we should all be so grateful to them and have a moment of silence for every soldier who dies.
To be continued
Please leave a comment if you feel inspired.
Love and Light
Elsabe
