Memorial day thoughts

Memorial day is such an important holiday, but we never really take advantage of the opportunity this holiday offers. Here in NYC, Fleet week is upon us, sailors meeting up with families, boys running around in there bright whites looking for some respite from the military drill...And tomorrow there will be remembrances for those who lost their lives in combat. "Lost their lives" is a critical expression that actually is funnily LOST upon most, in my opinion. For what did they give their lives? For whom did they kill and die for? As soon as anybody questions the validity of military action in this country the usual response is to disdainfully argue that my very freedom is being fought for by young men that live and have died. I hate the expression "fought for my freedom." "Freedom" is a catch phrase that largely is meant to express National Interest, almost entirely.

I think we should use this opportunity of Memory to remember what freedom really is, and what a travesty almost all military activity is and what a tragic loss it is to have young men and women killing and dying for such a terrible waste of activity. So little has been accomplished militarily since World War 2. In fact, one could easily argue that almost every person killed since in the name of Freedom has led to less and not more Liberty.

Freedom manifests in remarkable ways, and is almost entirely not based or found upon acquisition of natural resources, money, territory, or killing people.

In the most relative form Freedom is found in established social dignity, being treated with respect, ethical economic consideration and equality. Fewer people would even consider military service if they had greater options for social development in their culture. The majority of servicemen and women sacrifice their lives and their karma killing people for the appearance of social upward mobility. We must as a culture offer greater opportunity for upward mobility through public education and honor the work of those who help service the contemporary needs of the economic middle and upper classes through medical coverage, protection from predatory lenders, and opportunities for children to rise through intellectual prosperity.

Freedom is fundamentally a Liberation from Fear. We must stop our government representatives from mongering fear about The Other. I have heard enough about Islamic Extremism and it's grave threat to our Freedom. We have killed close or more than a million people in the name of such activity, freeing no one from anything, displacing countless families abroad, destroying the mental stability of tens of thousands of our own countrymen and women, and creating profound misunderstanding, disorientation, anger, and committed hatred in the Middle east and here in America. It is truly Orwellian in the way the expression of Freedom had been violated and abused.

Obama has tortured this expression equally as much as George W Bush has in the years he's been President. It is a mockery of truth and Justice and Liberty, Not a proud moment for America.

It's time to REMEMBER why we speak of Freedom and Liberty, what is truly worth LIVING for, not killing and dying for.