My best friend asked me the other day why I thought most folks don’t support the military more than they ought and more than they have. Beyond the fact that we’re currently at war and that Americans grow war-weary even though they want to win, I think it comes down to emotions. Most of the folks with whom I interact who disprove of the war or of my entering war do so for one of two reasons. Either they fear losing someone for whom they care or they place self over all else.
I understand their fear. I remember thinking at twelve that I might not see my father again when he went to war. People surrender control of themselves and their reason to fear. Fearful Americans prefer not to lose something they love, whether it be the soldier himself or to be forced away from the comfort of their familiar surroundings through a PCS in the military. Military life is not easy- you do sign a contract that governs more of your life than other vocational arrangements. If you are of the disposition that wants to control all the minutia, military life is not for you, but it does not mean that you should dissuade someone else from making that choice because you happen to disagree. This tendency focuses priority on self instead of on neighbors, which is contrary to happiness and to the faith of our fathers.
Sometimes, the reservations go beyond fear to outright selfishness and focus completely on self, and so military service constitutes an inconvenience to the type of life they imagine up to themselves. Ironically enough, most people don’t live the idyllic lives they envisioned, so this argument is actually completely moot. Not to be outdone, however, this group does not want to trade immediate safety and security for a greater degree of putative future freedom and opportunity.
By and large, in my experience those who resent a man’s decision to go to war have ulterior motives. Such opposition constitutes naught but a means to make one feel guilty, as they project their own selfishness. They tell me, “If you do that, I’ll never see you again,” trying to manipulate me into do that which they think is best for them, regardless of what value the options are to me. I understand the fear of losing a family member, of losing someone you love; my father went to Iraq in 1991 and flew combat missions over Baghdad. However, if the enemy comes here, and God forbid beats us, there is nothing left to prevent the wanton and random loss of any family member. Ask the Jews of Europe (or read Harry Mulisch’s The Assault). They view the world through rose-colored glasses and hope for a peaceful panacea that will not necessitate sacrifice, hoping that the dire events predicted may not happen in their time. Nothing great was ever won without sacrifice.
During the Great War and then the Second World War, men in uniform constituted a desired and desirable class. This trend extends through all novels of the romantic era and all romantic novels of the modern era (Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, or The Notebook for example where the targets of affection are often redcoats and turncoats). Truth be told, you have no greater statistical risk of dying in combat than of dying today on your commute home from work by a bee sting, drunk driver, aestheroschlerosis, ad infinitum.
I ask all of those who despise our soldiers to rise above our love for contentment and ease and remember that good lives are not those where every wish is fulfilled and we live in ignoble ease. Good lives are those that pursue noble ideals. Said Theodore Roosevelt: “When men fear work or fear righteous war, when women fear motherhood, they tremble on the brink of doom; and well it is that they should vanish from the earth, where they are fit subjects for the scorn of all men and women who are themselves strong and brave and highminded.” Be not weary in well-doing, for without the selfless sacrifice of our forbearers to wit, none of us would enjoy the life we do today.
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