Bring the Soldiers Home and Support Families

My good friend Mike from the east coast today sent me a tear-jerking montage of pictures of soldiers who miss home. The picture on my blog is one of the best pictures in the bunch. Thank you Mike. You are a great thinker and a great friend :) While I criticize war as being evil and something lower in our evolution we must learn to purge, I deeply care about those obedient soldiers and their families. Carl Sagan talked about the human race being in the adolescence of development and I concur. It's as Dickens said, the best of times and the worst of times. The utmost in great opportunities, technology, free expression,etc. but we also have the bomb and sociopathic terrorists who hold the good of humanity in their hands. The key is to show you care about the soldiers and their families, to help everyone become more excited about the country and be respectful about freedom we often take for granted. I have been at several memorial services for US soldiers in the past ten years. Once you have been at one you are never the same. It changes a person.
Recently at the company I work for, there was a drive to send magazines, books, food, and other essentials to the troops. As my friend Mike says, act locally and think globally. (Actually Mike didn't coin the phrase, was it Gandhi??) I felt good about so many team members giving of what they could to help out in the best way they know how. Nearly 100 pounds were collected for the troops. I'm proud of what we did. Our Vice-President of our company was very impressed as he served in the Air Force and knows what it feels like to be away from home.

While I remain an athiest, I am firmly opposed to war, and would not like people to use the word God to justify slaughtering innocents. At the same time I believe it is my solemn duty to respect the troops and their families and be infinitely empathetic to what they and their familes are going through. I will always have faith in the good human heart.