letter to the editor

Thank you is not enough

Tue, 11/14/2017 - 8:00am

Dear Editor:

Every year on the day of Armistice, we say thank you to all who chose to risk their lives on behalf of their country. It struck me this year that thank you is a small statement with less than 1 percent value to veterans of any country, but especially veterans of the United States of America.

The words I really need to say are I am sorry, please forgive me, and I wish for more wisdom. I am sorry I did not do a better job of avoiding entry into another country’s war. I am sorry, please forgive me for not protecting you or other service members from brain injuries, amputations, or moral brain injuries as you watch the deaths of innocent people and children. I am so sorry that our budgets do not include essential funding for medical treatment of war injuries. I am sorry we send you with inadequate resources, and please forgive me for not remembering President Eisenhower’s warning of a deadly threat “from within.” He exposed a group of non-elected insiders that threatened to take full control of the U.S. government. He revealed the dark side of American power … a shadow government, yet we have walked into the net of war time and time again.

While I am grateful for veteran services, I long for the wisdom that leads these strong volunteers to fight a war of peace and kindness. I know killing fields of war are not sustainable, not worthy of veterans’ souls and often destroyed not by our enemies, but by our own misguided focus and belief that guns win when all they do is mislead us.

I am the guilty one who remains blind to what is needed to save those veterans who care for their country even though they stand in line waiting for healthcare, often giving in to 20 suicides per day. I live with these volunteers in a country using precious taxpayer funds to prepare for war and never prepare for peace. Thank you for giving your lives to war while praying for peace. Thank you is really not enough.

Jarryl Larson

Edgecomb