Some of you have been talking about bravery. Here's a link to a very moving story about just that. Credit goes to E'Lane; follow the link she posted in her message. Message 21528224
For what it's worth, bravery and courage are attributes of character that never bloom unless tested by circumstance. They can be held by an enemy. We can respect his resolve but we have no obligation to celebrate the enemy's courage. Let his own countrymen do that. We do, however, have an obligation to honor our own brave heroes, in uniform or not. We do have an obligation to celebrate our heroes. We do.
Our hero might fly a stealth fighter and deploy weapons from so far away he can't see his target. He is a brave man, he is in harm's way, and nobody makes him do that but his own character. Who is to say that someday he will be tested, perhaps to guide his crippled plane away from innocents? He is expected to be made of the stuff that will allow him to do that, and we should value the qualities that we demand of him. Denigration of such fighters does a disservice to them, and to our country that provides such weapons so we will not lose more of our own.
The story you find by following E'Lane's link above shows an entirely different kind of hero. One of the eyeball to eyeball kind. Yes, he is a hero. He has faced death from inches away, not miles. That does NOT diminish the heroism of the stealth fighter pilot. It does NOT diminish the courage the President exhibited when he made his excruciating choices from the White House.
Every man and woman in uniform or service is in harm's way. Who is to say this one or that one will not be next to be tested? They are heroes.
Let Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden pin medals on the graves of the people who flew those planes into our buildings, who bombed the subway in London, and who kill innocent people routinely by design. We can't say they were cowardly, but we can say they were dastardly. They deserve no honor from us.
I think the honor due to courageous or brave people stems from the nobility of their aim. If their intent is honorable, then their bravery should be revered. Liberating Iraq from a tyrant is a noble aim. Liberating Afghanistan from the Taliban is a noble aim.
On the other hand, if their aim (object, intent, whatever you want to call it) is to kill innocents, provoke peaceable people to war, enslave them, occupy their homelands interminably, rob them, force them to bow down to religions or gods not of their choosing, then their bravery or courage is wasted and is due nothing. We have seen examples of this kind on 9/11 and 7/7.
I hope this is the end of this argument. There is no satisfactory answer for everyone, so let it be. |
