Memorial Day: A Note to the Offended

I had a thought and pissed myself off the other morning.  I don't usually piss myself off when I think.  It usually happens when someone else thinks while their heads up their ass and I catch unfortunate wind of their muffled nonsense before my morning cup of coffee.  As is my habit, I immediately wanted to share the substance of it with my readers.  I opted for the cup of coffee first, however, probably for the best since it gave me time to consider toning down the rhetoric.  Okay, I considered it.  For a little background (on the issue, not my coffee), please reference the following story before you continue: Memorial day Wedding Photo.

Does posting a wedding photo, on Memorial Day, of a U.S. Marine's wedding, offend you?  Well, get over it.  This man is ready to fight and die for your right to be perpetually offended at every little thing that gets your panties in a bunch; I think you should cut him and his beautiful wife a little slack.   What is it that everyone found offensive?  Was it really about Memorial Day, or was that just an excuse, a catalyst?  Was it their love?  Was it that they're celebrating a Christian wedding?  Was it that he was a Marine, or was it that they're beautiful, happy, employed, etc., and you're not?  What was it about their happy moment that made people so selfish to feel this once in a lifetime moment needed to be destroyed?  Could it be they found the happiness which seems to elude the offended?

Nowadays it is has become difficult to find real patriots.  Real patriots are easy to spot in the growing crowd of non-patriots.  They're the ones talking about what they can do for their country, not what they're country can do for them, or what their country owes them.  The citizens they are protecting and dying for should be making those arguments for them.  The search for real patriots is made harder when we forget to honor those who fight our battles for us until they die doing it.  My advice to everyone, including the League of the Perpetually Offended, is to try honoring our heroes before they fall.  

Maybe Memorial Day should also be about remembering who keeps you safe and protects your right to be a whiny little cowardly bitch.  Our volunteer heroes aren't going to ask you to cut them some slack and they aren't going to ask you for your respect, a true hero possesses way too much integrity and honor for that.  As evidence of their moral courage they will protect the rights of their fellow citizens regardless of the ridicule those same citizens heap upon their broad, brave, shoulders.  They will protect the rights of all because it is what our heroes take an oath to do, to do anything less would be treason to their oath and their code of honor.  For most, it would never occur to them to do any less.

This Memorial Day, stop thinking about how you can be offended and try thinking about thanking those men and women who protect your right to be insensitive and ungrateful.  How about we put aside the asinine discussions about restroom rights, religious rights, state flag rights, Constitutional rights, non-existent bigotry, LGBTQ+ rights, alien rights (illegal and ET), animal rights, terrorist rights, criminal rights,  homeless rights,  the Constitutional righteousness of immorality, breathing rights, your right to fart in public, your right to suck the life out of your hard working fellow citizens and, oh my dear God, your right to enjoy a meal totally naked in your local eatery while wiping your skanky ass all over the vinyl seat the next customer has to sit on (San Francisco tried it.  Yes, San Francisco, who would of thought, right?  They killed it as rapidly as it was killing the lunch crowd and tourism.).  

One can't help but be offended by the League of the Perpetually Offended and their never ending offenses over their right to deny everyone else's rights as long as theirs are approved; regardless of how one sided and selfish theirs happen to be .  One can't help but be offended at the perpetually offended, especially when they take umbrage over a wonderful photo of one of our unsung heroes celebrating life, love, and a right to happiness - the same hero that will die for their right to deny his.  How insane is that, and how absolutely selfish?

If you want to be offended with our military, be offended at the lack of training they get to prepare them to survive.  Be offended at a Congress that keeps your freedom at risk through budget cuts which leave our brave soldiers ill-equipped to protect themselves, their fellow citizens, and the defenseless.  Be offended that their standard of living is a joke compared to their sacrifice, always remembering there will be sacrifice.  Be offended at how their country ignores them when they return as permanently wounded warriors that did everything we asked of them.  If we Americans really want to be offended, looking in the mirror at the shame staring back should more than slake that hunger.

Just saying.

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider another viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, and instructor. He is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path," which offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination.