All Wars Are Our Wars
We said that the Vietnam was our war. Indeed
it was. Many from our class(es) served; some made the ultimate sacrifice as we see in our Vietnam Memoriam page. Today, there is another war. It, too,
is our war... most likely not due to classmates, but because their sons, daughters (or in turn their spouses) and grandchildren
are serving in the military... some in harms way. And, this brings us to realization that ALL wars are our wars.
War has been with mankind as long as mankind
has been. It's the curse of human frailty. Looking around the world this Holiday Season, one finds it difficult to perceive
that much has changed. There is hatred, oppression, genocide, and conflict in too many countries.
Moreover, our old Allies, France and Russia,
whom this nation help free from the horrors of Germany's World War II aggression, are now oddly in concert with Germany against our
country's current position in Iraq. Regardless of the merits of either side's position, this coalition makes one wonder why
over 36,000,000 people had to die fifty years ago... for what purpose other than to defeat the hatred of a few twisted minds?
Ditto for the Pacific theater campaigns culminating in a nuclear holocaust. War may sometimes be inevitable, but historically,
as we clearly see before us, it has proven to be pointless in the long-run. Oddly, Rodney King, of the L.A. beating
fame, posed the question of century, "Why can't we just get along?"
Nonetheless, there is hope. In every battle
since the Vietnam War (a war where Classmates and about 30,000 other KIAs were pawns for politicians seeking "Peace with Honor,"
after their once deciding not to press for an outright victory) we... as a nation... have become acutely sensitive to and
accountable for every troop's and civilian's life lost.
Just imagine where this world would be if all
those young minds that were silenced by war could have lived to discover and create. Just imagine all of the unrelenting grief
and sorrow that would have been spared if they had lived.
Apparently, we can... and are when this
nation now reports one, two, or three troops dead instead of "light," "moderate," and "heavy" casualties of the Vietnam Era.
Today, we are counting vibrant lives lost... not reporting statistical percentages. It's a start!
