I wonder... Are we not the best voices to speak up?

I'm not one to stir up stuff, and I'm not usually one to rant, but with all the recent actions and pontificating from our nation's "leaders," I am thinking back to my school days of the 60's and 70's when it was my classmates, church friends,  and family members who were involved in an unpopular war.  Then, as now, politicians were  big on talking and committing other people to be involved in the conflicts of other countries.  Then as now, the politicians were telling us lies that resulted in the deaths and permanent changes in the lives of many who came home. I know more than a few who went to serve--some voluntarily, but many more drafted into service.  Then, as now, we who were left behind prayed and stood with them even if we did not support the politicians who had created the mess.  In fact, some of those same "political leaders"  are still in office, and they are telling the same lies!


What is different now, in my opinion, is that we are not speaking out as one voice or as loudly as we did then.  I know we are older and not as full of vinegar, but are we not the best voices to speak up?  We have lived through this nightmare more than once. Why aren't we telling the real story instead of leaving it to the news pundits on both extremes?  History that we lived is being whitewashed and revised so that our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren do not know the truth.


Winston Churchill spoke these words on May 2, 1935 before the House of Commons , after the Stresa Conference, in which Britain, France and Italy agreed—futilely—to maintain the independence of Austria.


“When the situation was manageable it was neglected, and now that it is thoroughly out of hand we apply too late the remedies which then might have effected a cure. There is nothing new in the story. It is as old as the sibylline books. It falls into that long, dismal catalogue of the fruitlessness of experience and the confirmed unteachability of mankind. Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong–these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.” 


The Greatest Generation- those who fought and served in WWII-- are almost all gone.  It is now our turn to carry the mantle of freedom. Those of us who lived through the Korean and Vietnam conflicts must be willing to speak the truth.   Let us not "apply too late the remedies that might have effected a cure."  My newly adopted motto has become, "Show up, Stand up, Speak up, and be willing, if necessary (with kindness and grace, of course) to tell the liars to Shut Up." 

The older I get, the more it seems that someone I know and care about is experiencing some form of grief.  Somehow in our “politically correct,” “be positive,” “get your praise on,” “don’t worry, be happy” world, the reality that life will involve loss and sadness is deemed to be negative.  We tend to rush ourselves and as many others as we can influence to hurry up and get over grief.  So I’m wondering, “Why are we so uncomfortable with grief?”

 GRIEF

by Jennifer W. Vess

 

Grabs our life with a grip that seems to strangle every fiber of our being.

Rips apart our familiar and replaces it with rage, or regret, or remorse.

Invades our inner peace with such intensity that we sometimes wish to die instead of living.

Establishes itself within us and for a time we experience everything through this lens or filter.

Finally subsides to a manageable level so we can move forward without forgetting our pain and loss.