"Anti-War Mom" aka "...Durp!"

For more information on "durp," click hnyaah.

Ok, so I was going bananas on an elliptical machine at the gym, and CNN was playing on one of the TVs. The headline on the screen read "Anti-War Mom," and the story was about a lady named Cindy Sheehan, who is protesting outside of the Crawford Ranch. Maybe you've heard of her.

The reason I throw the "...Durp!" next to the "Anti-War Mom" is because I don't know of too many moms who have children serving in the military who are big fans of War. My mom wasn't too happy when she found out I'd decided to join the Marines, and I can say with some certainty that any mother with a son or daughter serving in the Middle East is losing a lot of sleep. Even in my relatively posh settings in the cultural mecca that is Kabul, I know my mother was freaking out.

There are thousands upon thousands of people in the USA who have lost a relative, friend, or loved one in the middle east, but this woman has made a media spectacle of it. That's irritating to me, but what's more irritating (and somehow interesting) is how she's ascribing blame.

She wants to ask President Bush, "Why did you kill me son?"

How quaint. How delightfully dramatic. YEAH, PRESIDENT BUSH! WHY DID YOU KILL HER SON?!

I've talked on here and Adventurestan about personal responsibility. I've mentioned before that, even if anyone's entire military knowledge base is derived from Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, they should have a worse case scenario about what they're getting into. Furthermore, upon arriving at bootcamp, it is made clear in no uncertain terms that they will be called upon at some point to engage in hostile fire with an enemy. (Sorry, I went a little crazy with the movie pictures, but I couldn't resist.) Some of us were lucky enough to not have to experience that, but others are faced with some regularity.

Am I saying that if someone if killed in combat, it's "their own damn fault"? No. I'm not saying that. But certain actions have consequences. When you join the military, you are accepting the fact on some level that people in the military kill and get killed. Anyone who thinks any differently is seriously delusional. If being put in such a situation makes an individual queesy, the military is 100% volunteer. No one has to join the military. Millions of people have been successful without taking advantage of the opportunities that the military affords. It is one option among thousands that a person can take to get where they want to go. The stakes are high, but if properly taken advantage of, so are the benefits.

There are so many things that Cindy Sheehan could blame, but she's camping out in front of the President's ranch and blaming him. And to make it even more preposterous, she's saying that all troops should be pulled out of Iraq now. To me, this indicates a completely irrational and uninformed outlook on Geopolitics. Worse still, she will be remembered by most people as a media whore. She is using her son's death for credibility and to shield herself from public reproach. How despicable. While thousands of people mourn their loved ones' sacrifices in personal silence, she's making a circus of her child's death. People will get tired of hearing about it, and any attempt to talk to George Bush will most likely be futile. Bush has said he's heard what she has to say, but pulling out troops now would "send the wrong message to the enemy," which is just one of many things on a huge laundry list of why taking the proverbial ball and going home would be a bad decision. Also, add it to a list of things that I use as a sort of measuring stick for people's awareness on world affairs. It rates up there with, "Well, if no one had military, there wouldn't be any war" and "the reserves is a backdoor draft!"

I guess I expect people to be more realistic, which in itself is a pretty unrealistic notion. Color me hypocrital.

In any case, Mr. Jinxy beat me to the punch and echo'd my thoughts with far more clarity and succintness than I managed to muster.

And I'm spent.