An Article From my Local Paper
Nothing pointless about this death
As a journalist, I've had the sad duty of covering several military funerals.
Believe me, one is too many for even the most hardened and cynical of scribes.
Military funerals follow the same, sad formula: A flag-draped coffin is transported to the gravesite; words honoring the departed soldier fill the air like a covey of quail startled in a cornfield; an honor guard fires off several volleys that makes you jump, no matter that you know it's coming; a version of "Taps" as plaintive as an old woman weeping issues from a bugle; the flag that draped the coffin is carefully, lovingly folded and presented to a relative of the departed; everyone, even the aforementioned cynical newspaperman, cries.
On the melancholy scale, military funerals are in a dead heat with police and fireman funerals. The difference is I've never heard anyone ever call the loss of life suffered by a fireman or policeman in the line of duty "pointless." When those who protect and serve lose their lives on the job, they are invariably and rightly feted for having made the ultimate sacrifice for the common good. Words and terms such as "valiant" and "courageous" and "doing their duty" are used to describe the men and women who took a bullet on the beat or kicked in the door of a flaming tenement. But whenever a soldier loses his or her life on the front lines, the words "pointless" and "senseless" and "wasteful" are almost always tossed about like so many grenades by a certain segment of our society that believes any and all wars are unnecessary.
Get this straight - war is nasty. War is horrible. War is hell. Anyone in their right mind is anti-war. But in this world that still has barbarians hanging around the gates, war is sometimes the most necessary of necessary evils.
And the first lesson of war is that young men and women die. But to call the loss of these youthful warriors a "waste" denigrates the contribution that person has made to preserving freedom.
And I challenge any anti-war zealot to tell Danny Bryan to his face that his son's death was anything remotely resembling a waste.
Lance Cpl. Benjamin Saxon Bryan, 23, died in Fallujah, Iraq, on Nov. 13, felled by small arms fire. He was Robeson County's first casualty in the war on terrorism.
After the funeral on Sunday, Danny Bryan did not spit vitriol at the powers that be that have pulled this nation into a "war for oil." He did not criticize our Middle Eastern policy. He did not have harsh words for the commander in chief. He simply said he was proud of his son. Proud that Benjamin Saxon Bryan died doing what he loved - protecting and preserving the freedom of not only you and me, but the same folks living inside these very borders who burn the flag and give comfort and aid to the enemy by undermining the war on terror with words of empathy for the barbarians, and words of hate for our "imperialistic, aggressive, war-mongering" nation. Yeah ... especially those people.
Taking a stance against the war on terrorism is not unpatriotic. This nation was built on dissent. Disagreeing with your neighbor about an issue of national importance is as American as being born on the Fourth of July.
But belittling the lives lost in the protection of our freedom and liberty is something indescribably worse than being unpatriotic. Belittling the life of Benjamin Saxon Bryan by calling it a waste or a pointless exercise in a geopolitical game of capture the flag is a crime against Bryan, against his family and against the family of man.
Bryan died a hero protecting your right to be critical of the war in Iraq. He did not die for your right to be critical of his life's work and the ultimate sacrifice that work has wrought for everyone who knew, loved and admired the young lance corporal from Lumberton.
Bryan's life and death meant something, even if you don't believe his cause did.
Tim Wilkins can be reached at 739-4322, Ext. 122, or by e-mail at timwilkins@bellsouth.net
Copyright © 2004The Robesonian
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
All I can add is AMEN.
As a journalist, I've had the sad duty of covering several military funerals.
Believe me, one is too many for even the most hardened and cynical of scribes.
Military funerals follow the same, sad formula: A flag-draped coffin is transported to the gravesite; words honoring the departed soldier fill the air like a covey of quail startled in a cornfield; an honor guard fires off several volleys that makes you jump, no matter that you know it's coming; a version of "Taps" as plaintive as an old woman weeping issues from a bugle; the flag that draped the coffin is carefully, lovingly folded and presented to a relative of the departed; everyone, even the aforementioned cynical newspaperman, cries.
On the melancholy scale, military funerals are in a dead heat with police and fireman funerals. The difference is I've never heard anyone ever call the loss of life suffered by a fireman or policeman in the line of duty "pointless." When those who protect and serve lose their lives on the job, they are invariably and rightly feted for having made the ultimate sacrifice for the common good. Words and terms such as "valiant" and "courageous" and "doing their duty" are used to describe the men and women who took a bullet on the beat or kicked in the door of a flaming tenement. But whenever a soldier loses his or her life on the front lines, the words "pointless" and "senseless" and "wasteful" are almost always tossed about like so many grenades by a certain segment of our society that believes any and all wars are unnecessary.
Get this straight - war is nasty. War is horrible. War is hell. Anyone in their right mind is anti-war. But in this world that still has barbarians hanging around the gates, war is sometimes the most necessary of necessary evils.
And the first lesson of war is that young men and women die. But to call the loss of these youthful warriors a "waste" denigrates the contribution that person has made to preserving freedom.
And I challenge any anti-war zealot to tell Danny Bryan to his face that his son's death was anything remotely resembling a waste.
Lance Cpl. Benjamin Saxon Bryan, 23, died in Fallujah, Iraq, on Nov. 13, felled by small arms fire. He was Robeson County's first casualty in the war on terrorism.
After the funeral on Sunday, Danny Bryan did not spit vitriol at the powers that be that have pulled this nation into a "war for oil." He did not criticize our Middle Eastern policy. He did not have harsh words for the commander in chief. He simply said he was proud of his son. Proud that Benjamin Saxon Bryan died doing what he loved - protecting and preserving the freedom of not only you and me, but the same folks living inside these very borders who burn the flag and give comfort and aid to the enemy by undermining the war on terror with words of empathy for the barbarians, and words of hate for our "imperialistic, aggressive, war-mongering" nation. Yeah ... especially those people.
Taking a stance against the war on terrorism is not unpatriotic. This nation was built on dissent. Disagreeing with your neighbor about an issue of national importance is as American as being born on the Fourth of July.
But belittling the lives lost in the protection of our freedom and liberty is something indescribably worse than being unpatriotic. Belittling the life of Benjamin Saxon Bryan by calling it a waste or a pointless exercise in a geopolitical game of capture the flag is a crime against Bryan, against his family and against the family of man.
Bryan died a hero protecting your right to be critical of the war in Iraq. He did not die for your right to be critical of his life's work and the ultimate sacrifice that work has wrought for everyone who knew, loved and admired the young lance corporal from Lumberton.
Bryan's life and death meant something, even if you don't believe his cause did.
Tim Wilkins can be reached at 739-4322, Ext. 122, or by e-mail at timwilkins@bellsouth.net
Copyright © 2004The Robesonian
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
All I can add is AMEN.
dribbled by Sherrie @ 11/26/2004 11:28:00 AM
1 Comments:
At 2:50 PM,
Bob said…
Reminds me of something said a few times in the media already, at least around here - "You don't have to support the war to support the troops"... God be with everyone over there.
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