I have read several blogs, and comments, over the last year or so which state, in no uncertain terms. that to question the war that is going on, to question it's necessity, to question the need of soldiers to die is tantamount to treason.
I have been called a worthless selfish bitch, in fact, for refusing to believe that men who throw their lives away in needless blood shed are heroes and that they should be thanked, worshipped, and willingly bedded by whomsoever they choose based on their service to America.
I have also been told that one should be a Patriot and stand behind the decisions of America's leaders, right or wrong, past or present, because that's what being an American Citizen is all about.
But, if one should never question the decisions of American's leaders, past and present, then what does one do with this?
Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Was Eisenhower a tratior? A treasoner? Or was he the President, duly elected (and quite more obviously DULY elected than the last few that have been in power) and whom you should respect the memory of, in the same sanctimonious fashion that you speak of the President and soldiers now?... I ask rhetorically, in all sentences.
If you say he was a traitor, based on that quote, then you do not show respect to the leaders of America and you do question the ones of the past. Yet the Present is simply Past waiting to happen.
If you say he was correct, then you must acknowledge that it is the duty of American Citizens to question their President, their government, it's policies, and to occasionally dissent and try to change the evil and ugly course their country is taking.
I am not asking you to war, or not to war, or to be a soldier, or to disrespect a soldier. I'm asking you to consider that the popular, easiest course, is not the only one and is not always the best one.
As a reminder: I am not political! I do not care to hear your reasons why you think there should be, or shouldn't be, a war, and that is not what this blog is about. It is about opening your mind to possibilities - and, indirectly, about how much I'd like people who choose to live differently than I do to understand that I, also, have the right to choose my lifestyle.
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Blogs by HopelesslyHopeful:
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mordru
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Mar 17 @ 6:02PM
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I have no problem with those who state their beliefs.My only question to them is would you be willing to lay down your life for them.I know I and a few others here would. 
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jers04
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Mar 17 @ 7:06PM
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"I, also, have the right to choose my lifestyle."
Yes you do. But I feel that is because, in part, of the military.
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HopelesslyHopeful
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Mar 19 @ 11:03AM
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Yes you do. But I feel that is because, in part, of the military.
That is because you think of Rights as in established laws, given by governments. Do I have those too? Yes, I do. But, even if I was born in Tehran , I'd still have those rights, not because of where I live, but because of who I am. Remember that these are truths, held to be self evident... America did not make them up, dearheart. Some of America's Founding Fathers expressed what many fine men and women have known throughout all of history: we all have the right to self government, to self expression, to think, to feel .. some of us need some help to do so (those with physical and/or mental health issues) and some of us simply need other people to stop trying to kill us or impose their oppressive ideas on us at every turn. But, all of us have them.
They are not given by men, but they exist because we are all Man.
The military does not give or take away those rights. It is only when the individual person fails to believe they have them, that they are lost.
So, what you think of as Rights and what I am actually speaking of, you see, are very different things. If I have to pull out a gun and threaten to shoot you, or to actually kill you, to have those rights then they are not rights: they are privileges of the law.
However, you have the right to continue to believe that the military gives you your rights. Just so long as you don't take that belief and try to force it on me as a law, whilst trampling on my own beliefs and rights.
Deal?
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HopelesslyHopeful
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Mar 19 @ 11:10AM
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I have no problem with those who state their beliefs.My only question to them is would you be willing to lay down your life for them.I know I and a few others here would.
Ah, but I already told you (at least the you of MD persons in general, if not you specifically) that people were trying to beat me up and threatening to kill me just for sounding something like one of Jehovah's Witnesses when I was in High School and I was an irreligious, dyed, smoking, fornication, leather jacket wearing, cussy-faced person in a band that wrote songs that could make Motley Crue blush.
So - since I, after the point of being threatened with death, and with the knowledge that Jehovah's Witnesses have been killed many times in many countries and were put in concentration camps and treated at least as badly as the Jews were by the Nazis and knowing that they are persecuted in America and several of them were killed and castrated in America (which is one of the countries that treats them best, mind you), chose to go ahead and study with them, attend meetings, etc.- I think that question has already been more than answered.
But, more than dying for my beliefs, I am willing not to kill, steal, plunder, rape, or maim for them. Would that everyone here could say that!
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mordru
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Mar 19 @ 11:23AM
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So I guess what your saying is that if someone was going to kill you for your beliefs,you would not fight for your life.And if you had to,take that persons life.? 
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Sugar_Lee
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Mar 19 @ 11:31AM
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Hopeful, I have been on many marches to get us out of a war we never should have been in. We finally succeeded. Americans called us names but were really happy when their son's came marching home again.
I have also worked for Bush Senior and Clinton. I don't believe we should have pulled out of Iraq the first time when we did and neither did the soldiers that came home. Leaders make decisions based on creed, greed and many other things. We as Americans have a right to our views without being called names.
I met Clinton and shook his hand in Tonduchong Korea, He is likely the best president we have seen in many decades. I hope he will not be the last good one for a while. He would never have called the Peace movement participants traitors. There is truth and there is deceit. It is up to Americans to discover which is which. That is not to say that our Military are wrong, they are doing their jobs as I did mine, no matter who we worked for or work for as in the present..and their are criminals in all aspects of our society including the military!
Now if any of you have hate letters, please refer them to Leo. he will answer them in de Tail!
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HopelesslyHopeful
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Mar 19 @ 11:34AM
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So I guess what your saying is that if someone was going to kill you for your beliefs,you would not fight for your life.And if you had to,take that persons life.?
Well, keep guessing ... 
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Sugar_Lee
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Mar 19 @ 11:43AM
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Mord...many people would not fight to the death for their beliefs or for any reason. Not all of us are Hawks. But Doves are Americans too. And I happened to like Doves better than Hawks although they each serve a purpose in life. And now that we have so many diverse people serving in the military I don't think they are all Hawks either. If fact I know they are not..I worked with the finest! 
I was 25 before I had that name thrown at me in disgust, really was rather pathetic when you hurl the name Dove as an insult! 
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mordru
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Mar 19 @ 11:54AM
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Got no problem with doves or hippies.Back in the Viet Nam era I was one.But my question was would you kill to save your own life or that of a loved one?Hopeless stated she would not kill.I was trying to find out if that was truly how she felt. I remember a bible verse that states "theres a time to kill and a time to heal"
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HopelesslyHopeful
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Mar 20 @ 2:10AM
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Got no problem with doves or hippies.Back in the Viet Nam era I was one.But my question was would you kill to save your own life or that of a loved one?Hopeless stated she would not kill.I was trying to find out if that was truly how she felt. I remember a bible verse that states "theres a time to kill and a time to heal"
Tut tut! Hopeless stated no such thing. And she's not Hopeless, if you read her ID correctly, she is Hopeful and incurably so! Hopeful stated But, more than dying for my beliefs, I am willing not to kill, steal, plunder, rape, or maim for them. And, that is exactly what she meant.
Does that mean that she would never defend herself? No, it does not.
Does it mean that she would never put the safety of a child that was being attacked ahead of its attacker? No, it does not.
Does it mean that if she was being strangled she would not pick up a rock and bash the strangler in the head? No, it does not.
It means she would not go out the door planning to kill someone and, even if attacked, she would do her utmost to make sure that both she and the person attacking her made it through it alive and preferably lived to be in service to God. It means she would never think murder was an option, no matter how bad the person was, and she would never vote for the death penalty or ask someone to go and kill another person for her.
Hopeful is perfectly capable, both physically and mentally, of doing an attacker a great great deal of harm in many circumstances and she knows she would, if she had to. But, she knows that she would go very far out of her way to not have to. And that is being willing not to kill. It is what is in your heart, what you strive for with your life.
And what you had asked about before was in relation to beliefs, let me remind you. So, would I kill someone who hauled me into a courtroom and found me guilty of practicing my beliefs and sentenced me to death for them? No, I would not. I would view them with a great deal of pity, and I would pray that they would come to a better understanding, like Saul finally did. As Jesus taught us to do, both by his actions upon his death, and by his actions in regards to Saul.
But, then, I knew going into it, that Jesus told his followers not that they might possibly be persecuted and killed, but that they would be persecuted and killed. So, if you are a Christian and you are persecuted and killed for same, then by golly, you must be on the right track.
It's kind of like getting the Purple Heart, don't you know?
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HopelesslyHopeful
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Mar 20 @ 2:17AM
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really was rather pathetic when you hurl the name Dove as an insult!
lol you know, I didn't even notice that, sort of passed it by as gibberish (no offense intended) as, since I couldn't conceive of being called a dove as the same thing as being insulted, it made no sense to me, at all, in that context.
There's nothing wrong with peace. Even my Dad, when I was telling him about this blog - my Dad ex-Airforce Special Ops, very gung ho to make all my kids sign up for the military, etc - said to me : If we spent $400 billion in one year on peace, I wonder what would happen? And it wouldn't even mean totally stopping the military. Surely some of that equipment has to be paid for by now!
Chant with me huny! : All we are saying, is give peace a chance! ......
(although very little of this oh so interesting conversation is on topic at this point, you know?)
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