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support the troops

By Bill Shein

I support the troops by remembering - every day - that we are at

war.

I support the troops by crying at the loss of their young lives,

the pain

suffered by their families, and the indefensible choices my government

has

made.

I support the troops not by cheering the war they've been sent

to wage, or

celebrating the battles they've won, but instead, by joining the effort

to

bring them home now.

I support the troops by asking why a senior Pentagon official

appeared

before Congress and didn't know the number of soldiers who had lost

their

lives.

I support the troops by imagining a day when chants of " USA!

USA! "

interrupt speeches about ending poverty and hunger, not those that boast

of

America's ability to rain fire onto human beings.

I support the troops by embracing Gandhi's dictum, " An eye for

an eye only

ends up making the whole world blind. "

I support the troops by ridiculing the notion that anyone can

build a

" culture of life " here at home while spreading death and destruction

abroad.

I support the troops by fighting for quality public schools and

a living

wage, so the military is no longer the career of last resort for

America's

most vulnerable.

I support the troops by remembering 9-11 - watching from my

bedroom window

as smoke rose from the Pentagon, and then, in the days and weeks

afterwards,

weeping over heartbreaking stories of children left without parents.

I support the troops by asking which " moral value " is on display

when we

avenge the horrific murder of 3,000 innocents by killing 100,000 more.

I support the troops by rejecting the morality of a " preemptive

war " that

turns foreign soil into a graveyard for innocent foreign civilians - a

policy whose adherents improperly claim is a legal, moral, and

legitimate

alternative to " fighting the enemy here at home. "

I support the troops by denouncing wartime " journalism " provided

by

embedded reporters, retired generals and partisan spinners, especially

when

it ignores the voices of those with the hope and idealism to suggest a

better way.

I support the troops by abhorring violence against nations,

people,

animals, and the environment - a belief system approaching its 2,000th

birthday. Because you don't have to be a Christian to know what Jesus

would

do.

I support the troops by protesting the new language of war,

which labels

the death of innocent children as " collateral damage " ; the accidental

murder

of their mothers " regrettable " ; the killing of journalists who seek the

truth " unfortunate " ; the slaughter of the wounded as a " mop-up

operation " ;

and that reduces human beings to " targets " to be " destroyed. "

I support the troops with regret - that we train them to kill,

send them to

war, and then leave them to struggle throughout life with searing

memories

of battlefield horrors. Because while the war makers do their best to

dehumanize war, they can't dehumanize the human beings they send to

fight

it.

And as we begin our holiday season, I support the troops by

spreading the

story of the week-long Christmas Truce of 1914, when soldiers from

Germany,

France, England and Belgium spontaneously decided not to fight and kill.

Instead, they put down their weapons, climbed out of their trenches and

met

- on common ground - to share food and cigars and games of soccer. They

exchanged photos of sons and daughters and wives, of a life beyond the

battlefield where they could easily be neighbors sharing a meal or

watching

a quiet sunset.

Incredibly, they befriended those whom their governments had

demanded they

kill. From that brief and remarkable moment, we know that peace is

possible

- and inevitable - as soon as human beings have the courage to say,

" Enough! "

-----------------------

Bill Shein lives in Monterey.

____________________

Bill Shein

P.O. Box 415

Monterey, MA 01245

bill_shein@...