Bylimet Spiritwalker
07-09-2006, 08:40 AM
When I was 15 and 16, my friends and I would go to the U of M campus on weekends to join in the anti-war protests, 'cus it was almost always a guaranteeed free high and sometimes you could end up with some nice college gal for the weekend. We would listen to the speeches, and sometimes carry on the debates amongst ourselves throughout the remainder of the week, until the next protest. Life was good.
In our circle, only two of us chose to serve; I enlisted in the Army on the day I turned 17 and one other enlisted in the Marines almost a year later. The rest of the guys were not too enthusiastic about military life and waited to see if they got caught in the lottery, which none did. There was never any talk of draft dodging, tho'. That just seemed like such a wrong thing to us at that time.
This weekend there apparently was a celebration of these draft dodgers who went to Canada and remained there. They were being "honored" for their commitment to their beliefs and for their contributions to their adopted country.
I have always been a bit divided over the whole amnesty deal for the folks that jumped ship and headed to other countries rather than serve their own. But, one thing I will never be at all hesitant about is my anger when I hear these people being talked about in terms of "they gave up everything they had".
If you want to talk about the contributions they made to their adopted country that is fine, but do not talk about sacrifice, please. There is a Wall in Washington D.C. that will put any such talk to shame.
In our circle, only two of us chose to serve; I enlisted in the Army on the day I turned 17 and one other enlisted in the Marines almost a year later. The rest of the guys were not too enthusiastic about military life and waited to see if they got caught in the lottery, which none did. There was never any talk of draft dodging, tho'. That just seemed like such a wrong thing to us at that time.
This weekend there apparently was a celebration of these draft dodgers who went to Canada and remained there. They were being "honored" for their commitment to their beliefs and for their contributions to their adopted country.
I have always been a bit divided over the whole amnesty deal for the folks that jumped ship and headed to other countries rather than serve their own. But, one thing I will never be at all hesitant about is my anger when I hear these people being talked about in terms of "they gave up everything they had".
If you want to talk about the contributions they made to their adopted country that is fine, but do not talk about sacrifice, please. There is a Wall in Washington D.C. that will put any such talk to shame.