HomeMy WebLinkAboutMacdonald Support for Mayor Veterans Park t J 45rl I understand the Port Angeles Mayor's Sissie Bruch's desire to take the armed soldiers
off the gates at Veteran Park and replace them with something more representative of
all that our military does. Since armed conflict is only a part of their efforts to make this
a more secure world, and country, why home in on just that aspect? Our veterans did
not fight and die only to be placed on a pedestal where their guns are highlighted.
Veterans want to be known, and should be known, by their quiet work - the work of
diplomacy, their care for environmental matters, their patriotism, not signified by
swagger, but depicted working as they do in all of the five Branches to ensure that the
citizens of this country have a fair shot to advance.
Veterans know that true patriotism is not based upon self-satisfied salesmen singing
"you're either with us or agin us", "mission accomplished" and "freedom ain't free".
They know that those slogans have been used to justify dubious acts of war-making and
used to silence dissent -and they abhor being associated with them. They know that
true patriotism, and the reason that they are used to fight in wars, the hoped for
reason, is to build a legacy that endures, one where our children are left with truly equal
opportunities to live to the fullest of their potential.
Veterans know that the flag has been shamelessly used as a sword to proclaim
toughness versus the other work they do. They are not showboats, nor are they
nationalistic chauvinists. The American military works diligently to cultivate a freedom
worth having, one of common endeavor and shared sacrifice. Veterans do not want to
be placed on pedestals showing only their warlike prowess, but why they went to war in
the first place, to create a world and preserve a country that strives for higher ideals.
Veterans don't need nor want to have caricatures of their likeness hanging on gates
holding their weapons falsely bragging that we are the richest, or the biggest, or the
toughest, or the mightiest. That is the definition that has been hi jacked by the
nationalists. Every American service man and woman would rather be known for helping
create not a gun culture, but rather a country where fair play, second chances, a
capacity for diversity and disagreement, mutual obligation, and an unimpeded access to
the voting machine defines our patriotism. Mayor Bruch is on the right track and I
applaud her.
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