Sometimes, people just don't pay any attention to the limits.  Multiculturalism is one of those areas where many don't

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Main Entry:

¹sup·port

Pronunciation:

\sə-ˈpȯrt\

Function:

transitive verb

Etymology:

Middle English, from Anglo-French supporter, from Late Latin supportare, from Latin, to transport, from sub- + portare to carry — more at fare

Date:

14th century

A little over a year ago Sgt. Eddie Jeffers posted an article, Hope Rides Alone.  Sgt. Jeffers 23, serving as a U.S. Army infantryman in Ramadi, Iraq did a great job of expressing the view a soldier has of the people at home when he is wading through the destruction of war and the deaths of friends.  I recommend following the link above to read the full story but here is an excerpt for the purposes of clarifying why I say what I have to say to the anti-war crowd 5 years into a conflict.

["People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant. Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don't realize its effects on this war. In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy's brutality because it's against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy. The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward’s war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war. And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation's news outlets. And every day, the enemy changes...only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives. And they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society...and they are becoming our enemy.

Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war. "]

You may take exception to Sgt Jeffers comments on dissenters.  Sorry, he isn't available to hear your complaints. Sgt. Eddie Jeffers was killed in Iraq on September 19, 2007.  What it means to support someone is in no way justified by the phrase, "Support them by bringing them home."  You cannot say to the Cardinals, "I support you because I want you to go to the dressing room and hang up your uniform."  Neither can you support the troops by bringing them home and the troops feel your sentiment for what it is, hypocrisy.  The enemy knows it too.  You cannot support the troops and not support their cause. 

From 1969 until the end of the war, over 20,000 American soldiers lost their lives in a war that the United States did not have the resolve to win.  The sensationalism by the American news media and the anti-war protests following the 1968 Tet Offensive gave hope to Communist North Vietnam, strengthening their belief that their will to succeed was greater than ours.  Instead of seeking a successful resolution at the Paris Peace Conference following the disastrous defeat of the 1968 Tet Offensive, they employed delay tactics as another tool to inflame U.S. politics.  This delaying tactic spurned further anti-war demonstrations.  Those who sensationalized their reporting of the war and those who supported anti-war demonstrations are guilty of giving our enemy hope. Because of their actions, they must share partial responsibility for those 20,000 + Americans deaths. 

We won the war on the battlefield but lost it back home on the college campuses and in the city streets.

1st Cav Medic Radio Station

Those who were there remember and don't mince words when it comes to naming the traitors who aided the enemies of the U.S.  Those who are there know and don't mince words when it comes to naming the traitors who aid the enemies of the U.S. 

Given that we have been in this conflict for more than 5 years and that we are not going to quit until we can walk away with a stable government ensconced and not have to worry that they will offer aid and comfort to threats against us, isn't it time to stop the anti-war rhetoric and unify behind our troops?  Isn't it time to acknowledge that we are winning in both Iraq and Afghanistan?  Isn't it time to say to the troops, we are behind you, we recognize what you do is necessary for our national security?  Because we are winning.  We are winning the support of the common citizen, we are winning the stability of an indigenous police force.  We are winning by building the infrastructure so they can have running clean water and working toilets.  We are rebuilding the electrical generation system.  We are building communications systems.  We are making friends in the local community and we are training the local volunteer police force to operate on standards of integrity and honor.

We are not the evil.  Fighting evil is not evil.  Naming evil people as evil is not evil.  Equating good works with evil works is evil.  Using the torturous death of a village child to terrorize the village into falling inline with insurgents' purposes is evil.  Its not that hard to tell the difference between those who are evil with those who are fighting evil.  Its time to make a clear choice to unify behind those who are fighting the evil and stop calling the fight evil.  The stated purpose of the evil ones identifies them as the evil ones.  The stated purpose of the forces for good identifies them as the forces for good.  And the evidence of the works of the evil forces defines them as evil.  And the evidence of the works of the good forces defines them as the good.  Muddling up this simple definition is aiding and abetting the enemies of the United States and the Coalition forces today.

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I wanted to make this article about using your common sense... about making good choices, but the stories of the people involved here are so much richer fodder for subject material.  Yes, drunk driving is an issue that cannot be covered enough.  Yes, we have to keep pushing the message to not drink and drive.  Yes, yes, yes... but there is a story here that has so much to loose in the cliche' this the message has become that I have redirected my focus for this article to the people involved in this story.

Jacqui Saburio has been featured in Oprah's daytime talk show and is often featured in such venues because of her incredible story of survival.  She is a native born Venezuelan and moved to Texas in 1999 to go to school majoring in engineering.  She was a beautiful 20 year old woman full of promise and hope for the future.  One Saturday morning all that changed or so it would seem.  Reggie Steffie, a high school football star had a game on Friday night.  Here too, was a young adult full of promise and hope and looking forward with great plans for life.  He was at a party that night and had a great time with team mates and friends till the wee morning hours when he decided it was time to go.

Complete strangers whose lives were to become irreversibly entangled through the tragedy of a car accident involving alcohol in which both lives would be forever changed.  Not only theirs but those of their entire families.  After a head on collision in which two of her friends were instantly killed, Jacqui was pinned in a burning car long enough to have had her hair, skin, fingers, and entire face melted off.  Reggie was physically uninjured, but his football career was over.  He would spend the next 7 years in prison and have to pay a fine of $20,000.00.  This was the least of his concerns.  When he learned the extent of Jacqui's injuries, he would lose his appetite, his ability to sleep, and his self worth.

Jacqui has had to endure 50 surgeries at last count and still counting to restore as much as possible of her face and mobility in her gnarled fingerless hands and arms.  That is the tragedy of one fateful decision by a teenage drunk driver.  Now for the rest of the story.  Jacqui misses her body,  her beautiful body and all that entails.  She is so very scarred that when she goes out into public, she is stared at as if she is some kind of monster.  In fact, when she first saw her altered face, she considered it the face of a monster.  Under the advice of a cousin, she determined to allow herself 5 minutes per day to cry and mourn her loss.  She recognizes that she has to move on.  As Oprah asked, "Are you glad you survived?"  Without hesitation, Jacquelin's response is an emphatic "Yes!  I want to live and experience everything I can.  I don't want to miss out on anything."  But the most telling moment of Jacqui's character was when she met Reggie's mother for the first time.  Consoling the woman who was choking up in telling her of her prayers for Jacquelin, Jacquelin offered her gnarled stump of a hand to this woman who had birthed the man who did this damage to her.  Jacqui understands in all the loss, to hold grievance against Reggie and his family is not gain to her, but would be further loss for herself.  She is perhaps a more beautiful person in the revelation of such character.

Reggie is no monster.  His guilt is something he will be saddled with for the rest of his life.  His regret is in no way mollified by the 7 years he is spending behind bars or by the $20,000.00 dollars he has to pay in fines.  He carries a picture of Jacqui in his mind and it will haunt him until the day he dies.  I ask you, "Could you live with that?"  Could you live in the knowledge that a beautiful young woman has been transformed into the image of horror by your stupid decision?  If you were Jacqui, could you summon the moral fiber to console the one who made you the picture of horror so that you face a mirror and have no other description of the image you see there but monster?  Could you find the strength to resolve to make the best of what you have left?  Some would consider this a fate worse than death.   I happen to disagree.  I believe each one of us has a greater purpose than self concern.  I believe Jacqui and Reggie can use their testimonies to encourage others.  I believe that these testimonies should be used to give glory to God.  In Jacqui, by finding the strength to go on in a spirit of joy.  In Reggie, testifying of incredible forgiveness available through the suffering of another.

These are two extreme examples of choices and consequences.  But every decision in life has consequences, some great and some so small as to be thought irrelevant.  Everybody would fare much better if we took the responsibility for our decisions much more seriously.

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