Monday, May 19, 2008
Litmus Test
Over the last five years, three of which I've chronicled (occasionally) here, a lot has changed at Random Manor. New job, new church, and plenty of new challenges to go along with the normal stuff of life. Over those five years, however, we've been comfortably insulated from happenings in Iraq and Afghanistan, such that we've been able to focus on our own lives, which at best is a shameful, selfish gift we cannot adequately repay.
To those of us dwelling in such insulated detachment, Iraq has devolved to little more than an item on an electoral shopping list, a campaign issue. If you've been there alongside me, regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, I suggest reading "Final Salute," a Pulitzer-winning feature by Jim Sheeler. Why it took me more than two years to discover this bit of writing is perplexing, but I promise it will move you to your core. Mr. Sheeler has assembled the expanded reportage that led to the original story into a full-length book, Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives, which I have ordered.
Before reading this story, I'd been pondering a sort of litmus test to which all congressional and presidential candidates would be subjected where war is concerned, but now am thinking it should be applied to all of us, and I've amended it slightly. It's a simple test, really:
If you wish to publicly declare your point of view on the (insert name of conflict here), and have not yourself served in this or a prior conflict, please identify the direct relative -- parent, sibling, child, grandchild -- of yours who is serving in the conflict.
If you have no such relative engaged in the conflict, please identify the veterans' support function at which you volunteer.
If you do not meet either of these criteria, please remain silent.
To those of us dwelling in such insulated detachment, Iraq has devolved to little more than an item on an electoral shopping list, a campaign issue. If you've been there alongside me, regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, I suggest reading "Final Salute," a Pulitzer-winning feature by Jim Sheeler. Why it took me more than two years to discover this bit of writing is perplexing, but I promise it will move you to your core. Mr. Sheeler has assembled the expanded reportage that led to the original story into a full-length book, Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives, which I have ordered.
Before reading this story, I'd been pondering a sort of litmus test to which all congressional and presidential candidates would be subjected where war is concerned, but now am thinking it should be applied to all of us, and I've amended it slightly. It's a simple test, really:
If you wish to publicly declare your point of view on the (insert name of conflict here), and have not yourself served in this or a prior conflict, please identify the direct relative -- parent, sibling, child, grandchild -- of yours who is serving in the conflict.
If you have no such relative engaged in the conflict, please identify the veterans' support function at which you volunteer.
If you do not meet either of these criteria, please remain silent.
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