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I am a full time student in Downtown Portland and I am also a wounded Combat Vet.(Army 11B) and I spent a few years as a Federal LEO. I am always anxious about going to the city but I was extra agitated on Monday. I spent the day at school and then sat in horrific traffic on my way home. It took 2 hours to get to Keizer. I needed to decompress when I got home so I sat down and started writing. This is what I wrote and I posted it on FB to get it out in the universe.
I welcome your feedback and I would like to keep a conversation going related to my comments. I don't get much adult conversation at school and I hope I can find that here.
9/11/2017
I made it through the whole day in Portland and the only person that mentioned 9/11 was my Army Veteran Teacher. Most of the other students are too young to really remember it but mostly people just don't care. The short national attention span and fierce tribalism has caused such a divide in our country that I don't know if we can ever recover.
The threat of war from outside the USA used to unite us as a nation but it has become long in the tooth at this point. The separation of the average citizen and the Military has never been greater. Fewer Americans are serving in the Armed Forces in relation to the total population then ever before. We have been fighting an enemy that many other nations have fought against and lost. Our shear size and strength of economy has kept most of the threat out of the public eye so far. The small number of men and women risking their lives to defend the precious freedoms we enjoy are the single thread holding this colorful Christmas Sweater of a country together. The evil, radical agents of Islam are steadily embedding themselves in our country and like a cancer they are corrupting the cells of our culture. Meanwhile we are focused inward, eating ourselves to death in the form of partisan politics. Instead of coming together to solve real problems we are doubling down on the most absurd and irrational arguments like sports fans rooting for their favorite team. I am not proud of what is happening and I hope it's only superficial.
I fear that intellectual honesty is dead. It seems like common sense is a super power only wielded by a select few and when it is injected into the public eye it is batted away like an offensive spec of dust. We have so quickly forgotten the threat that is staring us in the face because there is a screen blocking the view with click bait headlines, celebrity gossip and a for profit media propagating an us vs. them agenda. With so much virtue signaling and a total disregard for critical thinking, there doesn't seem to be much hope for us to settle our disputes.
How long will it take for us to stop seeing this country as red or blue and to start realizing that it is red, white and blue. Red and blue may be separated by the white on the flag but it takes both of those primary colors to represent our great nation. I wore those colors on my shoulder in Afghanistan where I witnessed an evil person murder 2 Americans and then try to murder me in the name of his god. I fought back and I won. That is what we do, we fight for what we love and we win. I was severely wounded and I almost didn't make it. Our country has been deeply wounded by that same evil but it doesn't compare to damage we are doing to ourselves. I fought to stay alive so that I could see my children grow up, learn and be happy. I am sad and even angry that the fight I was in was the wrong one. I fight now for fragile rights that I thought were written in stone. The 5 tenants of the first amendment are being assaulted from those that seek it's protection. The right to arm and protect ourselves from all enemies is under constant attack in the name of safety. Our right to due processes and the very rule of law is being manipulated to serve the powers that be in the form of humanitarianism. Words are being redefined to suit the needs of the self proclaimed social activists in order to justify their indiscretions. Enough already.
The politicians that are supposed to represent us are now celebrities and are chosen by cult of personality instead of by what they can do to make us better. What used to be the highest office in the land has become a reality TV show. The idea of judging someone based on their actions and deeds has instead been replaced by blind party affirmation and rhetoric. We have divided ourselves into 2 opposing forces, each immovable in their resolve to be right. What can even be done to fix our attitude when so many people have chosen sides and are dug in like ticks engorged on the blood of self righteousness?
For starters people can stop relying on network comedy shows and click bait articles generated by algorithms for their sole source of news. The instinct to question everything and seek out knowledge for one's self has been on the endangered species list for too long. Put the phone down, turn off the smart TV's and start thinking for yourself. Why is it so hard to learn and grow when all of the worlds knowledge is at our fingertips? We have removed ourselves from evolution and our damned opposable thumbs and big brains are turning us into morons. I don't have any answers. I'm just a broken man trying to make the world a better place for my daughters. I might as well go piss into the wind for all the good I can do. Unless the answer is for everyone to focus on the few things they can control and treat the people around them like they want to be treated? I think there is even a rule about this... what do I know though?
I welcome your feedback and I would like to keep a conversation going related to my comments. I don't get much adult conversation at school and I hope I can find that here.
9/11/2017
I made it through the whole day in Portland and the only person that mentioned 9/11 was my Army Veteran Teacher. Most of the other students are too young to really remember it but mostly people just don't care. The short national attention span and fierce tribalism has caused such a divide in our country that I don't know if we can ever recover.
The threat of war from outside the USA used to unite us as a nation but it has become long in the tooth at this point. The separation of the average citizen and the Military has never been greater. Fewer Americans are serving in the Armed Forces in relation to the total population then ever before. We have been fighting an enemy that many other nations have fought against and lost. Our shear size and strength of economy has kept most of the threat out of the public eye so far. The small number of men and women risking their lives to defend the precious freedoms we enjoy are the single thread holding this colorful Christmas Sweater of a country together. The evil, radical agents of Islam are steadily embedding themselves in our country and like a cancer they are corrupting the cells of our culture. Meanwhile we are focused inward, eating ourselves to death in the form of partisan politics. Instead of coming together to solve real problems we are doubling down on the most absurd and irrational arguments like sports fans rooting for their favorite team. I am not proud of what is happening and I hope it's only superficial.
I fear that intellectual honesty is dead. It seems like common sense is a super power only wielded by a select few and when it is injected into the public eye it is batted away like an offensive spec of dust. We have so quickly forgotten the threat that is staring us in the face because there is a screen blocking the view with click bait headlines, celebrity gossip and a for profit media propagating an us vs. them agenda. With so much virtue signaling and a total disregard for critical thinking, there doesn't seem to be much hope for us to settle our disputes.
How long will it take for us to stop seeing this country as red or blue and to start realizing that it is red, white and blue. Red and blue may be separated by the white on the flag but it takes both of those primary colors to represent our great nation. I wore those colors on my shoulder in Afghanistan where I witnessed an evil person murder 2 Americans and then try to murder me in the name of his god. I fought back and I won. That is what we do, we fight for what we love and we win. I was severely wounded and I almost didn't make it. Our country has been deeply wounded by that same evil but it doesn't compare to damage we are doing to ourselves. I fought to stay alive so that I could see my children grow up, learn and be happy. I am sad and even angry that the fight I was in was the wrong one. I fight now for fragile rights that I thought were written in stone. The 5 tenants of the first amendment are being assaulted from those that seek it's protection. The right to arm and protect ourselves from all enemies is under constant attack in the name of safety. Our right to due processes and the very rule of law is being manipulated to serve the powers that be in the form of humanitarianism. Words are being redefined to suit the needs of the self proclaimed social activists in order to justify their indiscretions. Enough already.
The politicians that are supposed to represent us are now celebrities and are chosen by cult of personality instead of by what they can do to make us better. What used to be the highest office in the land has become a reality TV show. The idea of judging someone based on their actions and deeds has instead been replaced by blind party affirmation and rhetoric. We have divided ourselves into 2 opposing forces, each immovable in their resolve to be right. What can even be done to fix our attitude when so many people have chosen sides and are dug in like ticks engorged on the blood of self righteousness?
For starters people can stop relying on network comedy shows and click bait articles generated by algorithms for their sole source of news. The instinct to question everything and seek out knowledge for one's self has been on the endangered species list for too long. Put the phone down, turn off the smart TV's and start thinking for yourself. Why is it so hard to learn and grow when all of the worlds knowledge is at our fingertips? We have removed ourselves from evolution and our damned opposable thumbs and big brains are turning us into morons. I don't have any answers. I'm just a broken man trying to make the world a better place for my daughters. I might as well go piss into the wind for all the good I can do. Unless the answer is for everyone to focus on the few things they can control and treat the people around them like they want to be treated? I think there is even a rule about this... what do I know though?
