Friday, September 01, 2006

Reflections From A Mini-Series

Sometimes even television can enhance your life like the finest works of art.

No, I'm not talking about anything I've seen on recently. While shows like 24 and House are creative and enjoyable, they are merely forms of entertainment. They beat any of the so-called reality shows, but they are not something I would declare a masterpiece.

Roots was a masterpiece. Seinfeld, I believe, was also a masterpiece, though of a different nature.

Last night I finished watching the finest television mini-series I've ever seen. It was the HBO mini-series called Band of Brothers. It chronicled Easy Company from training through D-Day through Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge through to the end of World War II.

As the series progressed, I felt every emotion. I laughed. I cried. I was horrified. I was proud. Most of all, I was in awe of these great men, these heroes of the battlefield.

Courage is a trait I believe we all wish we had. Sometimes, we find it, other times we fail. These men acted with courage in the most dire of circumstances. They showed resiliency. They never quit. They accepted their role and they executed it.

I found myself wondering many things. How would I perform under the same circumstances? Surely, I would have been trained as they were, so I would have been prepared. But war is war and no one really knows until they have been in it.

Also, I wondered about the other soldiers in World War II and in other wars. Were they as courageous? I came to the conclusion that most probably were. On both sides. Band of Brothers addresses that, as a German general is surrendering his troops to the Americans. He requests permission to address his men. What he said to his men was exactly what I was thinking about Easy Company.

I came to the conclusion that, yes, most soldiers acted courageously in battle. Most were, and are, heroes.

Then I wondered how we could send our heroes into battle as haphazardly as we do. Since 1959, when we first stationed soldiers in Vietnam, our government has sent soldiers all over the world -- and for what? To protect American interests?

American interests. The way I see it, keeping our soldiers -- our heroes -- from needless warfare is truly American interests.

The difference between the men of Easy Company and the men of units in Vietnam or Iraq isn't that they were more or less courageous or heroic. It's that their war was necessary.

Today we have soldiers in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Considering 9/11 and the recent attempted attacks on us, I have no doubt we are fighting a necessary war in Afghanistan. But the men and women stationed in Iraq are there, forced into battle where their courage is tested daily, without good reason.

Please remember, those of us who oppose this war, that the opponent here is not the soldier. It is the politician. There is great honor in serving your country as courageously as the men and women in our armed forces do.

There is no honor in sending those men and women to die without good cause.

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