Show some love for the Marines today
Sunday, February 14, 2010 10:24:33 AM
On a day when we in America are surrounded by commercialized reminders to celebrate romantic love, let us also celebrate expressions of the deepest love man is capable of giving, happening on the other side of the world right now. Today, NATO forces, led mostly by the US Marine Corps, are taking it to the Taliban in the biggest offensive there since the start of the war. This hard, often dirty fighting, is being done by young men and women thousands of miles from their family, friends, and sweethearts. They are entering and taking territory held by people that want to maintain and expand a barbaric, truly stone age, culture and theocracy.
Critics have had plenty of time to deride our presence here using vagaries and political rhetoric. So, here's a quick reminder of what our troops are fighting against. The Taliban, an ultra-extreme Islamic group, abused the people of Afghanistan, removing their freedoms, and inflicting their backward laws upon them. The Taliban routinely executed people publicly for violating these laws -- including many women who had the audacity to show their faces or be seen with men in public. And, the Taliban harbored Bin Laden and Al Queda for years while they planned and executed terrorist attacks all over the world, including 9/11. The cynics who forget why we fight, or cannot clearly see the end objective, need to consider the consequences of millions of people being plunged back into the dark ages after they were so close to the light.
For our Marines, there is even greater clarity. For those in the hell storm and misery of war, discussions of politics and ideology are privileges they don't enjoy at the moment, but are gifts they bestow upon us and the people of Afghanistan. As they brave bullets and bombs, they do so not only for their brothers in arms, but for strangers now alive as well as unborn generations. And in that effort, they take their place in a long line of Marines over the years that have done the same. To paraphrase the divinely-inspired quote: "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for another."
Thank you, Marines. We love you, too.