For the past 10 years it seems as though we finally appreciate those who risk their lives to keep our freedom as free as possible. But will our passion and love for the veterans die down once the war in the Middle East dies down? Will the support and appreciation we have been illustrating for the past 10 year go away once there is no freedom or justice to be fighting for?
The truth is Americans tend to have a short memory span, if it’s not in our face or on the news every day the importance and the lack of interest goes way down until something drastic happens forcing us to take notice once more.
The American people have been in numerous amounts of wars leaving over 2 million soldiers’ dead and over 2 million families grieving. People can say they care about veterans now, because we are still at war. But once it’s all over who is genuinely going to care?
Every day when I walk around campus I tend to see someone in uniform, displaying their dedication and their drive to serve and protect their country. Maybe they will fight in the war in Afghanistan or maybe they will be a one of the lucky ones who never have to deal with the trauma and the heart break they might have to encounter if forced to go to war.
Whether they ever pick up a gun or ever get wounded in battle the mere fact they choose to go into the military during this time, is a brilliant attribute within itself, knowing the risk they face.
Whenever the war is over, or not, I feel as though we are going to forget all about those soldiers who lost their lives fighting for our country in the past and in the present, who will never be able to see the outcome of the war’s purpose, positive or negative, and all those families who never got the chance to say good-bye to their children. It will be as though they died in vain.
I personally know how it feels to be without someone close to you because of the war, my mother just recently got deployed to take part in the continuous war in the Middle East for the next year.
Though she will be in a safer place than those who are on the front line, the simple fact that she will be away from me and my family for a year is hard enough. Whether it is a year or a few months the war in Afghanistan and wars in the past take more than just time away from families.
We should give our admiration equally to those who get deployed whether they come back without any physical body damage or never come back at all. Because we know there is enough damage done, just by being over there and seeing the constant devastation every day.
It is not fair in any form that millions of soldiers go over and fight a war that seems to have no ending, and come back to a country that may one day forget all about what they have done and all that was lost in the process.
