Steve Green, of Daily Referendum, brought our attention to a grave matter this afternoon. I've nicked his quote and will start with it:'The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war,no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation'' --George Washington--My father would turn in his grave. Just what do we bother for? I am beyond apoplectic and if I try to write something on it, I'll say something I regret, particularly about young women:
Soldiers who suffered appalling injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan were verbally abused as they swam in a public swimming pool.
During a weekly rehabilitation class at a council leisure centre, 15 servicemen – including several who have lost limbs or suffered severe burns – were heckled and jeered by members of the public.
One woman was so incensed that the troops were using the pool at Leatherhead Leisure Centre in Surrey that she told them they did not deserve to be there. The swimmer, thought to be in her 30s, is understood to have said: "I pay to come here and swim – you lot don't."
I am numb at this because it is not just this moron but the whole attitude of society and the "everything is me" syndrome.
I wish to take that woman and ask her point blank; "What have you personally ever done for your society and its long term safety?"
Do you know the way the ordinary person over here in Russia treats its veterans, particularly the last vestige of the Stalingraders? Even low-lifes would not stoop this low. But the new breed of girl in the city is now different - not all of them but many.
February 23rd, my birthday, is the day of the Defenders of the Fatherland here and anyone 30 or over knows what goes down. I asked all the girls I know: "What do you have planned for the boys, for the men?"
"When?"
"February 23rd."
Yes that. The boys who put their lives on the line so you can live in the style to which you aspire. And you know, they go quiet and disappear the day before, many of them, mysteriously to reappear on February 24th.
Now don't get me wrong, women of a certain maturity were also under extreme duress at that time and every mother I know does all she can on that day. Especially as her day, March 8th, is just round the corner.
It's the vilified men over here, with their vodka and attitude who come up trumps this time. They don't expect anything from their women - it was their duty to defend Russia. End of story.
Speaking generally once again - the respect for veterans, male and female must be so far beyond any sort of question that they should have free halves of the pool, not just lanes, free transport and there should be collection points in every town in prominent places where a fiver or tenner can be left for the vets.
Every one of them should have the same sort of adulation and respect Ike had when he acceded to the presidency. Monty in Africa. Churchill. But far more - this should be an integral part of every single schools course - I'd best stop, otherwise this will go on all night.
I would dearly love to see some sort of post, some sort of comment from the womenfolk to assure me that we haven't gone stark, raving mad.
I have written about it here. I think she plumbs a depth of selfishness unparalleled in civilised society.
ReplyDeleteVery sad state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteAnd here it is: I was sickened when I saw the article too - sickened at the ignorance of the woman in question. I mean ignorance about disability. But don't you think an ignorant young man might have made the same sort of comment? I have heard them do so. And there are certainly men and boys who ignore Remembrance Sunday in Britain. So I don't know why you are partially having another go at women in reaction to this.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time as being sickened by the article, I thought, "Oh, no, we'll get some extreme reactions now." Perhaps you men get more worked up about it because it is traditionally men who go to war but women are front-line soldiers too, now, a fact which you do not mention. I can understand the angry reactions but there are things which would anger me far more. This might depend on how much suffering a person has actually seen. I'm sure Bel and Ellee will have their say on the incident but would guess that it will be calmer.
I don't think you can force or "teach" respect for the armed forces. In Britain, after all, no one is forced to join them. If everybody thought "my country right or wrong" we'd be back in the dark ages. It is possible to be anti-war [and I am particularly anti-this-war] and anti-military but still, of course, feel great sympathy and sorrow for those who don't come home or come home maimed.
I'm not sure what you're implying by "every mother I know does all she can on that day. Especially as her day, March 8th, is just round the corner." Perhaps I am reading it wrongly but surely that is not the reason they pull the stops out? Doesn't say much for us if it is.
Women are complicit in war, you know. It was women who gave out white feathers during WW1 and were as guilty as government in making it all sound like a jolly day out. Those women make me ashamed too. But that was born of ignorance as well.
I would argue, you see, that going to war does not necessarily make your country or society a safer place. The pacifist Vera Brittain, who lost her fiancé and brother in WW1 writes:
"I had to accept [the War] as fact, and at last was forced to take part in it, to endure the fear and sorrow and fatigue that it brought me, and to witness in impotent anguish the deaths, not only of those who had made my personal life, but of the many brave, uncomplaining men whom I had nursed and could not save. But even that isn't enough. It's my job, now, to find out all about it, and try to prevent it, in so far as one person can, from happening to other people in the days to come."
If I'd been present at this incident - and I hope I'd have been brave enough, for people get killed for less in Britain now - I would have asked the woman not what she had ever done for her country's security, but about her attitude to disability.
Correction, Welshcakes:
ReplyDelete...Speaking generally once again - the respect for veterans, male AND FEMALE must be so far beyond any sort of question...
In the west these days, is it possible for any woman to say the simple words "our brave men who fought to protect us", without bringing feminism into it?
After that we can talk of "our brave women".
Well, it depends which war you are talking about as I don't think Iraq is being fought to protect us . By "us" I mean the whole population, not "Women". That does NOT mean that I do not regard our soldiers as brave and of course, once in the military, they have no choice. If we are talking about WW2, then we have to say "our brave men and women who fought to protect us" because that is a fact. I don't see what feminism has to do with it.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's disgusting that she said such things to ANYONE.
ReplyDeleteKinda like a certain blogger thinking he own the blogosphere and can and use his blog to degrade women with the FULL sanction of BP.
I should have been a vet, I guess.
As a mother of a USAF pilot I would have wanted to punch that womans lights out but I know that would bring no resolve to this situation. I am quite disgusted and can only imagine she is clueless about freedoms our military, British or USA's, brings. Grrrr.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly, Welshcakes. Bad attitude to any disability, and extremely bad manners, to boot!
ReplyDelete