When I was a little girl I idolized Amelia Earhart.  She strove to be the best pilot.  She wanted to be the best period, not the best women.  It is now believed that she disappeared intentionally to serve the war effort against Japan.  Her disappearance would give the US armed forces a reason to snoop around enemy territory.  She was more than a leader of women's rights.  She was a patriot, willing to risk life and limb to help her country in a time of war.  How would her selfless act be viewed today?  When I was a child, I put no stock in this portion of her story.  I never considered her a solider. I only saw her as a crusader for women's rights, not a crusader for human rights. If her plane were to disappear today over the sands of Iraq or Iran, how would this action be viewed by the American media?  Would they question her involvement in a United States operation publicly across the air waves and eliminate any chance of our forces being allowed to search for her in enemy territory?  Would they chastise her for her involvement in an illegal war?  Would they recommend he be tried by an international court for war crimes?  Such words we never spoken at the time of her disappearance.  People suspected her involvement, but quietly let the rumors lie in the shadows.

Scotty, a childhood friend, idolized his nameless toy soldiers for the valor and bravery in backyard battles.  His soldiers were the bravest.  They fought for freedom for all people.  When the first Iraq war began, he moved his soldiers to the sand box, where they continued to fight for America.  I remember little about the politics of the first Iraq war.  I was in grade school and loved the stories in my weekly reader.  The stories explained what it meant to be a United Sates Soldier.  They explained the honor and sacrifice our brave fighting men make.  We tied yellow ribbons on the oak tree in front of the school.  We made care packages and wrote letters to our soldier pen pals.  We had a bake sale to raise money for wounded veterans and we even bowed our heads in prayer for Erica's Dad and his safe return. 

Today, Scotty's soldiers are depicted as rapists and murders.  Our media repeatedly covered the Haditha massacre and paraded the “star witness” around like this years Oscar winner.  Senator John Murtha stated “Marines over-reacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood,".  The investigation continued and intelligence tapes proved that the soldiers we waiting for a white car to ambush them. The surveillance tapes were used to identify the “star witness” as one of the co-conspirators of the attack.  The US soldiers were released and most of the charges were dropped.  One soldier is filling a liable suit against Senator John Murtha, because he refused to apologize.  Barley a word was muttered in the main stream media about the charges against the soldiers being dropped.  Most Americans are unaware that these soldiers were cleared.  The myth of the Haditha massacre lives on as propaganda for our enemies. 

On a clear day, I can pick up the Armed Forces Radio from Biloxi.  I listen to the real stories of our soldiers, who are still my heroes.  I heard the story of the young private who laid his own body across his gunner's legs and chest to shield him from oncoming fire.  With no small arms ammunition left, the gun mounted atop their armored vehicle was the only weapon they had to shoot their way out of enemy fire.  He lived with four bullet wounds to the chest.  I can not recall the young man name and I am quite ashamed of this fact.  The nameless private received several decorations for this act of valor and returned the Iraq for a second tour of duty.  These stories are like the soldier stories in my weekly reader.  The stories told the tales of the bravest of the brave.  My little cousins will probably never her such stories.  Every night the news complains about the illegal war and the savages we sent over there to according to Senator John Kerry “terrorize women and children in the dark of night”. 

My uncle grew up in the 1960's and he found his heroes in western films and television shows.    Today John Wayne and other mythical cowboys are seen as racist invaders, who decimated the indigenous population.   The story of the American cowboy is no longer a story of struggle, internal conflict between good and evil and the importance of a hard days work.  The cowboy story is now one of murder, deceit and treachery. 

So who are our heroes today?   Astronauts are now astro-nuts.  Cowboys are villains.  Soldiers are killers.  Police can not be trusted.  Teachers are sex fiends.  Sports stars are felons.  Fathers are deemed irrelevant as an unintended side effect of the sexual revolution.  Where will my children to look for inspiration in this world of moral relativism?  How do I explain to a child that right and wrong are not the same for everyone?  How do explain to a child that America is a good country that fights for those who can not fight for themselves, when every newspaper and evening news report contradicts that?  How do I raise a child to be a proud citizen of the United States in this turmoil?  My heroes are still there, but it seems I am the only one who believes they are heroes.  I fear the future for this country, as more children are born out of wedlock in a world of relative moral standards.  I fear the children who have no father to idolize and no heroes in sight.

But no one listens to me

-Patriotic Progeny

Posted: 12/22/07