A number of my friends send me requests to 'support our troops,' 'remember our heroes,' and to condemn those who kill one of 'our boys.'
I can't say with any conviction that 'fighting' for this country has ever, nor will ever appeal to me. I find the idea of marching, boot-polishing, shooting people, 'following orders' and 'the Queen' alien and deeply disturbing.
But I love and respect the people mentioned above. and can understand why some might find their life path leading to the recruitment sergeant's door.
The militarist's most telling argument is World War 2. 'What would have happened if we hadn't fought the Nazi's? What usually follows is deaf ears.
You see, any serious scholar of history would soon discover that wars are never fought between the good and the bad guys. They are orchestrated and funded by the bad guys.
And the good guys, i.e. 'our boys', commit some of the most appalling atrocities. And no, it isn't just the Americans in Vietnam either. Soldiers are trained to kill. If you can't do that, you are a useless soldier. I found out from someone in the army, that recruits are given rabbits as pets, and then after a period of time, their job is to kill the animal. Is that the kind of mind-set you want from a fully functioning human being? But it is clearly the mind set needed of a soldier.
Self-evidently there are numerous acts of courage and bravery in wars. And I applaud anyone who selflessly puts his or her comrades first, ahead of their own safety in very difficult situations.
But what are you fighting for? The Queen? A woman who owns one sixth of the world's land mass, and despite the PR machine, despises you. A person who happily beats a pheasant to death with a stick, encourages her offspring to kill foxes, boars and other wildlife. And much, much worse. Her husband, a former Nazi? The whole carpet-bagging lot, the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas are an incestuous, fascist, humanity-hating cabal.
So, it is for your country? A country also run by people who despise you. And God help you if you get injured. No appearance on the victory parade for you son, Thatcher can't stand the sight of missing limbs, and Iain Duncan-Smith will get ATOS to get you back to work quicker than you can say PTSD.
A wonderful spiritual teacher, Dannion Brinkley, was a small town thug who graduated to become a sniper and assassin. Whilst 'on duty' he killed, by his own admission, innocent people. After being struck by lightning, and then being pronounced dead, he lay under a sheet on a trolley in the hospital. Twenty minutes elapsed before he 'awoke.' During that time, he visited the world of spirit, and came back with a mission and purpose. Dannion has written several books, and he helps war veterans 'pass over.'
Again, self-evidently, in both my and your ancestral line are killers and in my past lives you and I have killed people. If the human race is at least one million years old, then do the calculations. The probability of a murderer-free ancestral line, and a saintly past life existence is almost zero.
I have no issue with individual men and women in the armed forces who realise they were not put on this earth to kill Johnny Foreigner for the 1% who own all the wealth. And whose wealth and power is massively magnified by deliberately starting wars. And I have no problem with men and women who are in doubt as to why they are still shooting and bombing innocent civilians. And I have sympathy for those injured or traumatised through 'following orders.'
But I do have a problem with people who regard any war as justified. They have been brainwashed.
Want some real heroes? Gandhi. Mother Teresa. Martin Luther King. Helen Keller. Alice Herz Sommer. Nick Vujicic. Princess Diana.
In closing, I will no doubt find myself helping veterans recover myself. Can't shake off that family tradition. But don't ask me to sign that petition.