Editorial Got It Wrong
As a Vietnam-era veteran who lost several compatriots in that meaningless war, whose uncles proudly served this country in World War II and whose grand-nephew presently serves in Afghanistan, I was profoundly offended by the editorial published in the Daily Pilot online May 26th titled, "Honor the fallen in the civil rights war too", HERE.
The reason for the Memorial Day holiday is to pause and reflect on the hundreds of thousands of men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice in ALL our military engagements, whether we called them "wars" or "police actions" or "skirmishes". It is to pay our respects to those brave people who died in the military service to our country - ALL of them.
DISRESPECT FOR THOSE WHO SERVED AND DIEDFor the Daily Pilot to publish an editorial that attempts to somehow equate the death of Harvey Milk - a military veteran and openly-gay politician who was murdered by a deranged colleague - to those men and women who died in military service to this country is a despicable act of disrespect to all who served and died, to those who served with them and to those who survived them and honor their memory this weekend.
During my tour of service nearly 50 years ago I served with men I knew to be gay and some women who were lesbians. They did not hide their sexual orientation, but neither did they flaunt it. All I saw were men and women proudly serving their country and I was proud to serve along side them.
INAPPROPRIATE AND OFFENSIVEIn my view, it is completely inappropriate for an editorial that begins purporting to honor those who died in military service to this country to be morphed into a a gay and lesbian rights manifesto. Whether the Orange County Board of Supervisors fails to designate recognition of Harvey Milk's birthday or not may be a subject for ANOTHER editorial, but not one that honors fallen military men and women.
I would be very surprised to learn that ANY member of the Daily Pilot Editorial Board has ever served in the military. If they had, they would understand just how inappropriate and offensive this particular editorial is to those of us who have served. My comment is NOT an anti-gay screed, although I suspect some will attempt to characterize it as such. It is simply an expression of my disappointment in the Daily Pilot Editorial Board for its insensitivity - nothing more.
Labels: Daily Pilot, Harvey Milk, Memorial Day
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 5/27/2012 01:41:00 AM
3 Comments:
Thank you for your service. This "holiday" is to give us free and safe citizens an opportunity to Memorialize those who voluntarity gave the ultimate sacrifice.
We give honor to them by celebrating the victories for peace. Peace is obtained through victory (war is not for winning) and maintained by keeping the honor.
It is increasingly hard to maintain their memory, yet I make as promise to them:
We will not falter and we will not fail
To continue to honor & celebrate our freedom.
Yitgadal veyitkadash shemei raba bealma divera chirutei, veyamlich malchutei, bechayechon uveyomeichon uvechayei dechol beit yisrael, ba'agala uvizman kariv, veimru amen.
Y'hei shemei raba mevorach, leolam ulealmei almaya.
Yitbarach veyishtabach veyitpaar veyitromam veyitnasei veyithadar veyitaleh veyithalal shemei dekudesha, berich hu.
le'eila min kol birchata veshirata tushbechata venechemata daamiran bealma, veimru amen.
yhei shelama raba min shemaya, vechayim aleinu veal kol yisrael, veimru amen.
oseh shalom bimromav, hu yaaseh shalom, aleinu veal kol yisrael, veimru amen.
...With great respect, for all our fallen soldiers.
The above contribution from Terry Koken threw me a curve. I tried to find a translation for it, unsuccessfully. Fortunately, Terry provided me with the following message explaining the comment.
It is Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, in Aramaic transliterated. There are a lot of nuances to it; when the logic of it finally dawned on me it was an epiphany. A translation of it is as follows:
Let the Name be made great and holy in the world He created through His will;
May the Kingdom be complete in your lifetime, in your days, and in the days of the house of Israel, and let us say amen.
May the great Name be blessed forever.
May the blessed Name be praised, glorified, honored, viewed with awe, embellished, and hallowed, blessed be He;
and may the blessed Name be hailed though it is above all the praises, hymns, and songs of adoration that human beings can utter, and let us say amen.
May the Name grant universal peace and life for us, and for all Israel, and let us say amen.
May the Maker of Peace give peace to us and to all Israel, and let us say amen.
(Capitalized words are, of course, euphemisms for God, the utterance of whose name is forbidden.)
It says nothing of death or dying, or memorialization of those departed, but only "raises my eyes to the mountains" and praises God; yet the most fervent wish of most Jews is that after they are gone, somebody will utter Kaddish for them. In this it is unique, and unlike any other prayer for the dead I have ever seen.
OK, I'm taking his word for this, and it's not just a way to cuss out the city council on the sly. Thanks to Terry for this heartfelt message on this issue.
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