Thank you for visiting my blog and your kind words. When I was younger I thought being a patriot was being prepared to die for my country. As I rose in the ranks that evolved into (as quoted by GEN. George MacArthur) "Making the other Poor Bastard die for his".
I was a war drum beater for Iraq when it began. I even voted for Bush twice. I believed that being a Patriot and a Republican that I was being led by those who knew the way.
My tours in the Arabian Gulf, finally brought me face to face with the "Enemy". It turned out he was a simple man like me. I don’t need to explain what that means, and I must be honest and say that the change was not overnight.
But as time went by and I thought "Why are we in Iraq?" I could not answer that question with sincerity. I knew how to spout Party Line and invoke the boogie man of Al Qaida (who is a threat, but was not imbedded in Iraq as we were told).
I became dissatisfied with my leadership. I am a man of my Services Core Values of Honor, Courage and Commitment. It was earth shattering the day that I accepted that my Leader's Core Values were Greed, Control and Empire regardless of how he believed them righteous.
I walk a fine line now between worry of treason, outrage and disobedience. I have been graced by a gift though;
The gift of hope.
I have pledged myself to buoy up that wave of hope, to ensure that it does not break until it has long since saturated our very pessimistic shores.
I look forward to following your blog, and hope you return to mine. I had meant to send simple thanks, but find that I am too moved by this feeling to be brief. I hope that feeling does not end.
Chief Instructor Isaiah Wisdom is a 4th Degree Black Belt and Certified Instructor who trained under Brandy Lucky and New School Aikido founder John Smartt.
Santa Rosa New School Aikido
880 Piner Rd.
571-2014
2 comments:
Thank you for visiting my blog and your kind words. When I was younger I thought being a patriot was being prepared to die for my country. As I rose in the ranks that evolved into (as quoted by GEN. George MacArthur) "Making the other Poor Bastard die for his".
I was a war drum beater for Iraq when it began. I even voted for Bush twice. I believed that being a Patriot and a Republican that I was being led by those who knew the way.
My tours in the Arabian Gulf, finally brought me face to face with the "Enemy". It turned out he was a simple man like me. I don’t need to explain what that means, and I must be honest and say that the change was not overnight.
But as time went by and I thought "Why are we in Iraq?" I could not answer that question with sincerity. I knew how to spout Party Line and invoke the boogie man of Al Qaida (who is a threat, but was not imbedded in Iraq as we were told).
I became dissatisfied with my leadership. I am a man of my Services Core Values of Honor, Courage and Commitment. It was earth shattering the day that I accepted that my Leader's Core Values were Greed, Control and Empire regardless of how he believed them righteous.
I walk a fine line now between worry of treason, outrage and disobedience. I have been graced by a gift though;
The gift of hope.
I have pledged myself to buoy up that wave of hope, to ensure that it does not break until it has long since saturated our very pessimistic shores.
I look forward to following your blog, and hope you return to mine. I had meant to send simple thanks, but find that I am too moved by this feeling to be brief. I hope that feeling does not end.
Welcome DL and thank you for this comment. I will indeed continue to visit your blog and hope you will drop by here often.
It takes a lot of courage to follow truth where ever it leads. Hope helps.
Best wishes to you,
L.
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