Sacrifice Repaid: A Huffington Post Cause?

"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan -- to do all which may achieve a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations."
- Abraham Lincoln, second inaugural address, March 4, 1865

This photograph of Lincoln delivering his second inaugural address is the only known photograph of Lincoln giving a speech. Lincoln stands in the center, with papers in his hand.

There is something I have trouble comprehending. Capitalism dictates that whoever takes the biggest financial risks, deserve the biggest rewards. And the worry now is that if executive pay is clamped down on, there will be a whole spate of people who will refuse to work if they are not rewarded according to what they feel their taking risks warrant.

If that is so, then how do we rationalize how small the rewards, much less simple repayment, are given to soldiers and veterans who put their lives (and consequently their families' well-being) at risk so that the rest of us can enjoy freedom and a chance for capitalistic success?

A friend recently told me: The measure of a civilization is how it treats those who have hurt it, are hurting in it, and have sacrificed for it.

I'm not here to rail against our post-Geneva Convention torture of detainees nor about the health care problems of nearly all Americans that refuse to get solved. There are more than enough people at the Huffington Post and elsewhere to weigh in on those.

But I am here to say that it is not enough to honor the "all who gave some" servicemen and women with parades on Veterans Day and the "some who gave all" who gave their lives with ceremonies on Memorial Day. We need to repay their sacrifice with the resources they need and deserve to return to fulfilling civilian lives. And if they have died, we need to help their families. It's the least we can do.

I think it's the least the Huffington Post can do.

Comments

[itolduso]

Dr. Goulston- you are right. This country is at war & our military is in distress. Yet our main stream media appears to be purposely keeping us in the dark. We are getting zero information regarding what's happening with our troops. The high numbers of suicides. The illnesses related to open pit burnings. The financial difficulties their families face due to extended & repeated tours of duty. The outrageous number of active duty soldiers prescribed anti-depressents for symptoms of P.T.S.D. and forced to return to combat while 'drugged up'. The refusal of the V.A. to properly diagnose & treat P.T.S.D.'s­. These things should be on the front page of every newspaper in America along with information on what our military & political leaders are doing to solve them. And what steps 'we, the people' can take to make sure these problems are resolved as soon as possible. We owe this to our men & women in uniform. I too hope the Huff-Post will lead the way.

[richardwb]

If we don't "rail against" U.S. violations of the Geneva Conventions, we are part of the problem.