Plato Knew...

"Only the dead have seen the end of war."


Recently, I heard the news that a very dear friend of mine had committed suicide. In shock and disbelief, I scoured the Internet to find the news in our local paper or a clip from the news. Nothing. Nothing was found to be found here in the local media. I finally found his death notice in his hometown paper.

Why?
Because my friend was a soldier. A medic for the US Army. The officials apparently thought it best not to let the information leak that a soldier had taken his life.
Why?
Scared that maybe some of the other killing machines they have created will get the same idea and off themselves and THAT would make the United States of America look bad? Our leaders make me sick.
The soldiers are sent off to war, sometimes several times in a row. For instance, my ex-husband. He has recently started his 4th tour in Iraq. We have three children together and after the first time he deployed, he came back a changed man. Even if the soldiers are "lucky" to make it home, they are not alive anymore. They are just waiting for death to come for them, and in the mean time drink their fears away, shoot them up in the fluffy clouds with drugs, or drag their families into their personal hell with them.

My ex-husband is a good man who is the perfect soldier. To show distress from war exposure is a weakness and will be punished immediately by their superiors. He knows that. So does every other soldier in the United States military, no matter what they may be spoon-fed by the politically correct silver tongued leaders who preach about getting help for the epidemic of depression over taking our soldiers. How ironic that our leaders send our fellow citizens off to a war for oily money, for pride, for "justice," yet when the good and faithful servant shows sign of weakness, they are dispensed of as if they did not sacrifice all that was important to them to serve our government, and have something relative to the black plague.

I am not anti-soldier.
I am anti-senseless-war.
I am anti-senseless-loss.
I am anti-abusing-our-defenders.
I am anti-killing-our-soldiers-in-silent-prisons.

I have lost more than one special person to the desert sand-filled winds they breathe in.
I lost my family because my ex's soul was left on the side of the road in Iraq where he watched his comrades being blown up, with him not able to do a damn thing.
I lost faith in my government's ability to guide and protect us, and it's men that protect us all.
I lost my right to privacy in suspicion of terrorism because of the Patriot Act.
I lost another friend to the horrendous nightmares and bloody reality he lives inside of every day.
I lost my friend, SPC Christopher Akin, to suicide because he could not fight any longer.

So much "I" in this. Think of the "I" as "we"...and think about the people you know personally who war has touched and torn apart. "I" represent the collective "we" who are suffering along with our soldiers. We are a scarred Nation, with no Faith, no Love, and no Compassion left for mankind.

I've heard a lot of people say all sorts of things to justify why "we" have had to have this war, and though the official-ness of it is ended, it will never end for those of us who have come in contact with it, either directly or indirectly.

The debt amounted can never be paid. The innocence robbed can never be regained. The fatherless, and motherless children of the consequences of war will never forget the government that was designed to protect them, helped destroy them. The families that have been torn apart, because the men we entrusted to the government, were returned to us hollow and angry shells of the men who left us.

My friend, Chris, was 23. He was one of the greatest and smartest people I knew, even if he was antagonistic and semi-annoying (like a little brother) at times. That was his brilliance. He wanted to act like a heartless fool, but while you were busy being distracted by the things he threw at you to think about, he sized you up. He was a worthy opponent in debate and yet, one of the most gentle people that has ever graced the face of this earth. I do not know what could have happened to make Chris give up his love for living, for giving, for knowledge, but I do know he deserved better then what he got in return for his service to the government.

Our soldiers are men. They are not machines. No matter what they are made to believe, they have a soul, and their minds will only withstand so many assaults on human decency. No one should experience what the soldiers have that I have talked about.

They are all locked within a prison from which they cannot get out. Chris found his key, but the door spilled out into oblivion.

"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule." Friedrich Nietzsche

Here's to "Fuckin Chris"-- I hope your journey is more peaceful now and that The Flying Spaghetti Monster has wrapped you in His very best ravioli He can make...I love you and will miss you until I see you again, my friend.

Peace. Now. Please.