Commentary: Old Glory, "triggers," and fireworks...

[mijan]

NOTE:  This is not aimed at my f-list.  It's not aimed at anyone in particular.  This is some venting at the general population that I need to get off my chest. 


So the 4th of July is coming up.  I know a lot of you folks on my f-list are Americans.  So am I.  Hell, I'm an American veteran.  Bully for me, right?  I've got some sort of quasi-sainthood according to some factions of the population because I did some pushups, strapped on combat boots, blew up some shit, and buried more than one of my own guys.  All hail patriotism, right?

And because a veteran like me is so patriotic (which I am, actually), I must love the 4th of July.  I must LOVE watching people abuse the American flag by wearing it as a cheap Wal-Mart garment, or sitting on it as a beach towel, or wiping their mouths on it when it's printed on napkins distributed around the picnic blanket in the park.  I must love the sanctimonious hails to the Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, and Sailors who "gave so much" so that the people raising their ice-cold beers can feel better about their own personal comfort.  I must love the cries of "God and Country," and people's attempts to tie their religious preferences to my patriotism.  And oh yes, I must love the fireworks.

Now, I don't speak for every Soldier or veteran.  I speak for myself only.  I know it surprises a lot of you when you find out that I not only served in the military, but I was an officer, in a command position in a Combat Engineer company.  Yeah - cute, little, sweet, adorable me.  How could I be trained to be that hard?  Well... unless you've been there, you can't understand.

But let me try to get people to understand a couple of things on this 4th of July weekend.

1. Respect the goddamned flag.  It's not a t-shirt, beach towel, picnic blanket, napkin, or fashion accessory.  It doesn't go in the trash.  The PROPER way to dispose of a torn and tattered flag is actually to fold it neatly, and BURN it.  But for the love of Thor, when I see anyone displaying faux-patriotism by the improper use of the flag, it's worse than a slap in the face.

2. Don't TALK about how much the troops gave.  How about this: instead of talk - which is cheap - try taking CARE of this nation that generations of Soldiers secured for you.  Stop trashing it, wasting it, abusing it, and expecting it to keep rolling along with God-sent strength.  Great nations and empires have fallen, and we're not immune.  The greatest threat to national security is complacency.  It's about taking care of what we've got.  You want to honor veterans?  Stop abusing the freedoms they secured for you.

3.  I'm a veteran.  I'm patriotic.  I'm not Christian.  Stop tying those three things together.  It's offensive.

4.  Fireworks.  I love a professional fireworks display.  But you want to know something?  There are fireworks going off in my neighborhood right now.  They sound like machine guns and mortar rounds to me.   I hear a lot of folks in fandom talk about "triggers."   Some people got pissed off at me recently because I wasn't "sensitive" to their triggers because they read something in a journal post that made them upset.  Well, let's put this into perspective for a moment:  You CAN turn off your computer.  For the next week, if not on-and-off all summer, I'm going to be awoken to the sounds of what my brain is telling me are mortar rounds and artillery shells and machine guns.  I'm going to flinch every single time, with the distinct urge to reach for a semi-automatic rifle that I don't own, load it with a magazine that doesn't exist, and take up a defensive posture in a foxhole that I never dug.  I'm going to have dreams about it again.  It happens every year.  I'm not trying to downplay anyone else's trigger here.  I just want people to recognize something they might not have even considered... while they're launching bottle rockets in their backyards and setting off firecrackers in metal barrels.

Oh, I'm not stupid - I KNOW they're all fireworks, bottle rockets, fire crackers, and other bullshit like that.  But that doesn't stop my mind from going there, every single time.  Once a Soldier, always a Soldier.  I hide it deeper than I used to, but don't ever kid yourself and believe that the Soldier is gone.

I loved many aspects of my time in the service.  I have personal reasons why I actually want to go back... because I believe I could still make a difference.  I miss my guys.  I don't miss the politics, but I miss my unit.  We did some good stuff.  I can't go back - injury, medical situation, sexual orientation.  Yeah.  That.  But underneath the bouncy, cheerful, perpetually energetic exterior, there's another layer.  And on the 4th of July every year, the Soldier comes back out to visit... just not always in the way you might think.

Just... do me a favor, guys.  This year, when you pack a picnic lunch and go down to see the fireworks display... think about what I said.  Just spend a couple of minutes thinking about the difference between patriotism and false-patriotism.  Ask yourself what sort of country you want for the future.  And maybe... consider not setting off fireworks in your neighborhoods.  There's a chance that the veteran you thanked earlier that day is lying in bed, trying to sleep, and is reliving memories they'd rather not relive with every explosion.

And now... the real meaning of Independence Day.  I may be busy on the 4th, and not around to actually post this.  So, I'm posting it now.  I present to you the full text of the Declaration of Independence:

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Comments

[eldritchhorrors.livejournal.com]

I love your post. I grew up around veterans, and I agree with you 100%.

[calmnla.livejournal.com]

Very well said. Let me just point out that one of the representatives from Georgia was named Button. I think people might enjoy that. :-)

[izzyfics.livejournal.com]

Word. Especially this:

I'm a veteran. I'm patriotic. I'm not Christian. Stop tying those three things together. It's offensive.

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[susp.livejournal.com]

Awesome post. Did you receive my PM?

[seticat.livejournal.com]

I'm a veteran [enlisted Army medical corps]. I'm patriotic. I'm a Pagan. And the cats and I are going to be freaking out on a semi-regular basis for the next few days. I don't mind fireworks when I know they're there, but the suprises absolutely suck.

[paganitician.livejournal.com]

"This year, when you pack a picnic lunch and go down to see the fireworks display... think about what I said. Just spend a couple of minutes thinking about the difference between patriotism and false-patriotism. Ask yourself what sort of country you want for the future."

That's something I do every Memorial day and 4th of July. I don't say that to boast, or anything, as that would be really stupid ("I spend several minutes a few times per year thinking about the sacrifices made for my country, therefore I'm a patriot and a hero! Gawd bless Amuricah!!" *puke*), and I'm not always proud of some of the things that have happened in this country. All the same, I have a deep respect for the flag.

"And maybe... consider not setting off fireworks in your neighborhoods."

I wish someone would tell that to the idiots who are setting off explosions around here, too.

Growing up in a farm house with the nearest neighbor a good half-mile on the other side of a large swath of woods, there was never any worry about my fireworks displays disturbing others. But I would never seriously consider lighting up fireworks in the middle of a city--especially in a residential area. *sighs and shakes his head*

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Eeep! I did! I just went back and found it. I was just about to go to bed, but I'll reply in the morning. Promise.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Yay for other Pagan troops! *sends hugs*

I started enlisted in the Chemical Corps (although I'd wanted to be a medic - but they offered me a huge bonus to go Chemical), and got my commission after about three years.

Yeah, the surprises get me. Or the long, drawn-out sets of explosions. I mean, if it's a professional display, I'm EXPECTING it, and I can SEE that they're not bombs. But when I hear it echoing around my house... yeah, not so much fun. Good luck to you and your cats.

[liamgolucky.livejournal.com]

*hug*

[sylk.livejournal.com]

You don't know me - I wandered in sometime back and liked what you write enough to stick around and read - but I wanted you to know that this touched me. I have a world of respect for the people who serve, both in my family and out of it, especially with the knowledge that what they do is so valuable and something I'm so incredibly not suited to do.

I realize 'thank you' is cheap and means much less than actions, but on the Internet words are most of what I have. Instead of saying thank you, though, I will say that I will take what you've said to heart and do my part, however small, to not let things slip away through complacency.

I hope that, to the extent that it's possible, that you have a peaceful 4th without too many memories you'd rather avoid.

[lurkitty.livejournal.com]

Another wonderful post!

Regarding the flag, I saw a pickup truck with a full-size flag mounted on it going 65 mph down the highway. You could see the wind tearing and tattering the edge. All I could think of was "that's not right!". Patriotism is one thing, but out and out abuse is another. It's not a toy, and that was 100% disrespectful. There's a home in the park here with a torn, faded flag that's tangled in a bush. That's disgusting as far as I'm concerned. If you're going to fly the colors, do it right.

I'll echo the thought on 4th of July explosives as well. Around here, someone has a stash of illegal noisemakers and starts setting them off a week in advance. Everyone can tell they're not what you buy at the local fireworks tent; these are ones you can hear for miles around. We have no local police here and are under Sheriff's office jurisdiction, so unless the Sheriff happens to be around, they won't get caught. I can't imagine how the local soldiers feel when those go off. It's bad enough during hunting season when we can hear the reports of the hunting rifles in the hills and near the lake.

Tikka is terrified of loud noises. He hides under the bed and yowls when it gets really bad, "Moooooom! Make it go away!" Lately, whenever the banging starts, I've been feeding him treats, hoping to get him to associate something positive with the loud noise. Don't know what else to do.

[gasphemer.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

*hugs*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this. It's easy to forget, or not to know these realities.

[vixys.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I forget how you've spent a decent chunk of your life, and what you've been through. Not often, though. ♥♥

Damn Straight!

[kahla-robin.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this post. I'm also a veteran and I agree with you wholeheartedly, but I often have a hard time expressing myself to civilians about it. That flag stuff really gets to me too. You know, when I finally came home I was devastated by all of the liberties that American citizens (these same so-called patriots) had surrendered voluntarily because of how scared they were sitting on their asses while we were off fighting for them...and the strangest things can be triggers, can't they? Gunshots and fireworks do the trick, but my heart would also start racing every time I drove passed a box or something on the side of the road. I knew it wasn't going to blow up, but I had to brace for it until it was out of sight in my rear view mirror for years.

Patriots can be Democrats, Republicans, Straight, Gay, Bi, Christian, Muslim, Pagan, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, Black, Brown, White, Male, Female or any other label you like so long as they love the United States of America, believe in our Constitution, and are willing to educate themselves enough to make informed decisions on how to uphold that constitution!

[hughcasey.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your service to our country.

(This is probably the most patriotic icon I have. Strange, that. *Grin*)

[lunalovegoddess.livejournal.com]

Thank you, on behalf of my cousin who is no longer with us. While he survived war, it took its toll in many ways. Jack would really have appreciated your comments, especially since fireworks were one of his triggers.

[cedarrapidsgirl.livejournal.com]

You're making me tear up and it's not even 9 am! :)

I don't like the fourth of July. And it's for personal reasons. It was the last day I saw my dad alive, if you could call it that. Nothing to do with the military or fireworks. And I understand, you don't hate the holiday, you don't like what it has come to represent. I say that about Memorial Day as well.

I have never liked fireworks, myself. I don't mind the big professional displays, but I'm not a fan of the yard displays. It doesn't help that in Iowa a lot of the "bigger" fireworks are banned. So, of course, some Iowans go to Wisconsin or Missouri to get the illegal ones. (My husband did this during our trip to Wisconsin.) Not only is it too noisy for me at all hours of the night for the week prior to and after the actual holiday, but it also brings out the police presence here (which is good for catching them) but still, not a good time.

I hate to tell people what's wrong when they ask why I hate the holiday, because I don't want to be a downer. Luckily, most people are too caught up in their parties/picnics/beer drinking to worry about me.

*hugs*

[siriuslydlucius.livejournal.com]

Wow, I never comment, but I do read your posts. I just wanted to chime in, because this is an issue that does really get on my nerves.

I live in Georgia. I love Georgia, and the United States, and I would never want to live anywhere else. But my whole life, I've had to deal with the perception that you can't be liberal and love this country. Just because I don't fit into the "conservative christian, conservative politics, conservative sexuality" box, I can't be a patriot.

I had honestly never thought about fireworks that way. I don't usually set them off, and I definitely won't be doing it again.

[siriuslydlucius.livejournal.com]

And that icon is not about you, it is about those annoying people.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Fireworks also make me twitchy, and the only time I enjoy explosions is in movies, when I KNOW they can't hurt me.

I had one of those past live readings done once, and I kinda thought it was a joke, right up until I was told that the last time around, I was a French soldier in WWII who died by being blown apart by an anti-tank round.

A part of me wants to blow this off, but my phobia of guns and many of my ways of looking at the world say "soldier" to me. You're not the only one who panics at the sound of those stupid hand-held fireworks, or even the large ones going off in the sky.

[brynnh87.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this.

I grew up with an older cousin, who was back from vietnam. he flinched each time a car backfired or something dropped that sounded vaguely like a gunshot. He HATED fireworks. some people actually made fun of him...said he was 'shellshocked' (this was before the diagnosis was changed to PTSD). He wasn't, in my opinion. He didn't have flashbacks, per se, or anything. He just temporarily translated those sounds as gunshots, etc. He temporarily went on high alert. Some of his own family would drop things on purpose to watch him do it, and then laugh at him. It always made me SO angry that they would do this. I was like 8 or so, and I knew better, and these people were much older than that. some of his older brothers (who had escaped the draft for one reason or the other) even did that and of course they HAD to have fireworks. They used to tease him that 'the reason he went to war was to preserve their right to put off fireworks'. can you tell I don't have a whole lot of respect for some of the members of my extended family?

This isn't exactly what you were talking about. Hopefully no one puts off fireworks on purpose to annoy you. HOPEfULLY, they just don't realize it bothers you, or bothers that vet down the street or their relative returning from action. But it was somewhat related in my own mind and I thought I'd share.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

See, I like any explosion when I KNOW it's coming, and when it doesn't make me think of military weaponry. I actually don't like war movies. I can handle "phasers and photon torpedoes" because they're nothing like the sound of machine gun fire and artillery. Sci-fi battles don't look "real." However, show me a movie where you're up-close and personal with Soldiers covered in dirt and blood... sorry, I can't do it.

I don't exactly panic... but my brain wants to switch into Soldier/combat mode. That's not a good thing in a civilian environment.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

That's awful, what they did to him. I hope he's doing better these days.

I don't have flashbacks. My brain just wants to kick into Soldier-mode, briefly interpreting the noises as something else.

Nobody is setting off the fireworks specifically to annoy me. Not at all. People are just fireworks-crazy around here and set them off all the time just because they can. They don't think about anything but themselves. And each morning, there are empty fireworks casings all over the place, which annoys me, too.

Thank you for sharing the story about your cousin.