Soldiers are people too

Recently, the media has been having a field day covering Cindy Sheehan. In case you have missed it, Cindy Sheehan is the mother of a soldier who died in Iraq. She is staging a protest outside of Bush's ranch in Texas, and claims that she will stay until President Bush agrees to personally meet with her and discuss the situation in Iraq. The political left has jumped on her protest, and now the whole political spectrum is in a frenzy over the situation.

Initially, I found the situation rather amusing. What great insights does Ms. Sheehan have regarding the war? Obviously, she must think they are pretty important to demand an audience with the President. She must think that the President is going to be more willing to listen to her than Democratic Senators, members of the House, and other individuals that want to tell the President he is wrong. I sympathize for her loss, but she is very arrogant in assuming that she should have time on the President's calendar. I have some great ideas on how the government could more effectively use technology. Should I demand some time from the President too?

But as I considered the situation in more depth, it began to bother me. Ms. Sheehan has effectively told the world that the decisions and choices that her son made don't matter. She shows a total lack of respect towards her son as an individual. Given the volunteer nature of the military, her son made a choice to join the military. When he joined the military, it would have been made very clear ("crystal") to him that the purpose of the military is to kill people and break things. War is "politics by other means". Further, if Ms. Sheehan's son had thought that the war in Iraq was wrong, he could have made a choice to go AWOL or be put into the brig. But he chose to fight in the war, and he served honorably, and I am thankful that there are men and women who serve our country in this capacity.

So what gives Ms. Sheehan the right to disregard the choices her son made? And why do people (at least the media) think that just because she is the mother of this slain soldier, that her opinions on the war matter more than those of the rest of the citizens of this country? Some people talk about the "great sacrifice" that she has made. But the real sacrifice was made by her son, and not by her.

If my life had worked out a little differently, I would be in the military now, and I would have dutifully served my country, even in Iraq. And if I had died in Iraq, it would have been a great tragedy if someone in my life discredited my life and my right to make choices.

So let's raise a toast to Mr. Casey Sheehan, and all of the men and women of our armed services, and be thankful that there are people like that who have made the choice to serve our country the way they do. And I will do my part to make sure that they get the support and respect that they deserve.