We're in a time of war and today is Memorial Day, boys and girls. Listen carefully, because I want you to understand exactly what that means, and I don't want you to ever forget it.

Memorial day, boys and girls, is about remembering the fallen. All those brave men and women in the armed forces who have given their lives for their country. Notice how we phrase that. Gave their lives. We would never say that their lives were taken from them before their time or against their will, either by an enemy or by the leadership of their own nation and the circumstances it created. We would never suggest that their deaths were tragic or anything less than meaningful events in the grand narrative of America. That's because they gave their lives -- each soldier! -- in a heroic act of self sacrifice. And, as so many of our leaders and journalists and columnists and right-wing bloggers like to remind us, they did so to protect our freedoms. In fact, if they hadn't, you actually would not be reading this right now. No way. That's because there wouldn't be any blogs, or an internet, or computers, or even a USA if each horrible and bloody death of a young man or woman in uniform had not so gloriously occurred. Do you understand, boys and girls? Pay attention closely, because this is very important. On Memorial Day we wave the flag and watch John Wayne marathons on cable, and we affirm our faith that every single U.S. combat fatality is another link in the chain, another stone in the mighty wall that protects us and our freedoms from all the evildoers in the world who want to take them away. So remember that every flag-draped coffin, every white cross in a rolling field of thousands represents an absolutely essential, totally sacred violent death.



Don't allow yourself to become confused. Also understand that, by extension, this means that every man, woman, and child in a foreign land who was shot, bombed, maimed for life or burned to death with napalm, cluster bombs, or the blast wave of an atomic explosion (by our noble heroes before they died, or by their comrades in arms) died absolutely necessary deaths as well. If not, we surely wouldn't be here to enjoy every single one of our freedoms. They were the enemy, those foreigners. Every one of them. And that's precisely why we never talk about them, or mourn them, or see them on TV, or mention them in our prayers at church. Especially on Memorial Day. Because our ideals in this country don't apply to them; our ideals only apply to Americans. Americans are God's chosen people, so when we kill other, non-American people, it's OK. Because, in every single case, it is unavoidable and necessary. Are you following me boys and girls? Good, because I don't want you ever to be confused about this. I don't want you ever to be tempted to think about this in broader terms than I have just outlined. I never want you to consider, for example, that we should use days of remembrance like this to think about the deeper causes of war and violence, or the virtue of avoiding armed conflict and winning without war. What a silly concept that is, "win without war." How can you win it if it isn't a war? There are only two kinds of people in the world: good guys and bad guys. It is the job and the duty of the good guys to kill the bad guys. It's so simple! Violence is an important part of life and wars are important tests for nations. By the way, they're also very good for business. (At least our business!) When you hear some people say the world would be a better place without war, just laugh at them. They obviously don't know what they're talking about.



So be clear. If anyone ever tries to tell you that our soldiers have ever died tragically or in vain, that they were cruelly taken away from their moms and dads and wives and young children. . . you just tell them the truth -- that they're un-patriotic and un-American for saying so. That they clearly hate their country if that's what they think. People who talk like that should probably be deported immediately. To France. And definitely fired from daytime television. Oh, but when you encounter them, you might want to remind them that others who have won widespread popularity by speaking out with similar "anti-war" or "nonviolent" ideas, like King or the Kennedys or Gandhi or John Lennon and his silly music. . . Well they all ended up with bullets in their heads, boys and girls.



-jw