supporting the troops

I get all steamed up when I see one of those yellow ribbon “Support the Troops!” magnets on a car next to a “W” sticker. Really? Support the troops? By supporting the administration that is keeping them in a war where they are being inadequately fed, don’t have access to clean water, are poorly paid, and oh yeah, being killed?

I support the troops. I want them to come home.

I know the military life more than most people. I was born on a military base. I have lived in military housing and seen military doctors. And we were poor. Really, seriously poor, living on military pay. GI Bill? I know all about that too. I watched my husband have to come up with his entire tuition and pay for it up front before being reimbursed for it. I have friends who came back from the first Gulf War sick and unable to find jobs.

My husband told me the other day that his boss’s son is leaving for Iraq. I got that pit in my stomach and asked what branch of the military he is in. Turns out he’s not in the military. He’s a contractor. He’s getting paid $60,000 to go there for 3 months. Some troops won’t be paid that much in 3 years.

People should be ashamed.

bitter

i don’t get why it’s such a big deal that barack obama made a comment saying that voters are bitter.

i’m bitter. i admit it.

i’m bitter that more of our budget is being spent on the iraqi police force than on the u.s. education system.

i’m bitter that there are classrooms in portable buildings at my kids’ school.

i’m bitter that oil companies are rolling in dough while gas prices are at an all time high.

i’m bitter that my husband works for a huge multi-national corporation, but we are only being offered catastrophic health insurance for our family this year.

i’m bitter that researchers have been able to reprogram embryonic stem cells to fight cancer, but it’s too hard to fund research because most people don’t bother to understand what stem cells even are, they just follow what the guy behind the pulpit says.

i’m bitter that more and more families are losing loved ones to war every single day.

i’m bitter that people would dare to say that i don’t support the troops because i want them to come home alive, and as soon as possible.

i’m bitter that there are children who have never lived a day without hearing a war outside their windows.

i’m bitter that lobbyists have more say in what happens in my community than i do.

you know what i’m not bitter about? someone finally acknowledging that i’m bitter.