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March 17, 2015 at 2:47 pm (This post was last modified: March 17, 2015 at 2:48 pm by The Reality Salesman01.)
(March 17, 2015 at 12:33 pm)Kiki Wrote:
(March 16, 2015 at 11:33 pm)daver49 Wrote: Kiki, That seemed to be a quite gentle rant...
Ha!
(March 16, 2015 at 4:42 pm)The Reality Salesman Wrote: I'm an active duty Atheist and after 9 years, it gets harder and harder to accept thanks for my service. I can appreciate that some people are afraid of joining the military and that their gratitude translates more accurateky to "Thanks for volunteering so folks like me don't have to" and while I never experienced the same fear, i can sort of understand the sentiment. I also realize that any country with something to lose can needs a military to protect it and even while I don't agree with much of what the government uses us for, I do see our existence as necessary. I think the U.S. would get stormed over night if we decided to cut all military members from the payroll and immediately ceased all forms of military related activity. I want to say that when people thank a military member for protecting their country, they're really just expressing gratitude for being fortunate enough to live in a country that has a military to ward off other countries from doing what we've been doing to them. I don't like being thanked. I didn't join out of the kindness of my heart, I get paid with a pretty decent living and the benefits are damn good. My education and my son's have been paid for and we are 100% covered by medical insurance. Knowing all of this stuff makes it seem hard to accept gratitude, especially since they pay taxes. I don't know where I was going with this, but there is just something about all the propaganda that makes me uneasy as well.
Sorry if I offended you...was not my intent. I just strongly disagree with our government and how they use the military...most for all the wrong reasons in my opinion. What others do in their lives is their business. I wouldn't ever openly vocalize my opinion to someone's choices unless provoked. So I apologize. I should not have made such an off topic bash.
(March 16, 2015 at 4:42 pm)The Reality Salesman Wrote: I'm an active duty Atheist and after 9 years, it gets harder and harder to accept thanks for my service. I can appreciate that some people are afraid of joining the military and that their gratitude translates more accurateky to "Thanks for volunteering so folks like me don't have to" and while I never experienced the same fear, i can sort of understand the sentiment. I also realize that any country with something to lose can needs a military to protect it and even while I don't agree with much of what the government uses us for, I do see our existence as necessary. I think the U.S. would get stormed over night if we decided to cut all military members from the payroll and immediately ceased all forms of military related activity. I want to say that when people thank a military member for protecting their country, they're really just expressing gratitude for being fortunate enough to live in a country that has a military to ward off other countries from doing what we've been doing to them. I don't like being thanked. I didn't join out of the kindness of my heart, I get paid with a pretty decent living and the benefits are damn good. My education and my son's have been paid for and we are 100% covered by medical insurance. Knowing all of this stuff makes it seem hard to accept gratitude, especially since they pay taxes. I don't know where I was going with this, but there is just something about all the propaganda that makes me uneasy as well.
Sorry if I offended you...was not my intent. I just strongly disagree with our government and how they use the military...most for all the wrong reasons in my opinion. What others do in their lives is their business. I wouldn't ever openly vocalize my opinion to someone's choices unless provoked. So I apologize. I should not have made such an off topic bash.
No offense taken. It's something I have hard time with as well. If I did happen to die while doing my job, I would hate for my death to be referred to as "dying to protect my country". That is not how I think about my job while I'm alive, and I certainly wouldn't want my life to be punctuated by that sentiment. Either way, my perspective is a unique one, and I hope you feel welcome in expressing yours, no matter how different. If I get offended, that would be a "me" problem
