I agree that service to our country should not be discounted in any way, either mainland service or overseas. I remember watching that happen at the end of Vietnam and being very upset with it. I may have only been a teenager but it affected me, and my family, greatly.
My Dad hadn’t been out of the Air Force for more than a few years and we were appalled at the conduct of the civilians who reacted violently about our returning soldiers. We understood being against the war, and we understood the protests and the sit-ins. We were taught that was part of free speech, and it was part of what our soldiers were fighting for. But the hate? No. The violence? No. Some of these people were protesting violence WITH violence. And it made no sense to us. But then violence has never made much sense to me. It’s mostly just a waste of energy. Both mine and the person who is angry.
It’s like when we get angry or annoyed with one of our children. When you realize it, you kind of mentally step back and ask yourself if this is going to matter in 15 minutes or an hour. If it’s not going to, step back and do nothing. You know, choose your fights. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and most of it is small stuff.
Sometimes we are just too close to a subject to look at it rationally. If we are upset about something, if we can look at it rationally, the fear and anger lessen because we understand it more. There are times when we fear something, that we need to take a step back and look to see if that fear is rational. Most of the time it isn’t, and we wind ourselves up because we don’t take the time to look at the fear. The unknown is very scary, and a lot of people are so afraid that they don’t stop to actually look at what they are afraid of.
A Way Of Life 