my choices define me

this post is dedicated to said guy;
you wonder why i want to join the armed forces, you think i dont realize how horrible war is, and you consider me to be hiding from the truth...your truth that is...but what you don't know sweetie, are the real reasons i am joining the military..the more mundane reason is because i can not afford to go to college unless i get a decent amount of scholarships, and lets face it, as 70-ish in my class, it probably won't happen...the next, and most important reason, is job security...where else am i to find a steady job involving music? i don't want to teach, i never have, and with my father lecturing on starving musicians, and hearing about how hard some of my friends have had it trying to go independant in the "music biz," i'm not inclined to let a good paying job slip away...the bands in the armed services are the best in the world, and to become a part of that, is a dream...its an oppurtunity to play music i've only wished i could play...
the next thing you have a problem with, i've noticed, is that you tend to get rather idealistic when it comes to peace...sweetheart, you may spend you entire life "fighting" for it, but its not going to happen anything soon...its quite simply not the way the world works, and you, my young friend, have not lived near long enough, you have not seen near enough, and you have not exprianced near enough to be able to pull up a convincing arguement for an end to the military...we can't "all just get along"....people aren't made like that
i support the armed forces..why? because the men and women who are giving all they have for us deserve at least that..i do not agree with the war currently in progress..i think it was an intolerably bad move, and i personally am of the opinion that saddam should have been removed from power in Desert Storm..we should not have waited until the man got the means to attack and kill innocent civilians, we should not have allowed such a transgression on our world to develop...
but what you also have to realize is that you should not condemn the men and women who have given thier lives in this cause...you should not condemn the military for its currupt leaders..the people who signed on with the government are not the criminals that you paint them to be..they are not the killers of innocents..for the most part, they are people trying to survive and make a living...they serve to protect us, and i think that you need to sit down and talk with some of these people before you even begin to think you have all the answers...you are a privalaged child, what have you known of pain and poverty? you claim to see the pictures of the dead, the wounded, the innocent victims, but do you really care? or are you just trying to make a point? are you trying to guilt trip people in to seeing as you see? what you are allowed to see on the internet, or the tv, or in magizines, is what the people putting those images out want you to see...
do not attack me for my views sweet child...rather talk to me in a civilized manner about them, and try to understand my point of view..you have no right to lecture me, if you will not even listen to what i have to say....and i have never supported war for the sake of war, and i have never believed in unnessicary violence..remember my background, you who speak of dr. martin luther king jr....where did i come from? do you not think i have seen unfairness? i have seen it and i have seen pain, and poverty and i have lived through the death of people i went school with...i believe in fighting for what i think to be right, what i know in my heart to be true..i don't think that violence solves everything, far from it...but there are things worth fighting for, and i will not sit back and let my beliefs be swept aside, whether it is just in speaking ot you and letting you know how i feel about my desisions...and never doubt that i love you child, for all that you have tried your best to lose me as a friend...