November 2009 Editorial

Halloween's over. It's time to stop spinning our Misfits records and perhaps replace them with Samhain's "November Coming Fire." All over the country people are washing egg off of their houses and pulling toilet paper off of the branches of trees. Thanksgiving is now on its way so most Americans will start replacing their Jack-O-Lanterns with ironically morbid images of turkeys and cartoonish caricatures of Native Americans (it's hard to tell whether the turkeys or the natives have been more thoroughly screwed by Thanksgiving over the years). What many of us forget though is that November is also the month that we celebrate Veteran's Day.

It's hard to believe that our country has been at war for close to a decade now and the issue of how our veterans are treated is barely talked about. It seems that we forget that there are already a lot of veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have come home and now are being faced with the struggle to reclaim the lives that they left behind. In general when people hear the word "veteran" they almost certainly associate the word with soldiers from the Vietnam War or perhaps World War II. Prior to our current situation the Korean War was sometimes referred to as "The Forgotten War" but it seems that right now we are in two wars that are already being equally overlooked.

Veteran's rights and benefits are causes that every politician champions during elections but we almost never hear politicians address these issues otherwise. In fact in the past few years we have sporadically heard news stories about soldiers suffering from P.T.S.D. (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) being denied proper care and how in general cases of P.T.S.D. have been grossly under- reported. However even as Veteran's Day approaches this is not considered a front page issue in newspapers or in politician's agendas. It seems that veterans fit well in campaign rhetoric but somehow are pushed to the side whenever its not convenient to talk about them. These discussions still need to take place to ensure that every American who has ever fought in our Armed Services receives the care and benefits that they have been promised.

Since politicians and the news media are not talking about our veterans and what they deserve, this November it might be time for the rest of us to start talking about these issues and after Veteran's Day passes maybe we should continue thinking about these things when Thanksgiving comes around. Despite what some Hawkish politicians have told us supporting our veterans does not require supporting war. With myself included many people who are part of Big Wheel's audience find it hard to support either the war in Iraq or the war in Afghanistan but none of us should have a hard finding sympathy and support for the soldiers who are putting their asses on the line and their friends and families.
 

 

-Ditch-
Asst. Editor