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Date Posted: 07:06:21 05/30/05 Mon
Author: Kent
Subject: I Don't Care

I Don't Care - © Kent Fletcher

I don't care if you're black or white;
I don't care if you're left or right;
I don't care if you're gay or straight;
I don't care if you're early or late.
(and no, I'm not a poet, it just came out that way)

I don't care if you're a proclaimed atheist, a practicing agnostic, a pious Catholic, or a Bible-thumper;
I don't care if you're a Jew, or a Christian, or a Buddhist, or even a Muslim;
I don't care if you're for or against the present Presidential administration;
I don't care if you hate me or if you love me or if you even care that I'm writing this;
I don't care if you've got your nose in the air, pretending to be something you aren't;
I don't care if you're a Redneck, scrabbling around for something to do, to get out of your hole, or enjoying and tormenting others who think they've got it all;
I don't care if you're just an ordinary US citizen or a naturalized US citizen, or even an illegal residing in the US without a green card with no intention of ever becoming a US citizen;
I don't care if you're from above the Mason-Dixon Line, or from below the same;
I don't care if you're full of hate for your fellow man just because he's different from you, doesn't see ‘things' or ‘life' your way, or if you love your fellow man for the same reasons;
I don't care if you perceive conspiracy theories or not;
I don't care if you're filthy rich or dirt poor;
I don't care if you're at the top of your game or at the bottom.

What I do care about is this: If you have served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America, for one day or a hundred days, or even a career in any branch, if you did your time as a Reservists of whatever branch, or active duty, or some of each; if you were drafted or volunteered for the same; if you began as an enlisted puke and ascended to general officer status or anywhere in-between; if you loved it or hated it, but stuck it out and survived to make the claim to BE a veteran; if you didn't chicken out, run off to Canada or elsewhere, only to come back after the days of conscription claiming your own little self-righteous victory, I say this:

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!

Every time I compose something like this little ditty, I'm reminded of a creed, to wit:

From the POW/MIA Creed:

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag.

For all the pontificating by the naysayers, for all the shrill writings and words of the pacificists, if it were not for the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guardsmen who have served in the armed forces of the United States of America since the inception of this nation, the citizenry of this great country would be nothing more than the unfortunate human beings who died in the death camps, gulags, incinerators of ruthless regimes past.

For those who did serve, again, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!

And on this Day of Remembrance, on this Memorial Day 2005, if you remember and/or honor nothing else, do remember this:

All who have served this country gave something of themselves. Some gave all.

Kent Fletcher
YN1, USN Retired
Alvarado, TX

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