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Should we be eternally grateful to people who fought for our freedoms?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Connorcode, Jan 20, 2017.

  1. Connorcode

    Connorcode Guest

    My questions are: Will a time be reached when we feel that it is no longer relevant to be thankful for people who fought for our freedoms some time ago? Is it right that these people be forgotten? When is it okay to forget any person who participated in a significant event in history?

    A certain level of peace is now the norm for the world as far as worldwide conflicts go, so when do we stop remembering those who fought in WWI?

    When something passes out of living memory (and presumably doesn't have any direct impact on our lives anymore), is it okay to let it stay in the past?

    There could be an LGBT angle to this in the future, but as far as I'm concerned, it's still a battle being fought and lived as we speak.
     
  2. Cailan

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    How many people are thankful to those who fought in the Revolutionary War? The War of 1812? The Spanish-American War? How about the Civil War?

    As time passes and we no longer have alive the children or grandchildren who remember the people who were actually there, we move on. There are always a few unique events that stick in the American psyche that will stay, but in general, those people become far removed. WWI veterans are all dead, and most of their children are gone too. When their grandchildren, who sat at grandpa's (or grandma's) knee to hear the stories are gone too, the rememberances will go too.

    Unfortunately we have new wars, new veterans with families and PTSD and homelessness and suffering. We have older veterans (Vietnam) who are suffering cancers and such from the chemicals used, and are also dealing, STILL, with PTSD and such. They're the ones we need to be concerned about. Not those who have passed into the history books.

    If we ever have a time when it has been so long since we have a war that we have no war veterans in living memory and the past veterans will be forgotten - it will be a great day on this Earth.

    -I am a Navy veteran, as are my husband and son, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and my cousin. My 97 year old grandfather is a WWII veteran.
     
  3. meistro

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    It's not a matter of who we should be concerned with (according to the topic of this thread), but who we should be grateful to. All the wars that America has fought for freedom has built upon each other (like high school math lol) One war was fought to achieve (religious) freedom and most (more like some) of the ones after were fought to preserve individual freedom.

    Although, when we look at it from a different perspective, what about the native American who fought to preserve their freedom and lost, is war really to achieve freedom or to conquer someone else's?
     
  4. Andrew99

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    Yes and I have more respect for the people who sacrifice their lives for our country.
     
  5. JonSomebody

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    Yes...I think we should be grateful for those individuals who have fought and also lost their lives fighting for our freedom and civil rights because they have paved the way for us to be able to come thus far in our lives today.
     
  6. Argentwing

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    Anyone who serves others with honor deserves respect and gratitude. Invariably that is military members, because that's what the job is. Even if their names are forgotten, it doesn't mean we have forgotten their sacrifice.
     
  7. AlexanderDragon

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    I'm thankful and always will be for those people who give their lives for our country, but I disagree with the reasons. I think that it's only respectful.
     
  8. Connorcode

    Connorcode Guest

    Thanks guys, I feel a lot better for hearing your reasons.
    It started as a school debate actually, and I was annoyed at people saying we didn't need to respect them.
     
  9. Di0

    Di0
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    Freedom =/= U.S.A