Rant. Again.

I received an email today from my cousin and decided that I should share it a bit more publicly than just forward-ing it on - which I did also.

This is the email:

We are asking everyone to say a prayer for "Darkhorse" 3rd Battalion 5th Marines and their families. They are fighting it out in Afghanistan & they have lost 9 marines in 4 days. IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE the message spread if more could pass it on.


God Bless America and God Bless the United States Marine Corps... Semper Fi, Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever

Lindsay Lohan, 24, gets her name and face all over the news because she went to jail. Now she's getting it all over again for failing her drug test.

But: Nothing in the media about these guys because no one seems to care:
Justin Allen, 23,
Brett Linley, 29,
Matthew Weikert, 29,
Justus Bartett, 27,
Dave Santos, 21,
Chase Stanley, 21,
Jesse Reed, 26,
Matthew Johnson, 21,
Zachary Fisher, 24,
Brandon King, 23,
Christopher Goeke, 23,
Sheldon Tate, 27,

All are Marines that gave their lives for YOU this week!

Honor THEM by forwarding this. I just did.

SHOW THEM WE STILL CARE! THANK YOU, Justin Allen, Brett Linley,

Matthew Weikert, Justus Bartett, Dave Santos, Chase Stanley, Jesse Reed, Matthew Johnson, Zachary Fisher, Brandon King, Christopher Goeke, and Sheldon Tate, FOR MY FREEDOM!

I am quite bothered by the fact that our country has become more obsessed with celebrity problems, scandals, and relapses than showing proper thanks and respect to our troops - past, present, and fallen.  Without what our troops do for us, we wouldn't be able to care about Lohan or Tiger Woods or anybody else for that matter.  And, frankly, I don't see why people feed into the Hollywood stories - by paying them more attention, you're just making it seem like a bigger deal than it is.  Tiger Woods cheated on his wife.  Yes, that's very wrong, but tons of guys cheat on their wives and girlfriends - and plenty of girls cheat on their husbands - but that doesn't mean they're in the headlines. 

You know, the news will show a story about Westboro showing up at a Fallen Hero's services, but they won't pay tribute to troops that fall if they're not in their area.  And I think that that's really wrong.  Because by doing this, it's saying that it's okay not to think about the war, or think about the men and women dying for you.  And it's not okay to do this.  In history class one day when we started learning about WWI, my teacher said that it was a total war because everything in the country went to fighting the war.  She related it to our present-day war and said something along the lines of "Does the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan affect our lives every day?"  I could not believe how many people said "No."  I flat-out, maybe a little too loudly, said "YES!"  Later on in the lesson she said something like "Most of you, since you don't watch the news or read the newspapers, probably go weeks or months without thinking about the war."  I was so bothered by this that even remembering it now I am still angered by it.  Even if you don't know someone serving in the military, you should at least be aware of what our Soldiers are doing for you - without even knowing you.  Because of what they do, you can go to school every day and care about trivial things like how cute someone is in your class or being popular or getting the cutest dress for homecoming.  They give up their trivial-ness so that you can keep yours.  They sacrifice so much just so that their friends, family, and fellow Americans can live freely and safely.  How could you not be aware of that?  How could you not see how that affects you every day?

Perhaps I'm just a little biased on this subject.  For as long as I've been able to realize what the wars are, I've had family serving in them.  And after having lost a close cousin to OEF, maybe I have no room to speak about how other teenagers and other Americans in general should feel.  But what I do know is that these men and women are the most important thing in our country, and I know that they are living, fighting, and dying for this country - for you and me.  And that, is something that for as long as I live I SWEAR I will NEVER forget.