What Do Words Mean To You?
Dean
"I support the troops." What do those words mean to you?
Whether you supported the war in Iraq or not, there is one political reality we now face: American forces will not be leaving there this year, and almost certainly not next year.
And there's another reality: many of the soldiers and marines who are over there are trying to do more than just fight. They're trying to win friends, and make things better.
They really are.
There's a lot of sacrifice and hard work going on over there in our name. Do we want to make it all negative? Or can we try to make things better too?
A non-profit, non-government group called Spirit of America has been working tirelessly for the last two years to try to help our fighting forces over there do more than fight. When those in our military have a project they'd like to work on to help the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, Spirit of America tries to make it happen for them.
Helping bring medical supplies and crop seeds to Afghanistan. Tools and training to help Iraqis who want to become tradesmen. Distributing schoolbooks. Even helping people set up Arabic-language weblogs so they can begin exploring the amazing world of the New Media.
It's all entirely voluntary, and done without any government subsidy. But if any group of soldiers, marines, airmen, or sailors want to do something to help the people over there, the Spirit of America tries to make it happen.
Because ultimately, whether you thought going was the right thing or the wrong thing, isn't trying to create peace and friendship something we should all hope to see happen?
A group of webloggers, humorously dubbing ourselves the "fighting fusileers for freedom" are holding a fundraising drive for the next two weeks to help the Spirit of America folks out. I'm a member of that group, and I encourage you to donate to the Spirit of America here.
Thanks.
