Bumper Sticker Patriots

         During a recent ride through the Garden State, I observed a decal on the rear window of an SUV in front of me. The decal read, “Fuck Iraq! God Bless The USA, if you don’t like it, GET THE FUCK OUT!” My first reaction was disgust, and I wondered about the mentality of a person who would willingly paste obscenities on his own vehicle. This person’s bold political statement must have been greatly appreciated by the parents of children just beginning to read, and having the misfortune of being behind him in traffic. My disgust quickly gave way to anger. I didn’t like it, and I resent being told that I, a natural born American citizen, should leave my country if I disagree with someone thinking on such a base and crude level.

         I observed another fellow citizen using the rear bumper of his car to put forth his simplistic little opinions. According to his car, this gentleman endorsed “Bomb(ing) France”. While no doubt meant as a tongue-in-cheek commentary on our one time ally, I had to wonder how an American could possibly be so glib about something as horrific a bombing raid. Does he truly find humor in the thought of slaughtering innocent people because their governmental policies differ from ours? Could he not find another way of expressing his displeasure with the policies of the French without suggesting wholesale death and destruction? Wouldn’t a boycott be a somewhat less brutal way of personally protesting those policies?

         War is not a spectator sport. It is the ultimate expression of mankind’s most brutal instincts. Its roots always lie in hatred and greed. Warfare spawns utter misery and pain wherever it takes hold, and leaves death and agony in its wake. Innocents die by the score, combatants are killed and maimed in alien surroundings, far from home, and those who manage to survive remain deeply scarred for life by the experience. Imagine having to retrieve pieces of your children’s bodies beneath the rubble of everything you once owned. Imagine being half a world away from home, screaming for your mother as the life pours from what is left of your vaporized leg. Then try to sum up those emotions with a glib bumper sticker phrase.

         No matter your personal beliefs, or your political stripe, I believe no true American should view war with anything less than solemnity and seriousness. Human beings are dying, and I personally feel that jokes and obscene, ignorant threats are wildly inappropriate given the circumstances. Sensitivity and compassion are core American values, at least where I come from, and letting ignorance and hate override those values only encourages the bullying and thuggish behavior that our society seems to be inexorably moving towards. Regardless of your individual political stance, this country will be a better place for everyone if we resolve to educate ourselves, and base our opinions on facts and experience, and refrain from resorting to the crudest and most ignorant methods of expressing ourselves.