Sunday’s Column – A Solider Died Today

Oct 14, 2013 by winjaw

Something a little different today – a combination editorial and column buttressed by yet another column.

Based on the Sound Offs, Coweta County is pretty well split on who is to blame for the government shutdown. Depending on your stance, it’s the president’s fault, the House Republicans or the Senate Democrats.

The shutdown is becoming a serious inconvenience for Americans. It’s not for Congress and the White House. They are still getting paid. They still have their gyms open. Our elected officials need to start feeling the pain instead of going on national talk shows simply to blame the other side.

Maybe they should be furloughed. We know that will never happen. But wouldn’t it be nice to simply surround Congress with armed troops, kick every staff member out and let the representatives and senators just stay in their respective chambers until they actually do something. They need to start feeling the pain. The latest poll said 60 percent of Americans want every senator and congressman voted out – including their own. Time to start over.

I strongly believe the number one priority of the federal government is to protect our nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Everything else is secondary. And it’s the one area where we see some glimmer of hope where all sides can actually agree – and unanimously at that.

In Congressional time, it took nanoseconds to pass a bill to keep paying our soldiers. A major uproar over delaying the $100,000 “death gratuity” to the families of five soldiers killed last weekend is being addressed.

In Coweta County last week, the Muster was held to honor veterans of the Korean War. Yesterday was the 13th anniversary of the bombing of the USS Cole.

We do not need politicians. We need our military. It is time for politicians to realize they are not the most important people in this country. That their sole job is to represent those who elected them and not some political party line.

In 1987, A. Lawrence Vaincourt wrote a poem titled “Just A Common Soldier.” It speaks volumes about our current situation and where our priorities should be:.

•••••

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast, And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past. Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done, In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

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He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife, For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life. Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way, And the world won’t note his passing, though a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state, While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great. Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young, But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man? Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife, Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

A politician’s stipend and the style in which he lives Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives. While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all, Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

It’s so easy to forget them for it was so long ago, That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys, Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand, Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand? Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin, But his presence should remind us we may need his like again. For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier’s part Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor while he’s here to hear the praise, Then at least let’s give him homage at the ending of his days. Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say, Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.

© 1987 A. Lawrence Vaincourt