I was reading the archives of red-wine and came across this entry. Specifically the stuff about heros. Read her first paragraph before continuing...I'll wait. .
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Okay, now, here's what I have always thought. You ever hear someone say that all those people that died in 9/11 were heroes who died for their country? That pisses me off. I know it's just a way of validating their deaths and putting it in the most positive light possible, but it's still just bullshit. These people were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's tragic, it's unfair, it's completely deplorable. But it's not heroic! If someone had sent a mass-e-mail to everone in the WTC and the Pentagon, and had made an announcement over the loud speakers at the aport about what was going to happen, how many peoiple do you think would have shown up to die for their country? Not too many. This wouldn't make them cowards, it would make them smart, because it was a completely fucking senseless act and a completely fucking senseless way to die, especially if they had prior knowlege of what was about to happen.
Peole who jump on hand grenades to keep them from shredding the whole platoon, or people who face certain death to hold down an enemy while so their compatriots can make it safety...those are heroes! Their actions are driven by their own free will and a sense of importance of the situation at hand. Not because they happened to be there.
I may get hate mail for that from some of the brainwashed out there, but that's just always been something that bugged me.
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