The war in Iraq, as controversial as it may be, is a fact. It is happening and soldiers are dying. Thousands of soldiers are dying. This is not an anti-war plea, this is a “where did our priorities go?” wake up call.
According to the website of the U.S. government there has been a total of 3,647 war related deaths since the initial 2003 invasion. Seven of these deaths were U.S. civilians. There have been 14,294 soldiers wounded in action but able to return to duty within 72 hours and there have been 12,180 soldiers wounded in action that were unable to return to action within 72 hours.
My point for these statistics is that these are big numbers. That means that there are 3,647 mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, and children that have lost a son or daughter, a wife or husband, a brother or sister, or a parent. In the small town that I live in 3,647 deaths would be a fourth of the population.
Fourteen thousand that have been wounded would be more than the entire town. By wounded, who knows what all this entails. It could range from a scratch to a missing limb. So as, you think about all the deaths and wounded I want you to ask yourself how come we don't hear more about this in the media?
The sad truth is now that the war is a few years old, there aren't as good ratings in war related stories. The headline might read, “Another Soldier Killed in Iraq” but that headline will be in small print a few lines down from the large print of “Lindsey Lohan Arrested Again.” What is our world coming to when the headliners everyday are Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton? I'm not going to say I never read these articles, because I too have been sucked into the drama of wanting to know the latest news.
Unfortunately, the latest news is nothing more than gossip. We see people running to the newsstands to pick up the latest magazine with headlines about Britney not wearing underwear or another big star is pregnant out of wedlock. We, the readers of these “informative” magazines, are not so addicted to this type of “news” the magazines feel obligated to obtain the newest and juiciest stories.
They go to all lengths to obtain this information just so we can get a high off reading someone else's misfortune. Maybe Britney is having a mental break down right now, but isn't that her business? No one cares about the man or woman next door having a nervous breakdown. That's not the headliner for the local paper now is it?
My question is this, when did someone's underwear preference become a hotter topic than the thousands of American soldiers dying to preserve our freedom from the terrorists of this world? When did we all become so Hollywood obsessed that we would rather pick up a gossip magazine and read about the latest breakup rather than reading a newspaper about another soldier dying? Another soldier, who has a family, could be a father or mother, a child to someone.
Don't they deserve more respect than the small print headline lines under the breaking story about another Hollywood starlet turning to drugs? I think they do.
