It’s “Hump Day”, y’all!
Yes, of course, it is also known as Wednesday, too!
A soldier is released in exchange for 5 of what many are calling the worst Prisoners of War (POW) in the Taliban today. While different stories swirl as to the issue of this released soldier’s past and how and why he left his “post” in Afghanistan five years ago, the POTUS sticks to his decision to exchange those 5 POW’s for Bowe Bergdahl. Of course, there are critics of everything he does anyway so here is another opportunity to throw “sticks and stones” at the POTUS. Fellow soldiers who knew Bergdahl swear that he is not a hero … but a deserter … perhaps even a traitor!!! This time, without time to do any research, President Obama stated that to him, it didn’t matter what circumstances were surrounding Bergdahl’s leaving his post and ending up a POW – he suffered from poor health and was and is still an American soldier!
While I don’t indulge in political debates much anymore, I did notice some posts on a social network showing then soldier John McCain being released as a POW more than 40 years ago from Vietnam! Whether the conditions were the same … who deserted vs. who didn’t … he and many more soldiers were released. While McCain had refused for some years to make concessions to his captors including making negative comments about the USA, he stated that we all have our breaking points … and he had reached his! He was beaten multiple times daily for two years and the beatings decreased until he finally made the statements that the Vietnamese were requesting he make against the USA!
Have you ever utilized “selective memory”? It has become a popular ploy nowadays and is only challenged by our IT age of videos, cell phones, recording devices in elevators and stairwells! I, too, have things that I would like to permanently forget so that I never do them again. Yet, I realize that to pretend it never happened is even more fool hardy for ME! To each his own, but we must think more deeply about our OWN past before we begin to point a finger at and judge someone else. Still, we must “stay on point” and not concede things dear to us. All in all, check your selective memory settings today … and everyday. Happy Hump Day!
Peace,
John I. Cook
Educational Excellence 