Mikey,
I thought you might like to know that as expected there is a lot of discussion on “edodo” about your getting the invitation for Franklin Graham withdrawn. It is nice to see that several folks have commended your actions while others of course are critical.
This one comment does however stand out, referencing your fight to get the Army Hospital at Ft. Carson to alter its “Crusader Cross” logo and patch.
Military patches and symbols change all the time–and many are revised when progress and a little wisdom make us realize that they are really not that appropriate anymore. We see this sort of thing outside of the military, too. White entertainers in black-face? Funny to some in the 20s–not so much anymore. Playboy bunnies on military patches? Not many of those these days. Zig-Zag man on the ‘Barnstormin’ cadet squadron patch? Only if he has a chronic backache and a doc’s prescription in CO. We can change patches. That doesn’t mean the original designers were evil Christians imposing their will on us heathens. It just means that we’ve past that point and we want some symbol that better represents us IN THE PRESENT.
Tradition is not an excuse for continuing actions that are clearly counter to the document we’ve affirmed to defend. It wasn’t when segregation was the order of the day, and it isn’t now when an increasingly diverse society finds it disrespectful, oppressive, and counter to the current struggle to have a specific brand of superstition endorsed and announced by the PTB in an hierarchical organization pledged to non-partisanship.
Repeat after me everyone (I know someone that calls this the XXXX Doctrine): No belief system has a monopoly on honorable service, nor is any religion or belief system a necessary and sufficient condition for same.
If we could get commanders to mouth those words and think (as some are increasingly) before they ASSUME that everyone wants to hear a monotheistic invocation before an awards ceremony or that everyone NEEDS a group hug and Zombie pledge before a dangerous mission or a staff meeting, that maybe, just maybe this is a personal matter that doesn’t need or warrant advertisement and public proclamation by someone in uniform, we might be on the way to real respect and dignity for all that serve.
Sincerely,
(name withheld)
