DammitJanet
Well-known member
I know it'll probably come off sounding like one of those stupid email chain letters, but f.uck that, because that's not what this is. Today I found out that my best friend's younger brother Jeremy was shot and killed in Iraq while on patrol. He'd trained for months and been in country for three weeks. Usually, I'm pretty liberal and pretty anti-war, but now that it's hit so close to home, I can't help but want to scream.
Maybe it's all the BF2 I've played, but I can see it happening so vividly in my mind. It just makes me break down to think of this kid I grew up with in the middle of some f.ucking desert, dying so that the rich can get richer and take away the freedoms we're being brainwashed into thinking we're protecting. I know that's a pretty rash statement, but I can't help it. You really need to think about what your life would be like if you or someone close to you died for a cause that many would say is a lost one. It makes me want to scream. I could scream until my vocal cords corroded and blood came pouring out. But it won't do one bit of good.
This kid did nothing to no one. He dropped out of high school to join the army so that he could provide for his family, and because no one was going to just hand him a college education. He put his faith in a government that sold him out. And for what? Oil? Land? Religion? How many dead soldiers does it take to amount to a win in the middle east? For that matter, how many of their dead civilians? It's usually easy for me to see both sides, but I'd be lying if I said I don't feel the urge to see Iraq/Iran just flattened sometimes. I mean, just to be done with it all. Well, until some other crazy asshole springs up thinking he's got the "RIGHT" religion all figured out.
I don't know. I'm not an expert by any means. This isn't supposed to be a political or social commentary, or a request for your prayers (though I'm sure the family would appreciate them). This is just me saying that I know someone who died in one of the most botched and pointless wars in history. He was practically my family and now he's gone, just like that, and never coming back. And all I can think of is this kid I know bleeding to death in the sand, thinking about how much he misses his family and wondering why the f.uck he's even there. It's so f.ucked up. I just can't stand it anymore. I feel so helpless. We'll always be at war. The casualties will keep piling up. Will it ever end?
Look, just think of this name the next time you pull out your camera, or go get a burger, or turn off your alarm clock in the morning, or drive to work, or put your kids to bed, or call your mom, or go to the movies or do anything. Just take five seconds to think of Jeremy Shank. An 18 year old kid who never did anything wrong, and had his whole life ahead of him. A kid who will never get married, live to see flying cars, eat another bowl of lucky charms, see his favorite band live, buy the special anniversary edition of his favorite movie, be with his fiancee', touch, smell, see, taste, hear or do any of the other millions of tiny things you and I take for f.ucking granted every g.oddamn day. His name was Jeremy Shank. Please, just please remember his name. And if you can't remember that, maybe you can remember this...
Jeremy Shank 1988-2006
Maybe it's all the BF2 I've played, but I can see it happening so vividly in my mind. It just makes me break down to think of this kid I grew up with in the middle of some f.ucking desert, dying so that the rich can get richer and take away the freedoms we're being brainwashed into thinking we're protecting. I know that's a pretty rash statement, but I can't help it. You really need to think about what your life would be like if you or someone close to you died for a cause that many would say is a lost one. It makes me want to scream. I could scream until my vocal cords corroded and blood came pouring out. But it won't do one bit of good.
This kid did nothing to no one. He dropped out of high school to join the army so that he could provide for his family, and because no one was going to just hand him a college education. He put his faith in a government that sold him out. And for what? Oil? Land? Religion? How many dead soldiers does it take to amount to a win in the middle east? For that matter, how many of their dead civilians? It's usually easy for me to see both sides, but I'd be lying if I said I don't feel the urge to see Iraq/Iran just flattened sometimes. I mean, just to be done with it all. Well, until some other crazy asshole springs up thinking he's got the "RIGHT" religion all figured out.
I don't know. I'm not an expert by any means. This isn't supposed to be a political or social commentary, or a request for your prayers (though I'm sure the family would appreciate them). This is just me saying that I know someone who died in one of the most botched and pointless wars in history. He was practically my family and now he's gone, just like that, and never coming back. And all I can think of is this kid I know bleeding to death in the sand, thinking about how much he misses his family and wondering why the f.uck he's even there. It's so f.ucked up. I just can't stand it anymore. I feel so helpless. We'll always be at war. The casualties will keep piling up. Will it ever end?
Look, just think of this name the next time you pull out your camera, or go get a burger, or turn off your alarm clock in the morning, or drive to work, or put your kids to bed, or call your mom, or go to the movies or do anything. Just take five seconds to think of Jeremy Shank. An 18 year old kid who never did anything wrong, and had his whole life ahead of him. A kid who will never get married, live to see flying cars, eat another bowl of lucky charms, see his favorite band live, buy the special anniversary edition of his favorite movie, be with his fiancee', touch, smell, see, taste, hear or do any of the other millions of tiny things you and I take for f.ucking granted every g.oddamn day. His name was Jeremy Shank. Please, just please remember his name. And if you can't remember that, maybe you can remember this...
Jeremy Shank 1988-2006
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