LETTERS: Classen defended
I would like to respond in defense of Matt Classen's statement that the war doesn't affect us. Stop and think about it. Has it changed our lives on the home front? Have we been asked to make sacrifices because of the war? No. Life goes on as usual.
To you parents who have sons and daughters out on the front lines, putting their lives at risk, it's because of you that we as a society can so utterly take for granted the freedoms that we enjoy every day. You are a special people. Don't ever forget that.
What a tribute it is to have men and women who put their lives on the line, who go to fight a war thousands of miles away against a tyranny that spreads terror that we can't even comprehend, so that those people might live in freedom.
Forget about those groups in our society, whether they be media or politicians or other elements, that would discredit and criticize the decision that was made to go and fight this war of liberation. I believe they are only a few and that there are many more out there who are silently appreciating, silently proud of these people who risk their lives so that we can continue to have freedom and the Iraqis can have theirs.
Where is there a nation like our nation, that takes freedom so for granted, that it not only can live in its self-indulgence but also so utterly tear down and criticize and speak against the liberties we enjoy? How repulsive! I really believe that, even as history has shown, our greatest threat is not the external forces that exist, but rather those forces within our own country that would undermine freedom in the name of freedom, or try to undercut all that our nation stands for.
Think about it. Can we even comprehend what it would be like to live in a country where a man like Saddam Hussein reigns? Do we ever consider the price of freedom? Do we appreciate it enough? Is freedom something we can take for granted? Will it always be there even if we abuse it?
Jerry Plett
Lincolnville
