Hypocrisy

Image via WikipediaSoldiers as a rule are an easy going lot. They don't ask for much, and don't expect much in return. They don't want pity nor do they want scorn. They will only ask for what is fair and in most cases only take what is owed. They will do the biding of the nation and all that it asks. They will take life, and give theirs if necessary. When on Civie Street all soldiers will know another, sometimes without speaking a word, no introductions are required. All that is required for lifelong loyalty is that the enemy is met side by side and it doesn’t matter if you are black, white, Chinese, Hispanic or anything else, for that bond to exist. This form of respect is only known to those who serve. It is because of this bond that soldiers despise hypocrisy in all its forms. They hate those that say one thing and do another.
Soldiers are no angels; they drink, swear, get drunk and at times become rowdy. When they can, they live their life and find the small pleasures in things that most people take for granted, like dry socks or a stick of gum. They also train hard to do the things that need to be done when duty calls. Canadian soldiers are the devils that are hidden from sight only to be unleashed when fanciful words of politicians are no longer enough.
On the battle field they may only know each other for a few minutes, spending those precious seconds with faces planted in the same piece of dirt. They eat together, sleep together, care for each other and sometimes even cry together. They may not know each other by name, but they are all brothers, and now, in the modern world sisters too. They would give there last bit of food or water to another soldier. They gladly undergo this hardship for they believe, that the nation and the people that elected the government that sent them, are worth it. All they ask of the nation in return is that it stands behind them.
They wear Canada’s flag on their shoulder, but if you look closer you will see that it is stitched to their heart and soul. They wear it with pride and honour, but there are those that think their Canada was made by those thugs that burn cars and scream that the rule of law is oppressive. There are those in the seat of power that see the soldier as a drain on the country, especially if they become injured. It has been stated that it would be better if our soldiers die on the battlefield to save costs. But these same politicians have no problem asking the soldier to help protect them from the thugs that burn the cars.

God and the soldier
All men adore
In time of trouble,
And no more;
For when war is over
And all things righted,
God is neglected -
The old soldier slighted.

By, Anonymous

So, for politicians to argue on whether or not to compensate those that have paid a price for answering the call that they themselves issued, is very hypocritical.
There are those that believe that democracy and the rule of law is there only for when it is convenient, and to be hidden behind and made a mockery. They believe that the burning of police cars and damage to a city is justified and they think that civil unrest and destruction somehow translates into guaranteed rights and freedoms. Many of these people would be the first to mock and belittle a soldiers love and duty to Unit and country. But, these are the very same people that will cry “no blood for oil” as they plug in their iPods and laptops that draw electricity from the hydro plants that use the oil.
Soldiers bare their burdens with a black and sarcastic humour, and they are asked to do the things that only other soldiers know, but they smile and whip off a brisk salute and then turn and face the fog of war.
They don't do this because they want to be heroes or earn a piece of metal with coloured cloth attached. They do this so that the nation will continue and the joys that all free people have, live on. But when they return home the very people that sent them turn their backs and say your valour and sacrifice is only worth so much.
Why must a wounded soldier return home, to a place that he should be safe only to do battle again with the land he loves. Is it too much to ask that the men and women that enforce the will of the nation, be compensated in a fair and respectable way?