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<br><br><br><div class="yahoo-signature"><a style="font-size:12px" href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&af_sub1=Acquisition&af_sub2=Global_YMktg&af_sub3=&af_sub4=100000604&af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_">Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone</a><br></div><br><p class="yahoo-quoted-begin" style="font-size: 15px; color: rgb(132, 115, 255); padding-top: 15px; margin-top: 0px;">On Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 2:09 PM, robin--- via Fuusm-l <fuusm-l@fuusm.org> wrote:</p><blockquote class="iosymail"><div id="yiv4571990753"><div>
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Thanks Randy. We Americans are not the only ones with fallen or damaged and in the end, what is it <strong><em>good</em></strong> for - absolutely nothing.
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Robin
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On 05/27/2024 11:58 AM EDT Randall Kidder via Fuusm-l <fuusm-l@fuusm.org> wrote:
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<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/ztZI2aLQ9Sw?si=H0QFKo2sNKRvA95_">https://youtu.be/ztZI2aLQ9Sw?si=H0QFKo2sNKRvA95_</a>
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Hi all. I apologize for the following. And if is inappropriate, or untimely, I doubly apologize. The last thing I want to do is clutter up your email, take up your time, or come across as unpatriotic or whatever. Sometimes one just needs to unload a little bit and try to find which way is one's way. Regardless of how much flak or censure one might receive. I'm probably speaking out of turn. I certainly do not want to dampen anyone's festivities or celebrations. This particular holiday, for me, is too multi-dimensional to simply have a "Happy Memoral Day," even if accompanied by a certain amount of poignancy.
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๐บ๐ฒ<strong><u>Memorial Day</u></strong>๐บ๐ธ Remembering <strong><em><u>our</u></em></strong> fallen who gave <strong style="font-style:italic;">their </strong>lives fighting for <strong><em>our</em></strong> freedom, (or what currently passes for freedom, but that's a separate issue). The holiday has an interesting history going back to the Civil War.
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๐ <strong><em>"Happy</em></strong> Memorial Day<strong><em>" </em></strong>๐ I'm seeing and hearing that all over the place. I confess, I could never quite get the "happy" part, but I am highly <em>grateful and thankful</em> for their sacrifices: just as, however, (and this is the crux of my issue) - people in other countries are undoubtedly grateful and proud of their own fallen sons, daughters, neighbors, fathers, mothers... I'm just trying to put things in perspective so I can wrap my head around all this and attempt to grasp the "big picture," whatever it is. Everybody is doing right and their activities, whether defensive or offensive is justifiable from their perspective. Everybody is right and everybody else is not doing the same right they must be wrong and expendable. Maybe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, gestalt, or whatever. I dunno.
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Another phrase I'm hearing a lot is "God Bless The U.S.A." Implying fuggeddabout the rest of the world. Maybe not, but how about extending the sentiment to "God [Goddess, Tao, The Universe, The Great 'Is,' Waldo, fill in the blank...] Bless The Planet" So, anyway...
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๐ณ๏ธโ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฆ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฆ๐น๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ผ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฆ๐ฟ๐ง๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ง๐ฉ๐ง๐ช๐ง๐ซ๐ง๐ฌ๐ง๐ญ๐ง๐ฎ๐ง๐ฏ๐ง๐ฑ๐ง๐ฒ๐ง๐ณ๐จ๐ฉ๐จ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฟ๐ง๐พ๐ง๐ผ๐ง๐ป๐ง๐น๐ง๐ธ๐ง๐ท๐ง๐ถ๐ง๐ด๐จ๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐จ๐ญ๐จ๐ฎ๐จ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฑ๐จ๐ฒ๐จ๐ณ๐จ๐ด๐จ๐ต๐จ๐ท๐จ๐บ๐ฉ๐ฟ๐ฉ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฟ๐จ๐พ๐จ๐ฝ๐จ๐ผ๐จ๐ป๐ช๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ธ๐ช๐น๐ช๐บ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ง๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ท๐ซ๐ด๐ซ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ต๐ฌ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ท๐ฌ๐ธ๐ฌ๐น๐ฌ๐บ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ฌ๐พ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐จ๐ญ๐บ๐ญ๐น๐ญ๐ท๐ญ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฎ๐น๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ท๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐จ๐ฑ๐ง๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐พ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ฑ๐น๐ฑ๐บ๐ฑ๐ป๐ฑ๐พ๐ฒ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ช๐ฒ๐ซ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ญ๐บ๐ธ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฆ๐พ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ธ๐ผ๐ซ๐ป๐บ๐ป๐ณ๐ป๐ช๐น๐ท๐น๐ณ๐น๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ๐น๐ฏ๐น๐ญ๐น๐ฌ๐น๐ฉ๐น๐จ๐ธ๐ฝ๐ธ๐น๐ธ๐ท๐ธ๐ณ๐ต๐นetc. etc. etc. etc. etc...
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โฎ๏ธ In the 225 years since c1800 C.E., more than 37 million (37 <strong><em>MILLION)</em></strong> combatants worldwide have dรญed actively fighting in wars, everybody fighting, killing, dying for "their cause:" Fighting for and defending what <em>they</em> believed was right, ethical, proper; or sometimes being conscripted and not even being 100% sure why they were being put in harm's way. (Remember Vietnam?) This doesn't include millions of civilian deaths from bombings etc, nor additional deaths from famine and pestilence directly caused by wartime activities. The proportion of civilian casualties to military combatants in conflicts has generally increased: in WWII civilian deaths outnumbered combatant deaths between 2:1 and 3:2. And, let's ignore all the collateral structural destruction. Or the loss of cultural artifacts simply because of religious differences: for example, the iconoclastic destruction of Buddhist and Shinto shrines by devout Christians and converts; or the massive destruction of the Library of Alexandria. Cultural wars. Religious wars. Political wars.
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Sooo, how many are 37 million combatant deaths? That high a number is beyond my puny brain's simple comprehension. But... say I were to spend 8 hours a day, 7 days a week going over every one of their dossiers and thinking about each of those 37 million people for 5 seconds per person, it would take me over 15 years. People. Human beings. Considering not enemies, opposing causes, religiously or politically right or wrong, defensible or indefensible or whatever. But simply compressing each killed person's entire lifetime into a mere 5 seconds.
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๐๐โธ๏ธโฏ๏ธโ๏ธโฆ๏ธโช๏ธโฎ๏ธ๐๐ฏ๐งโโ๏ธ
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The world population has more than doubled since I was in grade school, so I'm ignoring projections of what the world population would be now if it weren't for all the deadly conflicts. There's an upside to war? This entire matter does indeed get complicated.
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Just sayin'... ๐ถ๐ต "War. What is it good for?" ๐ต๐ถ
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Happy Memorial Day
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Ok. I'm finished. Hopefully in the sense of having completed a simple task and not in the profound sense of "Oh man, now he's done for."
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Sincerely - Randall Kidder
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</div></div><div class="yqt7482152133" id="yqt38944">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">Fuusm-l mailing list<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:Fuusm-l@fuusm.org" href="mailto:Fuusm-l@fuusm.org">Fuusm-l@fuusm.org</a><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://fuusm.org/mailman/listinfo/fuusm-l_fuusm.org" target="_blank">http://fuusm.org/mailman/listinfo/fuusm-l_fuusm.org</a><br clear="none"></div><div class="yqt7482152133" id="yqt38944">Thanks Randy! It was sad to watch the little parade yesterday. So many veterans now gone, and very few able to โwalk itโ anymore.</div><div class="yqt7482152133" id="yqt38944">I think of my Dad and his service in Bora Bora and places he never talked about as I was growing up. My Mother always said he, just like so many who made it home, just wanted to get on with it.</div><div class="yqt7482152133" id="yqt38944">Makes me wonder what he thought about his daughterโs anti war activities.. he never said!</div><div class="yqt7482152133" id="yqt38944">Maybe he thought it was OK. But then again, we all supported his namesake( my youngest son ) when he joined the Navy! </div><div class="yqt7482152133" id="yqt38944">Thanks for the message, Randy. Itโs complicatedโฎ๏ธ</div><blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
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