The last member of my family is home from Iraq. Safely home. Which makes this Christmas a good deal more Merry than it might have been.
It took time, but polls now show that a majority of Americans accept what a plurality said from the beginning: the Iraq War was not a worthwhile investment of our time, dollars, or lives. A majority now agrees that the nation was misled about the need for the war, that we have little to show for nearly a decade of effort, and that we would have been better off if the war had never happened. However, no matter how Americans feel about events in Iraq, there is another topic on which we are in even greater agreement. Americans are proud of those who serve in our military. In one recent poll, the number of people stating that they were proud of our military men and women was 96%, a number so high that it makes you wonder if those last 4% understood the question.
But here's another question: why? If you don't feel pride in the war, why do you feel pride in the people who waged it? Just what is it in our military that Americans find admirable?
Is it the ability to deliver violence? That seems unlikely. In day to day life, we have little reverence for agents of destruction, and while there's undoubtedly a good deal of pizzazz in the gear that the military carries, there's far more fondness for those in uniform than there is for the implements they use. It's not the artillery we love. It's not the tanks or planes. It's not the bombs or bullets. What makes us thrill to the sight of those who represent our country is something more fundamental.
Here are people, people from different areas and backgrounds, come together to commit themselves to something beyond their personal interests. Here are people willing to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of others. Here are people bound by dedication to their tasks. Here are people in service to the nation. Those things are admirable.
In times past, soldiers might have been expected to enrich themselves by pillaging the lands they took. They might have looked forward to remunerations that would elevate their status and wealth above that of common citizens. That's no longer true. Our military offers only tough work at pay sometimes scandalously poor. A big part of why we love our military is because they put themselves on the line knowing that they won't get rich and won't get famous. They do it because we ask. That's admirable.
At one time, it was common for our military to be chosen by lot and to consist chiefly of those who had been forced to put on the uniform. In many countries that's still the case today. But it's no longer true for the United States. These are people who have stepped up to this challenge voluntarily. That's also admirable.
Self-sacrifice and dedication. Working for the good of others rather than yourself. Volunteering to take on a duty that few would (or could) accept. The people who have labored for those ideals are worth celebrating.
Only… why do we stop loving these ideas when they come without a uniform? The same properties should be just as admirable in other areas of life. A nation that cheers its military for subsuming personal advancement to the greater good, but worships those outside the military expressly for the size of their egos and the contents of their vaults is sending a very mixed message. Even within other areas of the government, we too often draw a stark line. On one side are those in military uniform who are deserving of our admiration, on the other "faceless bureaucrats" deserving only scorn (and undeserving of the taxes that pay their salaries). Faceless bureaucrats like mine inspectors struggling to help miners hundreds of feet underground. Faceless bureaucrats like a CDC workers facing off with the most deadly diseases on the planet. Faceless bureaucrats doing thankless tasks for not a lot of money so that you can assume your air, water, and food are safe.
It's not that we should esteem our military any less. It's just that if we're serious about the respect we say we have, we might show it by not acting as if all the things we say we admire, are contemptible once the uniform comes off.