Against all odds, do what is right.

I hear that the Democrats, though they seem to fire letters to the President, and puff out in front of the cameras that they are against the occupation of Iraq.  However, their excuse for not doing everthing they can to stop it, and bring our soldiers home is "they can't get enough votes to over ride a veto by the President."

Let's look at people we hold in high esteem that stand against the odds, not to win, but to do what is right. 

Our soldiers and their families stand against the odds.  The men and women who are on the ground in a harsh enviornment, outnumbered by people who do not want them walking on their streets and know that at any moment, someone can take their lives.  Their familes who worry endlessly about them, their children who miss them, and their mothers, who are even afraid to unfold the morning newspaper, in fear of finding her child amonst the unfortunate ones who have given the ultimate sacrifice.  The family member left behind, who must now struggle to make ends meet, because the "salary" of the honourable one, on the ground in Iraq is not enough to meet the bills.  The wife who kissed a healthy, happy man as he boarded the transport to Iraq, and suffers because what was returned to her was a broken man, maimed physically and mentally from the scars of his service.

Then, there are the people who oppose the occupation who stand against all odds, not to win, but because it is right.  They speak out, only to be villified, riticuled and called unpatriotic.  There are those who expose the evils of the occupiers in the land of occupation who are shunned by his own group.  Sometimes, it is their reputation that is destroyed, and sometimes it is taken from them, not by the enemy, but by those formally on their side. There are people who tell the truth, against their own material interests, who have their loved ones exposed and placed in danger on purpose by their opposers.

Great people are not admired because they take the safe route.  Honourable people do not use numbers and calculation to decide to do what is the right thing.  Just think if if rescue personal took in account that they were fighting the dynamic nature of a flash flood in deciding whether to rescue a person from a stranded automobile caught in it.  Would you want to be the stranded motorist if numbers and calculation of the odds was the determinaing factor of whether you should be rescued?  What if that were your child? 

Jesus (the examplar of the Christian Faith) stood against all odds.  He was opposed by the powerful, political people of his time.  His land was occupied by a foriegn power.  He had friends, shunned by his society, and he reached out...not to celebreties and people of fame and money, but to those disinfrancised, displaced, and shunned.  His reputation was not destoryed by the occupiers, but by his own kindred.  He was not betrayed by a prostitute, or a lepar, but by someone who heard his message, lived, ate, and slept beside him.  Not a stranger, but a man in his own camp.  In the end, his own kindred released a known criminal on the street, rather than the man who showed nothing but good, and kindness...but told the truth, and stood against all odds to power.  His own kindred humiliated him, beat him in the streets on the way to his own death.  However, it was Jesus, the examplar of the Christian faith, who stood against all odds, who simply did the right thing.  Jesus, the honourable one's choices outlive his mortality.

The Minitemen who fought the Revolution that freed Americans from it's European slavery stood against all odds.  The did not have the weapons and organization of the occupiers.  They were not backed by endless monetary interests, and yet they prevailed, not because they took risk assessments, but because they wanted liberty and security more than life itself.  Many were tortured, maimed and killed, but their legacy outlived them.  We, Americans enjoy the fruit of their sacrifice because we are free.  

I, frankly am tired of hearing this excuse of "not having enough votes to over ride a veto by the President."  While our representitives that "say" they are against the occupation of Iraq, they sit in their air conditioned offices using numbers and risk assessment charts to decide stradegy to win, while the soldiers are walking in the streets of a hostile country in the heat of the day risking their lives at every second in a place where the mission is not clear, and "winning" is never defined by the supporters of this act.

I ask those who say they are opposed to this war to speak loudly against power.  I say, do whatever it takes to bring the soldiers home, safely and quickly.  I say you already know what is right, and honourable to do, and you know that if you do not choose what is right, you will be just as much to blame for those who do evil by their own hands because you gave them the tools to continue.  If it means shuttering the legislative branch, then that is what it means.  If it means defunding the occupation, excpet for specificlly funding the safe and secure withdrawal of our soldiers, then do it. 

Heros are not made from the status quo.  Heros are recognized because they have walked through the fire of evil and prevailed...sometimes the fire destroys there mortality, but they have determined beforehand that what is right, just, nobel, and honorable is worth more than cowaring to the opposer.  Memorable heros seldom live through what they accomplish, except in their own beliefs  We, the living now, are greatful for the sacrifices that they made because our lives are so much enriched.  We. and our liberty,  are the fruit of their dreams and hopes.  Their legacy outlasted their mortailty.  

Congress...it is time to simply do what is right.