BY: Ben Stein, Open Letter
02/02/2007
Dear Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, National Guard,
Reservists, in Iraq , in the Middle East theater, in Afghanistan , in the
area near Afghanistan , in any base anywhere in the world, and your
families:
Let me tell you about why you guys own about 90 percent of the backbone in
the whole world right now and should be happy with yourselves and proud of
whom you are.
It was a dazzlingly hot day here in Rancho Mirage today. I did small errands
like going to the bank to pay my mortgage, finding a new bed at a price I
can afford, practicing driving with my new 5 wood, paying bills for about
two hours. I spoke for a long time to a woman who is going through a nasty
child custody fight. I got e-mails from a woman who was fired today from her
job for not paying attention. I read about multi-billion-dollar mergers in
Europe, Asia , and the Mideast . I noticed how overweight I am, for the
millionth time. In other words, I did a lot of nothing.
Like every other American who is not in the armed forces family, I basically
just rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic in my trivial,
self-important, meaningless way.
Above all, I talked to a friend of more than forty-three years who told me
he thought his life had no meaning because all he did was count his money.
And, friends in the armed forces, this is the story of all of America today.
We are doing nothing but treading water while you guys carry on the life or
death struggle against worldwide militant Islamic terrorism. Our lives are
about nothing: paying bills, going to humdrum jobs, waiting until we can go
to sleep and then do it all again. Our most vivid issues are trivia compared
with what you do every day, every minute, every second.
Oprah Winfrey talks a lot about "meaning" in life For her, "meaning" is
dieting and then having her photo on the cover of her magazine every single
month (surely a new world record for egomania). This is not "meaning."
Meaning is doing for others.
Meaning is risking your life for hers.
Meaning is putting your bodies and families' peace of mind on the line to
defeat some of the most evil, sick killers the world has ever known.
Meaning is leaving the comfort of home to fight to make sure that there
still will be a home for your family and for your nation and for free men
and women everywhere.
Look, Soldiers and Marines and Sailors and Airmen and Coast Guardsmen, there
are six billion people in this world. The whole fate of this world turns on
what you people, 1.4 million, more or less, do every day. The fate of
mankind depends on what about 2/100 of one percent of the people in this
world do every day and you are those people. And joining you is every
Policeman, Fireman, and Emergency Medical Technician in the country, also
holding back the tide of chaos.
Do you know how important you are? Do you know how indispensable you are? Do
you know how humbly grateful any of us who has a head on his shoulders is to
you? Do you know that if you never do another thing in your lives, you will
always still be heroes? That we could live without Hollywood or Wall Street
or the NFL, but we cannot live for a week without you?
We are on our knees to you and we bless and pray for you every moment. And
Oprah Winfrey, if she were a size two, would not have one millionth of your
importance, and all of the Wall Street billionaires will never mean what the
least of you do, and if Barry Bonds hits hundreds of home runs it would not
mean as much as you going on one patrol or driving one truck to the Baghdad
airport.
You are everything to us, as we go through our little days, and you are in
the prayers of the nation and of every decent man and woman on the planet.
That's who you are and what you mean. I hope you know that.
Love,
Ben Stein
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