TheBanyanTree: One More Voice

[Theta]

Pam wrote:

>I spent a little more than twenty years in the Marine Corps of this country,
>defending others rights though, to HAVE an opinion, and express them when
>they wish!  And I happen to be proud of that.

Yes, that's exactly the way I feel about my 20 in the Air Force.  There's 
an "additional duty" that floats around every unit called the Unit Voting 
Officer, who's job it is to get absentee ballot request forms out to all 
the members of the unit.  Traditionally it goes to the most junior officer, 
which is when I first got tagged with it, as a brand new "butter-bar" 2nd 
Lt.  I felt very passionately that everyone should vote and was shocked at 
the blase attitude some of the more senior officers took toward it.   So 
throughout the years, I always volunteered for that job, eventually being 
possibly the only Lt. Colonel in the Air Force who was also the Unit Voting 
Officer.  I told my people that voting was the reason we did this job.  I 
didn't care who they voted for - but before they could complain about the 
idiots who got elected, they had to preface their comments with "I 
voted."  No voting, no bitching.   So when someone expresses an opinion 
that I might not agree with, it's okay, especially if I feel that person 
has stepped up to the responsibility of being a participating citizen.

The death of President Ford has resurfaced a lot of memories about that 
era.  I was stationed at Hanscom AFB, just outside of Boston, working for a 
division that dealt with international research.  There was a group of 
military and science types visiting from Europe while all the transition 
from Nixon to Ford was going on.  One of the officers from Greece said his 
scientists were getting very concerned about what was going to happen.  Did 
I think there would be a military coup?  I probably replied something 
brilliant like, "Whaaaaaa????"  He sighed and told me that Americans are 
truly amazing people.  He had asked a lot of officers at the base the same 
question and they all had the same response.  In his country, if there had 
been so much drama over an issue that the president had to resign, then 
there would be all kinds of power plays and unrest and upheaval and the 
military would end up taking over and putting someone in the job that they 
supported.  And here, he said, all this happens without fanfare and 
everyone just goes along like nothing happened, and when he asked if there 
was going to be a coup, all the military acted like he was .... was.... 
speaking Greek!

We ended up talking for quite a while about what he considered to be an 
abnormal phenomenon and I ultimately told him that we did support Ford; 
when we took our oaths of commissions, we swore to support not any 
particular person, but the office, and by extension, whoever it was who 
filled that terrible job.

His response was, "But you do it without even thinking about it!"   Over 
the years, I've had similar conversations with other officers and friends 
from different parts of the world.  An Egyptian officer once told me that 
Americans don't understand how lucky we are to have the freedom we do.  I 
think it's worth a few ruffled feathers ever so often to make us think 
about how lucky we truly are to be able to speak our hearts in open forum.

I also think we are very lucky to have this particular forum where we try 
to cherish one another and when we end up writing things others find 
hurtful, we can say we're sorry, rebalance the harmony, and go on as friends.

As a  writer named Evelyn Hall said, "I disapprove of what you say, but I 
will defend to the death your right to say it."  Or in the immortal words 
of Sam the Eagle of the Muppet Show, "I defend your right to believe any 
crackpot ideas you want."

So let the crackpot ideas flow - I would just like for them to flow gently 
and not devolve into a family fight.

Theta