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RE: Why Some Vets Don't Like hearing "Thank You For Your Service"
Thank you for posting this. I am a veteran and it really irks me when people thank me for my service. For me the reasons are slightly different, and I had already planned on posting an article about it when I saw this. You covered some great points. Hopefully the message will spread.
My question to you is, why does it irk you when they thank you for your service? They are simply trying to show you respect for actions you have taken. Sometimes it can be a generic response I agree, but overall people are just trying to show that they care.
People thanking me for my service irritates me firstly because mostly it is not people trying to show they care, mostly it is a generic automatic response that has been learned into our society. Secondly, people are thanking me for supporting the murdering of innocent people and most of the time they're unaware of that concept or are just too far removed to even take notice. Finally, I no longer support the American government and being reminded of my service does me no good. My time in the service was not great. The military left me permanently disabled.
It beats the response of people spitting on soldiers when they came home from Vietnam. But I can understand your second point. I struggled with that as well when I returned from war. Knowing of some of the things that happened to good people. And I am sorry to hear that you are now disabled due to your service. I wish there was something that could bring that back for you. But we can not condem people for trying to do what they think is the right thing.
I can agree with your first point, certainly, though I never condemned anyone. I've simply stated that this act irritates me and wish for the understanding to be circulated. :)
Not to stir up controversy, and not to condone condemnation, but why can't we judge people for doing what they think is right?
It seems we judged anyone following Hitler's orders... they thought that was right.
We judged the service members who went to Vietnam based on a proven lie by their government... meanwhile, many who volunteered thought they were doing something right.
action without education (not the schooling kind, the living kind) is absolutely grounds for judgement.
People saying tyfys isn't because they think it's right... it's because it's been ingrained through national holiday, yellow ribbons and flowers and ceremonies for graves.
I think they say thank you because they know it's a meat grinder for the psycho politicians and their thanks is more of a sorry, glad it wasn't me - kinda feeling.
You're welcome to judge whomever you see fit. I only replied saying that I had not condemned anyone within the context of this article. As long as an individual who is judging is judging subjectively within the context of their existence rather than working to subjugate others to their ethics and morals then I see nothing wrong. Examples like the Nazis and the Vietnam veterans are examples of enforcing your ethics and morals upon another individual, and I personally believe that to be ethically and morally wrong.
I agree with your point about people using the thanking as a "sorry, glad it wasn't me" sentiment, but I don't think that the sorry part comes with most of them. I think most of them say it simply as a learned response.
It's hard to disagree with you on what you're saying, and I'm thankful for your insightful response and overall participation
It's totally weird territory, but hopefully these kind of dialogues continue. I think it's worthwhile discourse.
You're absolutely correct that these grounds are sticky, and many are hesitant to trudge through the philosophy in fear of offending someone. I say let's discuss it all, as long as it remains rational. :)