That poor guy was just popping out for a pint of milk, just
another day, nothing exciting, and then everything changed. His life was
snuffed out in the most brutal way possible and his family’s lives were changed
forever. All because of what he did to earn his monthly wage. We send these men
and women out to face chilling danger, the least they deserve is to be safe and
protected when they return home.
I’m not going to talk about the perpetrators; they’ve had
quite enough coverage. What I will reiterate though, is that they weren’t religious
zealots, they were mentally ill criminals. They should be treated like that
because they certainly bear no resemblance to the 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide.
Members of the faith should not have to keep justifying themselves every time
an insane criminal does something like this.
I’m also not going to talk much about the barrage of racism
I saw on my Facebook and Twitter feeds last night. Suffice to say, someone
starting a sentence with “I’m not racist, but...” generally is. If you have a
question about why these people did this, join the queue! Ask questions, you’re
allowed to be angry someone died. But making racist accusations such as “they
should all go back to where they came from” or “we should get Britain back to
how it used to be” is as unhelpful as it is ludicrous.
Did you know there have been 59 terrorist attacks in Britain
since 1970? How many are “Islamic”? There have been three; the London bombings,
Glasgow airport and yesterday.
When people say they want Britain back to how it used to be,
do they mean the good old days when every Irish accent was treated with
suspicion, when the Prime Minister had two attacks on her life, when horses
were blown up and the country was in constant fear? That is not a Britain I want to return to,
thank you very much.
I think the important point in this for me is the phrase
used in the Boston bombings, “look for those who are helping”. Yesterday the
Scout leader who went over to those men and spoke to them, diverting their
attention so they wouldn’t kill again, is the true reflection of a hero. She is
a role model to her Scouts and to people across the country and I think we need
to follow her example. What can we do to help?
The fact that wounded servicemen even have to have the charity
“Help for Heroes”, angers me. We do not do nearly enough to honour, protect and
respect our troops. We send them away and forget about them, they come home and
we ignore them. Where is our U.S.A style awe for those brave men and women
doing the unspeakable so we don’t have to? I am a pacifist, I hate war, but I
love our troops and today of all days I honour them and thank them for
everything they do.
My brother is a former member of HM Forces and was treated
like a rock star in America. He never paid for a meal nor bought a drink. He
walked down 5th Avenue on Independence Day to parting crowds and
thunderous applause, slaps on the back and cries of “thanks for keeping us safe
buddy”. In Britain, he didn’t tell people what he did, it was better that way. He
was judged for being in the Forces and not in a good way.
Maybe it’s different now, but it used to drive me nuts to
see him being treated without the respect he had earned a hundred times over.
His passing out parade was one of the proudest moments in our entire family and
I’d like to dedicate this to my brother and all the other vets and serving men
and women in the British Military. You are amazing. If you would like to donate
to Help for Heroes, click here. http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/donate/
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