yellow ribbon
March 21, 2003 05:40 PM

If someone offers you a yellow ribbon today. Take it.

Don't take it because you believe that to be a patriot means to unquestioningly accept a Commander in Chief, whoever he may be.

Don't take it because you're for or against war in Iraq.

Don't even take it because you care about the life(ves) of a particular soldier or soldiers who are just doing their jobs.

Take it because, even if you don't have someone you love fighting in a war or living in the midst of one, if you did, you'd feel a little better seeing yellow ribbons and knowing they weren't ignored. Because you, whatever your situation, care. [I'm trying not to sound like a television commercial for sick kids, impoverished kids, kids on drugs, etc. - but I might be failing]

I haven't talked much about war because, unlike a lot of my fellow liberal bloggers, I'm not sure this one is wrong. I'm not sure it's right, either. But I do think it's possible that something done the wrong way and for the wrong reasons might turn out to have been the right thing to do after all.

I haven't talked about the war, but I can't help feeling strongly about the people who are active participants. The soldiers and civilians who have a perspective on war that I, as an American who doesn't exactly hang out in war-torn countries, simply do not have.

So, yeah. I have a yellow ribbon making whipping noises off my car antenna. You should, too.