How Much Ignorance about War ... and God.
Autor: George Kieling | Publicado: 2009-12-16T23:01:00-02:00

I´ve received this e-mail, today, by my list of discussion:"SHALL  WE HIRE A MONUMENT ENGRAVER TO GO TO  ARLINGTON   NATIONAL    CEMETERY  AND ADD THE MISSING WORDS?THIS IS A MESSAGE  FROM AN APPALLED OBSERVER:Today I went to visit the new World War II  Memorial in  Washington  ,  DC  I got an unexpected  history lesson. Because I'm a baby boomer, I was one of the youngest in the  crowd.  Most were the age of my parents, Veterans of 'the greatest war,' with  their families. It was a beautiful day, and people were smiling and happy to be  there. Hundreds of us milled around the memorial, reading the inspiring words of  Eisenhower and Truman that are engraved there.On the Pacific side of the  memorial, a group of us gathered to read the words President Roosevelt used to  announce the attack on Pearl Harbor:Yesterday,  December 7, 1941-- a date which will live in infamy--the  United  States of America  was suddenly and deliberately  attacked. One  elderly woman read the words aloud:'With  confidence in our armed forces, with the abounding determination of our people,  we will gain the inevitable triumph.' But  as she read, she suddenly turned angry. 'Wait a minute,' she said, 'they left  out the end of the quote.. They left out the most important part.Roosevelt ended  the message with 'so  help us God...'Her  husband said, 'You are probably right. We're not supposed to say things like  that now.''I know I'm right,' she insisted. 'I remember the speech.'  The two looked dismayed,shook their heads sadly and walked  away.Listening to their conversation, I thought to myself, 'Well, it  has been over 50 years; she's probably forgotten.'But she had not  forgotten. She  was right.I  went home and pulled out the book my book club is reading --- 'Flags of Our  Fathers' by James Bradley. It's all about the battle at  Iwo Jima     I  haven't gotten too far in the book. It's tough to read because it's a graphic  description of the WWII battles in the Pacific.But right there it was  on page 58.  Roosevelt  'S speech to the nation ends in  'so  help us God.'The  people who edited out that part of the speech when they engraved it on the  memorial could have fooled me. I was born after the war! But they couldn't fool  the people who were there.    Roosevelt 'S words are engraved on  their hearts.Now I ask: 'WHO  GAVE THEM TH E RIGHT TO CHANGE THE WORDS OF  HISTORY?????????'Send  this around to your friends. People need to know before everyone  forgets. People  today are trying to change the history ofAmerica by leaving God out of it, but  the truth is, God has been a part of this nation, since the beginning. He still  wants to be...and He always will be! If  you agree, pass this on and God Bless YOU!If  not, May God Forgive You!"And that was my answer:"Yeesss...God bless the War, all the wars (I II III  IV...) we are in, and let us be the winner, no matter the way: a hammer, a gun,  a gun machine, a stick, a stone, with flattop, with many planes, many B-52, many  atomic bombs...ohh...I like this God that like wars. He is so benevolent  with the winners.   Merry Chistmas ...but a want you receive a rose, not a  bomb, okay?"How Much Ignorance in both cases....!!!