Saturday, March 17, 2007

47. Another Saipan Vet in the News

Thanks to Dan MacMeekin for sharing this bit from the Washington Post. Josh Stein, a Saipan vet, has a lot to cope with, or actually less to cope with. He lost two legs in Iraq. Read about him and other vets paying a high personal price for our (senseless) war, and demonstrating as much or more courage in daily life as on the battlefield. IraqWarVetJoshSteinShowsCourage

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I find your "less to cope with" comment rude, crass, and completely unbecoming of someone whom I used to respect.

Anonymous said...

Been simmering about this post for over an hour. Contrary to the end of my post above, I do respect you, and know you to be a good, caring and thoughtful person. One thoughless post should not change that.

But, because I know you to be a good person is why I am so surprised and disappointed.

Saipan Writer said...

Less to cope with means he has less of his body. It's a "fact." And it may be a disturbing fact--I find it so. But it wasn't meant to be rude or crass. Sorry you find it so.

KAP said...

That's why, as much as I hate our involvement, I don't like to comment. It's hard to separate the real consequences for real people from the politics.

Anonymous said...

One brilliant statement I heard from a local when I moved to Saipan was, "Just because it was true, doesn't mean it needs to be said." As I've gotten older, I've come to accept the wisdom of that statement.

So by Saipan Writer's reasoning, if I walked up to a diabetic who just got a leg chopped off and said, "Well, at least you lost a few pounds..." that would also be true.

Or, if I walked up to a woman who just had a hysterectomy and said "well, technically you're less of a woman" it would be just as true as your comment about the wounded soldier.

All equally true; all equally offensive; all equally unworthy of Saipan Writer's writing talent.