my lastest email from a disgruntled conservative....

[smurfygirl]

AND MY RESPONSE.

Subject: A TERRIBLE OMISSION



The Omission From the New W.W.II Memorial


Today I went to visit the new World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. I got an unexpected history lesson. Since 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 Ike 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 woman read the words aloud:


" With confidence in our armed forces, with the un bounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph."


But as she read, she was suddenly angry. "Wait a minute," she said.


"They left out the end of the quote. They left out the most important part. Roosevelt said: "so help us God."


"You're probably right," her husband said. "We're not supposed to say things like that now."


"I know I'm right," she insisted. "I remember the speech" The two shook their heads sadly and walked away.


Listening to their conversation, I thought to myself, "Well, it has been 50 years. She's probably forgotten."


But she was right.


I went home and pulled out the book my book club is reading. It's "Flags of Our Fathers" by James Bradley. It's all about Iwo Jima. I haven't gotten too far in the book. It's tough to read because it's a graphic description of the battles in the Pacific.


But right there it was on page 58. Roosevelt's speech to the nation It ends "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.


WHO GAVE THEM THE 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 of America 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...


If you agree, pass this on.



MY RESPONSE TO SUCH AN EMAIL

I too just went to the memorial... I met my 87 year old grandfather at the gate of the Pacific. I breathed the hollow ground that the memorial is to signify. I gazed upon the 4000 stars that somehow are supposed to represent the 400,000+ lost. I smelt the chlorine in the fountains that are significant of rebirth to a fragile nation. I too noticed the missing words...45 minutes of words missing from a granite wall.... But all the while... I didn't need these words "So God help Us" because these words were self evident in the millions of Americans standing around me...crying in a sweet but sullen blessing of relief that we weren't all German, that we weren't wearing swastikas on our arms...That freedom and perseverance held out and that God's answers to millions of prayers were answered. That men like Papaw came home and taught his children and their children how lucky we are to be not only American but that our gratitude and freedoms were held in the hands of dying boys sent to save all we hold dear. That's why I can live without those words on a wall...Cause they are in our hearts...To sing loudly and without dispare. To remember those who God took for our greater cause and greater good. It sings true in my Papaws eyes, in his heart, in his blood, for they are the greatest generation watching a greater generation grow. Leading them by example, thought, and God.

[noamnety]

1. You forgot Rule #1

If it's a conservative email, it's already debunked on snopes.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/memorial.asp

[madeline_con]

2. "WHO GAVE THEM THE RIGHT...??"

Who gave them the right? Do we rewrite it all, taking Bogey's cigarette out of his mouth, and omitting "inconvenient" words like "darkie" and "God"?

[smurfygirl]

3. yeah, I know but don't you like my message?

I think it's true to heart.. That God doesn't have to be on a wall, but in our hearts....
Plus my picture turned out cool. You know how hard it is to get an 87 year old to sit with you for 20 minutes in 100+ heat?

My message is meant to give inner meaning and depth to such a insignificant part of a memorial...Plus Papaw never noticed no mention of God...

[ISUGRADIA]

4. Another bullshit rightie e-mail Snopes.com says its FALSE

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/memorial.asp

"Only a very short excerpt from President Roosevelt's speech is inscribed on the National World War II Memorial. The sentence that ends "so help us God" wasn't edited to remove those final four words — the phrase "so help us God" isn't there because the sentence that contains it (highlighted in blue above) doesn't appear on the memorial at all. "

[LittleClarkie]

5. They left a part out arbitrarily. That's not terribly cool

I don't like revisionism in the name of political correctness. However, I'm not gonna go apeshit over it.

A while back, a friend of mine was listening to a... oh, I think it was a Chrysler commercial, or some other car company, playing "America the Beautiful" were the instrumental part to "God sheds his grace on thee."

Um, who'd even think to cut that part out. And ad guy with too much time on their hands?

There is such a thing as going too far in the OTHEE direction as well. Why would someone be so offended by the mere mention of a diety that they couldn't even stand to hear the music that goes with that part.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. They cut out the instrumental part BEHIND "God shed his grace on thee"

(I'm a Taoist, mac, and even *I* know it's not "sheds")

And you -or your friend- actually believe this was deliberate?

Y'all got too much time on your hands, I think.

[LittleClarkie]

10. I didn't hear it

But the thing, said my friend, skipped right over that part and continued on with the song. It wasn't the repeat point. IF it was deliberate, then it's not my friend and I who have too much time on our hands.

Shrug. I think both extremes of the debate are alittle nutso, hence being extremes and all. But then again, I tend to find extremes disturbiing most of the time. Sometimes the far left and the far right sound so much alike, it's as if they'd met on the far side of the spectrum, only with their backs turned toward each other. If they'd ever turn around, perhaps they could go bowling together.

[Warren DeMontague]

11. I don't really care what they put in car commercials.

State sponsored religion is another matter.

But, really, I don't believe the ad execs at Chrysler were combing over the song to figure out where the instrumental behind those lyrics were. There was probably some other reason they butchered it, IMHO.


And by the way, the subject of the original email has been debunked as bullshit.

[Why Syzygy]

6. GMAFB

So. When, EXACTLY, is this so-called "God" going to step forward and "Help Us"?

The "words of history"? GMAFB again.

Dry up and move on.

Always a little suspicious of people posting winger propaganda on this site. That's just me.

btw. spellcheck comes in handy: "despair".

[bonzotex]

7. your message is heartfelt and lovely...

Your audience won't get your point I'm afraid. They want to believe stories like this and facts will just annoy them.

This conservative chain mail, like so many other similar examples, is ridiculous and should be ridiculed. It's just a fictional conversation created to change the subject from memorializing World War II vets to pandering to fundamentalist phantoms.

It highlights the historical ignorance of most Americans and the overwhelming urge of Conservatives to revise history to support their current agenda. It's disgusting.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Yeah, it's bullshit, but if it feels good to be mad about it anyway

go kick Bob Dole's ass.. He's probably the one responsible.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Reminds me of the RW email that claims

the ACLU is trying to get crosses removed from federal property, and a picture of a cemetery containing crosses on soldiers' graves is attached. Problem is, the picture is of a cemetery in France. Oh, and the ACLU is not working on this cause.

Freepers are so dumb.