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Has Lady Liberty ever even existed? Just ask yourself that one question. Forget everything you think you know. Imagine yourself as man, woman, or child. Imagine you have just escaped the ravages of World War 1. Your on a boat heading to the land of the free, where the streets are paved in gold and there is always enough food and water. You think back to your shattered past, your country was demolished, your home leveled, your loved
ones and friends are dead. You saw this with your own eyes. You fought beside your friends and brothers many died. You can still smell the decaying corpses you used as shields while heavy, indiscriminate, automatic gunfire chewed up everything around you. Then nothing. Silence. Whistles blare and you hear men cry out gas, gas, gas!! You get up and run, again gunfire erupts around you as you trip and scramble for cover and your mask, you must get your mask on! Where is it, its not where it was! On the ground to your right is a dead brother with a gas mask on his face. You grab for it, just as you hear the thumps of the gas canisters go off. Taking a quick deep breath you manage to get the mask on and make it back to your trench.
The man next to you on the boat is talking to you and you slowly come back from your hellish memories that the deep black water seems to pull you back to as you gaze into it. He wants to know what you'll eat first and where you will head when we get to New York and when do I think we will arrive. He realizes that you aren't really here but back there reliving a nightmare. He slaps your shoulder and says "Forget it mate, that's all behind us now, nothing but free sailing and blue skies for us now, food, work, the chance to start a new life. We made it through the war to end all wars!". He hands you his half smoked cigarette. You take it, hand shaking a bit and take a long drag, the man is still talking, but all you really heard is the war to end all wars. The war to end all wars, could that be true? You stare back into the inky black water and pray that he's right. He must be, how could anyone survive such an ordeal and even think of picking up a gun again. You think back again to all you have lost and what you have taken. Your mind slowly agrees with the man. He must be right, has to be. War is over forever you decide, as you walk towards the bow of the ship and find a pile of rope to sleep on. Your eyes close heavily and the slow rocking of the ship put you to sleep fast.
You awake to people shouting, its dawn, the lady next to you cries out " We are here, we are here! Praise God we've made it! Look, look at her she's beautiful!". You wipe your eyes and stand. Off in the distance you see her. Lady Liberty! We have arrived, and my how majestic she looks. Can this really be true? Is this hellish nightmare really over? You drop to your knees like many around you and pray a prayer of thanks. You thank God for sparing your life, and give thanks for safe passage to the land of the free. You thank God for the end of all wars.
Years have now passed, you are an old man standing over the grave of your son. The son you lost to World War 2,the war that was never to be. The impossible war.How can this be you ask yourself this was never going to happen again. Yet here you stand. How can one country, under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all be at seemingly endless war? You close your eyes and again pray for understanding and peace. A peace you feel in your heart may never come.
This is a list of wars the Land of the Free has fought since WW1. WW1 1914-1918, the Russian civil war 1918-1920, The Last Indian War 1923, WW2 1939-1945, Korean war 1950-1953, Laotian civil war 1953-1975, Lebanon crisis 1958, Bay of Pigs 1961,Vietnam War 1965-1975, Korean DMZ conflict 1966-1969, Dominican civil war1965, Insurgency in Bolivia 1966-1967, Cambodian civil war 1967-1975, War in South Zaire 1978, Operation Eagle claw 1980, Gulf of Sidra 1981, Lebanese civil war 1982-1984, Invasion of Grenada 1983, Action in the Gulf of Sidra 1986, Bombing of Libya 1986, Tanker war 1987-1988, Tobruk encounter 1989, Invasion of Panama 1989-1990, Gulf war 1990-1991, Iraqi No Fly Zone Enforcement 1991-2003, Somali civil war 1992-1995, Bosnian war 1992-1995, Intervention in Haiti 1994-1995, Kosovo war 1998-1999, Operation Infinite Reach 1998, War in Afghanistan 2001-present, Iraq War 2003-2011, War in North West Pakistan 2004-present, Somali civil war 2009-present, Operation Ocean Shield 2009-2016, Libyan War 2011, American led intervention in Iraq 2014-2017, American led intervention in Syria 2014-present, Yemeni civil war 2016-present, American intervention in Libya 2016-present.
Anyone care to ask why? Anyone care to take a stand? Anyone think it will matter?