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"I am mad, madder than Hell" (YellowTimes.org) – On November 4th, 1944, Co E, 410th
Reg., 103rd Infantry Division moved on the line outside of St.Die, France.
We relieved a unit of the 3rd Division that had been on the front for over
100 consecutive days. As soon as we moved into position, German artillery
hit our area. The Baptism of Fire is a cruel experience. Within a minute I
lost all sense of being a civilized, caring human being. All of life
centered around one thought, "Get the bastards before they get you." Next
morning we had our first casualty. Private Kopko, the only son of a
widowed mother, took a direct hit. The shrapnel pierced his helmet and
skull. Quicker than you can read this sentence, what had once been a vital
human being, now lay dead on the cold ground. Death. Wounds. Hell. Screams. Fear. Hate. Bastards.
Merde.
Yet, deep down inside, we knew that we were fighting
because Hitler's madness had to be stopped. We were citizen soldiers. Our
aim was to get on with our private lives. But before we could, a job that
had to be done! Behind the terror and the bravery, the screams and the
stealthy night patrols into enemy lines, there was a strong belief that
our sacrifices would make this a better world.
The final paragraph of the Yalta Conference Report,
February 1945, expressed our hopes. "To the soldier who slogged it out in
the mud, the Yalta Conference and the San Francisco Conference are
tangible evidence that the United Nations have a definite goal . . . that
this time the peace will be carefully and deliberately planned . . . that
the hours in muddy foxholes, the eternal moments lying, pinned down to the
muck by machinegun fire, the swift seconds of the assaults of a
strongpoint, will not have been spent in vain."
The back of the World War II Victory Medal bears the
inscription, "Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want,
freedom from fear." Those declarations made our sacrifices worthwhile.
They put meaning into the hell of war. We really believed that we were
fighting for a better world.
We returned home and set about to build a greater
nation. Filled with the assurance that our dead did not die in vain, that
those of us who came home with disabilities would see the fulfillment of
our dreams, we worked hard to realize this nation's potential. And now
over fifty years later, our dreams are crushed, our hopes are destroyed,
our sufferings are a mockery! I am mad!
While those dominating politics, business, and religion
spout patriotic slogans, proclaim the virtues of capitalism, and preach
that this is a nation under God, the reality is one of the grim
dismantling of all things decent and right and honorable. And for what?
That a few bastard businessmen can deposit a few more millions into their
personal checking accounts? That a few plutocratic politicians can pervert
the welfare of the people? That a few paranoid preachers can evoke more
division than unity in the gospel they spread?
I am mad because a handful of propagandists have caused
the American people to buy into the charade that government is bad and
private enterprise is an unqualified bonanza for all. Well, it certainly
has turned out differently, hasn't it? While executives at Enron,
WorldCom, Anderson, and sundry other corporations were putting millions
into their personal bank accounts, the employees and investors hold
worthless pieces of paper in their hands. And what really makes me mad is
that our Attorney General recluses himself from the case because his own
Senatorial campaign fund received contributions from Enron. But has he
appointed a Deputy to pursue this matter vigorously? Surely, among the
many thousands of laws, regulations, executive orders, there must be one
that can make "Kenny Boy" accountable. But no, he is still roaming the
streets or holed up in one of his many mansions laughing at the poor
suckers he has taken for a ride. And that makes me mad . . . madder than
hell.
There is nothing sacred about private enterprise. As a
matter of fact, it has turned out to be the embodiment of evil. Ask the
millions who were bilked out of billions in the sovereign State of
California by the Enron shenanigans. Glory to God in the highest! And it
is ordained by the Almighty that profits are good for everyone. Ask the
more than 40,000,000 uninsured citizens. Ask the ones who receive
inadequate care by H.M.O.'s. Just the other day my wife went for her blood
pressure checkup. Her doctor has done a fine job of controlling it. After
he finished his exam, she asked him what she might do about feeling
constantly tired. He looked at his watch and said, "Ruby, you have to make
another appointment to talk about that. Time has run out." The poor man
has to see so many billable patients and just has a few minutes for each
one. Glory to private enterprise making people's health a profit center.
Glory to God in the highest for having major industries
pollute soil, air, and water. Then their minions in Congress pass laws to
keep the corporations from having to assume liability. The cost of the
clean-up is shifted to the taxpayers. And then the funds are cut because
we don't have enough money to take care of everything that needs
attention. But we still plan a Star War Defense Shield. Although every
respectable scientist has said that it cannot be done and every test has
failed, we still fill the trough with the swill of money so the fat boys
can grow fatter still.
Death. Wounds. Hell. Screams. Fear. Hate. Bastards.
Merde.
Count the blessing of unrestricted free enterprise. You
see it in the face of untold elderly who have to make a choice between
buying needed medications or food. The large pharmaceutical companies
change a few molecules in prescription medicines so they can obtain new
patents. The new product, in most cases, is not much better than the old
one. Holding new patents in their grubby little hands, they can squeeze
more bucks out of a captive public. Ain't free enterprise grand?
Who in the hell needs governmental oversight? Well, the
people do to level the playing field. But does "Big Bidness" want equity
and fairness? If you believe that, I have a really good deal on the
Brooklyn Bridge. You see the blessings of free enterprise in the sorrowing
faces of those who lost loved ones when their Ford SUV's turned over
killing some of their relatives. So we enter into a debate whether Ford or
Firestone are to be blamed. And not a single executive who knew about this
death threat has spent a day in jail.
Unrestricted free enterprise is not enterprise at all.
Lack of oversight provides a license to steal.
Death. Wounds. Hell. Screams. Fear. Hate. Bastards.
Merde.
Of course, I am mad at the politicians. If they want to
get elected and reelected and reelected, they have to have money.
NEWS BULLETIN: The name of the Lord God Jehovah has just
been changed. The President, upon advice of the Attorney General, and with
the approval of the Congress, the Supreme Court by a 5:4 vote, Pat
Robertson and Jerry Falwell, changed the Lord's name to: The Lord Mammon.
So everything is all right with our nation under our new god.
And the representatives of the people have to have money
to go on TV and tell us about their grand plans to fulfill the
expectations of the people that this shall be a government of and for and
by said people. Oops! Sorry! I made a mistake. No, they have to have money
to tell us how sorry their opponents are and how unworthy they are to
represent us – the people. And who gives our reps the money to provide
this meaningful information? Why it's the proponents of the only true God,
The Lord Mammon. So when laws are written, who writes them?
Death. Wounds. Hell. Screams. Fear. Hate. Bastards.
Merde.
That leaves me with the final object of my
disappointments and the realization that our sacrifices were in vain. I am
mad as hell about the fake religion that charlatans have presented to the
American public as Christianity. In the early 1950's, I was driving home
along Highway 82 in North Texas rather late one night. The only radio
station coming in loud and clear was one located in Mexico carrying
religious broadcasts. I was rather amused at the ignorance that came over
the airwaves. I thought to myself this sort of cheap emotionalism would
only be accepted by the most ignorant of people. I heard the following
spoken with a deep southern drawl and a saccharine voice.
"Friends, neighbors, this is your Christian friend,
speaking from Kentucky. Now friends, I know that many of you have problems
with your wife or your husband. Some of your children are not turning out
all right. And I know that some of you are having trouble with your boss.
Well, friends, your troubles are over. Every Thursday morning, I go to the
upper room in my house and I pray hard. I pray hard to the Lord and the
Lord blesses me. Holy drops of oil appear in the palms of my hands. (At
this point the voice was quite shaky and filled with emotion.) Now
friends, if you will send me $ 5.00 I will send you a cloth on which I
have wiped some of the drops of holy oil from the palm of my hands. Now
neighbor, if you take that cloth and touch your loved one with it, drape
it over a picture of your loved one, rub your bosses car, or toolkit, or
his desk with it, neighbor if you do that, all your troubles will go away.
Send your $ 5.00 to me and I will send you the cloth with holy oil. The
Lord God Himself has blessed it."
And I submit to you, America's popular religion today is
not more than snake oil being peddled by charlatans. Educated people have
bought into the claptrap of personal salvation without social
responsibility. Popular religion is like the rabbit’s foot supposedly
bringing you good luck. It has all of the superstition of a four-leaf
clover or hanging a horseshoe over your barn door with the open end
pointing upwards. It is like the witches' brew in Macbeth. Myths, fables,
and belief in the absurd make up the potion guaranteed to bring whatever
one wishes. Our leaders think that if we invoke the name of God long
enough and loud enough, God will descend from heaven and bless this
nation.
The prophetic tradition of the Bible is quite clear on
the point that a nation preoccupied with materialism will go down the
tube. I am paraphrasing Amos 8:4 – 6 bringing his words into our own
socio/economic setting. "Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and
bring to ruin the poor of the land saying, When will the weekend be over
so we can get on with the business of making money and cooking the balance
sheet by transferring debts to offshore companies. We will provide
inferior services and products and make a hell of a lot of money. We will
be deceitful but it’s all within the law because we have written the laws
ourselves. We will charge the masses more than our stuff is worth and
overcharge them for things they must have like electricity, food, and
gasoline."
If you think I have overstated the case, read the
passage yourself, find out its historical setting and you will realize
that Amos was twice as tough on the controlling alphas as I ever thought
about being. If you access my columns in YellowTimes.org entitled, "The
Rev. Dr. Billy Graham's Unpardonable Sin" (April 23) and "Why religion
persists…" (June 25) you will understand my concerns.
What do these self-styled Christians know about the
great prophetic tradition of an Isaiah, an Amos, a Jesus? All they can ask
is, "Are you saved?" And by the Lord Mammon you are not if you don't do it
my way! Damn you if you don't!
This is not what we died for and suffered for. This is
not why we suffer our disabilities gladly. This is not why Pvt. Kopko got
a piece of shrapnel in his skull.
Death. Wounds. Hell. Screams. Fear. Hate. Bastards.
Merde.
[John Brand is a Purple Heart, Combat Infantry
veteran of World War II. He received his Juris Doctor degree at
Northwestern University and a Master of Theology and a Doctor of Ministry
at Southern Methodist University. He served as a Methodist minister for 19
years, was Vice President, Birkman & Associates, Industrial Psychologists,
and concluded his career as Director, Organizational and Human Resources,
Warren-King Enterprises, an independent oil and gas company. He is the
author of
"Shaking the Foundations."]
John Brand encourages your comments:
jbrand@YellowTimes.org
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