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WHO IS THE REAL HERO?
Date added: Monday 6th July 2009
WHO’S THE HERO?
If you somehow missed the top celebrity news these past days you must either be a total recluse or have been cast away on some distant desert island with not even a smoke signal to tell you what’s been going on.
I refer of course to that celebrity singing icon Michael Jackson, who died a few days ago in America, a singer with a following of millions around the world, drawn to him by some magic in his voice, who’s voice was like that of the flute of the pied piper in that fairy tale of children’s classics, and you no doubt know the tale so well I wont repeat it here.
Just what made Michael Jackson such a high profile figure in the eyes of the world at large? What drove people into such hysterics in his living, in his music, and now this week, hysteria at his passing?
Such is the depth of feeling at the death of this singing star, and none can take that way from him that his singing talents were mystical in the extreme, and drew many people to him both young and old, such feeling that it will be on a par to a royal funeral.
Much has been said about him in his living, and much more will be said in his passing, many will make note of his musical talents and equally many will remark on the other side of Michael Jackson, the dark side of this star, the young man who set out in life to be a star, who the young would look up to, to respect and try to learn from. Michael Jackson, the founder of a new era, NEVER LAND.
Whether or not Michael had some form of insight to his future life in his younger years in deciding to name his mansion estate never land is a question we may never fathom, but the words ring true for so many people today, especially the young and true to, the not so young teenager, because so may are in that situation of being trapped in a never never land of make believe.
So what happened to turn this iconic celebrity who through his singing raised millions for his chosen charities? In fact Michael Jackson donated and raised millions of dollars for beneficial causes through his Heal the World Foundation, and with the charity singles he made He supported 39 charities in his lifetime.
Why did such a talented young man change so quickly from a youthful sparkling teenager? To a reclusive, morose, middle aged man? What turned his mind from doing good, to being, as one of his songs says, “I’m Bad”, could those he drew around him somehow have had some holding, damning influence over him for their own ends? One day his biographers’ might unravel the mysteries of this man’s truly remarkable life.
For myself, I struggle to understand, not just Michael’s celebrity status, but also that of so many other so called iconic celebrities, who influence so many people in the world today, and inevitably, so many of them go down a road to ruin by over indulgence and vast excesses in many extremes, including the use of drugs in their many forms in the name of entertainment or recreation as it is so widely termed today.
An excuse to use mind and body destroying drugs as a way to entertainment, entertainment that always, always leads to horrific mind changing effects and in the end death, a horrible death, slow and tormenting and I have to ask, IS IT ALL WORTH IT? And you know what, they those celebrities actually think it’s fun.
WHAT A TERRIBLE WAY TO INFLUENCE THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF TODAY.
If you maybe were to ask any young person today, and maybe you should even try it on your own children, ask them, who influence’s them the most and I reckon that somewhere in their answer you will hear this statement, "HE / SHE IS MY HERO".
That then begs the question I often asked myself, even more so now, WHO IS THE TRUE HERO? A drug taking, high living pop star? Or maybe you might think, an overpaid footballer given to excesses of binge drinking and other 'recreational' fun things which I can’t mention. You might even be thinking “what’s this guy on here?” himself.
With acknowledgments to that very useful website COMPARE THE MARKET.COM, let’s for a moment consider and compare that question I just asked, WHO IS THE TRUE HERO? and compare them like for like. Think for a moment of the iconic hero’s your children look up to, the pop idol, the footballer and even yes the high flying socialite.
Then think of a young teenager, who looked up to them, and followed their footsteps, and fell into the depths of despair and a living hell followed by a terrible death, and I KNOW my friends, because I have seen it, and talked to the devastated parents of such teenagers, and I talked for hours on the phone trying to talk someone out of committing suicide, because they could see no way out for themselves, and it all but destroyed me, but thank God, a life was saved that night.
Would you like to read on, and hear about the other side of heroism? what I believe to be the true hero’s of today, can you dare to open your heart, and your mind, to see the real world, starkly, as it is, or would you prefer to still hide away, and say, “IT ISNT HAPPENING, NOT IN MY TOWN, MY STREET, AND GOD FORBID, MY OWN HOME”.
Read about the tragic world that so many men and women over the years have given their lives for, to try to change for the better, for the freedoms we all take for granted today.
I am of course talking about our servicemen and women, and all those other servicemen from other countries who have fought against tyranny in the past fifty odd years, and our present day servicemen fight it still today, I write not about politics here, because that will be for another day, today I write about the sharp end, the end where the sons and daughters of great Britain stand fast against evil and tyranny, maybe even dear reader, it may be your son or daughter that has come to my mind today as i write.
Both in Iraq and in Afghanistan we have suffered many tragic losses of servicemen and women, much collateral damage of equipment, some of which were unsuitable for purpose and many lessons have to be learnt from this page of this country’s history, the root cause I believe of the Iraq war was of a totally political nature.
In Afghanistan however the scenario is vastly different to that of Iraq, similar in the fact that tyranny is still playing its part, but tyranny in Afghanistan affects every man woman and child in the whole wide world, not just in Afghanistan.
By its very nature, Afghanistan has proven to be a thorn in the side of world stability for many hundreds of years, as has Iraq, if we are to believe our politicians, Iran too is a rising threat to us all as recent events have shown.
The terrain of Afghanistan makes an ideal hiding place for the Taliban and for such insurgents who come in over the border of Pakistan to wreak havoc amongst the coalition forces as we have just learnt with the loss of the top commander of the British Forces there, and yet another soldier alongside him, it is the main gateway for Al Qaeda the masters of iniquitous death and destruction on a huge scale who hold sway over that inhospitable region.
The War in Afghanistan, which began on October 7, 2001 as the U.S. military operation Operation Enduring Freedom, was launched by the United States with the United Kingdom, and NATO-led, UN authorized ISAF in response to the September 11 attacks. The stated aim of the invasion was to find the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and other high-ranking al-Qaeda members and put them on trial, to destroy the whole organization of al-Qaeda, and to remove the Taliban regime which supported and gave safe harbor to al-Qaeda.
The United States' Bush Doctrine stated that, as policy, it would not distinguish between terrorist organizations and nations or governments that harbor them.
Two military operations in Afghanistan are fighting for control over the country. Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) is a United States combat operation involving some coalition partners and currently operating primarily in the eastern and southern parts of the country along the Pakistan border.
Approximately 28,300 U.S. troops are in OEF. The second operation is the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was established by the UN Security Council at the end of December 2001 to secure Kabul and the surrounding areas. NATO assumed control of ISAF in 2003. By January 12, 2009, ISAF had around 55,100 troops from 41 countries, with NATO members providing the core of the force. The United States has approximately 23,300 troops in ISAF.
The U.S. and the UK led the aerial bombing campaign, with ground forces supplied primarily by the Afghan Northern Alliance.
In 2002, American, British and Canadian infantry were committed, along with special forces from several allied nations including Australia. Later, NATO troops were added.
The initial attack removed the Taliban from power, but Taliban forces have since regained some strength. The war has been less successful in achieving the goal of restricting al-Qaeda's movement than anticipated. Since 2006, Afghanistan has seen threats to its stability from increased Taliban-led insurgent activity, record-high levels of illegal drug production, and a fragile government with limited control outside of Kabul.
The war has been unsuccessful in its primary purpose of capturing Osama bin Laden, while tensions have grown between the USA and Pakistan due to incidents of coalition troops crossing the Pakistan border while pursuing Taliban fighters.
These are the issues that affect our own servicemen in Afghanistan, it is these issues that drive the sons and daughters of Great Britain to such heroism, and it is these issues that have brought my question to the fore WHO ARE THE TRUE HERO’S?
Such acts of heroism and loss of life must not go unrecognized either by Government or public, for such men by their very action demand the respect of us all, and if you doubt the words I have written wind the clock back before September 11th what might you have been doing then?
Your job maybe? Preparing a song for a new CD, practicing your footie skills or maybe signing a contract somewhere or maybe in the case of so many young people in any city you care to mention who are destitute and drug dependant you would inevitably be seeking your next hit from a drug dealer somewhere, who are intent on living off the lives of those he has got hooked on drugs in the first place.
And if you think about it in all honesty, these perpetrators of evil, who prey on the innocent, who become slaves to those drugs, are feeding their own nefarious appetites for money, money which eventually finds its way through the drug chain to end up in the coffers of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to be recycled into arms and munitions to be used against our servicemen and those other bravehearts fighting this present evil in Afghanistan.
To the mums, dads, families, boyfriends and girlfriends of our servicemen who are reading this today I say to you especially, 'be proud of your loved ones out there in this theatre of war in which they find themselves, for it is not a theatre of actors, but REAL hands on players, whose lives are at risk daily from real bombs and bullets, what Caliber of man or women would freely take on such a role? May I answer my own question there?
IT TAKES A MAN OR WOMAN OF INTEGRITY, OF COURAGE, AND HONOUR TO FULFIL SUCH A TASK, they have put themselves at the forefront of this present conflict in the name of truth and justice, for the freedom of that truth and justice, For they are there in our name, sent there by this, and previous Governments, in this and previous decades.
Let each family of Great Britain be PROUD and THANKFUL, that we have such brave hearted young men and women who want to join our services in the name of Queen and Country, and by country I mean every adult and child, young and old, each one a valued part of many communities, YOU, are worth fighting for, and they will fight for you when they have too.
To remember is to never to forget. To hold is to never let go. To love is to deny your Self for another; all these three encompass what we should hold dear in our hearts daily.
I hope that somehow, someone, somewhere will be touched in their heart by my words, and IF you are contemplating, or are on the first step on the road to a drug fuelled, short life STOP, THINK before it’s too late, don’t follow the hero you imagine your celebrity idol to be, it’s just not worth it, and if I were a young family man today I certainly know who the hero is that I would want my son or daughter to follow.