Saaaa-lute!

“Should we support this?

That puzzled query came from a fellow Waynepeace member, along with a link to the “Blue Fridays” campaign ((www.bluefridays.org)), which urges Americans to show support for the troops by wearing blue on Fridays. Apparently, an email pushing this idea has been circulating on the Internet recently, and found its way to my friend.

Her uncertainty had a couple of sources. For one, Waynepeace has always made it a point to distinguish between our critiques of Bush Regime policies and our support for the wellbeing of troops, veterans, and their families and communities. But some of these “support the troops” efforts that populate the Internet can morph quickly into “don’t criticize the administration” efforts instead.

One also has to ask how effective such a campaign can be, even as a symbolic gesture. I wear something blue most of the time—and I suspect many others do as well. Creating the kind of visual statement that the Blue Fridays organizers are looking for would require a more assertive color—chartreuse, say, or magenta. An effective and meaningful gesture should also involve some intent and some inconvenience; people should have to go to some trouble to do it. Asking folks just to wear blue one weekday is like asking them to drink water or breathe oxygen: they’re likely to be doing that anyway.

Speaking of symbolic gestures, the Gratitude Campaign ( www.gratitudecampaign.org ) suggests that civilians signal their thanks to soldiers in uniform with a salute based on the sign language gesture for “thank you.” Founder Scott Truitt used to thank soldiers verbally, but found that it sometimes got a little awkward for all concerned, so he “started to think that it would be nice if civilians had a gesture or sign that they could use to say ‘thank you’ quickly and easily without even having to approach.” This idea makes me a little uncomfortable, frankly. I could easily see this salute developing into some kind of required obeisance. (“Citizen, we noticed your failure to bow deeply enough… ”)

Our troops aren’t looking to be worshipped or venerated. But of course the answer to the question “How should we best convey support, respect and gratitude?” has to come from the troops themselves. So I asked one, a fellow participant in an online discussion community called The WELL. Here’s what he said when I asked about his opinion of the Gratitude Project: “I see nothing on the website about giving troops more time for rest and retraining after combat tours, nothing about improving the VA system, and nothing about protecting the spouses and children of dead or severely wounded vets from hardship... A stack of yellow ribbons doesn’t amount to much.”

Simple, practical help with real issues would go much farther than any symbolic gesture. There are now many organizations such as the Veterans of Modern Warfare ( www.modernveterans.com ) and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America ( www.iava.org ) pushing for that kind of support. Links to more organizations and meaningful ways to support the troops will be displayed at Waynepeace’s website, www.waynepeace.org.

And if you want to pray for the troops, add this to your prayer:

Pray that they come home soon.

Pray that they come home safe.

Pray that they come home sane.

Pray that their families and communities can get what they need.

Pray that the people who sent them to war under false pretenses are held fully accountable.

Pray that the long-suffering Iraqis can rebuild their country and their lives.

Pray that the people who profit from war find a way to profit from peace instead.

Pray that we the American people never let this kind of thing happen again.

- Skip Mendler