Young woman dies tragic death
A young woman died tragically this week. She was beautiful. She was driven by her ambitions. She was a real go-getter. A lot of people loved her. She wasn't Anna Nicole Smith. She was a Marine. U.S. troop casualty number 3,115.
She didn't strip for money. She didn't marry a millionaire old enough to be her great grandfather. She didn't show her ass on reality TV. She didn't get into glamorous paternity fights over her illegimate child. All she did was something so unnewsworthy as give her life to fight for our country, so you won't see her on the news tonight. Just as you didn't see the other 3,114 soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice over all these months and years. They all deserved better than to be overshadowed in the media by an self-indulgent grade B starlet who died of her own excesses.
There's much debate about what constitutes supporting the troops. I don't know that there's a definitive answer to that but I can't think of a greater disrespect than to ignore their deaths. They're slipped into the country under cover of darkness and they're shipped to their final resting grounds like freight. Their families pick them up in warehouses among the crates and barrels of consumer goods destined for a mostly oblivious public that doesn't think much about the war while they're out obeying the president's request to go shopping.
Anna Nicole Smith, rest her soul, was the personification of this oblivion that ironically is caused by the very media circus that surrounded her death. Most Americans depend on the television for their national news and they talk and think about what they see, not what they didn't. So everyone will be talking about Anna Nicole but you won't be hearing about this brave young woman who did so much more of consequence. You won't see her on television tonight so via AttyTood, who has an excellent post, let me put a face on U.S. troop casualty No. 3115.
Rest in peace Jennifer Parcell
She didn't strip for money. She didn't marry a millionaire old enough to be her great grandfather. She didn't show her ass on reality TV. She didn't get into glamorous paternity fights over her illegimate child. All she did was something so unnewsworthy as give her life to fight for our country, so you won't see her on the news tonight. Just as you didn't see the other 3,114 soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice over all these months and years. They all deserved better than to be overshadowed in the media by an self-indulgent grade B starlet who died of her own excesses.
There's much debate about what constitutes supporting the troops. I don't know that there's a definitive answer to that but I can't think of a greater disrespect than to ignore their deaths. They're slipped into the country under cover of darkness and they're shipped to their final resting grounds like freight. Their families pick them up in warehouses among the crates and barrels of consumer goods destined for a mostly oblivious public that doesn't think much about the war while they're out obeying the president's request to go shopping.
Anna Nicole Smith, rest her soul, was the personification of this oblivion that ironically is caused by the very media circus that surrounded her death. Most Americans depend on the television for their national news and they talk and think about what they see, not what they didn't. So everyone will be talking about Anna Nicole but you won't be hearing about this brave young woman who did so much more of consequence. You won't see her on television tonight so via AttyTood, who has an excellent post, let me put a face on U.S. troop casualty No. 3115.
posted by Libby Spencer at 8:51 PM
2 Comments:
Thank you for honoring Jennifer who died a tragic death while living an exemplary life with purpose, devotion and committment. I think we have all heard enough about Anna Nicole who died a tragic death after living a useless life.Hopefully someone will ensure that the little daughter left behind will get to lead a more normal life out of the spotlight. I watched an interview with our troops in Iraq the other night and basically, the comments were that these people are fighting a civil war and that if we continue to be a support force, we'll be there forever. The soldier put it quite plainly when he said, "Every country has a civil war at some time in their history and maybe we should leave these people to fight their's." So, while we are supporting and praying for our soldiers in Iraq, I hope all sane Americans on both sides of the middle will also be voting and writing their representatives about getting those troops out of there!
Very sad story isn't it? All the deaths make me sad, but this one hit me harder than usual.
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