{"sf1_id":2147778,"sf2_id":"pnG8aEM1","title":"Pride Shines Through The Grime","author":"Apolarbear17","words":436,"posted_at":"2024-06-21T21:45:24.000Z","tags":["Appreciation","Baggage","Life Stories","Military","Poetry","Shifting Views","Soldiers","Veterans","War machine","Was for Veterans Day","country","critique"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2147778-pride-shines-through-the-grime","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/pnG8aEM1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/8e/fb/8efbe506-1b74-4ba7-a015-ef068fbbb95e","description":"Wrote this for Veterans Day a few years ago. Back then it was kind of late but I didn’t want to waste the poem or sentiment so I posted it anyway. Now I’m posting it again here. Thanks for reading. Originally posted this in November 2022.","content":"Pride Shines Through The Grime\n\n \n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;By: A.X. Bueno\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\n \n\nThere is a lot of baggage that comes with titles like veteran or soldier\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nYou’re balancing the reputation of both your country and yourself on your shoulders\n\n \n\nAnd of course that’s technically nothing new but still there’s plenty that has changed\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nAs a lot of people’s feelings on this country have been rearranged, patriot and jingoism defanged\n\n \n\nIn a way that’s a bit different than times before\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nAs we’ve gained new sources of brutal history and information and longer, harsher ways of war\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nSo of course that affects the way we see the military too\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nThough I think it’s important to consider what these changes also put those who serve through\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nThere’s a lot of complex stories and those who you’d find disagree with plenty of the terrible decisions and the wars if asked\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nMany joined just to try to get by in this unfair and are typically stuck with what they are tasked\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nOf course that doesn’t mean they don’t also\u0026nbsp; criticize the war machine they’re stuck in\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nOr that we can’t as well\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nIt’s important to consider some soldiers might be dealing/dealt with several angles of hell\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nFrom an uncaring government, their own communities and what service did to them too\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nThough that isn’t the case for every person, depends on who they are and what they’ve been through\n\n \n\nThe military can provide for those who’ve been missing something or just never had a lot\n\n \n\nAlso consider that there’s more jobs than just the ones on the battlefield\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nNot everyone in the military is directly involved in every one of\u0026nbsp; the powerful’s wars or plots\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nSome work more behind the scenes and try to live life off base before their eventual deployment\n\n \n\nThere can be plenty of difficult or grimy parts to a veteran’s life for sure\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nBut if they can overcome those parts a certain level of pride and enjoyment that can be found\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nIt’s definitely not an easy life though the difficulties again can depend on what you experience and who you are\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nSo I think we can appreciate those who managed to stand above and still criticize the troubling machinations of the military’s dirtier workings and war\n\n \n\nI’d say it’s important to recognize the veteran’s who struggled and acknowledge what’s deserved\n\n \n\nPlenty deserve better, for all they’ve been put through and what some have been denied they deserve more\n\n \n\nAnd there are also plenty of soldiers right now you could argue deserve that too\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nBut let the veteran’s have their day which is the least they are due \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;  \n\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;"}