Reader letters, Monday: I stand for the U.S. soldiers fighting for freedom

Stand to honor the fallen soldiers, American history

People who say that kneeling for the flag is just a form of protest say people like me don’t get it.

No, I get it alright. I get that I am standing for all the soldiers who stood up against British rule. I get I am standing for the solders who when the British battle ships in the War of 1812 were bombing the flag, and American soldiers rushed out knowing they were going to die and kept that flag flying, and after the bombardment stopped the flag was being held up by a pile of dead American soldiers. I stand for the soldiers who fought and died in World War I and their bodies are buried in foreign soil, some families never knowing what happened. I stand for the soldiers who died in every battle between World War I and II. I stand for the soldiers who died at Normandy and all over Europe who never returned and for those who served in Korea and that unpopular war in Vietnam. I stand for the soldiers who died in the deserts of Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. I stand for the soldiers who came home crippled and need around the clock care. I stand for their care givers and I stand for all the veterans in hospitals – the ones who are ambulatory and those who are bed-bound. I stand for the nurses and doctors who take care of these soldiers. I stand because they cannot. I stand for what all these past soldiers sacrificed. I stand for those soldiers that never will. I stand for the freedom these soldiers sacrificed for.

So how about you visit some VA hospitals and talk to doctors and nurses because I say if you kneel for the anthem then you don’t get it.

Joseph Pecorella, Midway

Never resist arrest

The ACLU and the NAACP both advise people to not resist arrest or run when stopped by police. If Rayshard Brooks and George Floyd had heard this message, both would be with us today.

Our current efforts to improve policing to make it safer for all would greatly benefit from including this timely advice to the public.

Frank Hotchkiss, Savannah, GA

Letter was right, just not in the way it thought

For once I agree with Dick Berkowitz (“America’s future hangs by a thread” in Thursday’s Letters to the editor). But while he views our fate as imperiled if we elect Joe Biden, who Berkowitz hilariously deems to be the candidate of “radical” Democrats (which must be news to Bernie Sanders’ supporters), I think that’s the case if we re-elect the dangerously unfit and corrupt Trump.

If we choose to re-elect an individual who blandly assents to minorities being detained in Chinese concentration camps, believes that reporters are “scum” who should be executed and, in the description of hyper-partisan Republican John Bolton, appears to be motivated exclusively by personal benefit, then we may have reached a point of no return. I hope most voters will deem it “common sense,” as Dick puts it, not to re-elect an individual who, in Bolton’s telling, was surprised to learn that Britain possesses nuclear weapons, that Finland is independent of Russia or, most stunningly, that Venezuela is not a U.S. protectorate.

Jeff Kole, Savannah

Common sense needed in November

The recent (June 18) letter titled “Trump can’t always be at fault” ends on one note that I can agree with. To wit, “America’s future truly hangs by a thread. America’s survival comes down to two simple words – common sense.”

Based upon this quote and the performance, tweets and constant lies of Trump, I implore all to use their common sense and cast their vote for Biden in the forthcoming election.

Joel Spivak, Savannah

Why I wear my mask

I saw the sign, read it, and went in. On the counter was a sign, “Please wear a mask.” I waited for someone to chase me down and say “ma’am, you forgot your mask!” What would I say? “No thank you”? It didn’t answer why.

Was it so important that I didn’t comply? I wanted to show I am not afraid. I wanted to take the step of faith saying that fear has passed and we will not be ruled by it. The mask to me, was an idol of safety. I wanted to show others it is okay.

I expected a different response. Instead of acceptance I was met with looks. I could feel them all through the store. Not curiosity. It was the look that I was not following the rules and it was really bad. All races and stages looked at me strangely.

A comment, “oops, one got through.” I knew it was me, I waited for it but no-one came, chasing me down, waving the mask. I wanted people to see someone doing something normal.

I stood, my basket full when a shop clerk asked if she could help. She looked on the shelf. “I don’t see it,” she said, adjusting her glasses. “I have trouble seeing anything with this thing on,” she said fixing her paper mask. Her glasses perched where the mask sat on the bridge of her nose. “It pushes up, my glasses fog up then the bifocals are all out of focus,” she said with a warm smile. I smiled. She understood.

Some will step boldly forward into this new season, and some will be forever gripped by fear. I would like to offer hope. Join me, six feet apart with hands washed in the bright sunshine of a new day.

Charity Miles, Guyton