{"id":237563,"date":"2023-06-19T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T11:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=237563"},"modified":"2023-06-18T08:04:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T07:04:27","slug":"thank-you-for-your-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/06\/thank-you-for-your-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Thank You for Your Service"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Daniel Ellsberg (1931-2023)
Oil on canvas by Caitlin Johnstone<\/p><\/div>\n

18 Jun 2023<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thank you for your service.<\/p>\n

I say this not to the employees of the war machine, who in truth serve nothing besides imperial domination and the profit margins of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n

I say this to the peacemakers.
\nTo the truth-tellers.
\nTo the defiant ones.
\nTo those who\u2019ve shone the light of truth upon the blood-spattered face of the empire against their own interests for the benefit of everyone.
\nTo those who\u2019ve stared down the barrel of the most powerful military force ever assembled and said \u201cDo your worst.\u201d
\nTo the grandparents who\u2019ve been dragged from nuclear weapons protests in handcuffs to create a safer world for their grandchildren.
\nTo the activists whose incurable disobedience has led them to disrupt empire managers at think tank conferences or paint NO WAR across the face of the Sydney Opera House.
\nTo the selfless martyrs who\u2019ve exposed the abuses of the machine knowing full well that the scales of justice are weighted heavily against them.
\nTo the hero in Belmarsh.
\nTo the Pentagon Papers whistleblower who today closed his gentle loving eyes for a final time.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your service.
\nFor serving the highest interest over your own.
\nFor pouring everything you\u2019ve got into the hope for a better tomorrow.
\nFor betting everything on the hope of a healthy and harmonious world.
\nFor creating a guiding light to help humanity steer its way home.
\nFor seizing your moment to help make things right instead of letting it pass like everyone around you.
\nFor somehow finding the strength to swim against the current when it would be so much easier to drift along with the madness.
\nFor somehow finding a higher calling in this wildly dysfunctional society where everything is pointed at selfishness and meaninglessness.
\nFor somehow cultivating something profound and authentic within yourself in the midst of a civilization of the vapid and fraudulent.
\nFor doing your very best to get a foot on the brake pedal when everything else is accelerating toward the cliff\u2019s edge.
\nFor listening to that small voice within which can tolerate no more.
\nFor turning around.
\nFor taking your stand.
\nFor finding the courage.
\nFor doing what is right.
\nFor putting truth first.
\nFor lighting the way.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your service.
\nWe will do our best to carry the torch forward, and finish what you started.<\/p>\n

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Listen to a reading of \u201cThank You For Your Service\u201d (reading by Tim Foley):<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n