Quit Complaining and Do Something About It

I keep seeing stories all over the internet about how we seem to care more about Whitney Houston's death, Kim Kardashian's wedding, Jeremy Lin's game stats, and Demi Moore's rehab stint than we care about our soldiers who die fighting for our country.

Let me fill you in on a little secret: Whitney, Kim, Jeremy, and Demi have spent more time in our homes than nameless, faceless soldiers in camouflage ever have. Whitney has been singing to us for a couple of decades and we know all the words to her songs to sing along, Kim is so outragous we can't wait to discuss her the next day around the water cooler, Jeremy is bringing the crowds into the sports bars in droves, and Demi - well, she's played everything from a soldier to a stripper and we just love her cuz she's hot.

But soldiers? They all look alike in their uniforms and we know nothing about them. That's why we don't care about them. We can't be expected to cry for every person that turns up on the obituary pages just because they served our country. But we should. And we could. Here's how: sensationalism!


The media has the power to sensationalize any story they choose. I just watched a news story about teenagers shot down in their classrooms in Ohio. They interviewed classmates, teachers and family members. They showed us pictures of all the kids. Last night's news included a short clip about the helicopter crash during a training exercise for the military. No names or faces, just a blurb with a shot of the crash site.

Growing up in the 60s, we watched the Vietnam War on the nightly news, were horrified at the Kent State riots, and saw President Kennedy shot, leaving the country to mourn with his widow and children at his grave site. Why did we care more about the President's death than all the others? Because we knew him, he had been on our televisions in our livingrooms, we knew his family, he had a name and a face we recognized.

If the government really wanted us to respect our war heros, they should be putting the money behind a program similar to what they had back during the World Wars with the posters and propoganda that made the military a desireable career. When the numbers of troops sent overseas is a high as it has been over the years and the numbers of those we have lost are simply numbers, we Americans can't really absorb the information in a personal way. It's not that we don't want to care or that we don't take pride in our country. We just don't know who these people are.

There seems to be a reality show about everything else out there - even Army Wives, so why not a show where we can get to know and care about our military personnel? I'm not talking about a series of interviews on "Night Line" where we have to watch little kids tell us how much they miss their mom or dad. I certainly don't mean another war movie like "We Were Soldiers" where we have to watch people killing each other. I mean a show where we really get to know the soldiers, where they come from, where they're going, who or what they left behind to be our heros. How long has "Survivor" been on the air - and it's not even that good? Bring them into our livingrooms, tell us their names, and make us care about them. They don't have to be dead or dying for us to care about them. They just have to be real.