True Heroes

It is the soldier, not the reporter,

Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet,

Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,

Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag,

Who serves beneath the flag,

And whose coffin is draped by the flag,

Who allows the protestor to burn the flag.

Father Denis Edward O'Brien

USMC

Jay Furst, the Rochester Post-Bulletin's managing editor, is in mourning. Two journalists were killed in Iraq on Monday and Mr. Furst took notice that about 71 members of the media have died in the conflict since the war started in 2003.

Mr. Furst believes that because journalists "put their lives on the line to report to the world and explain this critical moment in history," they are heroes. I beg to differ.Unlike most media types, I simply have INFINITELY more empathy for the often thankless work American soldiers do and the sacrifice they bear to keep not only the United States but the whole world safe. Like Father Denis Edward O'Brien, I know and appreciate who actually guarantees the freedom I enjoy.

I will place the value of the work being done by American soldiers injured or killed in the war against terror above any presumed sacrifice any journalist has EVER made. I have not and will not criticize dead or wounded journalists. However, I will criticize their methods, biases, and motivations. Media services and journalists have a choice to go or not go into the field of battle, to risk or not risk injury and death - soldiers do not.

Yesterday I heard an interview with a soldier stationed in Iraq. He said he gets shot at EVERY night. He and every other serviceman and woman, much like the American soldiers in every war before them, in Iraq and Afghanistan are the ones truly putting their lives on the line to SAVE the world at this critical moment in history.

I will not lower standards so far as to label journalists "heroes" - a sure sign of a lack of good judgment and compassion for the true sacrifice American men and women in uniform in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world have made and will continue to make every single day.


American soldiers are the true heroes.