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# Giving back to veterans in need
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/giving-back-to-veterans-in-need/
- Published: 2008-05-20T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T19:38:13.000Z
- Author: David Pisarra
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

THIS PAST JANUARY I WAS SITTING IN A Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, observing the people around me. One of them, a bull of a man, was watching the news-feeds on the advertising monitors, I asked him if he could recall any of the ads he had just watched, he replied no, and that opened a conversation between us.

He had a military background, and was clearly a student of history, and soon we started speaking about the faux patriotism that we have today, versus the attitude of sacrifice and common endeavor that was the hallmark of World War II.

I had to agree with him, for one of my pet peeves are those annoying little yellow ribbon stickers that people buy to put on their cars that say “support the troops.” I see that as such an empty gesture. It is too easy to buy a sticker at a carwash and use that to proclaim your support.

If you go to The Galley, you can see the type of publicity campaign that was waged to generate a sense of unity and camaraderie to bring us together as a nation, a nation at war. There are posters that proclaim “Sacrifice at home, so that they wont have to” with a line drawing of a sailor.

We had Victory gardens, people went without luxury goods, like meat, to provide for our troops. Everyone understood that sacrifice was necessary, even if some of them didn’t participate.

Today, no civilian family understands that sacrifice is necessary, and I can’t name one person, besides President George W. Bush, who has given up anything to assist in the war effort. The President’s sacrifice however, is telling — he gave up golf.

On the one hand, I think that is a slap in the face to the brave men and women who do serve in the armed forces.

Anyone who has played golf understands that this is a rich white man’s game for the leisure set. At least when played at the nonprofessional level. To be the President and to say that he has given up golf to show solidarity with the military families seems condescending.

On the other hand, I’ve given up nothing. My life, and those of my fellow Americans, continues on. We make no sacrifices, we don’t really follow what is going on in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Sudan.

So long as we can buy our ribs by the multi-pack, and enjoy our big screen TVs, the fact that over 4,000 Americans have died in Iraq and more than 500 in Afghanistan, according to icasualties.org, is not something that is shocking anymore to the American conscience.

The appalling fact is that those numbers are grossly underreporting the reality of the true cost to our troops. Thanks to the Department of Defense’s arcane rules of what is “hostile” there are many deaths that are reported as non-hostile.

There are also many more who are now injured, and thanks to advances in medicine survive, but are grossly wounded and disabled. Those veterans then come back to a Veteran’s Administration that is under-funded, and is overwhelmed with the physical and mental needs of the returning soldiers who are not receiving the care they need for months, and in some cases, years.

That is why I am urging everyone this Memorial Day, if you want to support the troops, do something of value. Send a check to the VA, or the VFW, or VeteransforPeace.org. Buy a vet a steak dinner, and listen to what they have to say about the costs of this war, or any war.

Memorial Day is to remember the fallen. We dedicated this day to the soldiers who have made the “greatest sacrifice” possible, for others to live.

But as funerals are for the living to process the grief, so the purpose of Memorial Day is for the living to remember the dead.

Remembering is more appropriate to me, than honoring them. We can’t give honor to those who have fallen, while we continue to wage war.

If we wanted to honor the dead we would work for peace. We would do more than put flags on grave markers and hold parades listening to hot-air politicians espouse Wal- Mart patriotism.

We need to come together this Memorial Day to remember that sacrifice is an important part of a nation at war. The world has changed, and goods are plentiful, so what we need to sacrifice is our time — by giving some of it to the veteran in need.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 20, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/052008.pdf?ref=smdp.com)