When a Tree Falls in the Forest . . .

. . . does it make a sound?  Similarly, if an American soldier serving in Afghanistan falls in combat, has a death occurred?  The consideration of these questions should not be taken lightly, because the two are analogous.
 

This little marble paperweight which sits in my office
serves as a good prompt to consider the essentials in life.

A tree crashing to the floor in the wilderness throws out sound waves, whether anyone is there to hear them or not.  Lately, the sound of America’s troops falling in the vast reaches of the failed nation of Afghanistan conjures up the same related phenomenon.

But are we hearing them collapse to their deaths?  Or are we simply ignoring the reverberations of their fall as if, because we are not present to hear them, it is not happening? 
 
As I suggested in my last post:  Are the sounds and memory of their sacrifice being heard and memorialized only by the surviving next of kin and friends with whom they might have enjoyed more time on earth?


Likewise, do we hear the living, fractured sound of the wounded who struggle daily with the interminable noise of post-traumatic-stress-syndrome rolling about in their heads?
 
The White House Administration has already announced the date for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, placing them in even greater danger, while having yet to extract even the minimal price of loyalty from the Afghanis for having freed them from al Qaeda and the oppressive Taliban regime. 
 
The corrupt puppet leaders of Afghanistan see America merely as a source of funds and want our military out as quickly as possible.  Washington has already acquiesced to their insatiable desire for American greenbacks by pledging billions more in military and economic aid for a decade to come, while we at home struggle with our own recovery.
 
Not one more American life should fall in the dreadful wasteland of Afghanistan without clear justification.  The crescendo of American deaths and wounded is growing so loud that it can now be heard beyond the forest.  But do we hear its sound?

Thanks for reading.