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I have been having this discussion for a fairly long time and there really isn't a definitive answer to it but I thought I would put it out for public consumtion.
What is it that drives Soldiers (Police, Fireman to a lesser extant and you will see later as to why lesser) to what it is we do. How is that people such as us are willing to pay the price we do for such little reward. What I mean by this is we readily without fail sacrifice so very much for an almost ungrateful public. Shunned and cast aside until such time as the boggie man comes knocking and they need us. And then like whipped dogs we come running to deffend the abusive master with voraciousness and then when all is said and done we get smacked on the nose and sent back to the corner like a rabid beast that has done wrong. Perhaps my analogy is flawed but I am sure you can all see where it is I am going. I am well aware of the Wolf/Sheep/Sheepdog analogy and I agree whole hearted with it. But what is it that makes us Sheepdogs. Are we genetic throw backs predisposed to violence (protective not offensive). The simple answer I have heard before is Patriotism, but I ask you how can one love such an esoteric concept as country so so much that they are willing to be maimed or give their life for a flag?. I love Canada but I cannot rightly say I love the concept of Canada so much as to say it was worth losing personal body parts for. And yet as boggling as it all is We will do it time after tome generation after generation and the vast "majority" of the public will shun us will pay lip service to' Support the troops" But we will continually march foreward into the unknown danger for those very same people.
Think of the non physical price we pay, The nightmares, the flashbacks the failed relationships over and over the missed holidays and birthday's of loved ones all again for those that could careless less or abhor us (Perhaps abhor is to strong a word but you get my drift) Months away, added up over a career into years.... And we do it sometimes even with a shrug and a smile but we do it.
So why? why is it can anyone answer it? I am sure of course there is no one right answer to it all, and each answer will be a very personal thing. Maybe you'll be like me and not have one, no I don't have one I really don't. But there is a common thread to all of us so there must be perhaps a common theme to the answers.
Floors open.
What is it that drives Soldiers (Police, Fireman to a lesser extant and you will see later as to why lesser) to what it is we do. How is that people such as us are willing to pay the price we do for such little reward. What I mean by this is we readily without fail sacrifice so very much for an almost ungrateful public. Shunned and cast aside until such time as the boggie man comes knocking and they need us. And then like whipped dogs we come running to deffend the abusive master with voraciousness and then when all is said and done we get smacked on the nose and sent back to the corner like a rabid beast that has done wrong. Perhaps my analogy is flawed but I am sure you can all see where it is I am going. I am well aware of the Wolf/Sheep/Sheepdog analogy and I agree whole hearted with it. But what is it that makes us Sheepdogs. Are we genetic throw backs predisposed to violence (protective not offensive). The simple answer I have heard before is Patriotism, but I ask you how can one love such an esoteric concept as country so so much that they are willing to be maimed or give their life for a flag?. I love Canada but I cannot rightly say I love the concept of Canada so much as to say it was worth losing personal body parts for. And yet as boggling as it all is We will do it time after tome generation after generation and the vast "majority" of the public will shun us will pay lip service to' Support the troops" But we will continually march foreward into the unknown danger for those very same people.
Think of the non physical price we pay, The nightmares, the flashbacks the failed relationships over and over the missed holidays and birthday's of loved ones all again for those that could careless less or abhor us (Perhaps abhor is to strong a word but you get my drift) Months away, added up over a career into years.... And we do it sometimes even with a shrug and a smile but we do it.
So why? why is it can anyone answer it? I am sure of course there is no one right answer to it all, and each answer will be a very personal thing. Maybe you'll be like me and not have one, no I don't have one I really don't. But there is a common thread to all of us so there must be perhaps a common theme to the answers.
Floors open.