Respecting The Dead

There are some places in society where respect is not only expected, but demanded when one is present. There is the courtroom, the schoolroom, a house of worship and the place where we all will one day go...the cemetery. Those places are ingrained in our psyche to maintain a modem of decorum because that's the way a society conducts itself where its members congregate. We learn that when we are young and it is something that is passed down through the generations. So, what happened when Donald Trump and his entourage of campaign workers and some members of several families went to a cemetery to honor the dead? On what should have been a solemn occasion conducted with the utmost dignity and respect turned into a spectacle that once again makes this nation look as though image is more important than meaning. Trump said that he attended Arlington National Cemetery along with Gold Star Family Members to honor their loved ones who were killed in the last days before U.S. Soldiers were pulled from Afghanistan back in 2021. One has to remember that the pullout from Afghanistan happened during President Joe Biden's term, but the date of the pullout was arranged by the Trump Administration to remove the soldiers. One also has to remember that not all deaths of the soldiers occurred on the combat field, but some occurred at bases where soldiers were housed. President Biden didn't get the U.S. into Afghanistan, he was only honoring an agreement, as the U.S. is expected to always keep its word. Nonetheless, on the day of Trump's visit, things got out of hand when his campaign allegedly assaulted an employee who is a federal worker on federal land as she tried to do her job on letting them know the rules. Some called the incident an "altercation", but clearly the rules were broken by the Trump campaign, even though they said that they were there at the behest of family members. Nothing wrong with that, but rules are rules, so Trump was there as "civilian", not "president" Trump. As a former president who seemed not to be into visiting cemeteries of soldiers, he SHOULD have known better as well as his campaign staff. Was his trip to Arlington a political stunt or was it is a genuine gesture? One way to answer that is to know that Trump loves the camera and the star status of his being a celebrity or "walking" with the elites. Photographers were forbidden, especially in the area where Trump and the families as is explicitly spelled out in the rules/regulations section of the cemetery. No one denied the families from visiting, it was the way that the Trump campaigned conducted itself on sacred grounds. The campaign said that it has video to "show what happened", but as of press time, no media outlet has had any access to any kind of footage. Trump, as usual is spinning as if he is the victim, even though he enjoyed every second of his time there. Even so who gives a "thumbs up" pose when taking a picture in of all places, a cemetery? All cemeteries should be treated the same with the utmost of respect. The sad part is that Trump will, as it is already being done, will be a part of some political ad to show his "leadership abilities" once again as president. However, from a guy who has said that "those captured are not heroes" to calling soldiers "losers and suckers", we see that Trump has no more respect for those captured, to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Remember, the world is watching. So is God.