The contempt I feel is not for the soldiers — that is reserved for the military and the government. No, I can not support the troops' mission and I believe their choice to become trained killers is dangerous for themselves, for their loved ones, and for the world. But the soldiers aren't the bad guys. They may be misguided, but in these days of a volunteer US military, they are doing what their conscience tells them is the right thing. That is their right. Without reservation, I wish them the same peace and love I want for every creature on the planet. I must support them in the only way I know that upholds my deeply held principles.

Now, that isn't good enough for the hawks, but you know what? That's their problem. Even if they insult me, even if they hit me — and both incidences have occurred — I must follow what my heart and mind know to be the only possible road. If soldiers want thanks, they need to go elsewhere. And if they need expressions of gratitude, perhaps they ought to re-examine their motivations and their actions.

In the big picture, war brings no gains but short-term ones. More than 50 years after World War II, anti-Semitism is still a destructive force. Nearly 140 years after the US Civil War, racism and its related evils have yet to be eradicated. And there has not been one day in my 41 years in which I have been fully equal under law on the land mass on which fate put me. I should be grateful? Puh-leeze.

Thank the goddess I am not the only one who feels this way: The San Francisco Chronicle's Mark Morford knows of what I speak. Let's hear it for the "liberal scum" who want happiness and safety for soldiers and those who love them.