To Study War No More: THERE'S "A Consummation Devoutly to be Wished"

...thanks to Mr. Shakespeare's elegant expression from a mere
400 years' distance. We're honoring another Memorial Day,
dedicated to the military's dead and injured, sent to do a
nation's bidding, whether necessary or not.                                           
                                                                                             
I say, lately, NOT. Recent pundits who point out that there
can't be an actual war on terror, as our enemies exist in too
many other countries (and here at home), are logistically
correct, maybe morally as well:

We meddle in many foreign affairs without doing the proper
research, too often sending out our representatives/operatives
without second and third language skills, then wonder, "why
do they hate us?" --Nevermind  others' resources we seem
to regard as our own, swaggering/swarming all around the
globe, then rebuke the crazy young man currently in charge
of North Korea. True enough, in recent years our military
leaders have trained servicemen/women to become more
engaged with civilians in the field, but this may well be too
little too late.

Meanwhile, anyone astute enough to follow economic
events and news sees our current but slipping stance at
the preeminent power position--the one, the only super
power. (-?) Really? Only in agribusiness and number of
nukes. Other states beat us in so many relevant ways,
infant survival rates, science education, sustainable
energy policy, ad infinitum. The USA does boast a
certain amount of stability and order, sometimes won
at a heavy cost of our privacy and civil liberties, as the
"authorities" make many mistakes and break the law
they swear to uphold.

On this and every other Memorial Day I salute our living
and dead men and women of the military. I grieve for them
and theirs, NOT the "leaders" who make them go.

If we survive, thrive and evolve, we as a world may learn
to study war no more. Now that's a wish worth working
toward.