Go See “American Sniper”
< < Go Back
from The Gray Area:
If you haven’t seen “American Sniper”, you need to. If you don’t go to the movies, make a date to go see “American Sniper”. If you are anti-America, anti-military, Marxist, and/or a liberal Democrat, go see “American Sniper”.
This movie is not about killing people, though there is a lot of that. It is not about glorifying war. It is much deeper than those images. The messages of duty, guilt, courage, compassion, loyalty, patriotism, family, character, consistency, ethics, commitment, stepping up when needed rather than retreating, the impact of war on individuals and families, personal responsibility, brotherhood, doing the right thing, and love in this movie will blow you away.
Yes, love. Love of wife, children and family, of course. But also love of country, love of self, and love for others.
These characteristics are often misunderstood by the vast majority of Americans. In his new book, “For Love of Country, What Our Veterans Can Teach Us About Citizenship, Heroism and Sacrifice“, Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ CEO says that 95% of Americans are completely disconnected from those who fight for us. As such, we have “no skin in the game”. He also confesses how he never understood this either. How men & women could fight in war zones and want to go back. Where does this come from? Mr Schultz says he only began to understand these characteristics after hearing a speech by a Iraq War veteran, being asked to speak at West Point and visiting a nearby military base and veteran’s hospitals. He was overwhelmed by what he learned. He and his wife now have a foundation dedicated to helping wounded veterans and their families.
Of course not everyone will start a veterans foundation, but it will do everyone in this country good to try to understand the minority of their fellow citizens who will put everything at risk, to fight for what we all have and too often take for granted.
Is Chris Kyle a hero? Yes. Because he killed so many people? No. Because he was in the military? No. Because he survived four deployments? No. But because of the characteristics he consistently displayed throughout his life that led him to save so many lives of other Americans who were putting their lives on the line for all of us.
Some critics are calling Chris Kyle a sociopath, concerned about the portrayal of the enemy and asking why Eastwood should make a movie celebrating a murderer. Others have made positive statements about the truthful portrayal of the enemy. The movie’s critics are making obvious political statements, are hiding their heads in the sand regarding America’s enemies and totally missing the point.
For more perspective on the film, see this interview with Chris Kyle’s brother Jeff.