What Must Our Wounded Warriors Be Thinking?

Tuesday marked the 10th anniversary of start of the Iraq War and this morning as I was checking out MSN.com, I stumbled across a story about botched celebrity plastic surgeries.  Actually it was a link to a story on a Hollywood Tabloid site. It showed pictures of 23 celebrities (movie stars, singers, athletes, etc.) - people like Mickey Rourke, Carrot Top, Tara Reid, Joan Rivers, Donatella Versace, Bruce Jenner, and Lisa Rinna who had plastic surgery that went wrong. It showed the before and after pictures but for the most part, these people aren't disfigured, they are now just odd looking.

The anniversary of the war and this site made me think about all our servicemen and women who have required plastic surgery to repair horrific burns and other injuries they received during combat and how their before and after photographs differ so dramatically from those of the celebrities.  Most of the military folks were average Americans - not the "beautiful people" from stage and screen. And unlike the celebrities, many of our wounded warriors will bear physical scars for the rest of their lives despite the best efforts of our government to repair the damage.

What must it be like to be one of these heroes, see these "beautiful people" and know that they did this to themselves? I would imagine that the celebrities are very distraught over the poor results of their surgeries. However, compared to the injured Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines, how fortunate these Hollywood-types are.

Many of the Hollywood left were very critical of the war especially during the Bush presidency. They were careful to not appear to be unsupportive of the Troops but I personally can't help but wonder if, with their deep seated rage over the war, some of their anger transfers over to those who served? When the lefties in LA and New York see those injured, do they say to themselves, "You volunteered. You were enabling that illegal war. You got what you deserve." I know that statement is going to make some angry but I think if you are honest with yourself, you would have to at least admit to the possibility.

From what I have seen, most of our wounded appear to be dealing with their situation with a great deal of grace and dignity. There doesn't seem to be a lot of room in their lives for self-pity. If they are feeling pity for anyone, odds are it is when they see these vain, shallow and self-absorbed celebrities and their botched surgeries. They have to be thinking, "I can't believe these attractive people did that to themselves." and then the pity they feel for them must be on many levels.