Thank a Soldier Week
Nov 24, 2005
by Drew Bond
In the spirit of Thanksgiving and a some good ol’ American competition, who would you say among the entertainment industry, including fans, are the most thankful for America’s soldiers?
Country music celebrities and fans are by far the most thankful for America’s soldiers.
A bold statement? Hardly. If you are not a country music fan, stay with me. You’ll get your chance to prove me wrong.
Do a Google search for “pop music and soldiers” and you get 5,000,000 results. Try “Christian music and soldiers” gets 5,900,000 results. Search for “rock music and soldiers” and you get 9,000,000 results. Now, try “country music and soldiers”.
A Google search for “country music and soldiers” yields 16,000,000 results!
Sure there’s more scientific approaches to proving my theory, but it’s no secret that country music celebrities and fans are unabashed in their support for our soldiers - whether at war or around the globe keeping the peace.
Which is one of the reasons I love country music.
It’s also why Townhall.com was recently backstage at the Country Music Awards in New York City.
You read that right - “Townhall.com was backstage at the Country Music Awards.”
"Why?" you ask. Or, as a good friend of mine said to me on the elevator: “What’s country music got to do with Townhall.com?” Good question.
When it comes to supporting our American soldiers, country music celebrities and fans by-and-large are the most supportive out of all the other entertainment categories.
There have been other articles written about this so I’ll spare you more details.
But if you are interested, try your own Yahoo or Google search and read the lyrics of the songs you find. Let me know if you disagree.
With the exception of some words from a few “chicks” from Dixie awhile back, you’ll find lyrics that make you want to stand tall, walk proud, raise the American flag, and thank every soldier in sight for the freedom you enjoy and take for granted everyday.
Which brings us back around to why Townhall.com was backstage at the Country Music Awards recently – our soldiers.
Our soldiers need to be thanked. Our soldiers deserve to be thanked. And they should be thanked often and everywhere at all times.
When’s the last time you walked up to a soldier and just said “thanks”? When’s the last time you sent an email of thanks to a soldier? When’s the last time you donated money to a charity that supports our soldiers? Even if it was recent, it wasn’t recent and often enough.
We can’t thank our soldiers enough, which is why Townhall.com was at the CMA’s to kick off the first annual “Thank A Soldier Week” during December 19 – 25.
To learn more, go to www.thankasoldierweek.com.
Our soldiers need to know that no matter what we think about the policies and decisions of their leaders, we appreciate what they do. They need to know that when they put their lives on the line, when they pick up and move their families, when they choose to live on modest means to act on what they believe, that all of America is thankful for them.
As the political battles heat up over the war in Iraq, it’s the soldiers who get hit the hardest in these debates.
Whether intentional or not, the message sent to them is “your work isn’t fully supported.” That shouldn’t be the case.
So let the politicals have it out and debate when to pull out of which country – and these are important debates and should be had – but let’s not forget about the men and women on the sidelines of the debate who are on the frontlines for our freedom to debate.
To give thanks to a soldier now, go to www.thankasoldierweek.com.
And thanks.
