dc dave:
We can be more …Midwinter of sixty-eight.
With all due respect this is a lot of words amounting to vague, unsupported allegations, speculation, and hearsay.
The central question is: did Casey enlist?
The central answer is: yes.
Occam’s Razor.
Does it surprise me that Ms Sheehan is plugged in about the signing bonus, the laptop, the school courses? No. Not after looking really hard at her tax troubles and the money trail since those troubles.
So do you think it is possible that the signing bonus, the laptop, and the school courses were due on completion of Casey’s mission maybe? And, when Casey was KIA, did Ms Sheehan expect to cash in on the signing bonus, the laptop, and the school courses?
Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. Where does Casey end and his mother begin?
Occam’s Razor again: What was the job Casey consented to perform? Was it operating a laptop? No. Was it bookkeeping for the perks owed him? No. Was it going to school? No. The job Casey consented to perform was to serve in the US Army as a specialist.
Ms Sheehan keeps on itemizing the ‘perks’ she feels entitled to on behalf of a son who was a separate adult human being. People who join the army for the ‘perks’ are joining the wrong firm.
The army is for service. Not grab as grab can. Service. And people who try to capitalize on those perks
vicariously through a son are well advised – with all due respect – to look to their own well-being and get a job – and a life – of their own.
Casey said, “I wish I didn’t have to go, Mom, but I have to.
It’s my duty and my buddies are going.” And Ms Sheehan interprets this to mean that he disagreed with the war. Of all the worlds of possible interpretations Ms Sheehan chose the one which was the least plausible but the most likely to suit her own goals.
A plausible interpretation is that Casey felt conflicted, knowing his mother’s strong views and aggressive methods of self-expression. Note that he said that it was his
duty to go to war. Note that he said that his
buddies were going to war.
Obviously duty and friendship meant something to the lad. Obviously Casey chose very carefully the hill he wanted to die on and that hill was not within his mother’s field of engagement. In my opinion, Casey knew very well where the boundaries were.
And that meant that the enlisting of Casey Sheehan was not a cherrypicking perk-fest. It was about having a sense of priorities. Casey had his priorities straight. Ms Sheehan imho has her priorities skewed.
I say this because I believe – with all due respect – that Ms Sheehan has a serious problem respecting personal boundaries – not only because of the way she characterizes her son’s personal individual adult choices, but also because of the abrasive and disrespectful way she characterizes those she opposes, notably those of authority figures.
Again this thread is about The Catholic Cindy Sheehan. I have brought to light some behaviours which – speaking as one Catholic to another Catholic – I believe are matters for confession, communion, and ongoing spiritual direction.
One could say: “How does Ani know whether or not Ms Sheehan has gone to confession?” I don’t. However, I do know that self-examination, repentance, and the willingness to turn away from sin is part of confession.
I do not see signs of self-examination and repentance in Ms Sheehan’s behaviour; it always seems to be about the bad guys out there, the bad guys being authority figures, and the
long long long list of how they have wounded her sense of entitlement.
