Military parade idea presents scary picture

When I was in college, I took a class in newspaper journalism. We were told that editors routinely hide controversial stories “inside, next to the crease and below the fold”. Having just read a Daily Herald story buried in just such a place concerning the proposal to have a military parade to include 6,000 soldiers, heavy armament and combat aircraft, I ask, does anyone find a problem with this idea?

We have been exposed to the worst dictators of the 20th and 21st centuries conducting such events. Picture Hitler before the Reichstag, Mussolini in Italy, the various Kims in North Korea, Saddam, Assad, the Ayatollah, all the past czars’, premiers, presidents, and on and on.

This is being presented to us as a celebration of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary, and, coincidentally the president’s birthday. Frankly, I’ve grown weary of national leaders strutting across a stage giving high fives, fist pumps and encouraging an audience to applaud their presence. We are better than self-aggrandizement.

God bless America on the Fourth of July, celebrate our heroic soldiers, Marines and sailors on Veterans Day, Memorial Day and every day they serve our country with honor.

Michael Dunne

Naperville