Monday, December 2, 2013

Jumping on the Paul Walker Bandwagon.

But not really.  Why?

Because you know what's more sad than this photo?



The fact that not once, anywhere on Facebook, have I seen this guy's name.  It took me more than six news article to discover that his name is Roger Rodas.  Rodas, of Valencia, CA, co-owned a car shop near the site of the crash, had a finance degree and long-term job at Bank of America, and was a father.

Want to know what's even more sad than all THAT?

 In November 2013, the month of Walker's death, three U.S. soldiers died in the Middle East, and I bet you had no idea.

Staff Sgt. Alex Anthony Viola, of Texas, died at the age of 29 on November 17th, of injuries sustained when his unit was attacked in Kandahar, Afghanistan.  Although this was his first deployment, he was the recipient of numerous medals and awards.  But none of them were MTV Movie awards, so no one cares.



Richard L. Vazquez




Staff Sgt. Richard L. Vasquez, also of Texas, died at the age of 28 in Panjwai, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his unit was attacked on patrol, on November 13th.  He was originally from Louisiana, where he will be buried.  He is survived by both of this parents and numerous siblings.  He was a recipient of the Purple Heart, among many, many other medals and commendations.  But I guess that's not as cool as a Teen Choice Award.

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Sgt. 1st Class Forrest W. Robertson, of Kansas, died at the age of 35 in Pul-E-Alam, Afghanistan, on November third, when his unit was fired upon. He had been on this tour in Afghanistan since December of 2012.  He's survived by his wife Marcie and three daughters.  He joined the Army before he even finished high school.  But apparently making 30 movies since 1996 is more impressive than spending 54 months deployed in the same time frame.





Yes, a Paul Walker died.  Yes, he was much too young to die.  And yes, he had a family, and friends, and people who loved him, and it's sad.  But loss of life is loss of life.  These three men, and the other 115 American servicemembers who died in 2013, deserve your respect as well.  They are no less deserving of grief and sympathy simply because they were not famous.  And the fact that so many of you didn't even have a thought for these men or their fellow fallen servicemembers paints a sad, sad picture of the priorities of our country.

While you're busy spouting your grief for Paul Walker all over Facebook, maybe you could spare five seconds to think about that.

*If you're interested, it took me roughly twenty minutes and the websites FreedomRemembered.com and iCasualties.org to find this information.