(Happy Throwback Thursday! Given the current hullaballoo about the election in general – and that ghastly debate in particular – I decided to bring this article back. Originally published on April 12, 2012, its central message seems more urgent than ever.)
Recently a friend sent an e-mail to me (and a bunch of other people) asking for prayers for a battalion of Marines that had lost nine soldiers in four days.
It included this sentence:
“Nothing in the media about these guys because the news does not seems to care.”
In fact, this incident was reported by a number of media outlets – when it actually happened.
I wrote back to her: “All soldiers can use our prayers. However, this is an outdated post. The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines were in Afghanistan from October 2010 until April 2011.” In the note I included a fact-checking link to show her where I had retrieved the information.
She replied, in part: “I guess you’re into extreme details. … You really could have just ignored the request.”
No, I couldn’t. Here’s why.