No on saber-rattling

I love a parade! I am a veteran and would serve again if someone would tie me to my rocking chair and prop up my weapon. I go to the Veterans Day parade each year, partly because my children and grandchildren have played in the band at Sylvan Hills, but primarily to support those men and women who served our country over the years.

That being said, Mr. Trump’s desire for a military parade in Washington is asininely absurd. The only countries that have military parades just to show off their military might and the ruler’s egotism are those ruled by communist dictators or other tyrannical despots. Hopefully God will continue to bless our great nation, in spite of ourselves, so that we may never be governed by either of those. America did not become great as the leader of the free world based on saber-rattling and the exhibition of military hardware. We became great as a nation of freedom-loving, God-fearing people who, when necessary, were willing to defend those freedoms with military force.

It is evident that Mr. Trump wants a parade to support his own ego and pompousness. It is not to recognize or support our military from which he finagled a way to not serve years ago, and it is certainly not necessary to have a military parade to show the world how great America is.

May God continue to bless our great country with peace and greatness as we work to be a more righteous nation.

PAUL J. HANSEN JR.

Sherwood