The above two posts were made on Twitter earlier tonight. The first was by Jon Henke and the second was by Jim Treacher.
I was a bit taken aback at first by Henke’s tweet, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. Henke is a smart guy who has a lot of good ideas, but presenting them tactfully just doesn’t seem to be his strong point online. He probably is a great guy in meatspace as a mutual friend tells me, but I’m only judging my perception of him online (one that plenty of people agree with based on discussions I’ve had.) He just comes across online as a holier-than-thou elitist who knows more than any other conservative while providing the advice that they should follow if they were as smart as he is. I think he would be better served if he dropped the air of pretentiousness and focused as much on how he comes across as he does on his well-thought out ideas.
Treacher’s counterpoint to Henke pretty much sums up the whole situation rather nicely about Henke’s tweet tonight. There is nothing done on Twitter or anywhere else online that isn’t driven in some fashion by desire to have other people see it. That includes everything Henke writes online, everything Treacher writes online, and even this blog post. That’s the whole point of the forum. If you didn’t want to make your ideas known, why bother to even post?
Veterans are generally grateful for the thanks of people, even on public forums on Twitter. The point Henke should have made instead, in my opinion, is that thanking veterans on Twitter alone is a poor substitute for a more substantial or tangible display of gratitude.
So, I’ll close this post by reminding everyone to do something to thank a veteran everyday, not just on Veterans Day or just around the Thanskgiving and Christmas holidays. I don’t care if it’s in public or private. You should also consider something more tangible to help our veterans. I would recommend volunteering or donating to the USO or to Fisher House.
One of OnQSM’s partners, Jayvie Canono, has blogged about the subject as well.
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Robert StacyMcCain
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Since when did saying “thank you” become a topic for debate? Sometimes a simple “thanks” for a job well done is the grandest gesture of all.