I like this because in my opinion, it's realistic. This shows war from an entirely different point of view. Through our eyes, these soldiers are heroes, to the enemy, our soldiers are murderers, no one wins.

I really admire this piece(:

killing is killing, even if it is lawful or justified. and im not sure i consider war justified because in the past we fought to protect ourselves, but now we are usually fighting over stupid things that we could talk out if we were willing. either that or we're sending out our soldiers to fight someone else's war. im not saying all war is like this so please dont get me wrong, but im saying that you were very quick to say the author was being disrespectful, shameful and should be slapped when really they could have even been writing about soldiers from other countries. you were quick to assume that they were calling american soldiers murderers, when if you actually read and process the poem they are talking about how peace is better than war not how war is murder. and the freedom of speech is the freedom to say whatever you believe in whether someone agrees with it or not. also, about your respect and responsibility bit? the author of this poem never said one directly disrespectful thing (whether you interpreted it that way doesnt matter) whereas  you were directly disrespectful to the author saying that "Every soldier in America should slap you across the face for just righting this! Shame on you!" sorry if i think that isnt fair. i dont think war is something to be celebrated until its over. sorry i dont approve of killing... think about it; those people we are fighting that are supposedly the bad guys, cold blooded killers, evil... they have families too. they are fighting for reasons they think are right, and just because you disagree doesnt make them wrong. i am not saying i agree with them, but maybe they wouldnt agree with America's reasons for fighting.  and i have a question for you... if one of those soldiers were to kill someone in your family, would that make them murderers? and would you still approve of war?

Also, I'm not saying i dont respect soldiers and all they do for our country. im not saying i think everyone who fights wars or supports wars are bad. im just saying that i wish we didnt have to fight. i wish people didnt have to get hurt just for me to be safe, to have a happy life with the rights i really do appreciate and think about frequently. Alot of my family are war veterans, and i dont think this disrespected them in any way. i have close family friends i really care about who are still soldiers. i wish they didnt have to be in danger. and i respect your right to disagree if that is what you choose. 

A lot of veterans now wear peace signs.

If you kill someone out of self-defense, is it murder? No. If you kill someone in the protection of someone else, is it murder? No. Murder is the act of killing a person with no justifiable reason. War is not murder when acted upon for the right reasons.

And this is offensive because they are calling my family murderers. That is the wrong word. They are heroes. Nothing more, nothing less. Heroes.

And just because you have the freedom of speech, doesn't mean it gives you the right to say anything you want. Freedom of any kind comes with responsibility. Demeaning soldiers to the same status of a cold-blooded killer is abusing that responsibility.

Yes, war is a sad thing, but when a soldier is defending his country for the right reasons, it's not a sad ordeal. It should be celebrated, not condemned, because without our soldiers fighting for our freedom daily we wouldn't have the right of freedom of speech. And this person who wrote this poem wouldn't have the right to abuse that freedom.

God bless our heroes who fight daily so that millions of Americans have the freedom to call them murderers. And so that I have the freedom to defend my family, past, present and future.

definition of "murder"; to kill another human being.

justified or not, it's still killing.

Enemies or not, they are still people, human beings with families and feelings.

If they were not in war, that kind of killing would be called something like massacre or genocide, and it would be illegal, wrong, and frowned upon.

this is not disrespecting soldiers, but merely expressing the opinion that it is sad that we need them to have freedoms that every human being should have just because they're living. just to feel safe.

also, you asked what gives the author the right to write this? freedom of speech. plain and simple.