Last night, while I was slaving away on a pile of homework that was too large for this early in the semester, a noise from the television in the other room caught my attention. The noise was about the attacks on our country on 9/11 and the United States’ promise that those responsible would “pay the ultimate price.” As someone who is politically conscious and has close ties to those attacks, I figured I’d go and see what the message was all about.
As it turns out, it was a commercial. As the commercial went on, my bull**** alarm started going crazy. The commercial cut forward to May 1, 2011, the date Seal Team 6 carried out Operation Geronimo. The commercial showed dramatized footage of the ordeal, then cut to two sparkling coins with the Navy Seals on the front and the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and Flight 93 on the back. This was the point where my suspicion meter started rising.
What really made the alarm go off was when the anonymous commercial voice said the value of the coins was over $100, but I, the viewer, could buy them for $49.95. Also, if I called in the next 10 minutes, the price would be knocked down to $19.95.
By the end of the commercial, I was offered a $240 value for just $19.95. What a deal, right? Well, it would have been a great deal if it wasn’t a complete scam. This commemorative coin that is supposedly a way to show off your pride and to remember our victory is offensive to me, a patriotic American, on so many levels.
The money being generated from the sale of these commemorative coins isn’t going to be used to support the troops overseas or the military or even the government—not that they’d do the right thing with it anyway. The company minting this coin goes by the name Justice Coin LLC and Historical Coin Mint, and its business is making a profit off people’s national pride.
Of course, it isn’t a crime to raise money in support of causes or to offer commemorative things to people for donations. As a matter of fact, those are good ways to show real support and care. But when you hold onto that money for yourself, you become deplorable. The organizations involved in the struggles being commemorated are the ones who really deserve the money, not some jerk in Colorado.
How can you assign a value to 10 years of war, of struggle, of loss and alienation of family, to all of the effort and torment the troops, to the bravery of Seal Team 6, to all of the lives lost in the attacks and the subsequent wars? How can you tell me that, for $19.95, I can show that I commemorate what has been accomplished? I have friends and family, as I’m sure anyone reading this does, who act as human commemorations. Do not forget the decorations the veterans bring back so we never forget. And, let’s not forget the PTSD they bring back with them either.
I don’t understand how the announcer is okay with gleefully proclaiming the entire struggle can be boiled down to a value of $240. Everyone at N.C. State has lived with this war for their entire lives. It started at the same time I became aware a whole world existed beyond me, and this war really helped me understand that. My life’s memory is worth more than $240, and I can’t believe someone would try to sell it for that.
