How does one "support" troops?

Stephen Harper wants us Canadians to wear red on Fridays to show our support for our troops in Afghanistan. I find the red an apt colour to wear, given that it happens to be the colour of blood.

I write this today because I wonder what it truly means to "support our troops". Does "support" mean cheer them on from the comforts of my home while they kill and get killed? Perhaps I can wear my favourite red sweater while I do it. Or maybe I can slap a yellow ribbon on the back of my gas-guzzling SUV while my brothers and sisters are taking bullets for pipelines.

Whether just or not, war never warrants cheerleading, not when so many lives are at stake. If you want to "support the troops", rally for peace, so that they may return home to their loved ones. After all, they are not the ones who start these wars, nor are the people they fight: wars are never started by the people who have to do battle in them. It is the elite of our species who is responsible for these wars. It is this group who drew the borders we see today.

These people beat the war drums and get us to throw our support behind them by crying "freedom" and "patriotism". They claim war defends the freedoms we enjoy today, such as the freedom to choose between Pepsi and Coke, between McDonald's and Burger King, between Ford and General Motors. The only "freedoms" I have are controlled by corporations. The "freedoms" I enjoy come at the expense of billions of people who dwell and toil in the poorest of nations. You talk of "freedom"? Ask the starving people on the streets how they're enjoying their "freedom". Ask the recently-laid-off factory workers how "freedom" is working for them. Ask the starry-eyed graduates who leave the scholastic life with hopes and dreams only to discover that the only way up is in a three-piece suit.

If you want to wear red for the troops, so be it. Cloak yourselves in red to match the bloodshed you support.