I tried to block out the hurtful words I heard you say last night but upon waking up this morning, I seemed to be even angrier. And despite it being a "joke" to you, I don't think your husband would have found it funny had he heard it, nor anybody else with a heart.
Sure, I don't know the entire story. But an hour earlier, I heard you mention The Wounded Warrior Project and noticed your uniformed husband limping with a cane. Now maybe I'm jumping to conclusions but if I had to guess, I would say your husband was injured in combat. COMBAT. Aka he went to war, and something happened that caused him an injury. An injury he received while protecting our freedom.
I know some people joke about injuries to make themselves feel more comfortable and "normal". I once had a friend lose an arm in a motorcycle accident and he lightheartedly made jokes about his loss all of the time. But your exact words, to your children none the less, were "daddy's sitting down in the car because he's broken". Not only were they wrong, but it was even worse you said it to your children. Whether or not you joke about your husband being "broken", your children are listening and learning from you. What if they went up to someone else in a cane or wheelchair and asked them why they were broken too? See what I mean here?
And whether you were joking or not, or your husband jokes or not, don't you think he has some sort of emotional damage from the incident? And again, maybe he injured himself some other way but from what I saw, it didn't look that way. And from the conversation I heard you having with someone who is active with The Wounded Warriors Project, it sure as hell didn't seem that way.
{via}
My point is that you should be proud. You should lift him up for the injury he received in the name of our freedom. Having a purple heart is an honor and no one I know is broken for receiving one. The only thing broken may be their self-esteem and you certainly weren't helping the situation by making comments like that. And yes, your husband wasn't there to hear you and sure, your children may not have thought anything of it. But it hurt me to hear you talk that way to your children about your husband. He deserves better than that. Our soldiers give so much, sometimes even lives and limbs, and they deserve more respect than that.
I'm sure you have a great relationship with your husband and who am I to judge? But I'm not judging you. I'm judging what I heard and defending a man who may not even know you talk about him like that.
Our wounded warrior are heroes. And the respect they deserve needs to start at home.
Sincerely,
A concerned citizen
