Green Beret and Purple Heart recipient Bryan Sikes wrote an absolutely spot-on open letter to Gwyneth Paltrow, published at Clash Daily, in response to her ignorant remarks comparing mean online commenters to the enemy in war. It reminds us exactly why Gwyneth Paltrow is so annoying, and why we love and respect military families.
The entire letter is worth reading, but here are the highlights:
I’d first like to start out by saying how terrible I feel for you and all your friends that on a daily basis have to endure mean words written by people you don’t know. … You’ve hit the nail on the head, war is exactly like that. You should receive a medal for the burden you have carried on your shoulders due to these meanies on social media. …
I could see how you, and others like you in “the biz”, could be so insecure and mentally weak that you could pair the difficulty of your life on Twitter to my brothers who have had their limbs ripped off and seen their friends shot, blown up, burned and disfigured, or wake up every morning in pain – while just starting the day is a challenge. …
Let me be the first to burst your bubble: a long line at Starbucks, your driver being 3 minutes late, a scuff mark on your $1200 shoes and a mean tweet do not constitute difficulty in the eyes of a soldier. …
Sikes concludes the letter by stating he is defined by his role as a husband and a father, not by war.
Read the full letter here.