Our Peace President seems to be creating more veterans for us to remember on this holiday.
In 1971, a young naval officer named John Kerry testified about his experiences in Vietnam before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He was long-winded, pompous and obviously starting his political career, but his words are fitting, poignant and sad:
… thirty years from now, [when] our brothers go down the street without a leg, without an arm, without a face, and small boys ask ‘why?’ we will be able to say “Vietnam,’ and not mean a desert, not a filthy, obscene memory, but mean instead the place where America finally turned, and where soldiers like us helped it in the turning.
Nobody listened to him in 1971. Thirty years have come and gone, and nobody can hear those words today. We are the finest nation in the world, and we stand ready to kill anyone who disagrees.
May our troops, and all the troops of the earth, come home soon, safe and forever.
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You can listen to Kerry’s short speech (19:48) by clicking the blue button.
Wow — you’ve definitely been a lot better than I at keeping up on the blogging! I will probably continue to be fairly spotty 🙂
L – You probably have a life, which keeps you from writing in your blog.
I, on the other hand…
Vietnam sucked up a lot of draftees, most just wanted to hang out in their ‘hood, get a job or stay in college. Iraq and Afghanistan are places for volunteers. Big difference.
angry – Not much difference to the dead people.
Thank you for that, Larry. May they all come home. Soon. And never have to go to war, anywhere, again.
Yes, Wren, that’s what I hope, too.
Larry, you still posting or have you taken a powder from blogging? I sat out about 4 months then decided to start again. Now, I don’t feel the compulsion to do something every day … altho I’ve done about 18 postings in June. I gotta slow down.
Bill – I’m still posting, as time permits. I do a lot of it in my mind, but it never gets all the way to the blog. Good to see you’re back.