Accountability
Throughout the history of mankind, men have fought wars. Wars have been fought to acquire land, wealth, and ultimately power. And in all wars, one thing is constant, people die. One of the major tragedies in every war is the number of young men slaughtered for causes that should have never been important enough to ask anyone to give their life. And yet, the annals of time are filled with the blood of young men and now, added to the legacy of millions of dead young men, are the blood of dead young women.
My husband served in the Vietnam War. He was a Marine; "the proud, the few." He returned after thirteen months of duty a changed man, different from the sweet, beautiful, young man I married the day before he went to Vietnam. My husband left a part of his soul in Vietnam, a piece somewhere on Marble Mountain, or in the the jungles and rice paddies where his friends fell and died in their so-called honor and glory. That man child who was trained to defend his country, a man child trained to kill men, women, and children, came home to a civilization that he couldn't understand. His nights were filled with dreams, his days were filled with a profound silence as he struggled to surmount the agony in his being for seeing and doing the things he had been told to do were honorable.
The truth is, no matter who or how many people speak the lie, there is no honor in death for a young man or woman who has not yet had the chance to experience life. There must be some way in this advanced world of ours to stop the madness, to find a way to reconcile our differences without taking lives. All wars are unjust because in every war innocent people die, or worse, people are irrevocably maimed.
We have over 120,000 soldiers in Iraq and when I think of all those young people, putting their lives on the line, I shudder and fight back the tears for all the unrealized dreams, all the unfulfilled promise of a generation wasted. I can't help but to think of a common child nursery rhyme: "...And all the king's horses and all of the king's men, couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again. " We have not found a way to completely heal the broken bodies and minds of those lucky enough to return home. How can we expect to heal their souls, mend their hearts? Is it all truly worth it?
My husband served in the Vietnam War. He was a Marine; "the proud, the few." He returned after thirteen months of duty a changed man, different from the sweet, beautiful, young man I married the day before he went to Vietnam. My husband left a part of his soul in Vietnam, a piece somewhere on Marble Mountain, or in the the jungles and rice paddies where his friends fell and died in their so-called honor and glory. That man child who was trained to defend his country, a man child trained to kill men, women, and children, came home to a civilization that he couldn't understand. His nights were filled with dreams, his days were filled with a profound silence as he struggled to surmount the agony in his being for seeing and doing the things he had been told to do were honorable.
The truth is, no matter who or how many people speak the lie, there is no honor in death for a young man or woman who has not yet had the chance to experience life. There must be some way in this advanced world of ours to stop the madness, to find a way to reconcile our differences without taking lives. All wars are unjust because in every war innocent people die, or worse, people are irrevocably maimed.
We have over 120,000 soldiers in Iraq and when I think of all those young people, putting their lives on the line, I shudder and fight back the tears for all the unrealized dreams, all the unfulfilled promise of a generation wasted. I can't help but to think of a common child nursery rhyme: "...And all the king's horses and all of the king's men, couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again. " We have not found a way to completely heal the broken bodies and minds of those lucky enough to return home. How can we expect to heal their souls, mend their hearts? Is it all truly worth it?
posted by taylorlee at 1:58 AM
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