I am a Viet Nam combat veteran. As I was packing for a trip I found an old journal entry (of sorts. It was a letter I wrote to myself). I wrote it the day that we sent armed forces to the Gulf War. I had been at work in the Los Angeles GSA office when I heard the news. Jeremy, my firstborn son, was a Medical Corpsman (medic) in the Naval Reserves and I knew that he would probably be deployed to fight with the Marines.
I ran and hid in Patsy's (a coworker's) cubicle. My eyes were burning - my heart
was pounding. The news report shot pangs of terror into me, shooting fear that
my firstborn son would be deployed, sent to war, and be killed. Norm and Greg
(coworkers) tried to comfort me. When I regained my composure, I returned to
my cubicle.
When I saw Patsy, I remarked, "Those are really big, are they heavy." I was referring to her earrings. She replied, "Oh, my boobs? They are big and heavy." It made my smile come forward and lighten my heart again. I Told Patsy and Wanda that I had hoped that the Viet Nam vets would be the last veterans and that the VA hospitals would be turned into Public health facilities. Someday, someday.
I heard an announcer on the radio give a short discourse on pornography. He said that we have it all backward. "Why," He asked, "do we prevent children from viewing nudes and photos of sexual acts, saying those items harm children?" He said that nudes do little harm when compared to the REAL pornography - Visual Violence. The violence on the TV and movie screen, the violence in comic books, and Soldier of Fortune magazines. American society has perverted morals. Our society even praises violence. When will we wake up? When will we learn that the arms for peace are HUGS, not guns?
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