What A Pity . . .

The New American Militarism . . .

has become the home of the free, the land of the brave has become so enamored of war, so imperial in spirit. This sure isn't the country I fought for in America's longest and most ignoble war, Vietnam, but it is who those of my generation, the chichenhawks, who assiduously avoided fighting in the war of our generation have turned us into.

You know what? It don't mean nuttin' !~!~! Didn't then in the rice paddies of Vietnam as a war warrior. Doesn't now in the rice paddies of Sri Lanka where I'm practicing the art of being a peace warrior. It just is what it is, and my task, to quote one of my favorite quotes about acceptance, " is that "I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and my attitudes." (formerly page 449 of the Big Book.)

Maybe I will get finally get iit that what really is important is for me to find some peace in living the full and blessed life HOME on Long Island with LovelyLadyLynn, full of Metta, overflowing with Sri . . .

Yeah, that sounds like the ticket. I think I'm ready to do that, to come home and know it for the first time . . .

Comments

[Joley]

Hey man, I should ask you this. One of my best friends just got back from a year in Iraq as a medic. We were talking quite a bit at first, but he's just gotten back to his base in San Antonio, and has been unreachable. He'd been a big drinker in the past, one of the reasons he ended up in the military in the first place, and I think he might be sliding fast. The last few times we talked, he hasn't been in the best shape, and he left one hell of a message last week. Being back in the base may be a good thing, just being back in that structure and routine. But he told me some horrible things he had to deal with, only when he was pretty soused, and I don't think that stuff just disappears with a beer or two.

So, I'm wondering, what the best thing for me to do at this point besides just being available? I've never been an ear for anyone who's sat with a body with its head blown off before. I guess --what would YOU have wanted your friends to do when you got back?