It's been a while
Heck, there are probably a few of ya'all who don't even check anymore to see if I've written...
I've been reading (again) Stephen King's novel Hearts in Atlantis. If any of you have seen the movie but not read the book, please understand that one has nothing to do with the other. The book is really King purging a time period. An ode to the vietnam era really. I was born about six months before the U.S. pulled out, before the choppers flew our last known soldiers home from the U.S. embassy in Saigon. I really don't know anything about all that. I know that I was born in 1973, and that by father was in Vietnam from 72-73. Drafted. He didn't dodge, flee, or run away. He went. The first six months he was there he was in the field. I've seen pictures. Heard stories...some. He doesn't talk about it much, and he never brings it up himself. I think he's tried to forget. He hasn't. I don't imagine that you could. His last six in Vietnam he worked in an office, filing papers...cross checking names of people in the field with those who were known to be killed in the field. As cliche' as the story is, he really did come across the name of his best war buddy in the killed column. I can't imagine what that did to him. I don't even try. I do know that 18 years later when I went to Washington D.C. he told me the name of that friend, and asked if I would take a picture of the name on the wall. The War Memorial in D.C. is pretty cool. You can look up the names you want to find in a book, and it will tell you what section of the wall the name is in. I took the picture, and gave it to my dad. He thanked me, and took the picture. He looked at it for a long time. I often believe that I got my stoic aloof nature from my father. There was no surface emotion, but that's just the surface. He's the only person in my family who has never been to D.C. The only one who fought in the war is the one who hasn't seen the wall. He wants to. He has a fantastic painting of it. I don't know if it will give him any closure. I don't know if he needs closure. For the most part he seems really happy. My mom says he still wakes in a cold sweat from nightmares sometimes.
People are comparing our times to those times. That doesn't surprise me. Some pundits say that this is our vietnam. That doesn't surprise me either. Hell, I heard some of that shit in 1990 when we first went it. That was sure as fuck no vietnam. We're not there now either. Yet. I think the potential is there, but it feels different. At least different than what I imagine it felt like then. We don't have student protesters blowing up chemical plants...yet. We don't have national guards firing live rounds onto college campuses...yet. I hope we never get to that point. But we could.
We need bands and singers like they had back then. The youngbloods. CCR. Lennon, and Dylan. Our musicians just don't say the same things they did then. We need more than Goddamn Michael Moore, because for all the good shit he is saying, he's still transparent as hell. But the more people who do what he's doing...the better.
King George has found another way to steal the elections. I shit you not, it's in the news. All over the news as a matter of fact. He's already planning it. Because of legislation passed during WWII he can...if he chooses...postpone the elections due to credible terrorist threat to U.S. soil. The Media is all about right now the Al Quieda having threatened to disrupt the elections. BULLSHIT. The Al Quieda have done no such thing. But if you listen to CNN...well...Say hello to another 4. At which point GWB would cease to be president and immediately become dictator. It's true. Goodbye democracy. Everybody...please...VOTE. It could be one of the truly last rights we have. Rather cynical I know, but I wouldn't say it if the working of it wasn't already in place.
I love you all...I miss you terribly...
J
I've been reading (again) Stephen King's novel Hearts in Atlantis. If any of you have seen the movie but not read the book, please understand that one has nothing to do with the other. The book is really King purging a time period. An ode to the vietnam era really. I was born about six months before the U.S. pulled out, before the choppers flew our last known soldiers home from the U.S. embassy in Saigon. I really don't know anything about all that. I know that I was born in 1973, and that by father was in Vietnam from 72-73. Drafted. He didn't dodge, flee, or run away. He went. The first six months he was there he was in the field. I've seen pictures. Heard stories...some. He doesn't talk about it much, and he never brings it up himself. I think he's tried to forget. He hasn't. I don't imagine that you could. His last six in Vietnam he worked in an office, filing papers...cross checking names of people in the field with those who were known to be killed in the field. As cliche' as the story is, he really did come across the name of his best war buddy in the killed column. I can't imagine what that did to him. I don't even try. I do know that 18 years later when I went to Washington D.C. he told me the name of that friend, and asked if I would take a picture of the name on the wall. The War Memorial in D.C. is pretty cool. You can look up the names you want to find in a book, and it will tell you what section of the wall the name is in. I took the picture, and gave it to my dad. He thanked me, and took the picture. He looked at it for a long time. I often believe that I got my stoic aloof nature from my father. There was no surface emotion, but that's just the surface. He's the only person in my family who has never been to D.C. The only one who fought in the war is the one who hasn't seen the wall. He wants to. He has a fantastic painting of it. I don't know if it will give him any closure. I don't know if he needs closure. For the most part he seems really happy. My mom says he still wakes in a cold sweat from nightmares sometimes.
People are comparing our times to those times. That doesn't surprise me. Some pundits say that this is our vietnam. That doesn't surprise me either. Hell, I heard some of that shit in 1990 when we first went it. That was sure as fuck no vietnam. We're not there now either. Yet. I think the potential is there, but it feels different. At least different than what I imagine it felt like then. We don't have student protesters blowing up chemical plants...yet. We don't have national guards firing live rounds onto college campuses...yet. I hope we never get to that point. But we could.
We need bands and singers like they had back then. The youngbloods. CCR. Lennon, and Dylan. Our musicians just don't say the same things they did then. We need more than Goddamn Michael Moore, because for all the good shit he is saying, he's still transparent as hell. But the more people who do what he's doing...the better.
King George has found another way to steal the elections. I shit you not, it's in the news. All over the news as a matter of fact. He's already planning it. Because of legislation passed during WWII he can...if he chooses...postpone the elections due to credible terrorist threat to U.S. soil. The Media is all about right now the Al Quieda having threatened to disrupt the elections. BULLSHIT. The Al Quieda have done no such thing. But if you listen to CNN...well...Say hello to another 4. At which point GWB would cease to be president and immediately become dictator. It's true. Goodbye democracy. Everybody...please...VOTE. It could be one of the truly last rights we have. Rather cynical I know, but I wouldn't say it if the working of it wasn't already in place.
I love you all...I miss you terribly...
J
