I Curse them on the Hills of Arlington

[demnan]

Look, when I was just a snot-nosed kid in grade school my beloved oldest brother got drafted and sent to Vietnam. Thanks to my Grandmother's political connections (she wrote a mean letter to a Congressman I tell you what) my brother was transferred to an electronics unit because of his skills in my father's business where he had worked since the age of 13.

Thankfully my brother came back to us without physical injuries and has lived a full and good life and has a wonderful family - but I know the bitterness remains. I'm angry all the time now!! And I realize that I am reliving the Vietnam war too when my dear brother was overseas and no one understood why and I was just a kid wondering what the fuck was going down. I've been so angry the last couple of weeks I've been drinking heavily and cursing everything and you know what?

I blame the Republicans for dredging all this horrible stuff up about the medals and service and I blame the media for exploiting it. How dare they! Let them go to Arlington Cemetary and stand for at least 20 minutes, let them turn away and defy all the decency of every person who ever gave their life for this country by slandering Kerry.

I curse them! I curse them on the hills of Arlington.

Nancy

[jdj]

1. another veteran said this last night.

I think this issue is more important to non-veterans, expecially those with draft age kids, because they KNOW W. has never seen combat and doesn't care about their kids.

[gumby]

2. Let them also go to the Vietnam Memorial

I too have felt those old and painful memories being tweaked and taunted for unforgivably selfish political gain.

The first time I went to the Memorial, I couldn't even get close for a while; I had to sit on a nearby bench and breath until I felt I could endure that massive black tombstone.

[countmyvote4real]

4. I had a similar experience on my first visit to the VN War memorial.

It is the most powerful "war" memorial I have ever seen. Rather than celebrating the victory and glory of war, it offers a simple tribute to the thousands of individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice. There are no statues of snarling horses or brave warriors raising their arms. Instead, there is a seemingly endless wall of names that magnifies the collective and individual loss.

While some may have volunteered to defend their country’s foreign policy, others were drafted and went anyway rather than seeking a deferment or running to Canada. And yet that doesn’t seem to matter there on the wall. What matters is the common ground of their sacrifice. The numbers are overwhelming. Their names are in your face for you to recall or imagine who they were or might have been.

The setting is so serene and peaceful. It compels and invites visitors to inwardly reflect as the polished sheen of the wall reflects the living amongst the inscribed names of the dead.

On second thought, it’s the most powerful “anti” war memorial I have ever seen.

It makes me wonder how we pay tribute to the lives we’ve lost in the “Oops, we goofed” Iraq invasion. Perhaps it could be about overthrowing tyrants, but that can only truly begin when * and company are no longer in power.

[Eloriel]

6. Beautiful post

Thank you.

I think its serenity, beauty and dignity are eternal. While I've not yet seen it, I can imagine it feels like if one could listen carefully enough, you might hear their voices.

[Eloriel]

5. If I ever get to D.C.

It's the only thing I want to see.

I was just a waiting wife during Vietnam. So the Swiftboat stuff hasn't gotten to me so much -- I did my "reliving the Vietnam era" during the whole run-up to the war, and the war itself including the quagmire.

I literally couldn't believe the pain from that era I still harbored. It was also bigger, as if it weren't just MY (personal) pain I was feeling, but more a piece of the whole country's pain back then. Ore maybe I was just seeing it from a more mature vantage point, capable of seeing the big picture.

It was so horrible. Families were torn apart by the dissent, and of course all those beautiful young men (mostly men) lost to us forever. Then there was the tarnished innocence when we learned, finally (finally! though some have never yet been able to admit it), that the war was a lie, just like this one, tho this one was worse, IMO. And all the ruined lives of the vets who did return -- the physically wounded, the spiritually and emotionally scarred forever. Unspeakable pain and costs.

My heart goes out to those for whom the Swiftboat shit is pushing buttons and tweaking old scars because .... well, reliving just MY little piece of it has been tough enough.

One of the worst things for me was the realization, with great horror and sadness, that we really didn't learn our lessons in Vietnam. And that means (oh, I can barely say it)... that means that those 58,280 deaths may have been in vain after all. The sacrilege of that is unbearable to me.

[Kanary]

8. Somehow we let them all down, by not making that be the LAST war...

if only we can figure out how to make this ugly mess the very last one......

That would be the best tribute of all.

Kanary

[jdj]

9. without a stolen election it never would have happened.

and we have to remember they were laying in wait, and scheming even then for the day when they would have to cheat for their bloodshed.

That's what we didn't know then, but we know it now. May we never forget.

[Kanary]

7. It was a major destination for me. It took my breath away, as I just

stood there, at the top of the steps.

All I could think was, "There is my generation....." The grief of all those I could never know, and who would never be able to make their contribution to this nation. All for what........

From what I remember, there was a lot of dissent also about the memorial, itself. It is/was a perfect choice. The artist is a genius. It's just what is/was needed.

Kanary

[Zomby Woof]

3. A ZombyKick

:thumbsup: Thanks for giving this a chance outside my silly Lounge thread.