For my ten thousandth post, a comment and a poem.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

I thought about this personally historic post for some time- I had it in my mind to post a Rant Of Significance. So I sat and thought about all that has been going on, hoping to find a single idiocy worthy of my attention. After the better part of two weeks, I gave up. There is simply too much happening, too fast.

So I'll give in and take the easy way out by posting a poem I wrote after the end of the Viet Nam war. It was a time of both great sadness and great relief for many people worldwide. It took long years for it all to fade, and even today it still manages to reach out and touch some unfortunates.

And now, as the horror and shame of unjust battle overcome us yet again, it's become obvious the question I ask in my poem is still relevant- I can now answer that we have not learned anything. War continues, and threatens to destroy us.

Meanwhile, we ignore a thing that is even more urgent- it has become obvious that the human race, unfortunately led by the Americans, has brought us all to the brink of extinction through the blatant neglect of possible ways to avert global warming. Things have already begun changing, and it has a hell of a lot of people scared, me included.

The fires raging through California are destroying property and probably lives, but who mentions that the Rain Forest has been in drought for several years, and this is the final year it can survive without water. If the drought does not break, one of the main sources of planetary oxygen will wither and die. And don't forget that the Rain Forest is probably THE greatest pharmacopeia on the planet. And all that and more will be gone in years, not decades. This could very well be the beginning of the end of our reign on this planet.

The human race is in trouble, and we have nobody to blame but ourselves.
---


TAPS

The weight of time is on my mind
as I step to your grave
to say farewell to fallen friends;
I kneel before the stone
of you, who paid the price supreme
so others may still live.
The roar of bombs was what you heard
the moment that you fell-
A flash of light erased your sight.
A bullet stole your life.
So many years ago it was-
Too many; not enough-
The weight I bear keeps pressing down
upon my broken back.
The emptiness won't go away,
and neither will the tears.
I mourn for you- for ALL of you!
But that is not enough.
When all is said, and all is done,
a question still remains:
When arms are laid aside (again),
and treaties have been signed,
what will we learn, my weary friend?
What will we REALLY learn?

© 2007 Steven A. Hessler
All Rights Reserved

[gateley]

1. Thank you.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Prisoner_Number_Six...

What a beautiful post, and that poem!

It tears my heart out to read it...

And it will always be appropriate, especially since we will most likely always have wars...

Until they put an end to us...

Thank you for your thoughts on this important milestone!

K&R

:patriot:

:hug:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

3. Thank you, Peggy.

:toast:

[midnight]

4. So you lived through the Vietnam war. And now the bush

administration. You must have a strong sense of urgency to have relief from this nightmare? I wish that someone in charge would start the process. Bring the troops home and use the technology to slow this mess down. I think/hope their are scientist out there that have a good idea which direction we can take to mop up all the bad smog, heal the rain forest, clean the ocean. Maybe a magic wand. Congrats on your longevity here at D.U.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

5. Many here have done far more than I.

But you're right- there IS a sense of urgency, and it's not just mine. I feel that most here share it, and we are so tired and angry and simply don't know which way to turn any more.

This could be a barren world in a hundred years, and I have plans to live at least thirty more myself. I predict I'm going to witness one hell of a lot of horror in the relatively near future.

[TomInTib]

6. you got mine knr nt

[AdHocSolver]

7. Homo Sapiens is the missing link between the apes and intelligent humans...if we survive.

[ClayZ]

8. Bravo, for your 1000th post, poet!

K and R

[Indi Guy]

9. K&R Prisoner_Number_Six

I also witnessed the Vietnam war, from its highly questionable inception to its far too late conclusion. I was drafted, and fought the military for two years to obtain Conscientious Objector status. I went through a number of personal appearances & appeals in front of my local draft board before I finally won my freedom.

When the war was finally over I breathed a huge sigh of relief, along with the majority of American citizens. "Never again" was the mantra of the time. Never again will we become the dinosaur stuck in a tar pit.

Never again will we be so foolish as to ideologically commit the blood & treasure of our conventional forces to a nebulous cause, with no clear plan, to battle (and thereby strengthen) the guerrillas of another ideology.

"Never again" ended when Cheney & friends orchestrated and executed this Iraq war as an opening salvo into reshaping the world in their paranoid image. In one fell swoop, 30 yrs of learned history was erased.

Even worse, the rule of law in America which was reaffirmed by Nixon's accountability has been eviscerated by this gang of imperialist ideologues (Cheney having served under Nixon, assumed the mantle of restorer of presidential primacy).

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

10. Thank heavens I never had to go in country.

I was Air Force, and I was stationed in England so I had it easy compared to my brethren in the Infantry. But I was aware of what was going on in the next room, so to speak.

We were ALL aware.

[Indi Guy]

11. Were you drafted, or did you enlist? nt

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

12. I enlisted

I actually enlisted BEFORE I graduated high school- I signed my name six months early on the delayed enlistment program.

[Indi Guy]

13. When I was a kid

I dreamed of enlisting in the Navy; my favorite song was "Anchors Aweigh." My uncle Donald O'Shei is a Brigadier General retired (Army, commanded two tours in Nam).

How one's conscience can change dreams.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

14. Self-indulgent morning kick

:toast:

[Indi Guy]

15. Self efacing later kick

:)