two conversations, two veterans
At work today we needed it dark inside the office building we were working in...so I climbed a ladder and twisted off by hand each of the motion-sensor-triggered floursescent tubes that kept turning on and brightening things up on our photo shoot.
At the end of the day, after I'd gone and hurriedly tried to screw them all back in...leaving some not too well seated, and some not at all...I told the janitor who was coming up to lock the door about this state of affairs.
"Don't ask me what I think of you...but I'm glad you told me," he said.
"I knew you wouldn't like it, but I thought you'd rather know. Sorry about that." I replied.
"Ah, you gotta remove the grid to put 'em back in the right way...you can't just fake it...but what do I care, I've been shot at, this is nothing."
He didn't say much. There was a pause. And then he went on.
"I've got five kids, I've been married four times, and my daughter's husband is a Marine who just got back from Iraq, they're living with me, she's pregnant, and he's not doing so hot, you're the least of my problems."
"Was he injured?" I asked.
"No, he's in one piece, he's just got it bad. PTSD. Doesn't sleep, behaviour problems. I had it for ten years after Viet Nam, but nobody knew about it then. They know about it now, but they don't do shit."
"There's no follow through? I thought there was follow through." I said.
"Nothing. Zero. You're on your own. Let me tell you something, this war is the biggest mistake I've ever seen, and I was in one. I've had a "Bring 'em Home Now, George" sign up in my tree for months, and they tore it down three times. Even after I put up that I was a veteran, Viet Nam '66-'69. This woman, Cindy Sheehan, it serves Bush right. Not that I agree with her supporters or anything, bunch of ACLU far-left manipulators....but Sheehan, she's got a point.
Bush...Kerry...they're all the same to me. Yale guys. But Iraq...we shouldn't be there. For what? We won WWII faster than this."
On the BART ride home I talked to my co-worker, who'd overheard all this. He's a veteran of the first Gulf War who is training to be a firefighter, partly out of service, partly out of the fact that it's the only way he knows he can buy a house in the Bay Area. I asked him what he thinks of the war and politics.
"You know, I don't see anybody who really reflects me. Probably the person who most reflects me is Colin Powell. I've got alot of respect for him....I know he's a Republican, but I don't really care about that. I'm not into labels. I actually liked Bill Clinton. Even though I think a President should have served...you see, I don't think you can send people to battle if you don't know what that's like. But Clinton, he stuck to it, and he didn't demonize the other side. They tried to knock him down for eight years and he just kept at it. You see, with a Democrat, you know they got a heart, with the Republicans...a lot of times they don't."
To this, I asked, "What do you think of Bush appearing in front of guys in uniform, in front of the military all the time?"
"You know what, when I look at those guys, I see me. That's me up there. I'm from a small town. I was young, like they are. There is such a thing as being too patriotic. They don't know that yet. I didn't either. They're there because they're behind the president. It doesn't matter who he is. They love the country, yes. But they are being used, and they don't know it, and it's stupid."
Soon after this, we arrived at my stop, and I got off the BART and walked home. I had a lot to think about.
{Permalink}
At the end of the day, after I'd gone and hurriedly tried to screw them all back in...leaving some not too well seated, and some not at all...I told the janitor who was coming up to lock the door about this state of affairs.
"Don't ask me what I think of you...but I'm glad you told me," he said.
"I knew you wouldn't like it, but I thought you'd rather know. Sorry about that." I replied.
"Ah, you gotta remove the grid to put 'em back in the right way...you can't just fake it...but what do I care, I've been shot at, this is nothing."
He didn't say much. There was a pause. And then he went on.
"I've got five kids, I've been married four times, and my daughter's husband is a Marine who just got back from Iraq, they're living with me, she's pregnant, and he's not doing so hot, you're the least of my problems."
"Was he injured?" I asked.
"No, he's in one piece, he's just got it bad. PTSD. Doesn't sleep, behaviour problems. I had it for ten years after Viet Nam, but nobody knew about it then. They know about it now, but they don't do shit."
"There's no follow through? I thought there was follow through." I said.
"Nothing. Zero. You're on your own. Let me tell you something, this war is the biggest mistake I've ever seen, and I was in one. I've had a "Bring 'em Home Now, George" sign up in my tree for months, and they tore it down three times. Even after I put up that I was a veteran, Viet Nam '66-'69. This woman, Cindy Sheehan, it serves Bush right. Not that I agree with her supporters or anything, bunch of ACLU far-left manipulators....but Sheehan, she's got a point.
Bush...Kerry...they're all the same to me. Yale guys. But Iraq...we shouldn't be there. For what? We won WWII faster than this."
On the BART ride home I talked to my co-worker, who'd overheard all this. He's a veteran of the first Gulf War who is training to be a firefighter, partly out of service, partly out of the fact that it's the only way he knows he can buy a house in the Bay Area. I asked him what he thinks of the war and politics.
"You know, I don't see anybody who really reflects me. Probably the person who most reflects me is Colin Powell. I've got alot of respect for him....I know he's a Republican, but I don't really care about that. I'm not into labels. I actually liked Bill Clinton. Even though I think a President should have served...you see, I don't think you can send people to battle if you don't know what that's like. But Clinton, he stuck to it, and he didn't demonize the other side. They tried to knock him down for eight years and he just kept at it. You see, with a Democrat, you know they got a heart, with the Republicans...a lot of times they don't."
To this, I asked, "What do you think of Bush appearing in front of guys in uniform, in front of the military all the time?"
"You know what, when I look at those guys, I see me. That's me up there. I'm from a small town. I was young, like they are. There is such a thing as being too patriotic. They don't know that yet. I didn't either. They're there because they're behind the president. It doesn't matter who he is. They love the country, yes. But they are being used, and they don't know it, and it's stupid."
Soon after this, we arrived at my stop, and I got off the BART and walked home. I had a lot to think about.
{Permalink}
Comments
Speaking of which, it's good to get my head out of the blogs sometimes.
-- Melville, Benito Cereno
I'd been thinking about this quotation anyway (for Bush's flight suit and Navy deck appearances) but these comments that you transcribed brought it back to mind. . . .
It's appreciated, and gives a picture of what that kid is going through...