Ray Jason’s article captures the same thing as the famous napalm girl picture: the insanity of war. From Jason at theburningplatform.com:
I wrote this in 2013, but as the lunatics in D.C. pound the war drums, it seems valuable to send it back out into the world again.
The Sea was mild and soothing as I sailed alone in the western reaches of the Caribbean. It had been four days since my last human contact. Such exile does not disturb me – it comforts me. The wind was light, and the waves were small and melodious – like the cello phrase in a string quartet.
Although quite relaxed, I was also vigilant, because my position was near the busy shipping lanes between the Panama Canal and the Yucatan Channel. Suddenly, I sensed a nearby hazard. My first scan of the horizon revealed nothing. On my second, more careful sweep, I saw her – a gray smudge of a ship, still half below the undulating cusp of the Earth. I took my binoculars from their rack and focused them. What I saw slammed me backwards – both physically and emotionally. She was one of them – a gray, military transport vessel that was all too familiar to me. I had served aboard one – a U.S. Navy ammunition ship in Vietnam.
I had not willingly done so. I had been drafted just after receiving my bachelor’s degree. My first decision was whether to flee to Canada, as my courageous college roommate had done, or to let them take me. My next choice was between a two year Army enlistment or the four-year Navy sentence. Wishing to neither kill nor be killed because of anyone’s insipid “domino theory,” I chose the USN. As someone who survived higher education with my capacity for critical thinking still intact, I already knew that war was horrible and this particular one was senseless and despicable. I was not an ideal recruit.
Thanks for posting, Robert.
A sobering reminder for us all to exercise self-discipline instead of indulging in ego-centric delusions that inevitably lead to foolish words and actions.
Wishing you a good weekend.
Thanks, you too.