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May 22, 2004 I’m nearly 54-years-old, a former Marine, a disabled veteran who lost his left leg above the knee by a hand grenade explosion while serving in Vietnam. I’m married, mortgage a home in the 'burbs, have raised five children, the oldest having attained his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, the two youngest are teenagers living at home. I attained a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, and I devote most, if not all, of my time reading and writing poetry, personal essays, and memoirs. Although I started writing before my college degree, which I attained May 1990, the degree hasn’t done that much for my writing abilities. My heart speaks and I record it. After returning from Vietnam in 1968, and nine months in the Philadelphia Naval Hospital recuperating from my wounds, I was discharged from the United States Marine Corps (USMC) in February 1969, honorably under medical conditions. Before I left the hospital, a psychiatrist talked to me. “Gary,” he said, “try to take it easy on the pills.” Because of my wounds and the consequent pain, I was addicted to pain medication, but in 1969, who cared, especially if you were a Vietnam veteran. “Vietnam veterans aren’t a wanted or appreciated commodity in the world today,” he said. In fact, a week after my discharge, there was another Vietnam War Moratorium in New Haven, Connecticut, and Vietnam veterans were on the peace movement’s side or Vietnam veterans were considered baby killers and murders. The war protesters used the veterans as fodder for their propaganda to end the war. They hadn’t yet separated the war from the warriors and the politicians who were in control of that war. Anyway, it was about that time that I realized all those ideologies that were the bases for my beliefs and values—e.g. we must stop communism or it’d spread across Asia and Europe and eventually infects America, or, the idea that one ought to fight and die for his/her country, etc.—all started to become bankrupt ideas to me. Even in Vietnam I began to realize that ultimate morality is survival. Altruism, or dying for someone or a superior cause, is rare if not bunk, and is seen more or less only on TV, in the movies, in Hollywood— Tinsel Town USA. What I saw of death was crying teenagers, old impotent men and women of authority, exploiting youth to achieve their goals, and their sons and daughters never went into combat. Back in the 60s it was send the white trash, blacks, and Hispanics. There were no tic-a-tat parades when I came home. There was no hero's welcome. And I began to question the premises that drove me to Vietnam, because old men who couldn’t even raise an erection any longer were dictating ideas and exploiting the young who did their bidding, fought, and died for them. Moreover, usually, if these old, rich, and prestigious people had any kids of their own, they didn’t go to combat zones, unless they chose of their own volition, like the movie “Platoon.” That hero thought he’d leave his money behind, and go and fight like the rest of the bottom of society, i.e. the Blacks, Puerto Ricans, and Poor Whites (White Trash). How virtuous of him to help us out. Bunk! Still, he did go on to debunk in Hollywood some of our cheap ideologies. You probably know of whom I speak. Anyway, I became tired of all the ideologies on which I had grown. Realized they only used me, and ended up disenchanted, and on the fringes of society, like a rebel without a cause. Today, I’m very, very careful, and I teach my kids, to be careful for whom they chose to fight and die. In fact, war can be justified only in extraordinary situations and circumstances, and it must effect beliefs and values, one’s religion in the truest sense of that word, not some oil magnet’s finances, or their politics, and prestige. Saddam Hussan was a lunatic only to the West, to the East he was a hero, a Muslim fighting the great beast: i.e. Vampire or victim, it depends on who’s around at the time. Finally, I began to see it, and to write it out of me. These submissions are a little of those results. Please, don’t mistake my intentions, because I do love this country—the United States of America— but I don’t always agree with its government, which is the men and women, who interpret the US Constitution and who are not the same as the US Constitution—the foundation and principles of our nation. That’s why there’s democrats and republicans, and other political parties. People, like churches and religious denominations, have opinions on the interpretation of the US Constitution, thus political parties, and those opinions are like… well, like bars or churches on the block, they vary and change as your turn the corner. Walk a bit, and a new denomination with its varying interpretation or a new neon light advertising Joe’s Place or John’s Bar and Grill, whatever— there’s a hundreds of religious interpretations, just like there’s hundreds of bars vying for your business. The only thing that doesn’t change is the US Constitution itself, and that alone I stand by. That’s why I tell my kids to be careful choosing for whom they’ll fight and die. Bottom line is I’m a “loyal oppositionist.” That is, I disagree with various forms of government, but I never, never disagree with the “State,” the US Constitution. I believe that democracy is, thus far, the best form of government around, but, because of human nature, it is far from perfect. Moreover, loyal opposition doesn’t mean disloyalty to the state, but rather, disagreement over particular political policies. The “state” is an institutionalized way of organizing power within territorial limits, America the beautiful, and the “state” is distinguished from government, which refers to the leaders (elected or otherwise), and which refers to the bureaucracy of the state. Members of government can and do change, but unless there is a new constitution or a revolution, the “state” remains the same, and to the “state” I’m forever loyal—Amen!—but I’ll never, never again fight for a republican or a democrat or any other political party. Never! I’ll never sacrifice, again, one of my limbs or my body for the whims and/or ulterior motives of pretentious politicians seeking their own agenda, for the politics of government—those women and men—can’t be trusted. When the chips are down, they’re out for themselves. When I was in Vietnam, I had written on my helmet: “My country right or wrong, but still my country.” You’ll never see that written on Uncle Sam’s hat. The enemy has to be someone who threatens my family, my beliefs and values, my religion; they’d have to come against my God, my family and friends, and/or the “State” before I’d take up arms again. Peace. Sure, but thank you very little for the horror— “The horror”—of war, because when it’s all said and done, the politicians get the glory. The soldiers only get a ticket home. And God forbid something ugly happens in an “ugly” situation, such as war, for example, torturing, or abuse of prisoners. That’s always the soldiers’ fault. It’s absurd to expect any young man, usually between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, still struggling through their identity crisis, to get confused thoughts, baffled beliefs and values while in a war. It’s absurd to even think that a young man, a soldier might go off the deep end after having watched his friends and comrades be killed, maimed, mutilated, and tortured. It doesn’t matter, two wrongs don’t make a right, and if a soldier, after experiencing all that ugliness, can’t handled it in his young adult mind, and he goes off and gives to the enemy what the enemy gave to him, well then, those who went and fought for the old men and women, those who put their lives, and manifold or womanhood on the line, don’t deserve to have it. Some one like Sivit, who recently abused some detainees, should be sent to prison for a year, embarrassed publicly. Right? And if the enemy uses the political, and public fallout to kill another innocent American, I mean saw his head off on the Internet, well our soldiers should’ve had better control of themselves in an ugly situation and such a tender age. And the politicians have the right to use the situation, especially with an election coming up. Right? Wrong! That’s why I’m a “Loyal Oppositionist,” because my country’s Constitution is right, and many of the young soldiers who fight and die for it are right. What’s wrong is the government that tries to use it for their agenda. I’ve said enough. I’m tired now. The End ------------ About the author Gary W. Plourde Sr.: My website is closed until I can update my material and build another website. The only book I've published thus far is a book of poetry (free-verse)that I published back in 1977 through Exposition Press, Hicksville, New York [ISBN 0- 682-48795-3], and entitled Visions In Depth by Gary Wayne Plourde Sr. Ugg! I regret that title. Email: mesmeric85@hotmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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