Ron Kovic...Breaking The Silence Of The Night...
Disabled Vietnam War veteran and antiwar activist Ron Kovic, subject of the film “Born on the Fourth Of July,” reaches out to touch fingers with an admirer during a massive protest against U.S. involvement in Iraq. The demonstration occurred in downtown Los Angeles in September 2005.I found this on TruthDig...and thought it very interesting in light of the times we are now finding ourselves in...
It all begins somewhere, the questioning, the doubting, the feeling that something’s not right; like that day the captain set fire to the Vietnamese woman’s hooch, or the night we shot those women and children by mistake. It’s all got to start somewhere. For them it might have been the innocent civilians killed that day at the checkpoint just north of Baghdad or the dead children lying in the road in Kirkuk, or that night in Nasiriyah when they kicked in the front door of that house, screaming and cursing at the children as they threw their father to the floor, tying his hands behind his back and putting a hood over his head, but you remain silent, you say nothing. You’ve been taught to follow orders, to obey and not question, to go along with the program and do exactly what you’re told. You learned that in boot camp.
Like many Americans who served in Vietnam and those now serving in Iraq, and countless other human beings throughout history, I had been willing to give my life for my country with little knowledge or awareness of what that really meant. I trusted and believed and had no reason to doubt the sincerity or motives of my government. It would not be until many months later at the Bronx Veterans Hospital in New York that I would begin to question whether I and the others who had gone to that war had gone for nothing.
I had been so certain of victory, but each day now I began to realize more and more that we were not going to win in Vietnam, and that realization was painful and devastating. I felt betrayed and could not understand why my government had not done all that it could to win the war. Did they have any idea how much we had sacrificed, how many had already died and been maimed like myself? I felt sad and depressed and would often go down to the hospital library on the first floor, where I would read for hours at a time trying to forget the war.
This is just a portion of what he wrote in the article...there's more of course. His words are very telling to those of us that care not only about the welfare of our soldiers...but that of the innocents shedding their blood in that desert for naught. November must come with the sunshine of a new horizon for us liberals...or there may be a mass jogging of the cliffs into the sweet oblivion of a land without conservatives lurking over our shoulders...now THAT would be the unkindest cut of all.
No rants tonight...I'm on narcs for some dental pain...I just had a baby tooth removed and I think it probably would have stayed until I died at a ripe old age...but it had a filling that gave up the ghost...so we said...as we frequently do in Sumoland..."Off with its head!"...and so it became a struggle of life or death for the poor dentist to remove it...and let me just say it is the most painful mouth goblin I've had to date...thank goodness for drugs...or I might have had to resort to assassinating people. Yep...the pain is gone...long live pain pills...nature's little wonders!
cross-posted@Blanton's & Ashton's
Sorry to hear about your tooth, but Yay for pain pills! I thought that name (Ron Kovic) sounded so familiar when I read the title.
Posted by
PBS |
3:54 AM
Hope your dental worries are short lived and yes drugs are a great boon. It is a shame that there is not such a simple solution to the problems that are haunting the American dream right now. There is only the hope that a massive injection of reality and American good sense will prevail in November and put us on our way to recovery. There will always be scars and the pain of memories of all that we lost but we can move ahead.
Posted by
fallenmonk |
4:31 AM
Ewwww, owie! Hope things are better soon. The fourth of July article is so perfect for these times. We have a lot of healing to do in the country.
Posted by
Peacechick Mary |
7:49 AM
Take care of yourself. You amaze me. If I were in that much pain, I sure as hell wouldn't be thinking about posting to my blog. Good for you :)
Posted by
pissed off patricia |
11:46 AM
dammit. Blogger ate my comment.
Kovic was interviewed for The US Vs. John Lennon saying very much what he says in this interview. He needs to be heard again, and again. Thanks for posting this. I'm going to link back to you on this.
Posted by
DivaJood |
12:29 PM
Sorry for your pain..I hope its gone by now..if not, I hope you feel better soon.
Great article, thanks for posting it.
Posted by
Unknown |
3:57 PM
I hear ya about the efficacy of pain meds. I have been eternally grateful for those myself - especially recently. Wonderful article about Kovic. I was wondering why he wasn't being more vocal about Iraq. Were he to once again take center stage - I'm sure he and his family would be attacked – and worse than they were over Vietnam. At least then (as I remember) he wasn't denigrated for his service - as seems to be the way Republicans operate these days. Anyway - hope you feel better soon, my dear!
Posted by
TFLS |
7:07 PM