So here it is, Memorial Day, and the focus of my day is laundry. I woke up early and decided to pre-reward myself with a little trip to the casino.
OK, I lost more than I should have but I did have a good time. When I get there early enough, I can actually hear the music. Most of the time, that’s not necessarily a good thing. Lately, though they’ve been dragging out some oldies. I’ve heard "Ballad of the Green Berets" in the run-up to this holiday. They even played the National Anthem – an odd arrangement. The one that grabbed me was "One Tin Soldier."
More.....
I am 58 years old. I was in college when the Vietnam War became a really big issue. We were young, impulsive, and afraid. As a woman, I did not have the same trepidation or decisions as my male counterparts, but my fear for them was real, nonetheless. I remember one guy, Jerry, who was only a year older than I but he looked 30. His hair was thinning, he was, to put it kindly, a bit overweight, and he looked like he’d been shaving since he was ten. Jerry was always the go-to guy when we wanted alcohol. He never got carded.
Shortly before he graduated, it got to a point where he was seriously concerned about being drafted. I can’t remember the exact circumstances but I can remember him saying, "What chance do I have? Look at me – I’m a doughboy! How could anyone miss a target this big?" I could see that no amount of training would get him into good enough shape to be able to survive in a war.
I lost track of Jerry after he graduated. I don’t know if he had to serve or even if he’s still alive, but he’s on my mind a lot lately. With all the talk about how the burdens of our current war are not equally shared as they were (Cheney and his ilk, notwithstanding) in Vietnam, it makes perfect sense that we have not seen the level of protest this time around. Still, I wonder how we got to a point that it’s OK for someone else’s kid to fight and die while we all go on with our lives. I ask myself why it’s OK for the rich and their corporations to get massive tax cuts when it is they who disproportionately benefit from continued conflict. I finally get to the real question: what the hell are we doing there?
For those who’ve never heard it, "One Tin Soldier" is a good example of the kind of folk songs that were played during Vietnam. That I could listen to it all these years later and hear a theme that still applies makes me realize that, human nature being what it is, we can never assume that we have permanently changed our country for the better. Whoever it was who talked about "constant vigilance" was right. We must be ever watchful, not only for military threats from without, but from threats to liberty from within. I have emphasized some pertinent things that jumped right out at me....
One Tin Soldier
Listen children to a story that was written long ago
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain, and the valley folk below
On the mountain was a treasure buried deep beneath a stone
And the valley people swore they'd have it for their very own.
(Chorus:)
Go ahead and hate your neighbor, go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven, you can justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing, come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after - one tin soldier rides away.
So the people of the valley sent a message up the hill
Asking for the buried treasure, tons of gold for which they'd kill
Came an answer from the kingdom: "With our brothers we will share
All the secrets of our mountain, all the riches buried there.
Chorus
Now the valley cried with anger, mount your horses, draw your sword!
And they killed the mountain people, so they won their just reward
Now they stood beside the treasure on the mountain dark and red
Turned the stone and looked beneath it -
"Peace on Earth" was all it said.
Chorus