[Oe List ...] Have you been watching the Vietnam series on PBS?

[Herman Greene via OE]

Last night there was the story of Kent State. I knew the broad outlines but
learned the story in a new way. I wasn't even aware of the burning of the
ROTC building or the ruthlessness of the Ohio Governor or that all the
Guardsmen had live bullets.

My wife remembers some of this from television. I said to her we didn't
watch television very much (right?), so we missed a lot of what others were
seeing. And yet we had a front row seat to the drama as well when it was
played out in 5th City and Chicago.

In my mind I thought 5th City was my Vietnam (better than Trump's). Now I
see being a soldier in Vietnam was altogether different. Being a civilian
in Vietnam was altogether different from the violence we experienced. Being
a member of the Viet Cong, the South Vietnam army or the North Vietnam army
was altogether different. And being a prisoner of war in North Vietnam is
beyond my tragic imagination.

I was struck in the series that one poll found that 64% agreed with the way
the protesters were treated at the Chicago convention and 58% agree with
the way the National Guard handled Kent State. I feel I have been living in
a bubble. What to me is the underbelly of America that propelled Nixon and
Reagan and now Trump to victory may not be the underbelly at all.

Even my generation that grew up in the 60s and were in these marches and
protests is not so progressive now.

In last night's series the back and forth between Woodstock and Vietnam was
so moving. We hippies and New Left people were so far removed from the
reality of Vietnam. So many of the privileged in the US were able to avoid
the war. I was a 1st LT in the reserves after completing ROTC and was on
deferment. I became ordained and was able to resign. I received an
honorable discharge. That's my story.

Herman

On Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 12:32 AM, James Wiegel via OE <
oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

> Aiee, another episode tonight, and more material available on the pbs
> website.  Herman, I recall going down to Lincoln Park one evening and there
> were a lot of activists there and someone was explaining about "guerrilla
> theater".
>
> With morning collegiums, daily office, scripture news conversations,
> teaching school, guild and division meetings, summer programs, security,
> enablement, eg structures, ecclesiola, some social life(Pat and Joe's,
> etc.) and week II assignments, either I was preoccupied or blocked out a
> whole lot of the drama of the Vietnam War.  Wasn't the moon landing in
> there someplace as well?
>
> What I am marveling at is the way in which our country went in, got sucked
> in, and kept digging deeper, and of course the killing.
>
> Oh, and I got the email where you asked if anyone got the email . . . Plus
> the replies of all the other people who got that email.
>
> In Rob Work's book, A Compassionate Civilization, Peace and Nonviolence is
> one of his six ingredients, as is Participatory Governance.  Good emphases,
> I would say, though I cant see the technology and structures that would be
> required to really prevent the sort of thing we got ourselves into back
> then.
>
>
>
> Jim Wiegel
> 401 North Beverly Way, Tolleson, Arizona 85353
> Tel. 011-623-936-8671 or 011-623-363-3277
> jfwiegel at yahoo.com <marilyn.oyler at gmail.com>
> www.partnersinparticipation.com
>
> We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.
> Ernest Hemingway
>
> On Sep 26, 2017, at 09:04, Herman Greene via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> wrote:
>
> --f403043535906470aa055a19d405
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> (Thanks to all who let me know my email showed upon the listserve. I
> haven't received any responses to this message I sent, however, so I am
> resending.)
>
>
> On Sunday night the Ken Burns series dealt with the issues of the first
> half of 1968, including the Tet offensive, MLK's death and the urban riots,
> and Bobby Kennedy's death.
>
> It brought back so many gripping memories for me. I remember the riots in
> Chicago and how it affected us. I remember the Collegium we held with Joe
> after Bobby Kennedy was killed. He asked us if we wer
>
>
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>
>


-- 
__________________________________________________
Herman F. Greene
2516 Winningham Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
919-942-4358 (ph & fax)
hfgreenenc at gmail.com
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