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

[Jack Gilles]

Margaret,

It would be helpful if you elaborated on your statement about “…all sides were wrong.” In what way? Everyone operates out of a context that cannot, by definition, include everyone else’s perspective. And because we are not talking about an intellectual debate here, but perspectives of people who were engaged in the fray (for the most part) you will get reduced, biased, confused, stupid, time-relevent statements of what is right or wrong. The issue is really not about right or wrong, but responsibility. I felt one of the most moving segments that occurred right near the end of last night’s final episode, was the confession of the woman who said how her calling these soldiers “baby killers” and other pejorative terms was something she deeply now regrets. That is taking responsibility. And all the veterans who returned and were able to embrace the “enemy” is an act of forgiveness. I have been to the Memorial Wall, but last night I felt sobs coming as the camera scanned the names. And part of my pain is that I didn’t find myself sobbing when the scanned all the Vietnamese graves. As the credits began to roll I found myself clapping in gratitude. 

I believe one of the great experiences many of us had was JWM, who spoke to us about his experience during WW II on the beaches of the Pacific islands. I never heard him saying anything about the rightness or wrongness of the war. He just reminded all of us that we all die alone and that nobody can die for you. 

This series is such a gift to us all. I lived it. I avoided the draft with three different deferments. Early on they didn’t draft married men. Then I got an occupational deferment, which was a joke! I was doing a small job of synthesising some compounds for a defence contract at B.F. Goodrich, that anyone could do and was not important at all. But from what they wrote you would think I was at Los Alamos!. Then when that was done they had an age limit and I was over that. My lab assistant was a vet and he would never talk about his experience - period! 

This dialogue is not the same as a collegium, but I am thank full for all the comments and perspectives. They all enable the healing.

Peace,

Jack


If you watch CNN in the late evening you see this same divide spelled out in the NFL, kneeling vs. standing for the National anthem. 
> On Sep 29, 2017, at 09:07, Margaret Aiseayew via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
> 
> All sides were presented.  I concluded that all sides were wrong.  Margaret
>  
> From: OE [mailto:oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net>] On Behalf Of Herman Greene via OE
> Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2017 9:24 PM
> To: Order Ecumenical Community
> Cc: Herman Greene
> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Have you been watching the Vietnam series on PBS?
>  
> Tonight was the final session. All that the US fought for was lost. But what we fought for was an abstraction at the leadership level and at the level of noncombatant citizens, right and left, as well. On the one hand we fought to defeat Communism and keep our promises to our allies, on the other we fought for a mistake. The lives of the people involved in the war on all sides, perpetrators and victims, were forgotten.
>  
> Never has the story of this war or perhaps any war been told like it was in this series. All sides were presented. Every side was right and every side was wrong and so much, so much, so much carnage, suffering and tragedy. The armaments, the bombing, the artillery, oh my. Bullets flying by the millions.
>  
> I feel anger for our the perfidy of our national leaders and for the war crimes committed on all sides. And I, like the protester at the end of the series, feel sorry at my own simplification of the issues, for my righteous, blind resistance.
>  
> Three of my high school classmates died in the war. Now I want to go to the wall and touch their names.
>  
> Herman
>  
> On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 12:25 PM, McGuire, Jann & Fred via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>> wrote:
>> I'm profoundly grateful for this amazing 21st Century Art piece. Last night reminded me of a couple of Vietnam veterans: my cousin  J.Mac Cates, a career army officer, who died young of leukemia, probably caused by agent orange exposure, as well as Israel Reyna, a teaching colleague.
>>  
>> I appreciate this ongoing art form conversation. It has mostly been on the Reflective level. Can't wait for Interpretive and Decisional. Here's an Objective observation, though not an exact quote. An interviewee last night said that the student protests and veteran counter protests caused a divide in the country that has never healed.
>>  
>> I was struck by young John Kerry's speech. I felt emotional when the veterans threw their medals at Nixon's White House barriers.
>>  
>> Thank you all,
>>  
>> Jann
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> OE mailing list
> OE at lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:OE at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net <http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net>
> 
> 
>  
> -- 
> __________________________________________________
> Herman F. Greene
> 2516 Winningham Road
> Chapel Hill, NC 27516
> 919-942-4358 (ph & fax)
> hfgreenenc at gmail.com <mailto:hfgreenenc at gmail.com>_______________________________________________
> OE mailing list
> OE at lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:OE at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net <http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe-wedgeblade.net/attachments/20170929/f20bd007/attachment-0002.html>