[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< I feel like telling him to run if Bush doesn't stop and Cheney too. I am
54 and saw the heartbreak of Vietnam. >>
I've been thinking a lot about the Vietnam years lately, and worrying about
younger relatives and the children of friends.
During Vietnam, when I was a teenager, I had a friend named David who came
from a family of ten, six boys and four girls. David, whose parents were
immigrants and had become very successful -- his father was Chinese, and a
scientist/professor; and his mother was an Austrian who headed a department
at a women's college in Boston -- had the option of fleeing the draft and
running to Canada because his parents had bought a house right over the
boarder in case any of the boys wanted to evade the draft.
The year we turned eighteen (1971, yikes!) was the last year birth dates were
drawn for the draft. Mine was something like #365. My friend's was more like
#1. Since the conflict was winding down (and would finally end about four
years later), my friend chose to go into the National Guard. But if he had
decided to go to Canada I would have given him my full support. And I would
have been happy to know that he wouldn't be coming home is a body bag for no
good reason, like so many of my older brother's friends.
I hope your son will consider all his options if war comes. Sometimes it
takes a lot more sanity and bravery not to fall, oh my friend.
--Bob
