Re: A Visit to the Wall



In article <danny.ingram-101095073356@fdtgator2.pbf.gatech.edu>,
Danny Ingram <danny.ingram@business.gatech.edu> wrote:
>
>I mourn for many things at the Wall.  I mourn for friends and a
>lover no longer seen or heard or touched.  I mourn for justice, buried
>shamefully in the shadows of democracy's very seat.  I mourn for loss.
>
>The Wall is an invitation to mourn.  Its silence beckons us to weep.  Tears
>of pain.  Clensing tears of gentle, silent healing.  Tears of Remembrance. 
>For loss.  For undead dreams.  For SP4 David D. Ingram, USAR.  
>For Darrell W. Hoggatt, PWA.  
>And for Donald R. Fowler.  From Athens, Georgia.  

I was there with all the .con'ers at the Wall. I saw crying Danny and
it almost brought the tears to my eyes. But it didn't.
 
Want to hear a commie's perspective on this? Here is it.
 
The wall is probably the best anti-war memorial there is. Solemn black
wall with thousands and thousands of names and no comments. My heart
was with families and friends and loved ones of each and every of men
and women who answered to that names when they were alive. And even
more so with Danny and my other friends here on soc.motss. But...
 
I used to have North Vietnamese friends who fought on the other side.
And their whole families were burned by American napalm. Those
Vietnamese were fighting in this war and they survived. They killed
some people whose name are on the wall. It could be the other way
around - few less names on the wall - and I would never met these
Vietnamese guys.
 
The Vietnam War was one of the most unjust and senseless wars in the
history (like there are just wars which make sense). The battle
between superpowers which used this tiny nation for their military
games. And American guys were sent there to defend civilization against
Communism. They were drafted. They weren't necessarily supporting the
war. And Vietnamese guys were drafted, but they defended their homes.
 
One can't blame the victims whose names on the Wall...
 
But we already heard it at the Trial of the Century (no, not the juice
one - the Nurenberg Trial). And we know one has to blame soldiers of
unjust war, even if they just follow the orders.
 
I imagined a wall with millions of German names - of people who died
in WWII. It was too easy. I imagined a wall with Russian names of
people who died in Afghanistan war. It hit closer to home. It reminded
me of a guy who I had crash at - he was wounded in Afghanistan about a
month before official hostilities began. And he wasn't allowed to talk
about this. I was an officer of Soviet Army during the Afghanistan war,
and I could be called from reserve any time. I didn't think about that
often (many of you met me and noticed that I am sane - I wouldn't be
otherwise). I knew few families who lost their sons in Afghanistan.
Every few months when I was at the Minsk cemetery to take care of my
grandparents' places I saw new rows of similar monuments with red
stars. These guys couldn't emigrate to Canada, they couldn't write
lies in their draft papers. But.
 
They fought unjust war, they killed innocent people, they were killed.
 
I thought about all this at the Wall, and I didn't know what to make
of this. And I was angry. I was angry at Comminism. And at generals of all
nations. And at politicians everywhere. And at myself. 

But I didn't cry.
 
Sorry, Danny.
-- 
Vadim Temkin (vadim@vmt.com)
http://www.vmt.com/