|
The distance between the Right and the Left Cannot be measured By how far each is from the other… |
|
VFJ Wayne 4 November 2008 I was raised on the Right but have spent most of my life moving further and further to the Left. __________ __ __________
It has been a long time since the killing of John F. Kennedy, but I remember that day well. Standing on the third step in the basement of Building One at Pine Rest Christian Hospital where I worked as an orderly, a load of clean white sheets in my hand.
“They killed the President!” someone shouted as they passed me on the stairs. I didn’t want it to be true, but it was… and it changed the way I saw my country, something was very wrong. __________ __ __________
The flagpoles at the Corpsmen tent were visible long before we entered the compound on Hill 10, somewhere around Da Nang, back in 1968. The American Flag was flying at half mast but the Confederate Flag remained at full mast; all of the Corpsmen, except for me, were from the Deep South. I was returning from patrol with an all Black squad of Marines. Just a few days earlier, I had won their confidence by telling them that I once took part in a Freedom March with Martin Luther King in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“King is dead!” a Black Brother shouted as we entered the compound. There were some tense moments in the following days but we all learned to tolerate each other… yet something was very wrong. __________ __ __________
“Mallard Duck? Hell! We’re more like Sitting Ducks!” the Sergeant swore as he threw down the receiver of the field radio. “We’ve been set up guys,” he said almost tearfully, “promise me, if any of you guys survive this, that you will tell someone about what happened here today!”
Alpha Company, and others like it, may have been sacrificed by the American Government, in the belief that more American casualties would help boost the wars support from Americans in the States. In looking back, it may have done just the opposite, in which case they did not die in vain… yet something was very wrong. __________ __ __________
I was Court Marshaled by the Navy, have been fired from every job I have ever had since returning from Viet Nam and kicked out of almost every organization I belonged to. My church membership has been dropped and I have been labeled a Heretic by family and friends. I have spoken out and turned those I once called friends against me... yet, in my mind, I have fought a good fight against Ignorance and Injustice and I am not ashamed of anything I have done or said… But it is time for a Change. |
|
wayne 5 November 2008 __________ __ ________ _ The distance between the Right and the Left Cannot be measured By how far each is from the other…
It can only be measured By how far each is from the Center. __________ __ __________
The election of Barack Hussein Obama As President of the United States of America Has given me a renewed hope in Humanity And a belief that Change is not only possible… It is Inevitable. This is the Dawning of a New Age. It is time to come together, To rebuild our Nation and our World. Let us overcome our fears And restore our faith in each other and ourselves. Come! I will meet you in the Middle.
Wayne Dale Matthysse Co-Founder Partners in Compassion / Cambodia FOR YOUR COMMENTS
|