luckier than some

Veterans Day has always meant something to me because my Dad was in Vietnam when he was very young, which was a bitter subject for him to discuss. I can’t imagine what it must have felt like for him to come home from a horrific war as a young kid (under 25 years old), only to be spit on and called a baby killer. That might sound cliché, but it happened to him. The few times he has spoken of that time in his life, it has made me uncomfortable. I see a very bitter, hateful, angry side of his personality that used to scare me as a child. And it makes me feel very sad for him, as this was only one of many dark chapters in his early life.

This year my younger brother is a veteran, having served in the first ten months of the Iraq war. He served in the Army for three years, getting out just weeks before the stop loss went into effect. I can’t really express what the past two years have been like, but I can say that every day I still wake up feeling lucky that he’s just a phone call away, safe at home.

On another note, I just have to say how horrible it is that Arafat is getting the attention that he is. I completely agree with this article on Arafat the Monster.