SAME EVENT---DISSENTIENT SENSIBILITIES:
Not too long ago I found this neat park which is kind of a peninsula extending out into Lake Michigan, perhaps man made---from which one can view downtown Chicago from the east looking west and be surrounded by Lake Michigan on three sides. Just as important, it is not that easy to stumble on to the entrance which is a single gate and the rest of the attached land surrounded by a high fence. Few people go to this park and on a hot summer day the exposure to the lake on three sides keeps the temperature quite cool. I love to look at Chicago from this view, and watch the waves from the lake hit up against the rocks which line the edge of the peninsula. Even the name of the park is difficult to remember: MILTON L. OLIVER III MEMORIAL PARK. All I really knew from the plaque at the entrance was that Milton was a soldier killed in action in Vietnam. Recently a friend sent me the following website about the park:
http://www.mishalov.com/Olive.html
Nothing which follows will make much sense to one if one does not read the website first. Thus, read the website before reading any further.
Hey, read the website first. You are cheating here.
The Milton L. Oliver III Park means more to me now. Stuff about the Vietnam War always generates emotions, as it does in many others. For most, I guess, the sadness and gratitude generates a need to cheer on American soldiers wherever they are for whatever they are fighting for, period. I lived through the same era, saw the same event unfold, and cheered on our soldiers over there via blind patriotism. When the truth about what we did over there finally hit me, Barry Goldwater, and many others---belatedly---I felt our Government and all those who supported that war, including myself---killed Milton L. Oliver III, along with 35,000 other young American men. Since he enlisted, maybe he helped kill himself. Just as bad, 2 million Vietnamese were killed by the same cabal of me and others listed above. We wanted to bomb them back into the Stone Age and we did. The zeal with which we supported that war wasn't real patriotism---in the last analysis it was murder, a needless slaughter of human life along with massive destruction of Vietnamese villages. I wouldn't want another country to come in and level my country like that, even if the object was to rid us of George Bush and Company.
Frankly, I hate to kill almost anything. And I certainly hate killing anything for the wrong reasons.
But for a phony student deferment (some sort of precious graduate student) Milton could have been me. It is a noble and proper patriot who dies to protect his country from attack or helps defend another country from attack, but I defy anyone to give any good reason why Milton L. Oliver died---like for what noble cause did he die? At least the Vietnamese died to protect their own country from attack and for the right to control their own country with their own form of government. Promised free elections, the U.S. went back on the promise to abide by free elections (we didn't like who was going to win) and so the North Vietnamese and many South Vietnamese took it upon themselves to drive out non elected officials and American troops. In that sense at least the 2 million Vietnamese died for something. The right side won. To my knowledge they have never bothered anyone else.
From that point on I promised myself never again to let blind patriotism ever encourage young Americans to fight unmerited wars. I don't buy the notion that 'well, we are over there so we must support the troops by funding the war, surging up the killing and number of troops, etc'. It is like the parent who refuses to punish or stop their kids from bad behavior because 'boys will be boys'. The best way to support the troops in these kind of wars----invading sovereign countries for no valid reasons---is to be against starting such an invasion, to be against any young Americans signing up to fight such a war, to be against funding such a war, to end such a war, and let the citizens of the sovereign nation settle their own civil conflicts just as we did in our own Civil War. It is only whenever we leave, sooner or later, that the people themselves will be forced to decide just how much bloodshed they are willing to endure before reaching themselves some sort of accommodation to live together in the same country. All we have taught them to date is that violence is acceptable to 'win' for their side. Some lesson---right out of the Bible. Yeah, sure.
At any rate the Milton L. Oliver Memorial Park means a lot more to me now. I understand why most view it differently and cheer on American soldiers and support any of their military endeavors. It is compounded now by the fact it is a voluntary army, which further ensures military actions will happen almost routinely---that is what they are trained to do and signed up to do, albeit most maybe see it as a way out of unemployment or family situations. I don't even like to think about how many might sign up because they enjoy the adrenalin rush and meaning to their lives that the killing fields bring. There is a young adult in my building, a very polite and pleasant college kid, who thinks constantly about getting into the service and getting into military battles. Kids like that should not even be allowed into the military unless our own country is being invaded. You send kids like that into other countries and they will kill anyone who moves just to watch the man, woman, or child die. Who wants to be around some one like that after they return from the killing fields? Not me.
I don't have any answers as to why the same event generates such dissentient emotions from good people. I do know that Milton was obviously a good person, but misled, and died for no good cause. And worst of all, I am one of those who contributed to his death. Never again. If American soldiers are going to die for their country with my support they are going to have to die protecting our own country. May more and more people find the strength to find ways to end this escalating mind set that views violence as the proper means to end conflict.
On the other hand, I too have these sudden flashes of anger, about this or that annoyance---legitimate or contrived---in such cases an Uzi seems almost tempting. In earlier times such thoughts would be unthinkable. Such is progress. Sometimes it is good to lag behind the times. I don't wish to catch up. Peace. And Milton---I deplore my participation in your death---you did good, we egged you on and put you in harm's way. The best I can do is never again allow myself to be indoctrinated by my government or religion or any other organization to support such senseless violence.
