Fw: One last attempt?

[MalignD at aol.com]

<<I let myself get drafted because although I felt conflicted about the war 
in Vietnam, I wasn't ready to fight against the draft, nobody in my family or 
circle of friends considered resisting the draft to be within the realm of 
possibility. >>

I hate addressing you as a special case, but:

Re-read, you might, what you wrote here.  You were conflicted; you had a 
troubling mix of values and ideas pressed upon you.  It's believable and, 
actually (I can't believe I'm writing this), touching.    

This is, in short, the most emotionally honest thing (as I read it) that 
you've posted here.  You're describing indecision and a conflict of values 
and ideas and the fact that, in the face of it, you were too young to respond 
as you might wish today you had.  It's touching in its familiarity, to me in 
any case.

If you could hear it, it is that search for a correct response to--a way to 
feel about--the situation in Afghanistan that is being discussed by those on 
this list who can find an opening to speak around your trumpeting and 
oppressive harangue.

So, a question: Can you read and hear the difference between the troubled, 
sympathetic, and questioning person you describe of thirty years ago and the 
bent, obsessive, and over-bearing jackass you've become?

*******

Jimmy Garrison, teaching at Berklee, trying to teach his students how to 
swing, told them to go home, get drunk, and dance naked in front of a mirror.

I suggest you do the same.  You might find a human being staring back at you.