50 Years

(I shared this with our group last week but since the turnout was small I decided to post it. The story is for reflection, nothing more.)

50 years have almost passed since the last soldier returned.

50 years and the streets are still quiet, void of welcoming crowds and marching bands.

50 years since six million service members returned from one hostile land to rejoin another hostile land.

50 years and the shouts of “Baby Killer” still echo in their minds.

50 years and our veterans are still dying in the streets. Not the streets of Hanoi, but America’s streets and homeless shelters.

50 years since war was fought, not because it was morally right, but because it was politically convenient and a stimulant to a flagging economy.

50 years and the six million are memorialized by a slash in the ground and a wall of names. Names that 50 years from now will be anonymous.

50 years have passed and once again, a draft-dodging coward is attempting to

lead the very country he refused to serve when he was called upon.  

50 years is taking its toll. Fewer and fewer Vietnam veterans are now left to stand and represent.

50 years is what it has taken for America to remember how to honor its latest generation of veterans.