I first put this blog up at another site back in 2004. I think it's just as pertinent today.
In A Few Good Men, Demi Moore said she liked her clients because "they stand on a wall and say 'nothing will hurt you.'" Well, it's not really a wall. it's more of a hill. N when you stand on top of it with everything worth living for lying behind you, you have a hellacious view.
During the first gulf war, I joined the Marine Corps. In bootcamp, I met a kid who would be my friend. As life went on, decissions were made. Some good. Some bad. I left the corps. He stayed in. We kept in touch. A letter here. A visit there. A couple years ago, we got together in some dive bar he liked. We talked about the good times, the fun times. the bad times, the stupid times and we knew it was the last time but I'll be damned if it wasn't a great time. last year, the day before the first day of kindergarten, I went down south and gave my condolences to his parents, consoled his wife and failed to explain to his son why my friend would never walk out of that distant cave. Now that I think of it, despite what the government or the taliban say, he didn't die a hero. He wasn't a villian. He was a man who doing what he believed in. He loved his life and freedom so much, he would die so that others might have theirs.
America is unique. Our hill is steeper than most and more isolated than others. Sometimes we forget that those who stand on top must, at times, run down the side. I remember climbing that hill. I stoop on top with everything worth living for lying behind me and I had one hellacious view.