I have been watching “The Pacific”. A good mini series on HBO. Of course people compare it with “Band of Brothers”. But it is a different story and should be viewed that way. But that isn’t why I am bringing it up. All my life I have fought my wars in business offices, board rooms and across conference tables or over a thousand cups off coffee. It is a sign of civilization that unlike my father and grandfather, I didn’t have to go to a real war. My Grandfather fought in the trenches during WWI and carried a scar across his jaw the rest of his life from an enemy bayonet. My father who fought in WWII was lucky. He was in the Solomons and New Guinea but was never wounded. But he caught malaria and this sent him back to the states in 1943. Lucky as I said. The 24th division was in on a great deal of combat. He might never have come back. But he did.
Makes those wars I fought seem puny. Maybe you have a bad boss or a bad job or you get laid off. But you are alive. There will be another day. I am not demeaning the battles I fought (or you are fighting) because maybe our efforts in WWI and certainly WWII were to preserve our right to go in peace and not die in some awful far distant place. We need to put it in perspective. We need to keep it in perspective.
My wars may well be past. It’s not worthy of a book. I wrote one once. Few read it and maybe it is deservedly so. It is about something anyone could have done if they had the will. It is not quite the same as defending a ridge with the enemy a blink away with one goal. To kill your ass.
Perspective is good.
