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VETSPEAK.ORG
Speaking Truth to Power
| QUOTES |
What follows is an (updated) letter to Anna Acker, a 25-year old California
woman who recently completed her master's thesis on VVAW Orange County
and was deeply moved (and educated) by her interviews with Vietnam Vets.
BEAUTIFUL AWARENESS, ARTIFICIAL PEACE
Dear Anna − I speak for no veteran, but for myself as a woman who
once marched beside veterans. I want to tell you about an ancient
collusion to discredit knowing voices in America: Our eyes have seen, we
know what we know, yet we are commanded to be silent, faced with
every type of personal and professional loss if we don't maintain the
status quo.
Vietnam veterans who joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War knew
about this collusion. In fact, the truths they lived guided their every
breath.
Each day, more and more men and women join their ranks, including
many of the Iraq Veterans Against the War men and women following
their testimonies in Washington DC this month.
You have interviewed, Anna, veterans of a war you were not alive to
witness. These vets all spoke out at a great personal price. Many still do.
And Vietnam vets carry those knowing eyes into every life situation. How
can they not be disillusioned! How can we not be moved!
I believe that many veterans do not know peace because they will not
adjust to lies or knowingly coexist with lies. And once you see one lie,
you see them everywhere, not only in the government, but at home, at
work, and even in ourselves.
Learning to live in a world that expects us to get with a program like that
− wow − what a painful challenge to our sanity most of us can't and will
not meet. Some of us drown our beautiful awareness in medicines and
other types of artificial peace to get by, others go blank, others never
make it that far, some never made it back from Vietnam in the first place.
Back in the '70s, as I tried to understand what I witnessed, I wrote these
words about what I saw in the eyes of Vietnam Vets back then:
"How can I convey what I saw and felt: The feelings, emotions,
flaming on-fire eyes of those young veterans around me, the
frustration, pain, hopelessness and rage they experienced as they
tried to readjust to a society that generally did not accept them; a
society that often wrote off their ravings as whining, where parents
rejected grown children and grown children rejected back?" (Di Wood)
Does anyone believe that the veterans returning today with a different take
on the war than the government wants us to believe will be any less
discredited? But lies are nothing new. Disillusionment, stereotyping,
terrible loss, flashes of happiness forever mixed with guilt and sadness,
are also not new.
We all know the costs of speaking truth to power, and disillusionment is
one of the biggest. Understood for what it is, disillusionment is an
extremely valuable, conscience-inspired state of being. It is not the end
of the road or a place to live. It is a place to visit, understand and move
on from. In fact, I also believe that just at that moment when we break
under the burden/gift of vision into full-blown disillusionment, is the exact
time when true personal and social change can happen.
If we can understand our own disillusionment as the prophet it is,
happiness and peace are actually possible − even in a terribly imperfect
world. Yet most of us have no clue how to do this without relying on yet
another form of enslavement like religion, paramilitary groups, cults, etc.
Even more difficult to survive are those friends and family committed to a
circular lifestyle of endless anger and hopelessness. Afraid of change,
sticking close to the pain they know so well, they resist our attempts for
a better life, and try to pull us back. Risking banishment, we move ahead
anyway. The shift that causes in our lives, by nature, will also cause
shifts in their lives. And that is one way to change the world − friend by
friend.
To move forward, we must believe in our own sanity, even if the world
does not agree. We must believe that where there's smoke, there is not
always fire, that the crowd is often wrong and often desperately limited
in perspective.
VVAW is one group that has worked to educate the masses about
actions the American people condone − but really have no clue about.
Most Vietnam veterans know the truth -- as do their IVAW sisters and
brothers. What a beautiful, selfless, essential mission. No matter what
political agenda floats our boats, even if our lives are in great working
order, or hopelessly tangled up in blue − that dedication and commitment
should be honored, lauded and respected. But that is, of course, not
often the case.
There is peace and strength in separating our own sanity from that of
society's, but we can't stop there. The tooth fairy is dead − there is no
beauty or hope waiting under my pillow. Our long-deserved moments of
happiness or peace will not come unless we get the f--- out of bed, and
do what we need to do to take care of ourselves. Our happiness (or even
a good night's sleep) does not diminish anyone else's. It makes us
stronger, and therefore The Resistance -- the all-inclusive entity that will
end the current occupations -- becomes stronger.
Disillusionment is a human, not American state. Every day the light bulb
goes off and some of us find ways to live thoughtful, productive lives, no
matter how grave our mistakes, no matter how much pain and anger
we've inflicted or confronted to get where we are going.
So, Anna, even at your young age, your heart already knows all of this.
You seek meaning and explanations for the unfathomable and
unthinkable. It may take a lifetime to grasp the overview; maybe the
older vets you are meeting will help move you along faster. Maybe the
younger vets will, too.
Maybe someday you'll write the book, or be a journalist who exposes lies
with insight and compassion. Or maybe, like some of us, you'll end up
boring strangers in some dark, Joni Mitchell café. But promise me you
won't linger there too long, okay?
You are the future, dear Anna. As are the men and women who spoke
out in Washington DC this month at Winter Soldier I see great hope and
beauty in that.
But the work has just begun.
Love,
Di Wood
Vetspeak.org
woman who recently completed her master's thesis on VVAW Orange County
and was deeply moved (and educated) by her interviews with Vietnam Vets.
BEAUTIFUL AWARENESS, ARTIFICIAL PEACE
Dear Anna − I speak for no veteran, but for myself as a woman who
once marched beside veterans. I want to tell you about an ancient
collusion to discredit knowing voices in America: Our eyes have seen, we
know what we know, yet we are commanded to be silent, faced with
every type of personal and professional loss if we don't maintain the
status quo.
Vietnam veterans who joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War knew
about this collusion. In fact, the truths they lived guided their every
breath.
Each day, more and more men and women join their ranks, including
many of the Iraq Veterans Against the War men and women following
their testimonies in Washington DC this month.
You have interviewed, Anna, veterans of a war you were not alive to
witness. These vets all spoke out at a great personal price. Many still do.
And Vietnam vets carry those knowing eyes into every life situation. How
can they not be disillusioned! How can we not be moved!
I believe that many veterans do not know peace because they will not
adjust to lies or knowingly coexist with lies. And once you see one lie,
you see them everywhere, not only in the government, but at home, at
work, and even in ourselves.
Learning to live in a world that expects us to get with a program like that
− wow − what a painful challenge to our sanity most of us can't and will
not meet. Some of us drown our beautiful awareness in medicines and
other types of artificial peace to get by, others go blank, others never
make it that far, some never made it back from Vietnam in the first place.
Back in the '70s, as I tried to understand what I witnessed, I wrote these
words about what I saw in the eyes of Vietnam Vets back then:
"How can I convey what I saw and felt: The feelings, emotions,
flaming on-fire eyes of those young veterans around me, the
frustration, pain, hopelessness and rage they experienced as they
tried to readjust to a society that generally did not accept them; a
society that often wrote off their ravings as whining, where parents
rejected grown children and grown children rejected back?" (Di Wood)
Does anyone believe that the veterans returning today with a different take
on the war than the government wants us to believe will be any less
discredited? But lies are nothing new. Disillusionment, stereotyping,
terrible loss, flashes of happiness forever mixed with guilt and sadness,
are also not new.
We all know the costs of speaking truth to power, and disillusionment is
one of the biggest. Understood for what it is, disillusionment is an
extremely valuable, conscience-inspired state of being. It is not the end
of the road or a place to live. It is a place to visit, understand and move
on from. In fact, I also believe that just at that moment when we break
under the burden/gift of vision into full-blown disillusionment, is the exact
time when true personal and social change can happen.
If we can understand our own disillusionment as the prophet it is,
happiness and peace are actually possible − even in a terribly imperfect
world. Yet most of us have no clue how to do this without relying on yet
another form of enslavement like religion, paramilitary groups, cults, etc.
Even more difficult to survive are those friends and family committed to a
circular lifestyle of endless anger and hopelessness. Afraid of change,
sticking close to the pain they know so well, they resist our attempts for
a better life, and try to pull us back. Risking banishment, we move ahead
anyway. The shift that causes in our lives, by nature, will also cause
shifts in their lives. And that is one way to change the world − friend by
friend.
To move forward, we must believe in our own sanity, even if the world
does not agree. We must believe that where there's smoke, there is not
always fire, that the crowd is often wrong and often desperately limited
in perspective.
VVAW is one group that has worked to educate the masses about
actions the American people condone − but really have no clue about.
Most Vietnam veterans know the truth -- as do their IVAW sisters and
brothers. What a beautiful, selfless, essential mission. No matter what
political agenda floats our boats, even if our lives are in great working
order, or hopelessly tangled up in blue − that dedication and commitment
should be honored, lauded and respected. But that is, of course, not
often the case.
There is peace and strength in separating our own sanity from that of
society's, but we can't stop there. The tooth fairy is dead − there is no
beauty or hope waiting under my pillow. Our long-deserved moments of
happiness or peace will not come unless we get the f--- out of bed, and
do what we need to do to take care of ourselves. Our happiness (or even
a good night's sleep) does not diminish anyone else's. It makes us
stronger, and therefore The Resistance -- the all-inclusive entity that will
end the current occupations -- becomes stronger.
Disillusionment is a human, not American state. Every day the light bulb
goes off and some of us find ways to live thoughtful, productive lives, no
matter how grave our mistakes, no matter how much pain and anger
we've inflicted or confronted to get where we are going.
So, Anna, even at your young age, your heart already knows all of this.
You seek meaning and explanations for the unfathomable and
unthinkable. It may take a lifetime to grasp the overview; maybe the
older vets you are meeting will help move you along faster. Maybe the
younger vets will, too.
Maybe someday you'll write the book, or be a journalist who exposes lies
with insight and compassion. Or maybe, like some of us, you'll end up
boring strangers in some dark, Joni Mitchell café. But promise me you
won't linger there too long, okay?
You are the future, dear Anna. As are the men and women who spoke
out in Washington DC this month at Winter Soldier I see great hope and
beauty in that.
But the work has just begun.
Love,
Di Wood
Vetspeak.org
| DISILLUSIONMENT |
"It was through relationships
and families that America first
absorbed the veterans of
Vietnam. And it is through
their voices that America
might finally embrace the
heroes of that war."
Russ Scheidler,
Vietnam-era vet, St. Paul,
MN
and families that America first
absorbed the veterans of
Vietnam. And it is through
their voices that America
might finally embrace the
heroes of that war."
Russ Scheidler,
Vietnam-era vet, St. Paul,
MN
DI WOOD
Di is the author of the
audiobook "Camouflage &
Lace: My Journey with a
Windbender" (2005).
audiobook "Camouflage &
Lace: My Journey with a
Windbender" (2005).
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