Oh gee, thank you PG. :)
Ask at the chaplains' office for the book. If they don't have it, they can get it from the VA Med Center in San Diego Chaplains' Office. Or let me know and I'll send you one.
Thank you Potatomum for your insight. You are a worthy keeper of his legacy and a credit to all who have served and will serve. When I am at the VA this week I will look for the book so I can also try and see his insights into their and his life.
Thank you, each of you, for sharing this with me and for your lovely and thoughtful comments.
I have been very troubled by how the recent presidential (and local) campaigns have unleashed such a torrent of bitterness and hatred. It reminded me, in a way, of the Vietnam War era - but even more upsetting because we seemed to have learned nothing from that and from our ongoing, chronic state of war.
It got me to thinking about how one person can make a difference. One person's loving presence can bring respect and healing to those who have been torn apart in ways we can see and in ways we cannot see. If we each lived that way, what a different nation and world this would be.
It's not impossible. It takes courage and commitment to put aside our grudges and our hatreds and especially our fears of what the other person (or group of people) might do to us.
Maybe the Jigidi community can in some small way be this for each other.
End of musings...I'll go back to simpler themes!! :)
Potatomum, thank you, by the way, for your comments on my tribute puzzle for Vpach, as well. You and your husband lived out a beautiful love story.
Those memories so precious to you, I am sure. I know what Texastar star was saying about how God knows which one to take first. I know that I was the one left behind so that I could tell Don's story one day. That is maybe the only reason why I was left behind.
Thank you for the headsup on this potatomum. I need to email my First Cav. friend to see if he remembers your Bill.. by any chance. And what a dedicated caring man your husband was ...And that Agent Orange .was terrible stuff and iso many American veterans have died or sick from it now. Another travesty from that war that was such a Big Mistake from the beginning, as far as I can tell it was anyway..I was told that I myself have a mild form of PtSD nothing like what the combat people experience but nonetheless, part of the aftermath of war.
Thank you, Mr. O. Yes, he was indeed a hero - though he'd never think of himself that way. He was the most insightful, caring, selfless, and thoroughly himself person I've ever met.
He wrote the then definitive book on PTSD and combat veterans: "Out of the Night; The Spiritual Journey of Vietnam Veterans." And then he gave the publishing rights to the VA - and they still print it and give it out to anyone who requests it.
And yes, you're entirely right about him having my support. One of his best friends told me that I was the pillow where he could lay his head and hold all of the horrors of war at bay for the night.
This is my late husband Bill, who left his job as a high school teacher and volunteered for Vietnam service as a chaplain - because his former students were getting drafted and the Army was in desperate need of chaplains. After he returned, he devoted his life to working tirelessly for veterans with PTSD, veterans who had lost their spiritual selves, former prisoners of war, and Triple Threat vets (those addicted to alcohol, drugs, and killing). Much beloved by literally thousands of vets and those who love them, he died of cancer resulting from his exposure to Agent Orange.
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