Interesting that your brother was enlisted. Most enlisted men either came from broken families or impoverished areas. I was a sonar tech push button E-6 at 23,despite being knocked back a stripe for going UA. I could have gone nuke except for having admitted smoking pot. Even then, the recruiters wanted me to change my statement and say I was only around people who smoked pot. Anyway, you can imagine your’s truly and the navy were not a good fit.I discovered that I was not fond of our nation’s overtures to the world during my enlistment.I guess I more or less believed we were the good guys always, up until then.Somehow Vietnam didn’t influence me one way or the other.
I had more important things to worry about earlier on.I don’t think my father finished high school or maybe even middle school. My mom might have, but I don’t know, she died when I was young and my dad would not say.He drank himself to death by the time he was 46, meanwhile we lived like rats on aid to dependent children and food stamps.I bought all my clothes and most my food since I was about 14. Of the five who stayed with my dad I am the only one who finished high school. Another made it past the ninth grade. I think it hurt my dad’s feelings that I did.He was like that. I went from third to first chair with my trumpet in a semester and he was inspired to harass me until I quit. Three older siblings lived with a more educated relative and graduated. One attained a degree from Cal Poly Pamona with the help of extended social security benefits. My youngest brother put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. He was 21. I suppose that is a sin to you but I call it a tragedy. I suppose he could have just as easily have taken it out on someone else. Then we would have put him to death anyway, because he was evil.
I really don’t mean to say I am brighter than you, I have just been dying to use that tank/pea shooter joke for a while. We tap into our different kinds of intelligence to different degrees. You are probably a fine fellow. It’s just amazing how different people can be. I might be unfortunate enough to be you if I were raised in your shoes and you might be blessed with what I am cursed with if things were the other way. By the way, in my semi- orphan youth I met a few wonderful hippies. I can not even begin to match the integrity of their souls. Strangers of every kind and color gave me little samples of a good life that my parents never could.It had nothing to do with money.I can not remember one single openly religiously devout person who did. I don’t think one devout Catholic ever did a thing for any of those 8 raggedy baptised motherless children.Some public school teachers showed great affection.The physical Church was in a pretty upscale area and we were from the wrong side of the tracks.It would be like a dysfunctional family from Logan going to your church. Even at 7 years old I could tell they couldn’t wait to be done with us. I became very astute regarding the fallacies/hypocracies of religion/religious people and at 10 years old could have nearly written, independent of ever having seen it, the book “The age of Reason” by Thomas Paine. With poor syntac and punctuation of course.Some things never change :).
Well that is my last try at reforming you JG, Well, I guess I have said that before. We will see.
Best wishes
