Morning Thoughts

C.W. and I were talking …

“Know what happened 44 years ago, today?” I asked.

“You probably made Mrs. Big Dope mad about something.”

“Well, probably,” I said, “I do have a talent, but no. On this day in 1973, the United States left Vietnam after having front-line troops there for over eight years, of which over 50,000 were killed.”

“So folks were happy it was over?”

“Some people were. Many corporations, which are now considered people, weren’t.”

“Did you go to the victory parade?”

“Uh,” I said, “there were no victory parades.”

“Wasn’t there a famous photograph of a sailor kissing a woman? I always thought that might have been you.”

“No, that was World War Two.”

“Didn’t they make a big sign out of painted rocks at the Golden Gate in San Francisco, saying ‘Welcome Home Boys’ or something like that?”

“No, that was World War Two.”

“Didn’t Bing Crosby record a famous song for you?”

“No, that was World War Two.”

“Well they had to do something for you. What was it?

“They pretended we didn’t exist.”

“I guess that was something. Your species tends to pull some strange stunts from time to time. At least your government learned something from the experience.”

I said nothing.

“Well, didn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I said, “it learned that it is easier to wage wars and send young people to die in them if you don’t have to draft them first.”

Bet the company that made helicopters
hated to see this come to an end. - C.W.