ONCE UPON a        TIME
                                                                                          ezine at l'atelier bonita
                                                     established since december 2002

Thanks to Brave Men                                       by  Humbird John Kerry [1970s] by Elizabeth Peyton John Kerry did things in Vietnam I can never hope to have the courage to do. I could do what Dick Cheney did, no problem. I think I could also do what George W. Bush did. I think that with enough training I could fly a fighter plane. Maybe not very well, but I could do it. Especially if it was guaranteed that nobody would ever be shooting at me. But I know I do not have what it takes to go back up a river and rescue a man from the water while enemy gunners were firing from the river banks. I'd probably just sit and cry. Combat affects people in different ways. John Kerry acted on his experiences and his feelings. Other veterans became homeless alcoholics. Some became successful businessmen. Who can say what our own reactions would be. Thanks to brave men like John Kerry, John McCain, and Max Cleland, our generation didn't have to face a draft. Now we can include Pat Tillman and the other members of the all-volunteer armed forces. My grandfather is a combat veteran (Pearl Harbor, Midway, Tarawa among others). He served from 1940-1946. Upon discharge he decided he had seen enough of war and he did not collect his medals at all. 50 years later, in 1991 at the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, he decided he wanted his medals. We are able to contact the Navy and they sent him his medals. It took him 50 years to come to terms with what he did during the war, what he saw, and the friends he lost, and to accept his country's awards for doing it. ©2004 Humbird _______________ Humbird resides outside Chicago, Illinois. She caught the soccer virus in 1992 and was briefly hospitalized by concerned relatives. Unfortunately, nothing the doctors could do would cure her of the infection. Much to her family's distress, Humbird religiously follows the Argentina national team, Fiorentina and Lazio. Humbird enjoys traveling to Europe and purchasing cheap souvenirs. Humbird has patronized gift shops at some of the most important historic and architectural sites in Europe, and she includes amongst her collection a shot glass from Berchtesgaden, a set of Henry VIII and His Six Wives Christmas tree ornaments from Westminster Abbey, and a bottle opener shaped like the Eiffel Tower.

                                                   ONCE UPON      a TIME
                                                                                          ezine at l'atelier bonita
                                                     established since december 2002