Editor's note: In 1974 I was 29 years old and the Viet Nam war had been going on for 9 years. I had escaped the draft because I was a divinity student, then got married, and then had kids. Nixon had campaigned and promised to end the war but didn't do it until his second term.
Many of my friends were conscientious objectors or did alternative service. We knew the war was bogus and immoral at the time, a judgment which history has vindicated. Even Defense Secretary Robert McNamara at the end of his life, in the documentary, Fog Of War, admits the Viet Nam war was a big mistake.
Having said this, I am living in the house on King Street in Brockport, NY which was the childhood home of George Marks who was killed in Viet Nam after only being there 6 weeks as a medic. I also love people in Brockport who are Viet Nam veterans who got caught up in the insanity through no fault of their own other than that they believed their government which lied to them.
John Lennon has always been a hero of mine for many reasons, but the first and foremost was his witness for sanity and peace at a time that was very insane.
I would have hoped that we Americans had learned our lesson but then we supported another insane President who started two more wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the end of my life, I wonder about the mental health of Americans. They seem delusionally intoxicated with their own hubris and power and corrupt values that lead them to believe that they can obtain justice and safety from military might. These are insane ideas that lead to insane values that lead to insane policies that lead to insane behavior. Maybe we should heed John Lennon's suggestion and sit back and "imagine" and take to heart his vision for the people of the world. It begins not "out there" but in our own minds and hearts.
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