SZ writes: Sometimes it almost startles me how easy it is to fall back into that mindset. I was raised a Friend (Quaker) and taught to do no harm. Non-resistant Christians. I left the meeting and spent 8 years in the service. Then I eventually returned to the church, saw the wisdom of their ways. I have been a recorded minister for 33 years in December. But friend, in a heartbeat I can move from the Lord to the Nam and be right back in that mode. Once violence is learned it is difficult to unlearn, if not impossible. Sometimes I speak to students in a Viet Nam history class at the University of Toledo and tell them to think carefully about what they think about war and the military because the first and foremost duty of the soldier is to kill the enemy and once one kills another, even if it is done as a soldier in wartime or in self defense, that person is never “right” again. It takes something away or adds something. There is a change. I do not recommend war to anyone, particularly children. And we were pretty much all children at the time. (04/18/02)
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