Boys Playing Army

The Missourian ran this wild art shot of a couple of boys dressed up in helmets and galoshes playing army soldier. I haven’t run across the newspaper clip to be able to tell you their names.

On this Memorial Day, I hope this was as close to the real thing as they ever got.

Here is a link to a more serious look at Memorial Day.

Send politicians, not young men

What had been more or less of an abstraction to me became real when I watched a man and his wife receive a box of medals in place of their son. I honor his service, but I wonder what his death accomplished. The world would be a safer places if we sent polticians, not young men, to fight our wars.

8 Replies to “Boys Playing Army”

  1. I might have been the last politician to have led the army of a major power, but I can think of no period in recorded history in which only politicians engaged in armed conflict. Further, there are few examples in which the majority of the young men serving on the victorious side were not in sync with the politicians.

  2. If only war was make-believe play & young men & women could live to play another day with whole bodies & minds! If the world were one big playground & all the children loved one another as brothers & sisters…no need for politicians, dictators, or government…because all play as God intended, All for One & One for All…”Imagine”!!!

  3. i made this suggestion in 1967 in a telegram to the president when a close friend of mine was killed in nam, the result, i was fingerprinted by the fbi

    1. You and Arlo Guthrie:

      I went over to the Sgt, said, “Sgt, you got a lot a damn gall to ask me if I’ve rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I’m sittin’ here on the bench, I mean I’m sittin here on the Group W bench
      ’cause you want to know if I’m moral enough join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein’ a litterbug.”

      He looked at me and said, “Kid, we don’t like your kind, and we’re gonna send you fingerprints off to Washington.”

      And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a study in black and white of my fingerprints.

    2. Marsha, you should request a copy of your FBI file if you haven’t already. There is a pretty nifty web site that will create the Freedom of Information Act request for you. All you have to do is mail it to the FBI. Here is the link to the web site…

      http://www.getmyfbifile.com/

      Dad… You should fill out the paperwork, too. It would be a neat blog entry if the FBI does have a file on you. Free content!

      Cheers,
      Matt

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