-6 Degrees below
Zero with Embedded Shrapnel: My conversation with a Veteran
Copyright 2013 by Lori-Ann Willey
Copyright 2013 by Lori-Ann Willey
I am not much of a “social bug” type person, and quite honestly,
I would rather avoid people 99% of the time, but that is just my ways and me. However, when a Veteran starts to tell of a
personal experience, I could sit and listen to THEM talk all day long. The following stems from such a conversation just
this morning.
A Veteran sat down
beside me and started up a conversation.
The TV in this room was on the news channel and the topic was of
politics. I cringed inside myself when
he spoke to me of the topic. I never
discuss two topics in particular. One is
religion, and the other is politics. I did
not want to sound rude, but I did acknowledge his commentary as I appreciated him
having his opinions. After a couple of
sentences, I think he realized that topic was not going to get very far with
me, so he changed it up a bit.
The next topic was about how the -6 degree temperature
outside penetrates into his body parts that still have shrapnel lodged from the
Vietnam War. This got my attention
fully. There are some Veteran’s who
openly talk of their experiences, and when they start talking to a total
stranger about those experiences, and I happen to be that stranger, the rest of
the world ceases to exist to me. My eyes
and ears focused completely on the words of this unfamiliar person sitting next
to me.
I turned my head and looked through his somewhat thick
glasses and into his dark brown eyes. I
saw kindness, and I saw gentleness within him…an inner peace if you will. He wanted to talk, and I wanted to
listen. He continued by telling me how
some people make snide comments about his disability, and his benefits from
military. How some consider it an easy
life to receive compensation simply because he served his country. This, despite becoming disabled during wartime? How it is “cheating” to receive money without
having to “work” for it. This raised my
eyebrows in disbelief, but I knew the man was telling the truth…even Paul and I
have experienced such comments over the years.
It is sad that people have such a mentality to think that Veteran’s are
thought of in such a low light at times. Not to mention how very ignorant some are
about soldiers and their experiences, though even if they did not experience
war itself, living a military lifestyle has many challenges of its own. It is FAR from an easy lifestyle, and by no
means leisurely.
This gentle speaking man took in a deep breath and
smiled. I am sure my eyes were begging
to hear more, but I would never ask, though I always hope the story continues. We were in a small waiting room. Paul’s ticket number was 93, and this man
came in a ticket or two later, so as numbers were being called, both the man
and I knew our chat would be a short one, and in times like this, I could have
sat there the entire day listening to this man talk of his experiences. Unfortunately, our conversation had to be
brief...three or four minutes at best.
He continued to talk and this is what I learned from him.
The man started his military career as “an entry level
soldier” (as he called it) in the Vietnam War, and worked his way up to become
an officer by the time he retired as a nurse some 22 years later. He spoke of the casualties around him, and
how each of them was a friend. It was
not hard to hear the solemn-ness in his voice.
He agreed that was something one cannot forget, ever. I couldn’t help but think of how helpless he must
have felt watching his friends dying around him during battle…all the horrors
he must have seen…the emotions he must have felt. To me, it is unimaginable. I wondered how one could seemingly carry on a
“normal” life after experiencing such things?
Yet, this man seems to be doing rather well, but his low and gentle
voice told me there was a lot of pain lingering within him still. I glanced at his eyes once more. They were deep and full of stories. I wanted to hear them all. It was easy to tell that each of his words
clung to a vision that without experiencing it for myself I could never understand. He continued to speak with carefully chosen
words, and somehow a sense of grace was attached to each syllable. His verbal tone seemed almost God-like. Like an inner peace that he was forced to
find…the alternative probably not a good one.
By the time Paul finished up with the clerk, this kind man
knew that I was going to leave his side, but I heard a little more as I waited
for him to finish speaking. After the
Vietnam War, the man had spent something like 11 years in the Navy before
deciding that he wanted to be a nurse.
Is there any wonder why he chose that profession? To me, there is no doubt. I sat there for a few seconds waiting
patiently for him to finish his sentence.
When he stopped talking, I scooted up in my chair and turned to face
him. We both smiled. There was peacefulness in his eyes. I gave him a wink, and thanked him for the
chat. We bid each other a nice day, and
as I stepped away, he called after me, “Happy NEW Year”. To this, I stopped dead in my tracks and
turned to face him. “Happy New Year to
you, too.”
It IS a new year! Right
then, it put the past 1 ½ years of our chaotic life into perspective. It is the time to make resolutions, changes,
to better oneself, to make promises to oneself, to have a new outlook for the
year ahead, etc. This man, though for a
few short moments taught me an invaluable lesson in life, and put everything
into perspective FOR me.
I wished I had asked the man for his name so I can say, “Thank
You”. This man holds a lot of wisdom,
but wisdom comes from experiencing life’s ups and downs and learning valuable
lessons along the way. I am forever
telling my kids, “Live and Learn”, “Upward and Onward”, and take each failure
and turn them into positives, as we all need to fail in order to learn how to
succeed. We all need the bad in life to
appreciate the good. If this man can
find a peace within himself, after all he experienced in the Vietnam War, I can
find it within me, and you can find it within you. Life is experience and perspective
based. If we all remember that, we will
be just fine.
Though many of you
who have been following my blogs now for a few years, you already know that I’m
a sap, and when it comes to my experiences in speaking with our Veteran’s, I am
even more of a sap. This blog talks of
my experience today. Please go to this
link to read about another Veteran experience that I wrote about last summer http://ineptblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/take-time-to-talk-to-veteran.html
