Friends and Fireworks...

 Dear Fishes-

        Today was the 4th of July and it was a lovely day for fireworks, food, family, and friends. What it is to have good friends! I am always amazed at how awesome my friends are. They have helped shape me into the person that I am today. I'm grateful and I try to bring out the best in my friends.

        Besides taking in all of the accouterments of today and making an effort to stand with a humble heart to take a moment and reflect on how lucky we are to live in this land of the U.S.A..and blow up some stuff with sweet fireworks to make it a day of remembrance that freedom isn't free. People have died for this country, bled, and silently suffer the scars of war in their minds. Too many of our Veterans that live after serving tours in foreign lands and fighting America's enemies end up with what was once termed "Shell Shock" (PTSD) and sometimes end their lives prematurely due to not being able to express themselves fully. More aid and mental help should be given to our Veterans that have put their necks on the line for our freedoms. 

        I am disgusted by those in power with a cavalier approach to the brave men and women serving our country valiantly. I am disenchanted with those politicians that say they care about Veterans when in actuality they don't because of their indifferent policies that throw Veterans under the proverbial bus. I'm overwhelmed with all of the suicides that take place by Veterans because they can't take on reality because they're still entrenched within their own mind of experiences that haven't been processed yet. 

         It is today that I salute those that serve and fight for our freedoms and those that take care of Veterans with the mindset of trying to make them whole again--in mind and body. I had an uncle who was referred to as "Sarge" that served three tours in Vietnam, in the Special Forces Green Barret Division. He was a B.A. and raised his stepsons (my cousins) as if they were his soldiers. While my cousins have become men that make rednecks look like amateurs, they have had to deal with a stepfather that still was affected by war. My Uncle Sarge died a few years back from Agent Orange exposure that led to him getting brain cancer. I always remembered Uncle Sarge being scary, while I was a kid, and my mom had told me that was because of what he experienced in Vietnam. 

         Was it surprising that he picked out a home in the panhandle of Florida that had swamps and similar terrain to Vietnam? I don't think so. While it's not exactly the same as Vietnam, it is a foreboding place that makes one make deliberate choices as to where one steps--there could be a gator in the midst and take off a body part. I remember Uncle Sarge had an old Doberman that got eaten by a gator. It was a common practice of my cousins that while in their younger years they would throw homemade Roman candles at one another in the swamps for fun. My mom made sure that we lived far away from our cousins because they were a lot older than us and they were a lot rougher than we were. I remember that Uncle Sarge lived right next to a swamp that was eerily beautiful and otherworldly. I was always impressed that it had this unique look to it--even though it was a swamp. I had always thought swamps were ugly until I went to Florida and could see how much is hidden behind the foliage of it. 

         I think when Uncle Sarge got back from Vietnam that it took some humanity away from him. It taught him he had to be gruff to survive and he wasn't very trusting. I'm sure from all of the killing that he had to do and go through that it was quite traumatic daily. I'm sure that when he came back to the States, there was nothing that was the same for him anymore. War changes people, especially from a soldier's perspective. 

          So when you're out there partying to your heart's content on July 4th, remember there is someone out there who isn't because they're still trying to get over what they had to do, to keep you and millions of other people safe from foreign invaders trying to destroy your basic freedoms that you take for granted. 

See ya in the sea anemone, 

B.