Jack Spratt

120816 11:09 reply to Ellen Flores Mohr http://culturalbook.com/
Re: 120816 07:25 loving men

Did you serve your country Jack? The bond that is shared among those who have is something that can only be fully understood/appreciated by them. Too often their courage/dedication/patriotism is belittled by those who do nothing for their country but "bicker" and expect all the benefits without doing anything. Then there is the media which is more concerned with profiting with stories that grabs the most attention rather than truly investigating the reasons/history behind it. I don't speak government for it is all a cruel game to me. I speak for every John/Jane that risk everything they hold dear for the sake of that uniform. They deserve all the respect in the world for without such integrity we would not be here today free to spill our souls to the world.

Dear Ellen,

if you mean, as implied by Winston Churchill, "those who stand in wait also serve" then yes I did serve our country. No where near as deeply or proudly as the confessions and request for blessings received by those whose friends died in arms weeping still for their loss. Years and years afterward on highways byways street corners bars and restaurants. 

Best. 

Long languorous listening in dark city parks where before they lay sleeping I came.

No. 

I am a wannabe warrior in what I call the Army of God, "God's Marines," or otherwise, "The Company." Of Jesuits trained yet equally divided between dropping into Hell running with sword or cross to either love my 'enemy' or by sword hack to death. Eagerly I await the opportunity to, face-to-face, inquisitively ask of St. Ignatius his intents and teleology now. 

I beg you to forgive my brief discursion upon a soap box; that which is more near and dear to me by witness of others than I care to confess as a conflict conflagration in my heart . . . yet I continue to with laughter and weeping wrestle this question between Angels and God. 

In the end it is an issue of desire, that of the 'enemy' to be healed or slain. And now it is no longer mano a mano but hair trigger instant extinction of the species and planet governed by fools I'd not trust my sandals to take to the cobbler for repair. And were I to do it all over again I'd be a medic or nurse healing both the vanquished and the victor equally no sword or cross visible

© 2012 by Jack Spratt All Rights Reserved

PS
"If anyone asks me why he should love his neighbor, I would not know how to answer him, and I could only ask in my turn why he should pose such a question...It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring." --Alfred Adler