As a Vietnam Veteran (1966 mostly around the DMZ) I immediately identified with the lyric 'It took a sweet young foreign gun'. Indeed. The courage of those 'peasants' standing up to the most vicious military in history (not at all how I saw it at the time!) was a wake-up call for more than just some of us Vets. The relatively comfortable life of working people in advanced capitalist countries contrasts sharply with what I saw in SE Asia and the Philippines. And, I always heard the words 'This lazy life is yours' and not 'short'. I now know that, ultimately, capitalism has had nothing to offer humanity since the 1890's and THAT realization was sudden, dirty, and violent. And whether the lyrics mean I'm dead or not one thing is for sure : "I understand I'm on the road where all that was is gone" and I'll continue on that road until it ends.
@Roadster
Wow! Thank you for sharing such a powerful insight. My older brother was in the Vietnam War in the early days of reconnaissance, and after. I only knew him after he came home, as I was born when he was away. He never shared much except that he was left with anger so intense that he lived in fear of it getting out. In his seventies, he admitted that he lived with PTSD. What a burden of truth, ... and the discovery of lies to have to live with. But also to know reality as stark...
@Roadster
Wow! Thank you for sharing such a powerful insight. My older brother was in the Vietnam War in the early days of reconnaissance, and after. I only knew him after he came home, as I was born when he was away. He never shared much except that he was left with anger so intense that he lived in fear of it getting out. In his seventies, he admitted that he lived with PTSD. What a burden of truth, ... and the discovery of lies to have to live with. But also to know reality as stark as you have witnessed is mind and soul-altering. Again, wow. I imagine there is no 'thank you' or 'I'm sorry' big enough to even nick the enormous weight these memories must hold.
As a Vietnam Veteran (1966 mostly around the DMZ) I immediately identified with the lyric 'It took a sweet young foreign gun'. Indeed. The courage of those 'peasants' standing up to the most vicious military in history (not at all how I saw it at the time!) was a wake-up call for more than just some of us Vets. The relatively comfortable life of working people in advanced capitalist countries contrasts sharply with what I saw in SE Asia and the Philippines. And, I always heard the words 'This lazy life is yours' and not 'short'. I now know that, ultimately, capitalism has had nothing to offer humanity since the 1890's and THAT realization was sudden, dirty, and violent. And whether the lyrics mean I'm dead or not one thing is for sure : "I understand I'm on the road where all that was is gone" and I'll continue on that road until it ends.
@Roadster Wow! Thank you for sharing such a powerful insight. My older brother was in the Vietnam War in the early days of reconnaissance, and after. I only knew him after he came home, as I was born when he was away. He never shared much except that he was left with anger so intense that he lived in fear of it getting out. In his seventies, he admitted that he lived with PTSD. What a burden of truth, ... and the discovery of lies to have to live with. But also to know reality as stark...
@Roadster Wow! Thank you for sharing such a powerful insight. My older brother was in the Vietnam War in the early days of reconnaissance, and after. I only knew him after he came home, as I was born when he was away. He never shared much except that he was left with anger so intense that he lived in fear of it getting out. In his seventies, he admitted that he lived with PTSD. What a burden of truth, ... and the discovery of lies to have to live with. But also to know reality as stark as you have witnessed is mind and soul-altering. Again, wow. I imagine there is no 'thank you' or 'I'm sorry' big enough to even nick the enormous weight these memories must hold.