Ron Kovic: The Vietnam War. The Things a Warrior Knows.

There is nothing in the lives of human beings more brutal and terrifying than war, and nothing more important than for those of us who have experienced it to share its awful truth. As the 45th anniversary of being shot and paralyzed in the Vietnam War approaches, I cannot help but reflect upon those years, and the many lessons I have learned. Nearly half a century has passed since I left my house in Massapequa NY, to join the United States Marine Corp, and begin an extraordinary journey that led me into a disastrous war that changed my life, and others of my generation profoundly and forever. The nightmares and anxiety attacks for the most part have disappeared, but I still do not sleep well at night. I toss and turn in increasing physical pain, but I remain positive and optimistic. I am still determined to rise above all of this. I know, like so many of my fellow veterans, that my pain and the horrors of my past will always be with me, but perhaps not with the same force and fury of those early years after the war. I have learned to forgive my enemies and myself. It has been difficult to heal from war, and I have often dreamed of moving to neutral ground, another country. Yet, I have somehow made a certain peace, even in a nation that so often still believes in war, and the use of violence as a solution to its problems. There has been a reckoning, a renewal. The scar will always be there, a living reminder of that war, but it has also become something beautiful now, something of faith and hope, and love. I have been given the opportunity to move through that dark night of the soul to a new shore, to gain an understanding, a knowledge, an entirely different vision. I now believe I have suffered for a reason, and in many ways, I have found that reason to be my commitment to peace and nonviolence. My life has been a blessing in disguise, even with the pain and great difficulty my physical disability continues to bring. It is a blessing to speak on behalf of peace, to be able to reach such a great number of people. The one gift I was given in a war was an awakening. I endured the War Around Us: About War Much has been Written. More must yet be said by those who saw them die, so that the dead may rest, and sight be gained, to see war for what it was, and is: War is not fighting, though fighting's what we see. Nor is It Death, for death is but its end. It   is the rancor of disunited hearts, the death of love, the end of hope. The war around us echoes in our hearts, and grants it life. Once, mortals dared to tame this ancient beast, and yet it thrives. Each age must fight this force again, or pay its price!