| | Indiana has contributed a higher than average percent of young men and women to military service. The recruiters swarm like locust through the high schools. They are aided and abetted by the counselors, who steer them toward students that are easy pickings. The promises of education, vocational training, a steady pay check, and 3 squares a day comprise an offer they can't refuse. A number of boys had no greater dream than working the family farm. When the farm was foreclosed and the equipment auctioned their dreams died. They joined the Marines. Some decided that they would like to see the world. They enlisted in the Navy. Others when deprived of the joy of driving the combine, decided a tank would do as well and found a place in the Army. And then they came home. Some were quietly delivered, almost secretly, to funeral homes. Others were transported to hospitals and then to VA rehabilitation centers before they made their way home to their families. Then there were the ones that walked off planes and through terminals into the embrace of mothers, brothers, sisters and fathers. It reminds me of the mint fields that are scattered on the outskirts of town. There is a distinctive aroma when the plants are harvested, caused by the unavoidable damage to the fragile leaves. The returning soldiers give off a smell. Many are saturated with it and it remains on their breath and in their dreams. The farm boys seem especially damaged. The land that was watered with the tears and sweat of their fathers calls to them but they have forgotten how to answer it. Fertile is the land Farmers plant for fall harvest Crops of earnest sons Forces destroy tender shoots Fighting wars devours lives Soil dark and blood soaked Spilled like seed from a weak seam Gleaned from field and farm Small green sprouts cut down too soon Seeds unripe forever sterile Bruised stem and leaves ooze Breathe mint scent on summer night Red blood makes rich dirt Brokenness betrays beauty Black loam begs bounty |
| | Posted 7/10/2009 6:06 AM - 70 Views - 28 eProps - 26 comments
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