Do Not Eat The Candy

DO NOT EAT THE CANDY BY JACK SCHIMMELMAN When I was a young man, my generation faced a war that clearly was illegal and was built on a mountain of trash. Neil Sheehan’s book, “A Bright Shining Lie” is the quintessential document regarding the Vietnam War. Many of us knew these fabrications to be true while they unfolded. Many of us faced this lie and decided not to cooperate with the slaughter. I was one. I helped others, as well. Our destination was unknown. We would either wind up in jail, Canada or Saigon. Some of us were lucky and got rejected by the army. I worked with a draft resistance center called the Merton-Buber House. They were located in the East Village in Manhattan and partially funded by the Catholic Peace and Jewish Peace Fellowships. I was a theatre director at the time and my number in the draft had come up. I will never forget my experience at Fort Hamilton during the pre-induction physical. This was a ritual that we all endured. The counselors at the M-B Center warned me that when I would go to speak to a psychiatrist about my “unfitness” for the army, I would be offered candy, which was eternally sitting on the psychiatrist’s desk. They advised all of us to refuse the candy, for if we accepted, no matter what we said during that interview, we would be drafted into the army, marked 1A. The tag of 1A was a one-way ticket to Saigon and points beyond. By accepting the candy the officer would know that we were malleable enough to obey orders and that was the most important requirement for our Uncle Sam. Sure enough, when I got to the interview, there was candy. When offered, I refused. The interview proceeded from there and I was rejected, which meant I did not have to go to jail or Canada. I hid my glee and acted disappointed, although not too disheartened. From that day, I would counsel others on how to conduct themselves during the physical and how to navigate that interview. Today, another war has been simmering for 8+ years. And although nothing on the order of Vietnam has passed until now, we are faced with a critical juncture. Once again, generals are urging a President to send more and more troops so we don’t “lose.” These same generals fail to define what we would win. In this past year, we have doubled our troop presence. Now, citizens are being asked to send 40,000, which, if sent, would equal more than 100,000 American troops in Afghanistan. Somehow 100,000 is a magic number. I remember in the 60’s when we reached 100,000 troops in Vietnam. That was when I knew we were in a very serious situation that would only get worse. To

his credit, this President has refused to be bulldozed by his generals and has rightly assumed his role as commander-in-chief and is taking his time to debate with several others our strategy in Afghanistan, such as it is. There is no draft; no huge outcry. There is no win. As before, our children and parents are dying in a war that seems to have no clear purpose. Blood is flowing. Lives are being broken. President Obama inherited this war as he did in Iraq. He has acted honorably in Iraq. Now we hope he does the same in Afghanistan. There are so many parallels between now and Vietnam that I have to remind myself that I am older, living in another era. The echoes are frightening. We are again fighting ghosts. We are vague about who our enemy is. We do not know who our friends are. We may very well sleepwalk into another futile bloodletting. The only thing I do know is that if the President continues along this path, he will have proven himself unable to learn from history, despite his assurance that he is a student of the past. Echo is a sound returning. We must not return. Our streets, lives and social contract are under attack from within. Our fabric is stretched to the limit. Nothing we do in Afghanistan will defend us against ourselves. On the contrary, if we continue to ignore the quotidian ache, which shadows national life, we do so at great risk. Are there people around the world who wish to destroy our country? Oh yes. Are there people in our country who wish to do the same? The answer repeats. However, no matter how much we flail at an amorphous enemy; no matter how much blood we use to paint our rage, we will remain challenged to create a just society. Mr. President, please do not eat the candy. Do not comply. No more blood. Honor us with your wisdom. It is time to make another choice. It is time to choose the truth. I can only pray you have the courage to do so.

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