Emotional Chaos

Wow, just cannot figure out my feelings today.  I got a call from the Oprah Winfrey radio show and was interviewed by Dr. Angelau Maya.  Wow, what an honor.  I have read all of her poems and Russell has come to respect her and her words.  But the interview was about my military experience and what it was like to be a veteran.  All of my emotions came flooding back and the only thing that kept me together was the knowledge that war makes people do things that they normally would not do.  So to help me through this moment I have decided to post the pictures of the Viet Nam Memorial.  

I am still trying to deal with my emotions of my military experience and what the Wall represents to me.  The day I took the pictures I could not bring myself to touch the Wall.  I knew in my heart that I would cry for the ones who died and who's names were engraved in the stone.  I was overcome with the immensity of the memorial.  The way the wall grew in depth in the soil instead of in height above the lawn.  The feeling of the tragedy of what happened in Viet Nam overcame me and I wanted to run from my emotions again, but I did not.  I stood there very proud of who I was and for the first time I was not ashamed to be a veteran. 

I hope the pictures will show how I felt that day and that evening last fall.  In a couple of weeks I am returning to DC and I will visit the wall again in an effort to find myself.