I’ve had the good fortune of having met and listened to quite a few military combat veterans. My scant experience of military service involved four years of ROTC while incarcerated at a Jesuit boarding high school. In the decades long duration of that school, I was the only student to begin and end the ROTC program as a PFC (private first class). Either I was not cut out for the military or the military was not cut out for me. Nevertheless, as I matured, I developed a very keen appreciation for military personnel…especially those who served in combat. One such character was a fellow named Bob F. He had served two tours as a member of the Special Forces in Vietnam and was, probably, the most intense human being I’ve ever known. Someday I will write a piece just about him. For now, one story he told me will have to suffice.

His primary mission on his 2^nd tour was to track down and eliminate U.S. military officers known to be collaborating with the enemy. As I recall, his platoon succeeded in more than a dozen instances. Out of deference to their families, those eliminated collaborators were listed as MIAs but, scrupulous means were employed to make sure that their remains will never be found. When two members of his platoon failed to return from a reconnaissance mission, Bob went looking for them. Upon entering a village that had been plundered and massacred, the missing men were found. They had been impaled on bamboo poles stuck in their anuses and out their mouths. Both had been disemboweled…one was still alive. A corporal standing next to Bob leveled his rifle at the dying man and shot him dead. The corporal then turned the rifle around, stuck it in his mouth and blow the back of his head off.

It has often been alleged that a typical human being only uses 10% of his brain’s potential scope. Therefore, it’s fair to assume that some paradoxes are beyond our limited capacity to comprehend. When confronted with alarming existential enigmas, our minds are likely to convulse. It was Bob’s guess that that was exactly what happened to the corporal.

I imagine we’ve all had experiences of that kind although, hopefully, not as horrific. In my case, it’s the notion of eternity that boggles the mind. I believe in the concept essentially because I believe in the existence of a Supreme Being and an Immortal Soul. (And that's probably the only time I'll publicly state my belief on those two issues.) I simply find it impossible to contemplate upon the concept for more than a brief moment. Life without end, on & on, forever & forever…my mind boggles! It's not a dilemna that has ever tempted me to blow my brains out but, I'm not that good of a marksman anyway.

William Blake (1757-1827), the transcendent English poet wrote a poem entitled ‘Eternity’ which reads as follows:

                     He who binds to himself a Joy

                     Doth the winged life destroy;

                     But he who kisses the joy as it flies

                     Lives in Eternity’s sunrise.

That I can understand and have often contemplated. It is one of the many wonderful sentiments that Blake expressed so beautifully.

However, what has helped me the most in confronting the prospect of eternity is the struggle to come up with a moment, just one single moment, which I would be happy to live forever & ever. I’m a very lucky man because my wife has provided me with so many of those moments every day for so many years. (Could be that the expression of that sappy sentiment might inspire her to provide a few more alluring particulars for my catalogue of eternal moments.)