After viewing the Moving Wall, I felt compelled to try to right my indifference.
This in no way does it, but it is a start.

Indifference

Today I gazed upon the names,
I was just one in the throngs of observers
Moving silently….not speaking
For we walked upon sacred ground.

I was raising my babies
During this terrible war
The news was just words to me
I had little ones to care for.

I was off to the grocery store
They were off to the killing fields.
I cuddled my man in the warmth of my bed
They cuddled the dirt in the cold of their fox holes.

My life was untouched by the Viet Nam War
Their lives were taken by the cold hand of death.
Not once had I reflected on the loss of their lives
------------------Until Today.

Today they became people
Who once were and never more to be.
The pictures, the flowers, even a pair of boots.
What touched me more were the letters of love.

Words that were written by those left behind
Never to be read, yet they know…they know.
He knows of his son who was but two
When the hate of this world took his father away.

I stand before those who had life taken away
I bow my head in shame to those I know not.
I beg forgiveness from the 58, 220 names on the Wall.
Words fail me now as I failed them then.

I think not that it is now too late
To remember the soldier with eight months of service.
Never to forget the hero who was on his journey home
When a land mine killed him along with his dreams.

So far from home our soldiers were
Alone in a strange land cloaked with hate.
Feeling so scared, so alone among the troops.
Yet displaying only courage and a need for survival.

No more will I be indifferent
Today they became my heroes, my light and my torch.
Always to be remembered
Always to love.



Tina Millner
8/14/99