Visit this wall

President Trump, come with me to the Vietnam War Memorial. For many, the Wall is a frame of reference from which to consider and contemplate life and life choices both as a society and as an individual.

As a Vietnam veteran, it is such for me.

What are your frames of reference when you decide to send more troops into Afghanistan to kill and be killed? It is a weighty matter with no room for shallow thinking or cavalier attitude.

You have not experienced combat. On the Wall are 58,000 who have. And though dead, they speak. Are you willing to listen to them? If you listen, can you hear what they say? They speak to the cost of war.

Other voices speak, too. General Mattis said, “It’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people.” His words ring hollow at the Wall.

Someone said, “A shallow culture is a violent culture.” Another said, “Wisdom is better than weapons of war.” There is much to consider and contemplate. Oh, that we would!

The Wall testifies to truth and reality. And remember, each one there is “more than a name on the wall.”

Mikel Stevenson

Spokane