War Zone

I walk through the war zone. Although all wars are failures, this is a new level of despair never seen in human history. It wasn’t waged by generals and soldiers, but by lawyers, doctors, and politicians. They swear on our Television sets that we are “winning.” But how can a war be won when people are still fighting? Not each other, but for their own damn lives.
It is another sweltering day in mid-July. Still, our soldiers still wear long sleeves to cover their scars of shame. I take each sip of a crisp, cool bottle of water as guiltily as I can. Many of our heroes will only feel the brief relief of a final condensation in the form of a desperate shot of mist up their nose. I feel nauseous at the sight of their tanned children beaten by an unforgiving sun. They never asked for this, but will still be recruited when they become of age.
As a veteran, I know the despair a young man feels as he tries to hide his pain behind the bullet in his arm. Maybe I’ve never been shot, but I can empathize with the strength to fight another day when you just wish the opposition would take you out. I try to find a glimmer of hope in his sullen, dead eyes. Maybe some day he can see the war as I see now, with scorn, but from a distance. I can't fix what he has seen, nor what he has done to survive. All I can do is tell him how I got the hell out.

The war doesn't have to continue forever. Many of us survive to this day. Not only do we tell the horror stories, but we live to talk about what coming home is like. Life isn't easy when you've repeatedly fucked yourself for years. Unfortunately, many of the young men and women who fought don't get to speak. They never got to be held in their mother's arms again. Their children will never know the warm smile of their parent. Though the survivors mourn, we continue to do what they could not seem to do, which is live.

War is a terrible thing that never ends. This conflict will always exist in the greater world, as long as the warriors continue to play and the puppet masters pull their strings. I'm just grateful to be a veteran for today.