A Comic Strip War
The Washington Post Magazine profiles Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau. I've been a fan since I discovered the strip in 1972 after returning from Vietnam. What caught my eye was a series in Feburary or March when BD decided to avoid a term paper by dropping out of college and volunteering for Vietnam. For someone who had not been in Vietnam, Trudeau understood how truly bizarre that experience was. I can't find a link to them. If anyone can, let me know and I'll add it). His later fame with Watergate and beyond further cemented his reputation as far as I am concerned.
The strip has waxed and waned over the years since but most recently his series on the Iraq war and BD's injury have been nothing short of brilliant. The empathy and understanding Trudeau demonstrated in 1972 is on display as BD deals with the aftermath of losing his leg (the official term in Vietnam was "traumatic amputation"). The stips are available in two collections, The Long Road Home, and The War Within. (The proceeds from these sales support Fisher House, a valuable resource for wounded veterans and their families.) I and many other veterans never had to deal with those kind of wounds but we all understand that it was only a matter of luck and timing. So Trudeau's empathy reaches us all, no matter when our war was or what happened.
The profile quotes a speech Trudeau gave to Vietnam Veterans of America national conference this year. He neatly sums up the dilemma this nation faces as it deals with the human cost of the Iraq War:
"When I talk to wounded veterans, I usually don't ask them what they think the mission was. I don't presume, because their lives are wrenching enough without the suggestion that their sacrifices may have been without meaning. Moreover, if that is so, it will become apparent to them soon enough . . . The young men and women who we've repeatedly put in harm's way are paying the price for this misbegotten mission, and as long as it continues, I, like so many of our countrymen, must walk this strange line between hating the war but honoring the warrior. I don't know how long we can keep it up. . ."
He finishes to a standing ovation.
He could have made that same speech 35 years ago. Maybe not to a standing ovation but still dead on correct.
posted by Rez Dog at 9:12 AM
1 Comments:
i've been following the trudeau BD sequence with all the enthusiasm of one who has walked with a limp since my last trip into the a shau in '69. they "saved" my left leg, and most of the time i thank them for it. most of the time. the part that impresses me is the same thing you pointed out. BD and the other guys are going through what i went through. it's truth i can touch. i've written him several times, thanking him and offering up some of my own recollections. the best being the time i responded to someone asking me why i was using a cane that day by saying "because it's so much more dignified than crawling."
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