Just finished watching Vietnam documentary… 18 hours… Ken Burns
I am exhausted, but alive and breathing in…
war disfigures our souls especially of the surviving warriors and gold star families
tormented by living in the new normal
it is the silence that roars…
My own experiences of a horrific war
somewhat gentrified
but still eyed as a lie
Evil is in the backline
that bloodies the frontline
Love does prevail at times
the true hero or heroine
are those who traverse after
innocence stolen or beaten out of us
children and siblings returned in bits and pieces
and fragments of enemies now loved
those who fragged, now forgiven
What is it about our feeble memories
failing to avoid our really botched and flawed,
if not diabolical previous choices,
blaming without looking
at our own almost botched choices if not for the grace of Love?
Love have mercy…
ron-self have mercy…
Jesus have mercy…
Buddha have mercy…
on me
your beloved
who doesn’t always feel so loved or being…
Heal my soul… please!
My own soul haltingly, evasively nears the Vietnam Memorial
that spreads beyond the 58,272 to the 20 at Arlington Cemetery
and 61 and counting souls embraced at their death from Fallujah.
Many more are dying from spiritual heart attacks every day…
“I hate war,” I read on the FDR memorial wall
The fake wall with names like “Lies” and “Arrogance”
along our neighborly southern border,
will not work,
has not worked
in Vietnam, Korea, Berlin, Israel or Confederate/Union
the real though callous wall already built within the American psyche…
a wall that once hoped to keep out hate and racism
Mister President… take down that wall!…
we pray the Vietnam Memorial, the real Wall,
will remind us of who we are,
We as a people are not a wall, but a golden door,
Let us never again keep out
“…your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”
Let us rather keep out the greed and profiteers of war.
Greatness as a nation comes from
those who fought and reconciled on both sides of a conflict,
not rhetoric nor tweets
nor self-righteousness
nor any political solution.
Healing comes from within
and from the balm of love
that former enemies have for US
and US for them.
Ron Camarda
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
(Emma Lazurus ~ New Colossus ~ Statue of Liberty)
Father Ron's Blog 
The wall is already built in our hearts and souls…
Is your wall a wall of healing or isolation or fear?
Thx Father. Very thought provoking. God love you. Love, peace & prayers. Joan Sent from my iPhone
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