RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,286
(same world, different day)
I used to think that it was
so weird how the ruins and
debris of the Twin Towers,
including some human remains
or bits unretrieved, were taken
to Staten Island, to a re-opened,
for that purpose, landfill called
'Fresh Kills.' That was an old
name, and it referred to the flush
and body of the ancient harbor
waters around that part of the
Island, abutting NJ. Be that as
it may, the way names and
things were usually so quickly
altered to better fit contemporary
needs, I always wondered. Was
not anyone watching? Were they
all numb enough not to notice?
-
Nothing be done about that,
no, and I knew it. The everyday
occurrences of what was around
me had their own way of taking
over the everyday. In 1967, it was
Vietnam; everyone somehow just
seemed to amble up the gangplank
and get ready to do their part. Their
part? People actually thought they
had a part in what was an otherwise
civic nightmare in not just this
country, but in Laos, Cambodia,
Thailand, and Vietnam - I leave
out Australia, which kind of also
went willingly. In all that time I
never met anyone who could
sensibly delineate the whys and
wherefores of what was for the
most part American terrorism.
Defoliation, slaughter, chemical
and flame warfare, and massive
B-52 attacks over on-end and
over some more. Truly, it was
a school for scandal.
-
Making things worse, at the
approach of June, 1967, while
still rotting away in Woodbridge
High School, awaiting the last
magical days of getting out of
that creep-trap, Israel and Egypt
went at it in what was termed then
the 'Six Days War.' It began on
June 5, as I recall. I was in Mr.
Brown's history class, a normal
enough occurrence; from which
the daily NYTimes was dispensed
freely to whomever wanted it
(schools used to get free copies
for distribution). The run-up to
that war had been going since
April; all the same usual crap
but with a sort of Jewish-sympathy
spin, which often made a connected
reference to the Holocaust and all
that. To be expected, no one was
able to oppose the news or the
words. It all came down, somehow,
to Jewish entitlement for which
we were somehow supposed to
rally and cheer. Myself? I saw it
as a cheerleading-reflective image
of the Vietnam War, just with yet
another tribal and faux-national
designation. No one ever mentioned
Palestinians or the real Semites.
(Until maybe the next year, when
Sirhan Sirhan had his say). I was
a patient guy, just wanting out, as
I said, of that damned and dank
school. The problem was that I
was in the midst of a small coterie
of Jewish kids (Gutman, Klein,
Goldfarb, et al.) to whom this
little bit of warfare was a grand
and happy sport. Each day they
cheered as their own spirits soared.
I wanted none of it, but was trapped
for like 22 more days! Having been
taught of the Thirty Years War, and the
Hundred Years War, through those
history classes, when this quickly
became just the 'Six Day War' I
was suitably stunned.
-
War should never be given that privilege.
-
Ah, well, so much for all that. I tried
and tried, really, to view this all through
their eyes - as perhaps survivors, or
kids from families who'd lost family
members, young or old. I found that I
could not, and I took umbrage at their
stupid, modern-day, gloating. Speaking
of stupid, the school and its 'curriculum'
did nothing on this matter either. They
too gleefully enlisted their male students
and all graduates into military service.
Period. I found schools, the school
boards, and the teachers and staff, all
to be in service to United Jewry. I
was never so happy to get out of
school.
-
If there were differences to be found,
differences say between Arab and Jew,
or Vietnamese and American, I never
found them. Humanity is one coarse
ledger, written pretty much the same
everywhere, and worse as it ascends
to the higher reaches of power. 30
some years later, it was all worked
out. First down went one, and then
the other, Tower. Same world.
Different day.
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