War Isn’t Over

Dear Laura

Last night I was reading Frances Fitzgerald’s Fire in the Lake:
The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam

This afternoon I listened to a playlist I made
Of songs from the Vietnam War era

(Or, as the Vietnamese call it
The American War)

One of the songs I first heard in 1975
John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

I decided to see if there were any Youtubes of this song
Sure enough they’re are

Like this one
Which makes me think of your aspirations

To be trained in psychology
So as to be able to help those who’ve been traumatized

Which makes me think too of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching
Which you’ve seen in both my books:

“Do not avoid contact with suffering
or close your eyes before suffering…”

Thanks for accompanying me in 2016
And sharing almost 100 blog posts

Mark