You remember, overseas, I was in command of a company? Well, I lost them. Just about all of them. It take a little time to toss that off. Because they weren't just men. For instance, one time it'd
been raining several days and this kid came to me, and gave me his last pair of dry socks. Put them in
my pocket. That's only a little thing... but... That's the kind of guys I hd. They didn't die... They killed
themselves for each other. I mean that exactly. a little more selfish and they'd've been here today. And I got an idea ...watching them go down. Everything was being destroyed, see, but it seemed to me that one new thing was made. A kind of... responsibility. Man for man. You understand me? To show that, to bring that onto the earth again like some kind of a monument and everyone would feel it standing there, behind him, and it would make a difference to him. (pause) And then I came home and it was incredible. I.... there was no meaning in it here. The whole thing to them was a kind of a ... bus accident. I went to work with Dad, and that rat‐race again. I felt... what you said... ashamed somehow. Because nobody was chaged at all. It seemed to make suckers out of a lot of guys. I felt wrong to be alive, to open the bank‐book, to drive the new car, to see the new refrigerator. I mean you can take those things out of a war, but when you drive that car you've got to know that it came out of the love a man can have for a man, you've got to be a little better because of that. Otherwise what you have is really loot, and there's blood on it. I didn't want to take any of it. And I guess that included you.
anthonyjoeseph
commented
6 years ago
You remember, overseas, I was in command of a company? Well, I lost them. Just about all of them. It take a little time to toss that off. Because they weren't just men. For instance, one time it'd been raining several days and this kid came to me, and gave me his last pair of dry socks. Put them in my pocket. That's only a little thing... but... That's the kind of guys I hd. They didn't die... They killed themselves for each other. I mean that exactly. a little more selfish and they'd've been here today. And I got an idea ...watching them go down. Everything was being destroyed, see, but it seemed to me that one new thing was made. A kind of... responsibility. Man for man. You understand me? To show that, to bring that onto the earth again like some kind of a monument and everyone would feel it standing there, behind him, and it would make a difference to him. (pause) And then I came home and it was incredible. I.... there was no meaning in it here. The whole thing to them was a kind of a ... bus accident. I went to work with Dad, and that rat‐race again. I felt... what you said... ashamed somehow. Because nobody was chaged at all. It seemed to make suckers out of a lot of guys. I felt wrong to be alive, to open the bank‐book, to drive the new car, to see the new refrigerator. I mean you can take those things out of a war, but when you drive that car you've got to know that it came out of the love a man can have for a man, you've got to be a little better because of that. Otherwise what you have is really loot, and there's blood on it. I didn't want to take any of it. And I guess that included you.