“War requires very well-brought-up people to do vicious things, which they are able to do efficiently because the recipients of their viciousness are unknown to them.” —Garrison Keiller

He adds, “The bombardier never sees the quiet shady street of brick houses that he is about to incinerate.”

This reminds me of my “duty” in the artillery outfit I served with in Vietnam. The major I worked for would write up the harassment and interdiction targets of “suspected Viet Cong” that I typed.

At the time I didn’t really give it a lot of thought. The targets would go out to the 105 artillery batteries, and they would be fired randomly.

Since serving I have had an opportunity to read some books that pointed out how artillery was called for from the field as opposed to the harassment and interdiction targets.

There was less personal stress regarding my assignment, but looking back I’m sure the harassment and interdiction fire took many lives along the way.

Garrison’s quote came from last Sunday’s Tribune. It resonates.

Now we are sending troops to assist in Haiti, a preferred way of soldiering, but what little I saw shows the American soldiers all carrying weapons as if going into combat dressed in their camouflaged attire. I suppose this uniform protects them. And because I prefer not to watch TV, I’m not sure it’s just the Americans in uniform.

Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were assigned to assist with the trouble in Haiti and on Monday there was Bill Clinton in Haiti, but I didn’t see George W. Bush.

In terms of politics these days, one has to wonder, but Benjamin Hoff, author of The Te of Piglet, says “Without difficulties, life would be like a stream without rocks and curves—about as interesting as concrete.”

I guess that is concrete shaping the new law enforcement center/court house or whatever it will be called in the end and what will become of the dead space where last winter’s fire thinned the historic buildings. Wouldn’t it be nice to construct a performance theater upstairs where the performing theater once stood?

The other day I was looking in the vacant building across the street from the war memorial, the brick building waiting for a lease, thinking of starting a Bohemian Bar & Restaurant, serving Czech food, and an endless supply of kolachi’s and peevo (beer). You have to forgive my Czech spelling.

Maybe when my cousin Ed returns from California, I can talk him into it. Unfortunately, I’m not ‘Bob the builder, nor can I cook, but I can make coffee. Even Bohemians drink coffee occasionally, and there’s still a lot of them around.

Maybe Rollie or Denny could cook. Or call it the House of Pooh while Eeyore frets… and Piglet hesitates… and Rabbit calculates… and Owl pontificates…Pooh just is. We need more Poohs in town.

I’m still hoping to see someday a replica of Richard Eberhart sitting on a bench in the grass on the east side of the high school’s main entrance, a figure of Eberhart reading from a book of poetry to a student sitting next to him listening. Eberhart lived his first years on Kenwood that’s now at the corner of Eighth Ave and Fourth St NW.

Along the way, he became a prize-winning poet, laureate, teacher and mentor to a generation of poet, and established relationships with many poets including Allen Ginsberg, who makes mention of Eberhart’s Groundhog, a poem from early in Richard’s life.

Ginsberg says: “As a younger man attached to Visions I found his Groundhog a hair-raising revelation of natural mind—a secret signal—and it encouraged me to stay with deepest mind, and seek descriptive particularity in writing inspired to expansiveness at moments of mortal awareness.” Eberhart lived to the age of 101, writing up to his death.

On Monday, Rev. Joseph Lowery, the civil rights leader addressed the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Breakfast at the Minneapolis Convention Center. It was the same Rev. Joseph Lowery that offered the benediction at President Obabma’s inauguration saying: “Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid.”

No doubt a good number attended the Martin Luther King event at Riverland Community College held here in Austin. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it.