Pause For Thought

From Rev'd Ruth Scott

Recently I met a Vietnam veteran whose story touched me deeply. I’ll call him Joe.

He was on patrol in the jungle when he happened upon a Vietnamese man in a hammock whom he startled from sleep. For a few seconds they stared in terror at one another then the man reached down for something. Before he could bring out a gun, Joe shot him. Only afterwards did he discover the man wasn’t picking up a gun, but photos of his family. He also found the beautiful garden the man had created in the jungle.

As a fellow gardener, Joe felt mortified at destroying a kindred spirit. Out of all the killing war demanded of him, this death haunted him. Perhaps that’s why, over the years Joe turned his own farm into a place where other traumatised men and women could come to find restoration in working the land. He provided space for Native American practices that many veterans have found healing. There are always young groups visiting, and in the summer teenagers spend 6 weeks there being taught ecology and Indian woodcrafts like tracking and survival in the forest. I was profoundly moved by Joe’s own gentleness of spirit and his compassion.

His gift to me is the knowledge that whatever terrible things we do in our lives, as we seek our own restoration we can go on to provide healing space for others. Not everything is destroyed. Redemption in some way is possible. So at this time of remembrance I want to think not only of those who lost their lives, but the service men and women who survive and who have to live with the legacy of their wartime experiences. For them the peace they fought for can be a life sentence.

Today I hope that Joe’s story will be a source of hope not only for them, but also for those of us who sometimes get things badly wrong and don’t want our mistakes to be the end of the story.