I celebrated Veterans Day at the Boulder Vet Center.

I spent a year working with Vietnam (and a few Iraqi) vets in both individual and group settings, and each Veterans Day morning, the Boulder Vet Center has a pancake breakfast. There are no speeches about courage or honor or sacrifice. There's no marching music playing.

Here is what happens:
1. Men meet each other and talk about what's new and ask how each other is doing.
2. There is a lot of food and coffee.
3. Some announcements are made about weekly/monthly get-to-gethers.
4. A moment of silence for whatever reason you want.
5. Veterans are given the opportunity to say anything they want. They always express feelings of intense gratitude for the Vet Center staff and the program in general. Nobody tells a war story.
6. There are lots of jokes to keep genuine gratitude from turning sentimental.

Yeah, everyone there could explode into tears at any moment. The wives who come have wet eyes during the group event. And everyone laughs hysterically at the slightest joke.

And personally, I get to growl "Happy Birthday Marine!" to heros. There were two Marines from 1/9 (the Walking Dead) in attendence. I also know of at least one more 1/9 vet that lives in the Boulder area. Interesting...

BTW, my Marine Corps turned 231 this week. Semper Fi!

Take a deep breath….Remember--this is a marathon, not a sprint. Ten years from now it will not matter how fast you went the first six months. It will matter only that you stayed with it and what you have done in the ninth and tenth years. So…go at your own pace! You can do it!

I got this gem from a Positive Psychology training program. It spins things in a direction different from my natural tendency of wanting everything GREAT to happen in my life overnight like FedEx is going to deliver happiness. Life doesn't work that way. It takes commitment to high standards with a practice frame of mind. For example: in addictions work, a rule of thumb is that a person will relapse around 7 times before permanently changing behavior. This idea doesn't exist to give people a reason to relapse (they don't need another...) or to be discouraging. Change is difficult and frustrating and simply takes a lot of time and effort because there are no magic bullets. Change is a marathon. Marathons are completed by moving forward.

I think an important point to keep in mind as the power base transitions in our country and people begin to take a new look at the Iraq war is that when WE invaded Iraq, Saddam played the video footage of the U.S. evacuation of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. Well, he played it until a bomb interrupted the broadcast. He also instructed his (former) people not to trust or cooperate with the Americans because they will abandon their cause after future  (last weeks) elections.

All I am left with is a sense of regret that this war was started. We all know of someone or some group of people that has been ill-affected by this conflict. I wish I could bring more therapy to the overall system at work (not at play).

I do see the irony in Saddam's death by hanging sentence. What a confusing message we send the world. The U.S. put Saddam in power to control Iran. He was only following orders when he did what he did from the country that is now behind his summary execution. WTF?

How can the U.S. (a country I've taken multiple oaths stating I will gladly give my life in her defense) regain or at least establish geo-political trust?

What if American citizens approached our role in the world as ambassadors? What if we take Kennedy's intention behind the Peace Corps and apply it to everyday situations--particularly situations abroad?

Each of us has to work toward healing the Neo-Con wound. Even though we had nothing to do with creating it.