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August
13 / 19, 2002
Leading
By Example
by Philip Farruggio
My father was a "Goldwater Republican"
in '64. Hated the Kennedys, hated Johnson,Truman, FDR. He tolerated
blacks but wouldn't live next door to them. Later, his oldest
son married one, and slowly my dad's tolerance increased--yet
never would he wish to live next door to them.
My father was also a longshoreman--really a "checker"
to be exact. They were in the some union, but the checkers did
the paperwork, the others did the lifting. I guess his one year
at Brooklyn College and his high IQ saved him some sweat. My
old man quit college, simply put, to go to work. It was 1935
and jobs were scarce and money tight. So, he, his father and
his mother all found jobs, any jobs.
Now my grandfather, he was a college
graduate--but that was in Tunesia, North Africa, so it did not
count as much--and like I said, jobs were scarce. So, my old
man's old man used his skills and became a "trade unionist",
a machinist. Rumor has it that he may have actually invented
the double bolt lock.
By the late 30s things were really rough
in NYC, as in most of America. My grandfather got involved with
the union movement, went to demonstrations organized by the Communists,
got arrested, couldn't make bail--my grandmother and my father
had to go around "begging" everyone they knew to kick
in a little (the CP turned them down) and grandpa got himself
blacklisted from his craft ("you'll never work here again
you RED").
One day not too much later in this story,
my grandmother returned home from a long day of working on her
feet too much, tired and needing a nice warm bath. The only problem
was that my grandfather had beaten her to the tub. She found
him there with a pistol nearby his very cold and very bloody
once handsome face. Soon afterwards my father registered as a
Republican (go figure).
By 1968 the war in Vietnam was as divisive
as ever. Lines were being drawn, in the Congress, in the streets,
schools, homes and relationships. You were either a "hawk"
or a "dove". When my brother turned 21 and was ready
to graduate college-thus losing his draft deferment--my old man,
Mr. "bomb-em Barry" Republican, became a dove. He stated,
at a family gathering: "before they try to take my kid and
send him to some jungle to get shot at by some other kid, I will
personally drive my sons to Canada!" Was my father simply
a hypocrite, now that his boys were "body bag age"?
No, not really. He was a proud man with a past, a sad sad past,
who knew that he had been wrong. He knew, instinctively, that
he had been led by leaders, not through example, rather rhetoric
and lies. He knew, from some truths being shown every evening
on Cronkite (truth was still a luxury in those days as well)
that boys his son's age were being killed by others in black
pajamas, for the right to "claim" a rice paddy as theirs.
Who in the hell on the 17th Street pier where he worked would
give a crap about places called Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia? All
the news reports showed were peasants, farmers, and jungle, and
hot as hell, rainy heat! No, this was no longer a "just
war' to my old man--this was not a war against the superb and
deadly German war machine! This was a war against barefoots in
pajamas shooting up a ricefield!
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, back in
Texas USA, another father did not see things quite the same.
George SR. was a hawk, a "Let's go get em, kill a commie
for Christ" type. His son, from all accounts, publically
agreed with dear old dad. One always has this sneaking suspicion
that privately he may have (and may now) have very different
views. As the saying goes "actions speak louder..."
so what did GW the son do? Did he enlist in the Air Force to
help in the "good fight"? To fly sorties over enemy
concentrations and take out some of those black pajamas? Of course,
that would be risking the fate of a Lt. John McCain, and perhaps
being shot down. No, our boy took the road less travelled and
defended our nation over the skies of Texas, while my friends
were returning to our neighborhood in but my memories, and McCain
spent years in harsh captivity. The "man who would be President"
was not alone during the late 60s and early 70s. Our Congress
is filled with men who we called back then "chickenhawks".
They not only supported the war, but they demanded we attack!
attack! attack!, always keeping their deferments to never serve
there there there!No man should serve who dissents against his
countries policies or actions--but to act as these men did is
a disgrace!
Now we have the newest "war"
against Iraq. This is a country and a regime, with the very same
leader, who was our "friend" during the 80s. We gave
him all the economic and military support we could muster, so
long as he was fighting "the good fight" against our
enemy Iran. While Iraq was our "friend", did not Saddam
commit atrocities against his own people? Did not he use mustard
gas and slaughter the Kurds? Did not he develop (through whose
help, one wonders) chemical and biological weapons? Now, those
very things make him candidate for our "war" with him.
Here's what I say: Number one, I do not
want my sons, or my fellow American's sons, to be shipped to
some desert, or to some city thousands of miles away, to be killed
or to kill innocents. Number two, I want all these so called
"War With Iraq Hawks", all these media pundits, to
strap on the helmuts and gear and get on that next transport.
Finally, I want our leader to get behind that cockpit and do
what he should have done some 30 odd years ago: "Lead by
Example!!"
Philip Farruggio,
son of a longshoreman, is "Blue Collar Brooklyn" born,
raised and educated (Brooklyn College, Class of '74). A former
progressive talk show host, Philip runs a mfg. rep. business
and writes for many publications. He lives in Port Orange, FL.
You can contact Mr. Farruggio at e-mail: brooklynphilly@aol.com.
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August 14
/ 19, 2002
Susan Davis
Played
Out: a Journey to Central City, Colorado
CounterPunch
Staff
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Hamit Dardagan
The
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Disastrous
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Global
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Return to
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Alexander
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The
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Rahul Mahajan
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The
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Bernard Weiner
Inside
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Mike Leon
US Mute
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Norman Madarasz
Brazil:
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Susan Davis
Fat Americans
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Nuclear
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