Vietnam

I'm more pathetic than Lileks who says in his discussion of the war in Vietnam

Later it was a Symbol and a Warning – a reminder of American failings, not American failure. It was a template, too; every war wa seem through the terms of Vietnam, which for us meant THE DRAFT, the ultimate mellow-harsher. Most of my reflexive anti-militarism of the early 80s came not from any deep-seated conviction about the ethics of force, but from a desire to stay in coffeehouses smoking cigarettes and reading books as long as I wanted to. It was selfish and cowardly, but I had a vast body of literature and philosophy to help me convince myself otherwise.

I was opposed to the war and to militarism in general because my parents were (and remain) pacifists. I'm not sure I was right anymore.