What Really Made Us

War, the first time it rolled over our sacred lands we lived in sheltered hovels, ate watery soup from broken bowls, and stood frozen in our fields like stalagmites. But we rose up and pushed back the savage lions roaring and clawing through our gates. A silver sun’s sheen never shone, hell cast us out, and we were diminished, yet we survived.

Our second helping of war came and went in a fiery flash of brimstone, hell-fire and tyranny untold. We had rebuilt our hovels, thickened our souls, and tilled the elegant land back into our native soil. All of which was flattened, razed, and annihilated. If we’d been lucky, our adversary would’ve dropped Fat Man and Little Boy on us. Alas, that technology came far too late and on the wrong side to save us agony, misery, and torment.

The years passed, and recompense won’t ever come, but we’ve never forgotten how our sturdy hands cupped those chipped bowls and our flimsy houses provided all we’d ever need. We’ll never forget the taste of our thin, unsavory soup or what it took to churn our mangled dirt back into fertile, vibrant homelands.

But our minds are a little hazy on those who oppressed us and why. We have long moments of dementia about the atrocities and calamities of fascist regimes. And we’ve selective amnesia whenever words like holocaust and Vietnam enter the crisp, clean air. We’ve forgotten and will forever forget the horrors, so they won't ever rule over us and we only recollect all those meager, but wondrous things that truly made us into—us.

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David Grubb is a retired Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer. He's been a creative writer his entire life, yet never focused on it because of career and family. He's changing that part of his life one day at a time and loving every minute of it. He also immensely enjoys being a stay at home dad, more or less. More of his work can be found at https://www.agrubbylife.com/