Let my heart hold a moment of silence for you.
-A peaceful village filled with families who cared for and loved each other.
What was your crime?
-Accused of being Viet Cong sympathizers.
My Lai.
Not a draft-age male found among you.
-Calley, your executioner.
Calley had a decent youth.
What happened?
How did he become so evil?
Women were raped.
Babies slaughtered.
BABIES!!
Were those babies VC sympathizers?
Weren’t we there to protect them?
My Lai.
How to excuse the idea of collateral damage?
You are not collateral damage.
You are humans.
You have wants.
Wishes
Dreams.
How did we become so evil?
How could we close our eyes and destroy you?
No heart.
No empathy.
Pure slaughter.
Was Calley innocent?
-Just following Medina?
Can we close our consciousness off in the name of orders?
Thompson didn’t.
Thompson showed bravery.
But it was mostly too late for you.
My Lai.
I can’t understand how “decent American men” could
Switch to rapists and murderers.
What is the color of our hearts?
Do we change who we are in the name of orders?
Where’s our accountability?
History is full of this brutality.
The present-day still has this.
But for us Americans, we feel so pompous and Godly.
Aren’t we above this?
My Lai.
I can never bring you back.
My heart hangs low for you.
My Lai.
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My Lai
by Stephanie Daich
