That Bitch, That War In Vietnam

You know, I remember that LBJ said that his true love was civil rights, but that he threw it all away for that bitch of a war, Vietnam.

I'm not endorsing that statement, but I think it shows exactly why LBJ wouldn't run for President even if he were nominated. The war was simply too divisive.

America lost a dream state in the 1960's. It lost its innocence, yes, but it was more than that. I think that we were in a trance, a state of denial about the wider world, and that this -- ironically -- empowered us beyond what we could actually accomplish.

There is a story from Viking myth that seems appropriate to consider here: A young hero was tested to his limits. His test ended in failure -- utter failure. Or so it seemed, until it was revealed to him that he had taken on the very sinews that girded the Earth, and that the gods themselves trembled at his power.

We failed in Vietnam. We failed in our aspirations in space, because our vision died in decreptitude. We didn't have, in that sense, the "right stuff". When one fails, sometimes it is a failure that teaches us what we can do, if only we knew our true strength.