“We live here. They don’t.  It’s like, say, you and me falling in love with the same girl.  We both had good and bad times courting her, maybe she hurt us both.  I win and marry her. You go home to your country far away.

After twenty years, all you have of her are memories, both the good and the bad. Me, I live with her for twenty years.  I see her at her best and at her worst,. We make peace with each other.  We build our lives, have children, and make new history together.

Twenty years and you have only memories.

It’s’ not the forgetting but the new history with the girl that is the difference between you and me.

(Observation of a Vietnamese tour guide regarding why American veterans seem to struggle with the war more than Vietnamese veterans.)

Read how one veteran was able to replace old war memories with new experiences.

For more information contact:

Bob Smoker

bobsmoker1 (at) gmail.com