SwiftVets.com

[GenrXr]

John Adams wrote,

The desolated lover, and disappointed connections, are compelled by their grief to reflect on the vainty of human wishes and expectations; to learn the essential lesson of resignation, to review their own conduct toward the deceased, to correct any errors or faults in their future conduct toward their remaining friends, and toward all men; to recollect the virtues of their lost friend, and resolve to imitate them; his follies and vices, if he had any, and resolve to avoid them. Grief drives men into habits of serious reflection, sharpens the understanding, and softens the heart; it compels them to rouse their reason, to assert its empire over their passions, propensities and prejudices, to elevate them to a superiority over all human events, to give them the felicis animi immotam tranquiltatem; in short, to make them stoics and Christians.


This passage explains so well the stoic nature of soo many who have se3rved and seen the horror of war as well as those who haven't, yet have seen the unpleasantness of normal life and the dealings we all have to face. Rather then get down though take from that which grieves us and make it strengthen us. My question is has John Kerry ever lost someone he loved and was dear to him or even a close friend which might have given rise to this type of reflection within his soul? Now I must add that Adams said those people who are void of conscience, without moral character cannot grieve or reflect upon the death of those around them. Could this possibly be Kerry? A person with no conscience?
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"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy

[kate]

Kerry's loss of his good friend had to have an impact ...and the timing...

John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography: By the Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/
In early February of 1968, Kerry shipped out to the Gulf of Tonkin aboard the USS Gridley, a guided-missile frigate. By then, the antiwar movement was heating up, and Kerry carried with him the memory of seeing demonstrators in Los Angeles beaten by police.

As the Gridley crossed the Pacific, an officer bearing a telegram tracked Kerry down on the deck.

``Do you know a guy named Dick Pershing?'' the officer asked. The officer handed him the paper, and Kerry feared the worst as he opened it.

On Feb. 17, 1968, the telegram said, Richard Pershing had died due to ``wounds received while on a combat mission when his unit came under hostile small-arms and rocket attack while searching for remains of a missing member of his unit.''

John Kerry's letter to his parents after learning that his friend, Richard Pershing, died in Vietnam.
Dearest Mama and Papa,

What can I say? I am empty, bitter, angry and desperately lost with nothing but war, violence, and more war around me. I just don't believe that it was meant to be this cruel and senseless -- that anyone could possibly get near to Persh to take his life. What a God-damn total waste. Why? I was on watch on the bridge when the executive officer came over and asked me if I had a friend called Pershing. I knew immediately it was all over but even when I read the telegram it took moments to sink in. Then I just walked off the bridge and cried -- a pathetic and very empty kind of crying that turned into anger and bitterness.

I have never felt so void of feeling before -- so numb. My God I feel sorry for Shirley …. I just feel so sorry for the whole thing. I am glad that you wrote Mrs. Pershing -- I know that it will mean a lot to her and it was warming to me to know that you did.

With the loss of Persh something has gone out of me -- he was so much a part of my life at the irreplaceable, incomparable moments of love, concerns, anger and compassion exchanged in Bones that can never be replaced -- never be satisfied in memory form. Persh was an unbelievable spark in all of us and we took for granted that we would always be together -- go crashing through life in our unconquerable fashion as one entity. Now that is gone in one incomprehensible moment. Time will never heal this. It may alleviate but it will never heal. If I do nothing more, and if I convince… the others to do nothing more, it will be to give every effort we can to somehow make this a better world to live in and to end once and for all this willingness to expend ourselves in this stupid, endless self-destruction.

Persh's loss will not -- and I don't know why -- but it will not affect my faith, rather strengthen my convictions -- it's the loss of another friend that teaches you so much it would be trite to even put it on paper. I just can't… the picture of the funeral out of my mind…. There is a lot now to say but I really don't want to write about it -- I just don't have it in me. I will write again in a few days. I hope. Take care and God bless. I am thinking of you all.

Much love,
John
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one of..... We The People

[GenrXr]

This letter could have been for political purpose for Kerry though. Everything Kerry has done in his life rings of calculated political purpose.
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"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy

[SharpTalons]

I don't think John Kerry is a vile, wretched creature completely devoid of conscience. Perhaps overly ambitious and power-hungry though........
As shown in the past, his ambitions have often superceded better judgement.