{"id":962,"date":"2018-09-20T09:29:55","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T16:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/?p=962"},"modified":"2018-09-21T10:32:45","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T17:32:45","slug":"two-guys-talking-on-the-subway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/?p=962","title":{"rendered":"Two Guys Talking on the Subway…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Mount Shasta from the Shasta Daylight. Photographer: Kile Ozier<\/p><\/div>\n

Someone close to me retweeted this thread by Tucker Shaw<\/span><\/a> (Of \u201cAmerica’s Test Kitchen<\/span><\/a>“), yesterday. I glanced at it and began to read; doubting I\u2019d make it much past the first bit, about two young men talking on the subway\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

By the second one, I was completely engaged.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the years immediately following the worst of the pandemic, it seemed to us – to me – as though the youth that followed wanted no part of this legacy, did not want to know what that experience was. It was bad, that\u2019s all they were willing to hear; then would turn away, physically, spiritually, socially\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t blame them\u2026at all. <\/span><\/p>\n

When one arrives at an intersection, a crossroads, and off to the left a huge, dark, virtually impenetrable cloud of sadness looms while to the right is the bright sunshine of possibility shining on one\u2019s own special future\u2026the choice is easy and understandable. <\/span><\/p>\n

These days, there exist groups and organizations and likely millions of ad hoc<\/i> conversations among the survivors still dealing with our own Waterloo, our own Normandy. Except our battles lasted for years. <\/span><\/p>\n

Years. <\/span><\/p>\n

Years of putting friends and lovers – and those without friends or lovers whose families had thrown them out and ceased communication – into the ground or on the surfaces of oceans deep or in forests quiet. <\/span><\/p>\n

PTSD? Probably. Who had time to Process any of this? Boys (mostly) would get sick and die in a matter of weeks, evaporating before our eyes as we desperately tried to comfort them and one another. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then. Gone. And we turned to the next one. And the next one. And the next…<\/span><\/p>\n

No time to grieve. Thus, I believe we still continue to harbor that pain, that bewildered emptiness, and support one another though a loss that remains incomprehensible; returning to enclose and haunt our hearts still, these thousands of nights, later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through this most recent decade, though, I\u2019ve encountered scores of young people (everyone\u2019s a young person to me, anymore!); younger men and women who want to know how it was; what it was: newly stunned at what took place during those awful years.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am gratified to see the compassion and concern in the bright eyes of these questing people. I welcome their questions, their articles, their projects, their documentaries\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

And then I hear conversations that reflect an objectivity, a clinical perspective that from here seems so profoundly detached from the experience. I want to grab shoulders, look them in the eye and say, \u201cYou have no idea!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

But that\u2019s an unfair challenge to those who were not there. <\/span><\/p>\n

I wept beside my partner, Jaxon, as I shared \u201cAngels in America\u201d with him for the first time. \u201cThis is how it was\u2026\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This is how it was\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

I had such a notebook. The list got too long and became too painful.<\/p>\n

Then comes this thread from yesterday; the response of Mr. Shaw. <\/span><\/p>\n

Simple. Eloquent. Evocative. True. <\/span><\/p>\n

I share this in the name of keeping the human experience, the residual power of those dark years alive, current, appreciated.<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn’t so long ago…<\/p>\n

Thank you, Mr. Shaw.<\/span><\/p>\n

His Posts:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is how it was.<\/p>\n

____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Popular throughout the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies, \u201c<\/span>IMHO : Creating Compelling Experience<\/b><\/span>\u201d remains a free download from the Apple bookstore and iTunes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Seriously: Free. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read it. [Link to iBooks site<\/span><\/a> ]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone close to me retweeted this thread by Tucker Shaw (Of \u201cAmerica’s Test Kitchen“), yesterday. I glanced at it and began to read; doubting I\u2019d make it much past the first bit, about two young men talking on the subway\u2026 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2oSuI-fw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":969,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions\/969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}