Memorial Day

Memorial Day was May 26, and the May 28 Valley Edition had an article about Cheech Marin in its Valley 200 column (“Cheech? Cheech’s Not Here! But He Was”). Apparently he was a Vietnam draft dodger and moved to Vancouver, Canada, to avoid the draft.

Canada, that great cold land to the north, was a warm harbor for draft dodgers during the Vietnam War. I was a Canadian, and I was there to receive their gifts.

During my eighth grade, four of my six teachers were American draft dodgers. They were drawn by opportunity to my little town in northern British Columbia, a place to live and contribute. What stood them apart from the other teachers was their zest for what they did and their efforts to connect with their students. Can a teacher deliver both schoolwork and a sense of what is right to a rebellious young teenager? Those teachers, those American draft dodgers, stood up and delivered.

I have been to Washington and walked with sadness beside the Vietnam Memorial wall. But what has grief done with our memories? The sense of loss becomes somehow distorted over time into a sense of what is right and good.

Many Vietnam draft dodgers remained in Canada, but many returned to the States when the presidential pardon was given. How do they feel on Memorial Day? I hope they feel proud. The American draft dodgers who taught me were people who would have stood at the front of the line for any just cause. Their wall lives in the fabric of grown Canadian adults who as teenagers were graced with their spirit, their intellect, their love of life and their courage.

GORDON BOORMAN

Sherman Oaks

* I am sitting here on Memorial Day after having returned from the parade and a visit to the cemetery, reflecting about what my father, the World War II hero, and I and fellow Vietnam Vets fought against.

Was it not the lifestyle police of the Nazi government, who decided what type of life certain citizens could live? Was it not the lifestyle police of North Vietnam who infringed on the civil rights of the people of South Vietnam?

What is the difference between these forces and ideas and the lifestyle police of our country today? We did not fight so that Huntington Beach could outlaw beer drinking on your front lawn or open garage. We did not fight so that Burbank could make it next to impossible for someone to purchase coffee, soda, diapers or cigarettes after midnight. We did not fight so that local governments could restrict people who smoke. Or so that we could outlaw different types of food. We fought so that every American citizen could make choices freely.

When government infringes on the right of the public to choose the pleasures it wishes to enjoy, we are laughing in the faces of all those brave men and women who fought in past wars to ensure these freedoms. We are spitting on their graves when we allow our government to create a police state that controls our choice of lifestyles to make it easier to control the few who abuse others. Enforce the laws that already exist and everyone’s rights will be upheld.

We are on the verge of becoming a police state every time one of these new lifestyle laws is passed. Stop it now so all those who fought for our freedoms will not have fought in vain.

AL MADLE

Lancaster