Understood. I do not know any vets without limbs, nor do I currently have affiliations with anyone with serious disabilities (save a few grandparents, which COUNTS!), but I'll say this: The time for withdrawal from those in need is the time we should all just lay down our arms and give up.

We need those people. We need them, and they need us. The only way I could abandon them is if they told me to do so for the benefit of the children or summat, and even so, with a heavy heart and with no alternative WHATSOEVER, would I do such a thing.

We need them for their wisdom and fortitude (you tell me it doesn't take fortitude and determination to live such a life, and I'll tell you I'm Wild Bill), and they need us because we can be their salvation from things which otherwise could kill them.

You can do what you like, and I pray you safe haven.. Me? I'll take the chance, and I'll take the responsibility of taking care of them. If I fail? I tried. If I succeed? I tried. I expect no quarter from ne'er-do-wells, nor favored treatment from allies just because I did my human duty and passed through without quarrel.


Let me say this last thing: It is my fondest hope that nothing ever happens to anyone, ever. It is destiny that things WILL happen that is beyond our control. The only thing we control is our actions. Control is an illusion, at best... and a downright lie, at worst.

So, whatever happens, my control, my conscience, will be to do what I must, what I can, with what I have, and hope/pray for the best.

Anything else is pure manure, and a cop-out, or lie.


earl3, Take these words not as a lashing, if you should take such things, but as an alternative to your suggestions.