A Darker View of the Air Show

Am I the only one who saw the El Toro Air Show--through tinted eyes? I know I was wearing sunglasses like everyone else, but I think my tinted glass was of a darker hue.

You tell me. Did you see the AV-8B maneuvering through the air like a painter’s brush? Or did you see a steel machine made by one human to kill another? Did you see the bombs a football field away and marvel at the wonders of man? Or did you feel the heat from the flames and wonder how it must have felt for another human to be standing in the middle of that fire?

I saw the F-117A Stealth fighter and all of its accomplishments--listed in destruction. Did you notice the young men guarding it with machine guns? We have made a plane that can fly in, undetected, drop a bomb and get us out of town without every having to look back.

I realize that there has to be a certain amount of fighting in order to acquire and maintain freedom, but the battles of long ago were just that--battles. We’d face each other for a while, then, with our leader in front, we would charge. We had to look our enemy in the eye before we killed them. Those were the battles for freedom with honor.

Now we fly, at night, avoiding the enemy’s eye. We shoot them, bomb them, melt the skin off their bones and fly out before the first curl of a scream is heard. And we call these metal accomplishments heroic? I don’t. Do you? Maybe it’s just me.

APRIL GENTRY

Garden Grove