An Example Of An Interesting Idea

I often tell people that a good story is an interesting one.  They make people think.  What makes people think are subjects we are intimately familiar with, but explained in a different way.  I would like to give a terrific example I heard the other day.

I was listening to a speech being given by a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War.  He led a group of soldiers there.  One day, they were ambushed and sustained heavy fire.  He was shot several times and all of his men were killed or wounded.  He found himself in a field hospital.  At one point, the loss of all of his men struck him and he checked out.  Two nurses had stayed with him the entire time, even after their shifts were over, until he regained his mind.  He was informed, some time later, that the women were gay.  It was said in a hateful manner, but the speaker felt no hate.  These women were always there with him and helped him get better.  They were wonderful people, regardless of what they did in their private lives.

He went on to say how ridiculous that was.  He said, "It's ironic that I was being given medals for killing people and they were being shunned for healing."  When I heard that, I had to grab my pencil and paper and write it down as fast as I could.  That was a truly amazing thought.

This is by no means an original thought, but it is one that is easily forgotten.  We glorify the badass.  People who kill and cause destruction are awesome.  We cheer for them (assuming they're destroying the right things).  We even cheer for the bad guy if he is cool enough.  So who has time to think about all the people that tend to the ones wounded by the badass?

It also makes us wonder how we should define heroism.  The speaker said that "In a time when all of my friends were lying to get out of Vietnam, these women were lying about themselves to get in."  What's worthy of getting a medal, killing others or healing our own?  And in all of this, how does sexuality matter in any regard?  Since the speaker had no idea what the sexuality of the nurses was, then obviously it didn't affect the way he was treated.

The speech turned a conventional idea (the badass) on its head.  It discussed a very well-known concept, but represented it in a different light.  Instead of nodding my head in acknowledgment (of course medals are given to those who kill a lot of enemies), I was forced to ponder why that is the convention and what would happen if things were different.  That is an interesting idea.  Now go find one of your own.