Lost discipline

When I was sixteen, I had to drive down to the place where all sixteen year old males had to register for the U.S. military draft. They gave me a draft card and told me to always keep it with me.  When I was seventeen, a senior in high school, the government held the draft lottery for that year. It was like at a BINGO parlor, with 365 balls – each with a date marked on it.  Each were pulled out of the big wire spinner, one at a time, until it was empty. The dates were logged in the order they came out.  My birthdate came out 267th out of 365. When I was a senior in high school the country was mired in a terrible war in a place called Vietnam. Kids slightly older than me were coming home mentally and physically scarred from that war. The news showed many others coming home in body bags. There were protests in the streets, calling to “End the war now!” Richard Nixon promised, if reelected, to end that war with dignity and honor, when he ran for reelection, winning in 1972.

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