The Book of the Wounded Healers (A Study in Perception) – Chapter 5 – “Places You’ve Never Been”
Across South Street from the Port Authority’s Downtown Manhattan Heliport is the Viet Nam Veterans’ Plaza. The city is still deserted, at least at this end, and a mixture of police, National Guard, Army, Marines, and Special Forces surround us. Some have their weapons on us, others are buying doughnuts and coffee from some street vendors. The police are told to remove the vendors, this is a secured area. The police say, “Back it up, get out of here,” then count their change, their mouths full of donut. Out in the East River are warships, their guns set to level Manhattan. Above us, swarming like locusts and near blotting out the sun, are Cobras and BlackHawks, combat helicopters in steady formation. Further above are bombers which I can hear but not see. The sky, where it shows between and above buildings, is bluer than I remember seeing except for up north in New Hampshire where pollution is petitioning for repatriation. Clouds and mists rise off the river, both due to the warbirds’ blades. Despite all the activity, there is no wind and the smell of the river hangs on us like old, rotted clothes. There are no birds where we stand, but several pigeons wait for the soldiers and police to drop their donuts and flee.
Prior to the Healers coming to the Island, movable versions of The Wall, The Memorial Flag, The Book, and a few other, similar memorials are on display in Veterans’ Plaza. Beriah and Jenreel walk towards them. Our ocean of defenders moves with us. The birds race forward and scramble to gather crumbs and avoid boots before they take to the air again.
Beriah places his hands on The Wall, presses his fingers into the names, and closes his eyes.
“Is everything okay?”
Jenreel leans against The Book, his face and eyes looking at the guardians of our peace occulting us as much as possible from onlookers. “These serves as a memory for those who passed in conflict.”
“Yes.” I notice some officers and older enlistees are acutely attentive to us.
“We don’t have such things.”
The secret of world peace is at hand? “You don’t have conflict?”
Cetaf bends over The Memorial Flag. “There is always conflict. We don’t have such memories.”
“Are there no fighters, no soldiers, no warriors where you come from?”
Jenreel shakes his head. “Of course there are. They’re all dead.”
“Don’t you wish to remember them?”
“Time spent dwelling on the past can blind one to today.”
“There are those of my people who say, ‘If we don’t study the mistakes of the past we are doomed to repeat them’.”
“Each morning be a blank slate that the new day may write itself upon you. Be wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.”
Frog Lips, The Wisp, and Elephant Toes are Zen Christians? Did they read earth literature before they came, deciding whether or not they’d enjoy this holiday spot?
The police and soldiers shrug and away. The Healers don’t threaten their job security after all, they’re just Joseph Campbell students. Birds land on Cetaf and he picks up crumbs and scraps to feed them.
“I don’t understand.” This has become my stanchion in the short time I’ve known them. “Doesn’t that leave yourself open to repeating your mistakes?”
“It leaves you open to experiences unique to this moment. Sometimes experiences follow patterns. Respond differently to the pattern and it breaks. Mistakes are not repeated.”
“But – ”
Beriah waves his four fingered hand palm up at the memorials. “As long as you need to mark how long you’ve been free of a drug, you’re still doing a drug. You must become “Do something else” to be free of a drug. If you continue to accept your disease, you can never accept your health because the two do not leave room for each other. Continue to glorify conflict by remembering it and you’ll never be free of it.”
“But you said there would always be conflict.”
Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to Midnight Garden (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.