The world I grew up in. Second from the left is my mom, who was a two-time president of the local Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW. Third from the left is my father, who was a two-time commander of the same local VFW post in our town. These are all the founding officers of the post in Aliquippa, PA. This image was published in the Beaver County Times. My godfather Walt is to the far left. I believe this shot was taken in 1959. Anyway. We do a lot of things wrong in this country. I think we have to, and especially in this era of apparently never-ending wars, begin doing veterans right. And the horror stories that evidence the failures have to stop and be replaced by a system that represents the best that human beings on this planet can do for each other. If we can’t fix that we’re never going to fix anything and the whole country is a sham.