Final Episode: Sam Talbert and Larry Heinemann

Both of these articles are incredibly interesting, but I found it somewhat difficult to read the interview of Sam Talbert because his language was very poor.  I thought Sam had some great ideas and it was interesting to hear his perspective in which he believes that people are ruining society.  He says, "It scares me sometimes thinkin' people are never goin' to learn.  I sometimes get to thinkin' people's gettin' too hard-hearted.  There's no trust in anybody.  Used to be hitchiking, you'd get a ride.  Now they're afraid they'll be robbed, but people has always been robbed all their life.  So it's hard for me to pass up a hitchiker" (pg. 415).  Although this idea is relatively simple, the fact that he would give open arms to a hitchiker today is very daring.  I personally would never do such a thing simply because there are lots of bad people in the world.  I think Sam understands that, but he is willing to trust everyone, until their devil is released.  On the other hand, being a war veteran, like my grandfather, there are many stories to tell.  In the case of Larry Heinemann, he chose to begin his story talking about life back at home after the war.  When explaining that MLK Jr. had just been killed, he said, "I was gettin' a haircut for my wedding. These guys in the barber shop were talking, I remember: Somebody finally got that nigger....Black cities were just going up in flames.  And then Bobby Kennedy was shot.  It was almost as if I had brought the war home myself.  I didn't want any part of it whatever" (pg. 417).  This was the most intriguing statement in the entire passage because it really makes me think.  The Civil War occured a little over 200 years ago from this point in time and yet the issue regarding race still lingers in our history.  I also thought it was interesting that he blamed everything on himself, he said that it was just as chaotic at home as it was in Vietnam.