Bob Kerrey: ‘When I Was a Young Man’
By Wink
Today’s recommended reading is the autobiography of former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey, titled ‘When I Was a Young Man’.
This book, published in 2002, is NOT the story of ‘how I became a governor/senator/president of a university’. It is a simple telling of him as a young child, up through the end of his service in the Vietnam War.
‘Simple’ is meant as a compliment here. All of the players, Kerrey included, are just normal people, and we are shown how they (and we) are all affected when we are exposed to dire events.
The soldiers, their families, and all those touched by them are all heroes. Through it all it seems Kerrey is made to wonder why he is one of the few with a medal.
A Navy SEAL team leader, he made it through only 50 days in Vietnam, then had the lower part of leg blown off by a grenade. On a subsequent stay at a military hospital he made a request to the surgeon to save as much of his leg as possible…
What follows is an excerpt from the book, when Lt. Kerrey awakes after surgery …
When I opened my eyes I was in the recovery room. My mother and father were there, sitting in chairs against the wall. They were holding hands. My mother’s eyes were red and puffy. “Mom? Dad? Is that you?” I called. They came to my bedside and looked down upon me. “How are you feeling?” my father asked me. “Fine,” I answered, “Just fine.” My mother held my hand and put a wet washcloth to my lips. Two other men were alone and still asleep in their beds. As my head cleared, I remembered where I was and what had just been done to me. I remembered my question to the surgeon, but could not lift my head high enough to see how much had been taken. “Do you need something, son?” my father asked. I addressed the answer to my mother. “Mom, I need to know how much is left.” She looked down at me, held my hand, and said, “There’s a lot left, Bob. There is a lot left.” She was not talking about my leg. From that moment I did not doubt that my body and spirit would heal.
Kerrey never totally heals spiritually though. An awful wisdom is gained through his personal experience and his witnessing of fellow soldiers who are dealt much more severe circumstances than his missing limb.
He concludes the book with information he has learned about an uncle who was lost toward the end of WWII. His efforts to learn this are made to honor his father’s final wishes.
This is a reflective book, not over-the-top. He underplays many of the significant events in his life. He presents issues of hopelessness, and of renewed hope.
In his eyes, life presents us many heroes, should we choose to notice them. He does not present himself as a hero, however, just as a survivor.
