During the late 1960s-early '70s, the country went a little nuts. Much of the unrest was about the Vietnam war, civil rights, drugs, dress and hair.
The Vietnam war was at the center of it all.I had two good friends/co-workers, one of whom was against the war, the other was all for it. Those two guys had been the best of friends. One of them had worked his way up through the ranks, starting as an office boy. He was one of the most decent people I ever met.The other fellow was older, a World War II vet who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Call him Sam. He felt that anyone against the war was a traitor and ought to face a firing squad. The younger guy, call him Greg, came from a poor family. He'd had to work during much of his adolescence, and he was pursuing a college degree at night.Sam and Greg had been close friends since Greg came to work when he was about 20. Sam took him under his wing. They became beer-drinking buddies, and Sam told Greg where all the bodies were buried.But Vietnam came along, and that was the end of their friendship. They grew to suspect each other's motives and drifted further apart.What it came down to was a liberal vs. conservative divide. They began to avoid each other.The bitterness they felt toward each other was almost palpable, and it spread to other parts of the office, and others began to choose sides.Greg left and moved to another city, where he was killed in an auto accident.What a blow. He had been one of my dearest friends. I've always thought what a shame it was that Greg and Sam never were able to patch up their differences.I recently thought about this again when I posted on Facebook about "the war on Christmas," and how easy it is to make enemies over something as trivial as whether it's proper to say "Merry Christmas." I sense that my rant on that subject might have lost me some friends.I expected some to disagree, but the reaction was much worse than I expected.I truly regret that it so angered a few people. I feel I have to remind folks that I was not advocating that anyone stop saying "Merry Christmas." My point was that it was a tempest in a teapot, and some in the media were stirring the pot.At any rate, I felt bad that I had upset anyone with my comments. I'm especially sorry if I offended a couple of friends I had known for more than 40 years.Let's call a truce and promise not to let our political/religious differences divide us any more than they have. Not another Vietnam, please. I promise to work on it from my end.Phil Vinson of Fort Worth is a retired lecturer in journalism at UT Arlington. He worked at three Texas newspapers (including the Star-Telegram) from 1963 to 1972.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
