2 Thousand Yard stare by Tom Lea
|
The phrase thousand-yard stare refers to an unfocused gaze of the eyes, typically by soldiers, typical of acute battle shock and/or post-traumatic stress disorder; also seen in reactions to traumatic events.
The phrase was coined by Tom Lea (1907-2001), artist and writer, born in El Paso, Texas.
His piece Two-Thousand Yard Stare was a portrait of a young marine at Bliliou in 1944 who has had all, or more than, he can take.
Text from "WW II", by James Jones. copyright © 1975 James Jones. published by Grosset and Dunlap. ISBN 0-448-11896-3. pp. 113, 116.
Painting held by U.S.Army Center of Military History, Fort McNair VA.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.Material Is taken from the Wikipedia article "Thousand-yard Stare". Image from Milhist.net
Thousand-Yard Stare Commentary By KT
(AFP/US ARMY-HO/File)
|
I am fascinated with how non-combat writers use the expression "thousand-yard stare. For a Vietnam vet, it speaks volumes.
In fact, I recently saw it on a bus in San Francisco. The bus was actually going to the VA hospital and I was heading to the beach on the same bus. I began listening to a guy sitting beside me. He was doped up or drunk or a combination of both. He rambled on about a variety of subjects. He finally said something like "The Army got me hooked on morphine." At about that time, I glanced at another vet a few seats away who suddenly focused on the man and hissed at him with an expletive. Then the man looked away and a kind of glaze came over his eyes: the thousand-yard stare.
It was the look that, according to Joe Klein, in the latest Time Magazine, Dick Cheney had when attempting to explain how he shot his friend. Given his history, Cheney, whose five deferments from the draft and his infamous statement of "I had other priorities during Vietnam," hardly seems a good candidate for the thousand-yard stare. But, maybe so.
The thousand-yard stare represents despair, emptiness, and a simple acknowledgment that "getting through this ordeal" is what you are trying to do. For the Vietnam vet, maybe for Cheney, and maybe for many American soldiers in Iraq, it is what they are trying to do: get through it.
(Joe Klein) |
In the case of the thousand-yard stare, it is not serving us well as it relates to Iraq. From the news reports daily, it appears that the fragile democracy attempts are unraveling before our very eyes.
More than ever, we need a coherent strategy for dealing with where we are and how to get out of the mess. The thousand-yard stare is not a strategy.
Joe Klein is one of the best writers around for telling it like it is and being non-partisan I think. He doesn't mind taking a swipe at all the players, and rightly so.
Here is a great quote from his recent article in Time Magazine: ..."for fifty years, there has been a growing cultural chasm between the military and the rest of society. Those of us who haven't served have a special responsibility to listen to and try to understand those who have." |
|
 My Grandma Has a Blackberry book signing for women with breast cancer .
| |
|
Now Available: Newly revised paperback General Lee:Father of the Airborne.