"There are few die well who die in a battle." (Henry V)

.....On the second nite of Rosh Hashanah we had two couples over for dinner. A few days before, Rho swore that she was too tired to have guests on that night, but I guess she enjoys doing it, and so it was done. We had turkey, asparagus, noodle pudding, kashe varnishkes, matzoh ball soup, gefilte fish, wine, and I can't account for anything else. For our gentile friends as far as kashe varnishkes and gefilte fish is concerned, you don't want to know. During the evening, one of our neighbors, who was, and apparently still has, an abiding interest in Judaism and debunking the "Jews for Jesus" movement led us to the point where we were debating which religions believe in a Heaven and a Hell. Of course, we aren't politicians so our discussion was civilized. I gave the guys the benefit of my vast experience on the subject of Heaven and Hell.

.....I don't have too much knowledge about which religions believe or do not believe in Heaven or Hell, but I do know that Ulysses S. Grant once said, "War is Hell!", and from my experience I tend to agree with that assessment. But I don't recall that Grant ever defined Heaven. I don't believe he did. Then there is Edward Fitzgerald, who in "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" wrote, ".....I sent my soul into the invisible some letter of that afterlife to spell, and by and by my soul returned and said 'I myself am Heaven and Hell'. John Milton in "Paradise Lost" (a work of pure genius) in describing Satan's speech to his vast and lost legions after being kicked out of Heaven for attempting to overthrow God, had Satan on the burning lake attempting to encourage his men by stating, "....the mind is its own place and of itself can make a Hell of Heaven or a Heaven of Hell." Satan was sort of the Rush Limbaugh or Newt Gingrich of the book. Then there was Jean Paul Sartre who wrote the play, "No Exit" in French. In the play, which had a simple set, and only four characters, one of whom was the Valet who lead Garcin to a door and ushered him in where he met Inez and Estelle. After years of discussing each other's sins in the room, Garcin's adultery, for example, he decided to leave. But after opening the door, the heat was so great that he could not get out. Sartre was saying, "...l'enfer, c'est les autres," which everyone knows means that "Hell is other people." I tend to agree with him depending upon whom the other people are. In my life, I've met many whom I would like to lead to that particular door. To my knowledge, I don't believe Sartre ever wrote a play about Heaven where a valet would lead me to a door, behind which there were 76 virgins....please, not now, but a number of years ago.

.....Now, thousands of soldiers will be coming back from the hellish war in Iraq and after being discharged they will not be able to adapt to civilian life for a very long time. Many will not be able to get work. Many will find that their wives no longer have a love interest in them. Many will take to drugs or alcohol. Some will contemplate or even comit suicide. The military is a very organized life. Every moment of your time is accounted for. But, back in civilian life, veterans will not know how to deal with organizing themselves. Thousands of returning veterans will be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or "battle fatigue" as it was known after WWII. Personally, I prefer the latter term because I have found that most people to not understand PTSD, and that includes many in the medical field that I've encountered. The trauma of combat in war can last a lifetime.