I was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, which killed 38 men (boys, really) from Portland, as well as Timmy Valley, Wilton Pyle, Billy Smoyer … friends, teammates, frat bothers. I can assure Graham Platner that none of these men/boys went to war to kill people, as he once, jokingly or not, characterized his own motivation for signing up.

From the perspective of one entering his ninth decade, all I can say is that we are who we are. We bend, adjust, adapt, accommodate to “succeed.” I have searched for a plausible reason why any sentient person could have believed in Platner. This is the best I can do.

On Oct. 3, 1995, I sat in the Dartmouth College Commons to hear the O. J. Simpson verdict. When the “not guilty” verdict was read, the Black community jumped up in raucous, joyful disbelief. The whites sat in stony, stunned silence … disbelief. When any segment of our society becomes so disillusioned by corruption that facts and character no longer matter, we teeter on the precipice of losing our democracy.

It’s not that Platner’s supporters were deplorable, it’s that they no longer cared or believed in character. Frankly, from the perspective of an old timer, I don’t blame them. It just makes me profoundly sad.

Charles Miller
Portland