Vietnam Veterans

I wrote God Bless America in 1980, when America was in a mess much like today’s mess, and not long after the Ray of Hope generated by the American hockey team’s improbable run to the Olympic gold medal. I had been trying for years to write something that put into perspective my experiences in the war, the war itself, and the condition of our country. I was especially interested in trying to put into words for a non-veteran reader a description of the Something that happens in war, a Something that can, unless one is careful, transform the heart into a stone; a Something which, even if one is careful, you must deal with and take control of if you are ever to fully return home.I hoped that in the process of so doing I would find the language that would help me understand what had happened to me. In multiple attempts over multiple years I had failed miserably to write what I was trying to write. Then one day, after seeing a commercial for Contac cold capsules, which were small capsules full of little tiny time pills, I got the idea for the opening line and for the piece’s metaphor; and then the piece flowed out.  - Joe Puggelli