Sitting with Warrior
by
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As I approached the warrior, he transferred the smoke pipe from the hand that held it to the one resting on his knee.
He gazed at me, and then pointed with his eyes to where his free hand patted the ground with an invitation to sit. I calculated his reach and parked myself just beyond it, pulling my legs up under me in his fashion. He smiled to himself, evidently amused at my wariness. …
“The light of my fire has always burned,” he stated. “Yet it is just now that you have found your way to me. Who am I? That is your question, is it not? I can hear it loud and clear. As clear and deafening as those rockets blasting into the compound that day in April 1968.”
Images of the attack surfaced immediately in my mind.
“INCOMING … INCOMING bellowed through the hootch like the recoil of a thunderous boom, which had bolted from the sky in an ominous whistle. The shouting was the Salts’ seasoned reflexes kicking-in with the fluid motility of controlled terror.
Bodies hurled themselves off cots; feet hit the deck running, pounding across the wooden floor out into the night toward the bunker.
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About the Book
Inner teacher, "Warrior," a Nanticoke warrior of the seventeenth century, shares his wisdom with his grandson, and in so doing reveals the mystery of the warrior spirit. It is through the inner-warrior that we self-actualize the inner life dreamed into the outer life lived. It is through embracing our warrior nature that we conquer self-delusion and self-doubt and realize the ultimate truth: We are Warrior. We are the noble being we always hoped to be. Warrior's spiritual perspective on war, life, death, the meaning of existence addresses those fundamental questions of human origin and purpose. HIs view is both insightful and honoring of life lived and sacrificed in pursuit of higher meaning. Drawing on spiritual science and "warrior perspective," he navigates the reader through the inner workings of the human condition, enfolding within it war as an ironic outcropping of consciousness raging for fuller integration. As a Marine Corps veteran of an unpopular and divisive war, Carl Hitchens contends that "Sitting with Warrior" chronicles not only his journey, but America’s as well. By sitting and listening to Warrior’s wisdom, he has recovered lost parts of himself. This gives America hope for stepping out of the long shadow of Vietnam that today stretches over Iraq and Afghanistan. Hope that by sitting with Warrior and his unifying truth, America can heal her old wounds. Hope that she can draw from her pluralism and diversity unity rather than division—"out of many, one." To Educators, Historians, and Mental Health Practitioners More than story, more than memoir: Sitting with Warrior is an authentic peep inside the combat mind experience of those who go to war. It looks at war and warrior-ship in the full circle of cultural and nationalistic themes, and social, psychological, and spiritual forces that form and shape those going and returning from lethal combat. It is therefore relevant to any historical treatment of war and its effects from readjustment challenges, to interrelationship struggles to PTSD to spiritual healing.
About the Author
Born in Washington, D.C., Carl Hitchens is a poet, mythical storyteller, essayist, blogger, and cultural observer. His publishing credits include the books “Sitting with Warrior” (Historical Memoir/Myth – iUniverse 2010) and “Shades of Light” (Spiritual and social-relevant poetry – iUniverse 2013), and the contributive poem, “Breath of Fire” (Anthology “Meditation on Divine Names,” Editor Maja Trochimczyk – Moonrise Press 2012). Through his writing, the author strives to act as a voice of cultural, social, and political examination, critique and criticism. In this regard, he shares his writing of experiences in war with veterans and non-veterans alike to promote understanding and insight on the challenges of post-war readjustment. To that end, he accepted the invitation to do a book reading of “Sitting with Warrior” (Historical Memoir/Myth) at the Veterans Resource Fair, sponsored by The Yavapai Community College Veteran Connection (Feb. 28, 2011). He also relishes opportunities to present and recite his poetry from “Shades of Light” and his other works (spiritual and social-relevant narrative) before the public. The author is of Nanticoke heritage mixed with other drums and songs, and a long-time practitioner of Yoga. He finds ‘walking in beauty’ on Mother Earth nurturing to his spirit. During the Vietnam War, he served with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division.