Attribute to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

In the summer of 1969 I was living in a house in the Old Strathcona district of Edmonton, Alberta. It was on the main floor of a two storey house which had been converted into apartments. It was affordable, but cramped.

There were four of us living there, which made the rent manageable if not the crowding. However, we were all young so it was not a great hardship.

We were sitting around the kitchen table playing cards one day in, if I remember correctly, late July. Edmonton is known for being rainless and clear in summer, so the last thing we were expecting was… what happened.

Most people know that light travels faster than sound, but few realise that there is something that moves at a speed midway between the two. Allow me to elucidate:

As I contemplated whether to draw three cards or try to bluff with the hand I held, there was a terrific flash of light! One of the players was flat on the floor, screaming “Incoming! Incoming!” In the next millisecond there was a loud crashing sound of an explosion. The guy on the floor (we’ll call him “Ernie” to preserve his anonymity, should he wish it) grabbed my ankle and pulled me off my chair, yelling, “Get down you fools! Incoming, incoming!” Ernie had done a one-year “tour” in Viet Nam and he’d come under artillery and mortar fire upon occasion while there. In an instant he was in Khe Sanh again.

When we realised what had happened, we assured Ernie that he was not in Viet Nam but “back in the world” in Canada. The rest of us helped him to his feet, as he was trembling so much that he could barely walk for the first few paces. We went outside and saw the result of the flash and explosion: lightning, a literal bolt from the blue, had passed through our open front porch and split a maple tree, which was only a very few yards from our apartment, in two. It had been ripped wide open. There were slivers of its interior scattered around and it smelled of burnt wood.

Though it recovered after the shattered part was cut away, it left a lasting impression on the neighbourhood. And coming under fire in warfare leaves a lasting impression on a man’s central nervous system.

Now I realise that some readers will say that I am exaggerating and that the laws of physics deem it impossible that Ernie moved that fast, but I guarantee you that none of those who say that were ever under incoming rounds. Besides, they weren’t there, and I was, and I know what’s faster than lightning, greased or otherwise.

Once they talked of “shell shock”, then “PTSD”, but it’s a result of using young men as cannon fodder and I hate it, I oppose it, and I wish the world might one day enjoy the blessings of…

Peace and Liberty.