Strong at the Broken Places

Strong at the Broken PlacesA great story about a much maligned man. Max was a man literally torn apart by the Vietnam war. With unbelievable drive and passion for life and God, Senator Cleland tells an inspirational story about the tenacity of the human spirit and his personal greatness. Of late, this true American hero has been maligned by the "Chickenhawks" of the Bush administration and their lackeys. "Strong at the Broken Places," in this most recent edition, tells Max's story of climbing out of darkest depths of the Vietnam war and from his horrible wounds to become a state legislator, Secretary of State of Georgia, head of the Veterans Adminsistration and finally a United States Senator. His story in this book is real, inspirational and a credit to him.

Seldom in life will a person find treasures in an empty sea....but in light of the book " Strong at the Broken Places", the author discovered just that! By grace alone, a man seeked " hidden riches in a void ocean echoed with uncertainty & battled waves that would capsize any country!". When speaking of this leader, I can only use these scenarios of my imagination to convey to others what this man is made of! If it was bottled, a top could not contain it! If it were canned, there would not be a label to describe it! If it were a product, no shelf could hold it !...... And if I had money, I would give all I had to buy it .............But, the fact remains that " Max Cleland " is in a category of his own & the ingredients of this recipe stem from unimaginable events that come at a price that most could not afford. This is a man who gave all & became the gift that kept on giving! Max Cleland has never ceased to reach the peaks during the ride of his life! Unselfishly, he attributes his positive energy & successes to people & inspiration from the Lord. Truly, this book recounts the will of a man wounded in battle who along the way became a respected United States Senator, Head of the Veterans Administration, & Georgia Secretary of State....... not to mention a role model for for any person facing lifes difficult challenges. So if you are interested in a " ride of your life" try this book on for size! The pages had me holding on & I felt every fall & praised every climb taken in the footsteps of this American Hero. Some people in this world just don't know the meaning of the word " failure"! Max Cleland is one of those people..... For the life of me, I could not help from reading in astonishment & at the same time fully comprehending the complexity of this human. Perhaps that is why I have read this book ( former & revised edition ) 24 times! My guess is that over time I might be fortunate to develop into the stuff that his recipe calls for! Moreover, my hope is that other people can find in themselves what Max Cleland has tapped into! Even though life can knock a person down, it can't take away the human spirit unless you let it! Once again, 50 stars for " Strong at the Broken Places" & 1000 stars for the author, Max Cleland.

Max Cleland's personal narrative is really terrific and makes a wonderful contrast to other narratives from the Vietnam era. Cleland suffers in war, but then struggles to find his soul and to transcend the pain of human existence through the perspective of religion and through religious belief. I have used this book as an interesting contrast with the cliche- ridden narrative by Ron Kovic, a volume written with a professional writer and conforming to the made-to-order "Vietnam-as-victim" formula. Students need to know that many American men came out of the tragedy of war better, stronger, more spiritual people than they went in; the "corruption of innocence" motif may sell in Hollywood and elswhere, but it does not conform with the actual experience of veterans--so says this book and so say the veterans polled in 1980 by the veterans administration. As I say, this is a story too seldom told and heard even less. Another uplifting story is _For God and Country_ by Rick Eilert, a man who found the veterans hospital folks to be concerned and caring and discovered that there were true heroes in the beds of the VA....Not victims, but heroes. Some day, somebody will make films about the experiences of Cleland (now a US Senator) and Eilert. ---Peter Rollins, Vietnam vet and admirer of these two wounded veterans