Letter to Tom O'Brein

Ogechi Nwaogu
116-23 Brookville Delly
Jamaica, Queens
N.Y., 11243

February 13, 2008

Dear O’Brien,

While reading your short story “Ambush” I was extremely impressed by it because it showed how even the strongest individual on the surface can have a daily ecstasy of regret and sorrow.

I liked the way you took what you did and realized it was wrong. That is what makes you a hero in the war in my eyes because others would’ve taken that situation as an initiation to go on a killing spree. You, on the other hand, took that as a sign to start a new life that wouldn’t bring you to feel the pain you felt watching that boy die.

By reading your literature you can already tell how repelled you feel about what you had to do, especially when you said “All I could do was gape at the fact of the young man’s body.” because you couldn’t believe that you were capable of such a thing. You didn’t know that if you hadn’t taken his life, he would’ve taken yours or you would have been seen as a traitor and punished for your hesitation in not acting on command.

You can’t blame yourself for what you were trained to do. You didn’t know if he had a concealed weapon or had an intension of causing painful harm to others. Even at the age of twenty you were too young to make such a decision in the situation that you were put into.

You now have something to tell your daughter when she is old enough. You can tell her that “Daddy made a mistake and has lived with it for more than two decades, but now he wants to be better for you, so you never have to suffer or endure such an unbearable pain.

I can only imagine what it will be like when that day comes that you will have to tell your daughter the truth. Who knows? Maybe, you will fully be released from regret when you tell her what you did and can move on to a better life than what you have had for all those years of regret.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my letter. It is such an honor to know a survivor and hero of a nation which I like to consider myself apart of. You story is an example of true life and heartache and I am glad you decided to share it with me because it gives me the strength to believe that I can be stronger than what I am.

Sincerely,
Ogechi Nwaogu