Ask the Author: Jesse Goolsby
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Jesse Goolsby
The ideas that started me on the road to writing I'd Walk with My Friends If I Could Find Them very much centered on a desire to narrate a long view of the lives of people involved in war as one important aspect of the wide range of experiences that make up a life. I’ve always felt the word “veteran” can be extremely limiting and is often used as a reductive term. I wanted to explore what it means to put “veteran” alongside, not above or below, “parent,” “spouse,” “lover,” “sports fan,” “son,” “daughter,” etc. I’ve found that people serve in the armed services for many reasons, and are impacted by war in incredibly varied ways, and, perhaps most importantly, are stunningly fallible human beings before, while, and after they serve. They go to the store, get in car wrecks, root for sports teams, get along with their kids or not, make love or not, sit next to you in church or not, mess up their taxes or not. Many aspects of their post-military experience have little to do with their service; but, of course, sometimes their service does have a massive influence on the rest of their lives. I think one of the key points is that each life is a singular, subjective experience. Being a veteran isn’t a binary condition, reaction, or existence that fits into a sound bite, commercial, or headline. I’d Walk with My Friends If I Could Find Them is an effort to covey complex and intriguing people that experience the full emotional axis of conflict and life.
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