War and Peace on Paper

Steve Boyer: You could start out as a cashier... and then work your way up to becoming a manager of one of these places - just like your dad.

Ron Kovic: I get $1700 a month from the government. I think I'm just going to lay low, and look around...

Steve Boyer: [dismissively] That's charity money, Ronnie; this isn't.

Ron Kovic: Charity?

Steve Boyer: All I'm saying is that you got to - you got to put the war behind you, you know; you got to forget about this chair you're in!

Ron Kovic: [leans forward] Sometimes, Stevie, I think people, they know you're back from Vietnam, and their face - changes: the eyes, the voice, the way they look at you, you know.

Steve Boyer: I know what you mean, Ronnie, but people here - they don't give a shit about the war! Yeah! To them it's just a million miles away. It's all bullshit, anyway. I mean, the government sold us a bill of goods and we bought it, and got the shit kicked out of us, and for what, huh?

Ron Kovic: What do you mean, "we," Stevie? You were in college, man.

Steve Boyer: [shrugs shoulders] You bought that Communist bullshit, Ronnie. Yeah, they were going to take over the world, you remember that? Fenelli, you, Walsh - the whole town was devastated.

[pause]

Steve Boyer: For what? For lies, for bullshit lies?