Dover

Today

I will respond to everyone on the last post this weekend, but today my favorite cousin arrives in Baghdad for his second tour in a war we do not understand and were coerced into fighting. I know that many of you are tired of hearing about this war from me, but I don't care. I have watched the number at the bottom of my posts rise daily over the past 5 years. I have lost friends. People close to me have been badly wounded. It is easy for you to pretend that nothing's happening because you are not effected daily. This war is not your life. It is something that's happening far, far away to people you don't know and certainly don't give a damn about. I understand that. I disagree with it. It infuriates me. But I also know that it is a simple case of "out of sight, out of mind". I don't know how to make you "see", and I consider that one of my greatest failures.

But none of that matters today. Today my baby cousin is being dropped into the "green" zone. All I ask is that he make it out unharmed.

Another Perspective

I was driving home from work last night when I heard a story on NPR about the war in Iraq. Most stories have casualty counts and locations of car bombs. This one was from an entirely different perspective. It told of a high school in Texas near several military bases. Almost ever one of the students has a parent in Iraq. Some have two. 7 children in that school have lost parents. Many seniors are worried about going away to college because they're afraid their remaining parent and their siblings will not be able to manage without them. Many stay awake at night watching their mothers in fear that they will finally be overcome by the depression of having their spouse away so long and commit suicide. Parents who do return often have sever Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and need extensive counseling. For those of you who feel that there is nothing wrong with this war, what would you say to these children to explain the continued and nearly constant absence of these parents for the past 5 years? If you are against the war, what are you doing to ensure that more children don't end up like this every day? And what will we tell all of our children when we end up in Iran?