I always read the names of the dead
Every other day or so the NY Times lists those killed in the wars we're fighting. It's always kids, in their 20's, some in their 30's...all of them dead.
I read them slowly. It's the only part of the paper I really concentrate on. I try to see them, their faces, their smiles, their eyes. I can't of course, but I try. And I pray for them and thank them like I should, though my thank you isn't for what all the war makers want me to thank them for-for keeping me safe, because nobody fighting in Iraq, in a war that has taken hundreds of our kids for absolutely no reason at all isn't really making me safer. In fact as that war goes on it makes more terrorists which can be argued makes me less safe.
No I thank them for being willing to say yes to the war makers because it reduced the chances my son would have to go and fight. Yup, there, I said it. I thank these kids for their selflessness for sure. But I also thank them for going instead of someone I love. It's a selfish thing on my part, I know. But I can't help it.
And therein lies another issue doesn't it? Not only is it billionnaires whose kids never go to war that make the wars, but those same billionnaires make us thank them for it.
After expressing this weird kind of gratitude, I get mad. It happens every time the article appears. I get mad at those idiots in the Bush White House that started these wars and the Obama White House that continues them. I'm actually somewhat madder at Obama, though considering how I felt about George Bush that's hard to do. I'm madder at Obama because he promised...and didn't do it. He promised to shut Guantanamo, and didn't. He promised to turn us away from the eight years of hate and war that George Bush inflicted on us, and didn't. Hell he promised to stop pandering to the rich and powerful to get reelected...and didn't.
But I digress.
I get mad when I read these listings because I have kids. And it could have been them. My kids are safe. These kids are off fighting god awful wars to protect a way of life that allows the war makers to thrive.
Such a waste of life. Every American should be required to read these names every time they are printed. And then every American should call somebody-anybody-and say no more, stop the killing.
Here's today's listing from the Times. Read it. Pray on it. Stop it...
The Department of Defense has identified 1,517 American service members who have died as a part of the Afghan war and related operations. It confirmed the deaths of the following Americans this week:
MAHER, Brent M., 31, Specialist, Army; Council Bluffs, Iowa;First Battalion, 168th Infantry, Iowa National Guard.
PICKERING, Brandon T., 21, Pvt., Army; Fort Thomas, Ky.; 10th Mountain Division.
I read them slowly. It's the only part of the paper I really concentrate on. I try to see them, their faces, their smiles, their eyes. I can't of course, but I try. And I pray for them and thank them like I should, though my thank you isn't for what all the war makers want me to thank them for-for keeping me safe, because nobody fighting in Iraq, in a war that has taken hundreds of our kids for absolutely no reason at all isn't really making me safer. In fact as that war goes on it makes more terrorists which can be argued makes me less safe.
No I thank them for being willing to say yes to the war makers because it reduced the chances my son would have to go and fight. Yup, there, I said it. I thank these kids for their selflessness for sure. But I also thank them for going instead of someone I love. It's a selfish thing on my part, I know. But I can't help it.
And therein lies another issue doesn't it? Not only is it billionnaires whose kids never go to war that make the wars, but those same billionnaires make us thank them for it.
After expressing this weird kind of gratitude, I get mad. It happens every time the article appears. I get mad at those idiots in the Bush White House that started these wars and the Obama White House that continues them. I'm actually somewhat madder at Obama, though considering how I felt about George Bush that's hard to do. I'm madder at Obama because he promised...and didn't do it. He promised to shut Guantanamo, and didn't. He promised to turn us away from the eight years of hate and war that George Bush inflicted on us, and didn't. Hell he promised to stop pandering to the rich and powerful to get reelected...and didn't.
But I digress.
I get mad when I read these listings because I have kids. And it could have been them. My kids are safe. These kids are off fighting god awful wars to protect a way of life that allows the war makers to thrive.
Such a waste of life. Every American should be required to read these names every time they are printed. And then every American should call somebody-anybody-and say no more, stop the killing.
Here's today's listing from the Times. Read it. Pray on it. Stop it...
The Department of Defense has identified 1,517 American service members who have died as a part of the Afghan war and related operations. It confirmed the deaths of the following Americans this week:
MAHER, Brent M., 31, Specialist, Army; Council Bluffs, Iowa;First Battalion, 168th Infantry, Iowa National Guard.
PICKERING, Brandon T., 21, Pvt., Army; Fort Thomas, Ky.; 10th Mountain Division.
Nice work, bring our blood and treasure home ...looking for a lot of Thomas Jefferson in the future.
ReplyDeleteEach 3rd Saturday of the month, we keep a Peace Vigil at the monastery. Monks pray in the church in half hour rotations. They are joined by guests and visitors. At midday, we pray a peace service instead of our usual noontime service. During the service, we read aloud the names of war dead and the known number of Iraqi and Afghan dead. Each month, I collate the list. For the hour or so that it takes me, I get an increasingly ill feeling in the stomach. Sometimes my eyes well up writing the list, praying it or hearing it read aloud on Saturday. These mostly young men and women from all over the country, who would they be, what would they contribute, if they hadn't been made to wage our wars? Support our Troops. Bring them home - alive and sound!
ReplyDeleteAgreed
ReplyDelete