My friend, Annette wrote this. She's right, you know.
Bing Crosby crooning, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” every 15 minutes in malls and elevators and grocery stores is bringing some Americans to tears this season. Yet most people go about their shopping, buying, wrapping, cooking and partying with hardly a thought for these fellow citizens or our troops suffering far from home. For 2,000+ families of casualties counted and many more uncounted, being all together for Christmas is something that will never happen again. Thousands more are struggling to help their maimed veterans find some hope in the holiday season. Still thousands more families are going through the holiday motions while their hearts and minds are tortured with worry for their loved ones still serving in harm’s way.
All many of these families ask is that America take pause and remember. When your feet hurt from shopping, think of our troops who have lost legs and arms. When you’re stressed about friends and families visiting, remember our soldiers who have not seen their families for many long months. When you struggle to find presents for your children, think of the parents who will never buy their sons or daughters another present. As you gather to celebrate familiar cultural and family traditions, think of those serving in a foreign, often hostile environment. When greeting cards arrive with dreamy angels proclaiming “Peace on Earth”, take a moment to consider what you personally and we as a nation have done to make that a reality.
By all means, enjoy this season of love and peace. At some point in your preparations and festivities, take a moment to remember that throughout our country and far across the globe, many families are not able to share in the joy. It’s very hard to think of war and death and pain at such a happy time, but this is when it is needed the most. When you make your new year’s resolutions, think about what you can do to support our troops 2006. Resolve to take some kind of action to end the war, bring them home. Make that commitment to them as they have laid their lives on the line for you.
Annette Pritchard
Aunt of PFC William Ramirez, KIA Baghdad 2/04
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
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4 comments:
Good point. I'll be returning to anysoldier.com soon.
I wish every single American could feel that black hole in your heart. So no one's amazing kid would ever be sent to war again.
If Mr. Bush could just have that empathy, he could change the world from destruction to construction.
If your readers are wondering "What can *I* do?" Well, one possibility is to make a 16" x 18" Teach Peace sign on a 4' 7" lath and carry it on your shoulder when you wander around your downtown. When you go in a store, you carefully carry it sign down.
I've been doing this every single day since Oct 09, 2002 -- 1155 days in a row. It gives me a chance to tell people who ask me questions about the $820,000 per minute we're spending on the Military Budget. And the additional $200,000 per minute we're spending on Iraq. I can tell them about my friend's son Ken.
I only felt like an idiot the first week. I'm used to it now. You can do stuff past your present comfort level. Because it isn't about you or me, it's about saving one single kid, American or Iraqi.
Thanks for the reminder that this Holiday season is now forever different for 2100 families and the families of 15,000 wounded in the US alone.
I also appreciate your making the point that we can support our troops by working to bring them home.
I just discovered this site through ChanceLucky. Your stories are amazing.
I want our service men and women home soon. I posted a note about this on my own blog a few days ago with a graphic of a "bring them home" banner on a peace dove.
I'm sorry that the government refuses to understand what the significance of your and others' losses are when most of their sons and daughters will never wear a uniform.
Please keep writing...while there is sorrow in your soul, you write of hope too. Thanks, Benny
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