I have a beautiful, intelligent, college-educated niece who is stationed in Afghanistan. To be specific, she is stationed in one of the hotspots in Afghanistan, a base outside Qalat. She will be coming home to us for two precious weeks starting next week. We will have a party in honor of her birthday and take her to Las Vegas because in her short 22 years of life, she has never been there.
I know that today is supposed to be a day when we honor those killed in action. I pray I will never have to honor my beloved niece that way. With over 3400 dead soldiers in Iraq alone, we will have many American's honoring family members who have died in George Bush's wars today around these United States. I find myself sitting and waiting for her emails every evening when I know its daytime in Afghanistan. It's living on War time for me..and apparently I am not the only one that thinks that way.
Please take the time to read a NYT editorial written by a father who's son died protecting others in the Iraq War. A short two paragraph excerpt is below:
EVERY evening at 10, beeps emanate from the top drawer of my dresser. The sound comes from a watch that has resided there for just over three years. The 20 beeps signify that another day is dawning in Iraq. The watch belonged to my son, Specialist Martin Kondor, who was killed in action with the Army on the morning of April 29, 2004, in the city of Baquba, north of Baghdad. Martin was 20 years old.
Since his death, three Memorial Days have come and gone, and while most people think of Memorial Day as just a day off from work, an occasion for a backyard cookout or a chance to score a good deal at a spectacular sale, for families like mine, Memorial Day has a more somber meaning. For us, the day is a further reminder that our loved one is gone forever.
Tags: Iraq, Memorial Day
