Yeah to the House of Representatives for
Despite a possible veto from President Bush, the House voted Wednesday to block the FBI and the Justice Department from using the Patriot Act to search library and bookstore records. The vote was 238-187."--MSNBC via LISNews.
Double yeah to Matthew for his eloquence regarding the war in Iraq. I am the daughter of two WWII veterans, and the granddaughter of two WWI veterans. I deeply respect their service, and that of all who serve. But I also was born in Saudi Arabia. I knew the strife between Sunni and Shi'a before I could spell in Arabic or English. I also still remember lying on the floor under the kitchen table in Upstate New York while my mom cooked dinner and seeing footage of body bags being loaded in Vietnam. I was a little kid.
The only person I know whose name is on the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in DC is Jimmy Love. Jimmy was the nicest guy in my eldest sisters' (twins) high school class. He was the one who stayed and wrestled with us little kids after the big kids finished playing touch football on the empty lot. I looked for his name when I went to the memorial.
I see the honor rolls at the end of the NewsHour on PBS and I tear up. They silently show the pictures, names, ranks, home towns, and ages of the fallen. But I tear up when I hear "When the lights go on again." Or "The Star-Spangled Banner." I am a sentimental, patriotic fool. But this war was and is wrong. The words of the prayer I learned (little Lisle again) weren't "war without end, amen." Even my grandfather joked about the "war to end all war." But he would not be laughing now.
I got a t-shirt last year when I volunteered at the Eyes Wide Open exhibit. The front says, "War is costly." The back says, "Peace is priceless." Every time I wear it (not to work!), completely unknown people start conversations with me. The conversations range, but none of them attack me or the meaning of the shirt. I treasure the connectedness I am getting. It seems crazy that a T-shirt can be so meaningful to people. I wish it wasn't war that is bringing us together.
I learned about Martin Luther King, and Gandhi, via that same kitchen TV, albeit in different houses. Peace made so much sense to me. War only when completely unavoidable. I still can't believe there are people who have not learned that lesson.
4 comments:
Thank you for the mention. Isn't it interesting that if the Republicans get their way on cutting funding for PBS, you won't be seeing that Honor Roll anymore, either.
It fascinates me that Republicans have no qualms about sending boys to war, but they treat American adults like children. They don't want us to see the flag-draped coffins of our fellow citizens. And reading an Honor Roll, as PBS does, is ironically considered unpatriotic because it supposedly lowers morale.
It is ironic that in this war, honoring the dead is seen as unpatriotic. My father was MIA in WWII, and my grandmother had a special sign from the War Department to display in her window.
She went into full mourning for my father. I used to have one of her black-bordered handkerchiefs. Her mourning was honorable. Now we have this weirdness--what coffins, where? And Buster the bunny and Big Bird are enemies of the people. Don't you live in fear of Muslims? My mother, 82 year-old U.S. veteran, just couldn't get a new driver's license because she doesn't have a Social Security card. Lost it some time in the last 60 years, and never needed it. Now, don't you feel safer?
Thank you. You express so eloquently what we all should just *know*.
I read your blog via rss feed on livejournal. I'm not sure how the comments work over there, so I thought I'd better comment here.
Thanks.
Thanks for the nice comment Lisle.
You do a fine job showing the ambivalence that is possible also. For some reason, which my folks now don't seem to remember even doing, I was kept from seeing any Vietnam footage on TV although I was certainly old enough. When my son was 10 and I was away at a leadership school he was home with one of the typical childhood diseases for the start of the 1st Iraq War.
I am proud of him and the choices he has made to try and get his life situated. I just wish I had set some other example all those years ago!
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