Tuesday, October 25, 2005

On loss

News item: The United States has recorded its 2,000th death in Iraq since hostilities began.

As tragic as the total number is, this is as good a time as any to reflect on what it means:
  • 2,000 families have lost a loved one.
  • 2,000 brothers, sisters, moms, dads, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends...all gone.
  • 2,000 people frozen in time, who will never fulfill their destiny.
  • Countless others left behind, their lives going on, somehow, without them.
Tim Harper is a columnist for the Toronto Star. He wrote this piece, Matt Kimmell's funeral, that tells one such story. I had difficulty getting through it as I thought how easily it could be any one of us. Or any one from my own little world.

I guess if we all spent enough time searching, we could find similar stories about the other 1,999. Of course, by then, that number will have tragically grown even larger.

Your turn: Why?

8 comments:

HRH Courtney, Queen of Everything said...

Because we have a leader with the intelligence quotient of a dull pencil, who's intent on "avenging Daddy" and flexing his political muscle, and lies about the policies and motives that cause him to give the order. All at the expense of the American people. A leader who lied about his own military service then cavalierly sends our military to an unwinnable war. A leader who refuses to take consequences for his actions and leaves the country he heads vulnerable to further attack and scorn.

2008 will not be here soon enough.

Photominer said...

Hi Carmi, its hard to watch our neighbours to the south struggle through this. It has divided their country very thoroughly, which makes having a common cause that much more difficult. I hope that it gets resolved quickly and well, and that their soldiers can come home.

Zinnia Cyclamen said...

What Colleen said. And could we also remember the families and friends of over 25,000 Iraqi civilians who have died, so far, in this conflict?

Krista said...

amazing how the world feeds on tragedy and horrors of hate, rather then the love we have such capacity for. The sheer volume of everything being reported is an attestment to who we (as a human race) seem intent on portraying ourselves to be as a collective whole. My two cents - little relation to the specific topic at hand I understand...but I felt a need to comment.

The Mistress of the Dark said...

There is no good answer to this. But Courtney and Colleen both have expressed my sentiments on the matter.

Elvis Costello changed the lyrics to the song A Scarlet Tide to go "Admit you lied, and bring the boys back home."

Wish our not so intelligent leader would do just that.

Jill said...

I don't know that we'll understand all of the reasons Why anytime soon, but I do agree that the media slant unfairly emphasizes the soldier count and it doesn't shed light on the transformation that is taking place in Iraq. We can't police the world and go after every murderous dictator - but I'm glad we got this one. He and his sons were pure evil. I have no doubt that there were geo-political issues involved as well as concern about oil availability for the future. I totally disagree that this is all about Avenging Daddy. Yes, I think the WMDs fears were pumped up to get us there - but the motivation was to weaken a growing threat. I wish we weren't there, but I do think that we are helping the Iraqi people and stabilizing an area that has been a growing concern.

kenju said...

Because Dubya had to avenge Daddy. Plain and Simple. Simple also refers to the person.

HRH Courtney, Queen of Everything said...

The WMD's weren't just "pumped up", Jill. THEY DIDN'T EXIST. And we can't just be "the world's policemen" to the ones we feel like policing. We either spread our military dangerously thin all over the world intervening against dictators and into civil wars that are going on for decades, or we don't at all. This war is about oil, revenge, and political bullying. My heart goes out to the hardworking soldiers giving their lives for this pitiful conflict.

The man in the office is acting in such a manner that he's eroding the respect people should have for the office, Pieces of Me. Never has there been someone less qualified and more dangerous sitting in that room.