So Many Have Been Lost...The Vigil Bears Witness

LOMAS & GIRARD NE--A vigil is absolutely the right response to the lies and stupidity that have resulted in almost 2000 dead Americans. It makes grown men cry. It is just heartbreaking. What to do...now that we are in Iraq?

2000 dead Americans and now we are being told we better reduce "our expectations." God, what a mess. So many have been lost. So much has been lost. And there is so much more to lose.

All one can do is light a candle. Stand by the roadside. But what good can come out of this? Not much...our expectations are already reduced.

I went out to the vigil on Lomas, over by Jefferson Midschool. There were maybe 300 people there...mostly neighborhood folks. Lots of cars honked as they went by. People waved back. Some whooped a response. The crowd came to life little by little as the evening went by.

One couple held a sign supporting Cindy Sheehan...and a rug commemorating their son's return from Iraq just last week. They were so happy he was home. They were so earnest in their wishes that the war end soon.

There is something of an uprising happening. It is as if people realize it isn't unpatriotic to insist that we won't be lied to anymore. It isn't unpatriotic to hope that America's young men and women won't have to die for such a cynical egotist. George W. Bush does not love this country and its people...he uses them up without conscience. He drains this country for no reason other than he can. I would say he is evil, except it is not that exactly: there is a personality malfunction somewhere. Something is missing in that head of his. Something disconnected. He acts like he is on meds...maybe prozac: nothing real seems to bother him. Like Casey Sheehan. Like almost 2000 others. Like our own democracy.

Yes, about 300 of us stood on the corner tonight...if only to bear witness to the grief we all feel for our service men and women who have died over in Iraq. After all, the media can't even show pictures of the caskets of those who died. Perhaps being such a public witness is important after all. As Milton said, "They also serve who only stand and wait." Or bear witness.