The War Just Got Personal

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/17/3894/

The War Just Got Personal
by Sally Kohn


My earliest memory of my little cousin Billy is a summer vacation when I was nine and he was four. Our parents had bought us a magic set. I was older and bossier so I was the magician. Billy, with his big doe-eyes and innocence, was my assistant. He would squeak, “Abracadabra!” and I would make things disappear. But try as I might, it only worked on quarters, not Billy. He would always be there, standing shy and quiet and wide-eyed, by my side.

Last week Billy was sent to Iraq. He joined the Delaware National Guard just after high school because he needed support for college tuition. Then September 11th happened, National Guard enlistments skyrocketed, and the tuition benefits were cut. Already enlisted, Bill completed basic training and was sent to Saudi Arabia. At least it wasn’t Iraq.

He came back home, got married, got a job and then got called up. Just a few days ago, my little cousin - now 25-years-old - kissed his family goodbye and left for war. This time, the main stage.

snip//

I wish more of my friends knew people serving in the war, but most of us had parents who could afford college and our friends could afford college, and their friends, and so we don’t know anyone desperate enough to enlist. I wish no one were ever that desperate. I wish the choices presented to us by our government at this point weren’t either to attack or abandon but to actually aid the Iraqi people from whom we’ve taken so much. I wish the war on terror was really a war on poverty, not a war on Arabs and Muslims. I wish there were better options for solving our world’s conflicts, that a strong United Nations could have pressured both Iraq and the United States to respect human rights and international law. I wish that a strong United Nations today could help revive and reconstruct Iraq with the credibility that America’s go-it-alone shock-and-awe strategy long ago squandered.

I wish I could go to sleep at night feeling secure that war is only used as a desperate and unfortunate last resort not a blunt tool wielded casually by empire. I wish millions of Americans were blocking every intersection in every small town demanding and end to this war. I wish that President Bush and members of Congress and every one of us felt just as frightened for all the American servicemembers in Iraq as I feel for my cousin. And I wish everyone in the United States experienced as much compassion for the Iraqis, too, knowing that we’re all in this world together - that with each Iraqi or American death, we would all cringe with the sorrow and fear that it might be one of our loved ones we’ll never see again. I wish that everyone could look at the war with that state of mind.

But mostly, I wish that I were nine years old again holding a plastic wand with Billy by my side thinking that, with just one “Abracadabra!”, I could make him reappear standing next to me. Or make this war disappear for that matter.


Sally Kohn is director of the New York-based Movement Vision Project, working with grassroots organizations across the United States to advance our shared values of family, community and humanity. She has interviewed progressive leaders across the country on their vision for the future.

[peacetalksforall]

1. The cutbacks on loans for education are not just about squeezing

more money out of existing programs so that they can pay mercenaries - it is two in one hand magic their style - to increase the list of needy candidates.

This was a nicely written piece - thanks for posting.

[AndyTiedye]

2. Another Way to Starve the War — Contribute to Scholarship Funds

Jason Tharp was a young artist. He wanted to go to college to study art. A Marine recruiter convinced him that joining the Marines was the way to get the money to do it.
Jason didn't make it to Iraq. He drowned during "water survival training" in the presence of no less than six expert Marine swimming instructors
less than 24 hours after a TV news crew filmed a drill instructor abusing him.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6988854/

A scholarship fund has been set up in his memory:

JASON THARP MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP:
The Jason Tharp Memorial Scholarship was established to honor the memory of Jason Robert Tharp, a 19-year-old Marine and 2004 graduate of Braxton County High School, who died February 8, 2005 during water survival maneuvers at boot camp in Parris Island, South Carolina. The goals of the scholarship are to keep Jason’s memory alive and to provide funding for students like Jason who want to attend college. While a student at BCHS, Jason was active in FFA and enjoyed art. His goal in joining the Marines was to earn money to go to college to study art.

Contributions to Jason’s Scholarship fund should be sent to:
Jason Tharp Memorial Scholarship Fund
Braxton County Board of Education
411 North Hill Road
Sutton, WV 26601
Attn: Treasurer

I have contributed to this fund because I was particularly outraged at what happened to Jason Tharp.
There are certainly other worthwhile scholarship funds, and I would encourage people to post links to them in this thread.

[TomInTib]

3. The last paragraph brought tears to my eyes.

"But mostly, I wish that I were nine years old again holding a plastic wand with Billy by my side thinking that, with just one “Abracadabra!”, I could make him reappear standing next to me. Or make this war disappear for that matter."

[babylonsister]

4. The whole thing brought tears to my eyes; a microcosm of what must

be happening to so many people.