...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Friday, September 17, 2004
      ( 2:51 PM )
 
One More Word in Solidarity

I can't end the week without mentioning what one American mother faced yesterday at a Laura Bush event.

Sue Niederer wore a shirt with a photo of her son, Army Lt. Seth Dvorin, that read "President Bush You Killed My Son." Dvorin died in February, and Niederer said she asked the first lady why her daughters and the children of other politicians weren't serving in Iraq.

"At that point, it became chaotic and I was pushed and shoved," said Niederer of Hopewell. "They engulfed me. It wasn't plain, ordinary folks but people in suits with earphones."

The crowd chanted "Four more years" as secret service agents surrounded Niederer and escorted her outside. Once outside, Niederer said she was handcuffed and placed in a police van after trying to speak to reporters. She was charged with trespassing.

This article gives comments of some of the crowd - hideous. A grieving mother, full of the pain of her son's death cries out, hoping for some response to why it was her son that had to go and die and not the sons and daughters of those who continue to foment and bungle this escapade in Iraq. And the crowd drowns her out with shouts of "four more years!"

Four more years of what, exactly? Of horrible drones who have no care in their heart for the pain of what so many families have sacrificed the last three years shouting down the legitimate questions of citizens of this country? Four more years of ignoring the cries of those who have sacrificed the most? Four more years of shameful displays of heartless cruelty? How a mother like Laura Bush could stand in front of a crowd that did that and not even offer a word of condolence or understanding is beyond me. How can this group claim to have even a drop of compassion? This heartless demonstration is not the last, I'm sure. But I can tell you the truth, if any ONE of the people in that crowd has a sign or a bumper sticker or even utters the words "I support the troops," I can only hope their karma returns to them and their heartless inhumanity is repaid.

As a mama who is deeply burdened by the thought of what kind of world my child will grow up in, I pledge to make it my mission to do whatever I can to change this country that has allowed people to think that this kind of display is in ANY way appropriate. My heart grieves for all the mamas out there who have children gone to war, children broken and maimed, children never returning - for all the mamas who see their children go hungry every day, who must hide to protect their children from bombs and mortars, and who search daily for a glint of hope for their children.

If we are not about making this world right, what are we doing here?

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