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November 11 Veteran's Day--open letter to you.In my head, when someone says the word Veteran, my imagination spins off to what i imagine Vietnam would look like. I get a queasy feeling in the bottom of my stomach as i cycle through images of war and then to images of the homeless, wheelchair bound folks on the street corners and then on to images of my dad's uncles. Many of my extended family have served their country with honor and my father was actually born on an Air Force base. North Carolina is a military state--lots of bases--and so i suppose in large part i grew up with a split personality respect for the military and hippie-natured desire for war to end.
Invariably though, as my mind swirls, the soundtrack from Black Hawk Down starts running and i drift back to the middle east. I forget a lot that you too are a vet. The image of aging men in my head doesn't fit with the light in your personality or smile on your face--perhaps those things mask a hurt i know you feel but that we don't talk about very often. I hear the call to prayer in the recesses of my memory, wonder if it sounds the same to you now, and close my eyes to pray you will make it home in one piece--body, mind and soul.
While i dont believe in war and do not believe that it is the solution, i do want to honor the sacrifices both of my peers (because they are today's vets) and our families. no mother should have to send her child to war. no child should have to see its parent gone to fight. it is because of the level of sacrifice to which they were willing to rise that i am able to sit behind my little computer and mull over such things--that i don't have to work about compulsory military service, don't have to consider a fate that isn't pretty secure from harm, don't have to wonder what things would have been like. I think we are ill equipped as a country to provide for those who have had to face atrocities they no doubt had little desire to be a part of. i don't know anyone who's been sent to war that's been happy to go, that didn't wish the cards had been dealt differently.
You know, i had this conversation with a kid in the tattoo parlor the other day--he had been sent home after getting injured when they hit an IED--he was the lucky one, had just broken his collar bone when he had been thrown backwards from the passenger seat. The driver didn't make it and both the gunner's legs were broken from this guy flying back into him. Anyways, he was getting a sleeve worked on...after about ten minutes i couldn't help it any longer and told him about you. His eyes clung to mine, as though i might be able to offer some kind of miraculous healing. I held my gaze steady, reached out for his arm. His voice slowed, words were calculated...the way i sound before i cry...but his eyes, they were so distant--as if wandering through some other realm i couldn't quite reach. God, i hope that's never you---that you are never beyond my or someone else's reach--that you never become so numb that you cease to be there.
Somehow i hope we, as a country, find a way to support you better, show you that regardless of how much we hate this war, we love you for being willing to sacrifice yourself for it. Find a way to honor you when you come back to us and understand what you've been through. And i hope we find a way to not have to ask this of anyone, again.
In Israel, on Veteran's Day, everything is quieter. From early in the morning, they scroll the name of every soldier they have lost since '48 across the television screen. The siren sounds and the whole country stops moving, nothing moves, people nor cars, machines stop. Collective honoring of sacrifice. I can't imagine that ever happening here; but i imagine if it did, the way we discover a little more of our compassion and humanity. November 07 MY president and MY country.So, there's this guy. His name is Barack Obama and this is his family:
 Every history book in the future will have chapters on this man (and his family) that will no doubt start, Obama changed America forever.
I've been wanting to post for days about this, but i devolve everytime into a mess, unable to come up with the words. Before i do that again, there are two things that i really need to say. The first is a bit of a confession. I didn't vote in the last two elections even though i could have. The truth is that i would not have voted this time if it weren't for the depth of my belief that we CAN make the changes and bring about the hope that MY PRESIDENT-ELECT says we can; if it weren't for the depth of my conviction that the country can unite behind this man; if it weren't for the strength of my hope that this is the turning of the tide for America both internally and on global scene.
Secondly, President-Elect Obama finished his speech and for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE i said "THAT Y'all is MY President and this is MY Country" grinning from ear to ear. I can't begin to describe the energy in the room for those of you who weren't here in the States that night....nor can i adequately capture how moved everyone i know has been. We are like giddy little kids, people's voices vibrate with emotion and excitement, tears stream down faces full of joy. Its empowering and amazing. I feel like quddus had a great quote from the speech, so i'm going to copy it:
It [the campaign] grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy He's right. We were apathetic, because we had been taught we had to be, that there was no room for belief in change, for faith in truth. We were disillusioned by the same upper class white men running the White House since time immemorial. And now, my friends, the ones who alongside me wouldn't vote or participate or feel connected with the process, have all become personally attached to the sucess of this man...we want to make it work for him...make change sucessful for him..see him succeed. A friend summed it up well...it's like when you are in other countries and they revere thier leader by choice, put pictures of him up, make t-shirts and smile when you say his/her name...this is how we feel about Obama. This is how the voices i hear from around the world feel about the choice America made--a choice that well has the chance to change the negative image groundswell that America's stagnation has brought about. We are a long way from being a country without racial prejudice, economic extremes, and intolerance...but at least we are moving again towards the future. Nevertheless, let me be clear that I also want to honor the dignified manner in which McCain spoke the night of the election. I felt he truly rose to the level of a servant of this country in encouraging those who voted for him to unite and work together for a better future and i think that deserves respect. The point is that finally, now, i know how that feels...the believing in your leader. Now i am proud to be American. This is MY America and Barack Obama is MY President. I stole the picture of Kiser's blog...b/c it rocks (kiserblog.wordpress.com) and have no idea where he got it from....
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