2,000 Dead

August 23, 2012



Last night after I returned home from a very lovely dinner at the Guilford Bistro I decided to forgo my usual up to bed at 9:30. I wanted to read both my newspapers. It meant I couldn't sleep with Tony but I really wanted to read the Wednesday papers. They both have the special food section which I love.

But when I got to the Times, the front page had a picture of the parents of Lance Cpl. Gregory T. Buckley Jr. at his burial. The anguish on their faces was heartbreaking. He was 21 and just weeks away from returning to his base in Hawaii. This week marked 2,000 young men and women killed in this war. The average age was 26.

 I won't pretend to know all the reasons behind the fact that we are still there. But I know we are sending our young people off to die much like we did in the Vietnam conflict. By the way, in Vietnam they call it the American war. In their museum in Saigon you can view all the atrocities inflicted by Americans on the Vietnam people. It was a humbling experience to see the war from their viewpoint.

The middle section included pictures of all the dead. It is a very emotional tribute to the men and women who gave their lives while I was sitting outside at a nice restaurant eating and drinking and laughing.

It makes all my problems seem small in comparison. When I get up in the morning the second thing I think about is my kids. The first thing is "I can't believe I have to wake up at 4:30AM!" Only kidding. I love getting up at the crack of dawn. But seriously, I like to be in touch with my kids everyday. Yet another thing I was told was wrong with me. Not long conversations, but just so I know they are ok. Sometimes just seeing that Josh is online is all I need. And my sweet daughter Hilary just loves to check in with me!

I know this is long but an update on Pussy Riot. Russian hackers shut down the website of the court that sentenced them on Tues. First they published the group's latest song criticizing Vladimir Putin.