War is costly. Peace is priceless.

Memorial for the dead of the war on Iraq

After the counter inaugural, Linda and I had lunch, then we went to the EYES WIDE OPEN exhibit at the National City Christian Church. This was the second day I worked on the exhibit. I worked behind the table at the entrance, and spent a fair amount of time trying to straighten out the tee shirts and find the right sizes for people, and answering questions. The tee shirts had the slogan "War is costly" on the front and "Peace is priceless" on the back.

We moved some of the soldier's boots to the front steps of the church, and placed candles besides them. We handed out candles to the people gathered. Several parents of soldiers killed in Iraq spoke about their attempts to talk to Rumsfeld that day, and about their pain and loss over this war. They spoke of the senselessness of this war. While they spoke, I kept relighting the candles. I felt it was important that they be lit. I got to meet Cindy Sheehan, whom I had emailed several times over the past few weeks (her son Casey died in Iraq). Amy Goodman was there to interview the families. As they spoke, stretch limo after stretch limo after stretch limo drove by the memorial. One of the speakers commented on this... how these people are here in DC to party and live it up, while they are totally oblivious to the pain this president's policies have brought.

After the military families spoke, we started reading the names of the American troops and Iraqi civilians who have been killed in this war. The people who were doing the readings were planned in advance, but they could not find them in time, so I got to read the names of the US troops from Arizona. I did the best I could with some of the names (some I didn't know how to pronounce) but the common English and Spanish names I had no trouble with, and I acted confident on the pronunciation of the non-typical names. I read out their ages too.... age 19, age 20, age 26, age 21, age 19, .... my God, they were so young. And again, limo after limo after limo drove by.... endlessly, it seemed. Some Americans have so much wealth, and no hesitation about spending on frivolous things on themselves, while others suffer so much. And they are blind to this reality.

Then I went back to lighting the candles that had been blown out by the wind. This reminded me of the last antiwar protest before the war started. It was on Sunday evening in March, and it was a prayer vigil. I remember standing at Vance Monument and singing "Give Peace a Chance" and relighting the candles. I remember at that point in time listening to the song "Lay Down Candles in the Rain".... and feeling it was so hopeless to stop this madness.

Now, almost two years later, I mark the deaths of the US troops and the innocent Iraqis in this war. And I listen to, and cry with, the US parents who lost their young children forever..... while those children were only trying to serve their country. They were misled and misused by the current administration.

It brings tears to my eyes, as I continue to lay down candles in the rain. The rain is the tears of those who lost their loved ones.