"Thank you for doing that," said a 35 ish woman walking a small beagle mix dog. "I can't do that. I get too emotional," she added softly.
"God bless you," said a 50 ish man as he walked by the vigil. "I have a cousin who served in Afghanistan," said a 50 ish woman a little later. "Now he's in Africa." She mentioned he's in the Marines. "I have an uncle who is retired. He was in the Army."
This was the general flow of last night's vigil, which included numerous horn honks and waves of support, among them a repeated horn blast from a bus driver, two fingered peace signs and even flashing headlights from two cars.
It was a vigil joined for several minutes by a 50 ish couple who often arrive and joined by John Fortier, a Korean War veteran, retired school teacher and peace activist who actively participates in this vigil and since March, 2003 has held his own vigil every Friday evening on a street corner nearby.
Meanwhile, the violence in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya continued. In Iraq for example, on Tuesday, a bomb exploded in the southern city of Diwaniya targeting the provincial governor and his family. They were unhurt but the powerful blast killed 27 people and injured 30 more. It was but the latest of the ever increasing bombings within Baghdad and throughout the nation.*
The result is families lose their loved ones, often a father who was the sole means of support for his family, which leaves the family not only suffering from his death but desperate to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Or the death may be that of a child, the agony of the loss of a child bringing a lifetime of tears and heartache.
While in other cases, families become caregivers for those scarred by the attacks, helping them live through endless agony and in many cases, the crippling of what until then was an able bodied person. Now, that person may suffer seizures or have other forms of brain damage, may have lost limbs and in addition is fearful, traumatized by what happened. And as the war continues may happen again.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, our peaceful vigil was conducted for everyone passing by as a reminder to care for all of the wars' victims, of which there are many. "He flipped us the finger," John said as a red Volkswagen sped by. "Are you sure," I asked, incredulous that anyone after all these years of war would flip off the vigil.
"I've been flipped off many times before," John replied with a smile. "And I've flipped people off many times. I know when I've been flipped off." Thinking of that 55 ish man who flipped us off and realizing he went by too fast to have read the sign, I started to laugh at the absurdity of his response.
But a short time before, there was a horn honk and a 65ish man in a gray blue convertible gently motioned me over. "I'm a Vietnam vet," he said. "I appreciate what you do." It is in his words and in the caring tone of how he spoke them that will characterize the memory of last night's vigil.
Dick
* "27 killed in Iraq bombing," Los Angeles Times, 6/22/11 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-bombing-20110622,0,7046939.story
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