Among the many waves and horn honks of support, two were particularly moving. The 1st was a 40 ish man in a huge white truck with his 10 ish son sitting alongside him. The man waved and warmly smiled at the vigil and his son was interested in what his dad was doing. The boy's eyes absorbed the vigil and his smile glowed. Afterward, surely there was a father-son chat and a boy who will long recall what he saw.
A bit later came the 2nd moving response. A shiny little gray Mini-Cooper convertible driven by a 35 ish woman who with a gentle smile, explained the vigil to her 6 ish son. I complimented her cute little car and thanked her for discussing the vigil with her son. "You're welcome," she replied with a smile and a sparkle in her eyes, adding "Thank you doing what you are doing."
"I know you," said a 55 ish man, while stopping to ask John Fortier the time. "You are the war protester guys." He then read the sign and joined the vigil for a few minutes. After he left we heard, "You guys are awesome," from a 50 ish man on a bike as he rode up holding a new unopened bag of potato chips at his side. His wife had sent him out for the chips and as he joined us briefly, he turned out to be a warm and outgoing man.
"I'm from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina said a serious 60 ish man who walked up with a comparably aged woman. With a smile, she thanked us for conducting the vigil but he had strong feelings he wanted to express. "I see the soldiers coming home," he said. "They are in bad shape and that's from the Vietnam War to these wars. And then they have to fight for their benefits!" At that point she escorted him away before he became even more upset by the impact of the wars on the soldiers he has seen.
As they left, a 50 ish possibly homeless man parked his bike and asked if we would like to hear a poem he had written about war, entitled "Tears of Love." He said he was a singer-songwriter and what he read to us was deeply moving. I asked him if when he had access to a computer, would he share the piece again, along with his name, and I would post it for readers to see with attribution to him. After he received the blog address, he thanked us for listening to his poem and for our desire to share it with others, as our attention and sincere caring for him had uplifted his spirits.
Shortly after he left came a 35 ish mother pushing a baby stroller with tiny 9 month old Zachary inside tucked in warmly, an orange and white teething giraffe sticking out of his mouth. We oohed and aahed over this adorable big bright eyed brown haired baby as his mother thanked us for our comments about her son and complimented us on holding the vigil.
It was about this time, with 11 minutes to go in the vigil that my eldest son Kyle arrived. He said a Las Vegas property manager told him there are a lot of foreclosed homes in Las Vegas and a lot of homeless military veterans. As a government agency, Fannie Mae owns many of those homes, this property manager wondered why Fannie Mae is not housing some of those homeless veterans in some of those empty houses. Kyle said some of these veterans have served as many as 5 tours of duty in U.S. war zones and yet when they come home, there are often no jobs for them. And for the existing jobs, they are at a competitive disadvantage to those who didn't serve but instead worked and improved their job skills.
It was a remarkably well supported vigil and when it ended, Kyle and I thanked John Fortier who is a Korean War veteran, a retired school teacher who continues to teach as a volunteer, and who is a wonderful caring friend and an avid peace advocate. Kyle and I then walked to a Starbucks for hot chocolate on a cool night and then walked along the ocean front about a 1/2 mile away for a total of 1 1/2 hours. Not only had the vigil gone well but afterward, it provided us with some excellent father-son time, which we both find very special. It is something I wish the many victims of all of these wars could also have enjoyed with their families.
Dick
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