"God bless you guys," said a 40 ish woman from her white SUV. "Thank you for doing what you're doing. People need to be reminded these wars are still going on. I hope they end soon." Then as the signal on Pacific Coast Highway turned green she waved and honked her horn in support of the vigil as she drove off.
This was the tone of last night's vigil, in which many people waved or honked their support including one of the vigils' biggest supporters, the bus drivers. But the vigils are not for John Fortier and me but for the Afghan and Iraqi people and for U.S. soldiers like Ricardo Cerros, Jr. At 5 feet, 7 inches tall, Ricardo was a determined young man from a military family, who with his buddy Mike Clark helped establish and build the taekwondo martial arts team at the University of California, Irvine.
Ricardo was also a top student, who majored in Chemistry, taking at times 22 units at a time so he could graduate sooner and then as his father had done and as his brother is doing, serve in the military. Ricardo wanted to enlist after his high school graduation in 2005, that included 4 years in an ROTC program, but his dad, an Army veteran discouraged it, guiding his son to first get his 4 year Bachelor's Degree. "I was hoping the war would be over by then," Ricardo Sr. told the Los Angeles Times.*
Ricardo Jr earned his Bachelor's Degree in 2009 and joined the Army, which deployed him to Afghanistan. On October 8th, 2011 he and his unit got into a firefight in Central Afghanistan, south of Kabul and Ricardo was shot to death at the age of 24. This young man, who had such a promising future was returned to his family for burial.
But thousands of miles from Afghanistan, our vigil was peaceful. "I've dated a Marine forever," said a 30 ish woman from her tiny sedan. "Thank you for doing that. He just got back from Afghanistan. It was his 6th deployment. He got hit by an IED (an explosive device). But he is alright now."
"God bless you guys," said a 40 ish man as he stood at the vigil. "I'm a Christian. But what can we do except pray." "We can take to the streets," I replied. And explained to him how Americans taking to the streets (in the 1960's and 70's) ended the Vietnam War.
But the most interesting vigil visitor was a 9th grade student on his bike. He had good command of presence for a 13 year old and he explained to John that he didn't like war but felt if America didn't fight, he was fearful it would be invaded, a position often stated by people demanding a "strong defense," aggressive military action overseas and an endless amount of money for it. Rarely do any of these people send their own children off to fight. While we didn't agree with this young man's position, both of us were respectful he had a position given that so many young people know little about the U.S.'s wars.
As the vigil came to an end, it was joined by my eldest son Kyle and after saying goodnight to John, Kyle and I went to Starbucks for 1 1/2 hours to talk and to enjoy each other's company. To me this is a blessing, one I savor and wish with all my heart Ricardo, Sr. could still do with Ricardo, Jr.
Dick
*To see the Los Angeles Times Obit, "Ricardo Cerros Jr. dies at 24; Army specialist from Salinas," from which the quote was taken, please visit http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/27/local/la-me-ricardo-cerros-20111127
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