August 2, 2009

What Happened Yesterday

Yesterday, Saturday, August 1, 2009, something happened that should make us rethink the way the world works. Something happened that should make us change the way we live. Something happened that should make us cry.

Three soldiers were killed. (American. In Afghanistan. Three soldiers. Killed...)

But will this make us cry?

A few people might. The soldiers might have had fathers, or mothers, or wives, or cousins, or friends... and they did, they must have, but to me they're unknown soldiers for now. And what worries me is that it's all well and good to lament the unknown soldiers-- but shouldn't we know them? And will we truly lament?

1172 coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, the year the war began. One thousand, one hundred and seventy-two. And yet we're not crying...

2118 Afghan civilians were killed in 2008 alone. Two thousand one hundred and eighteen! And yet we're not crying!

And 4648 American soldiers and 1,033,000 civilians have died in Iraq since 2003... the year of the invasion, in case you'd forgotten.

And where are our tears? Where is our memory? Where are we, while so many die?

I'll climb off my soapbox- but only to ask you to remember the three soldiers killed yesterday in Afghanistan...

1 comment:

  1. Annie L12:40 AM

    in case you'd forgotten, we're fighting two different wars. don't mix them, they have barely anything in common except their geography.

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