I'm in tears after a conversation with a woman on the bus. [View all]

[F4lconF16]

I was sitting a little ways away from her when a soldier got on board and sat next to her. She started talking to him, and I was kinda listening in on their conversation. He was back after a 3 year tour of duty, and wasn't sure when he'd ship out next. She has a son in Afghanistan, and I don't think the soldier noticed, but just talking to him was hard for her. He got off, and a little bit later I could see she was beginning to cry.

It took me a couple minutes, but I got up the courage to go talk to her. I told her I wasn't sure it would make her feel any better, but there are some of us out there who are dedicating our lives to stopping the wars, to making it so that no one has to go through what she has. She half-smiled at this, and we began talking. She asked me what I was studying, what I was doing with my life, and then she told me about her son.

She said that he said only three words about the war: "It was nothing". And that's all he would ever tell her. She said that he got a bronze medal, or something like that (she wasn't completely sure). Apparently he asked her if she knew why he received it, and when she said no, he told her he got it for killing someone. And she almost broke down into tears again, saying "I didn't raise my son to kill people". She didn't blame him, but...how can you not be broken by that? Your son has killed someone. But, she said, he brought back all 35 of his men without injury, and the pride shone through the sorrow. She has friends whose sons weren't so lucky, and she's proud that he kept that from happening to other people's sons.

The whole time, her eyes spoke so much more than her words. She said she knows that he fought and killed someone for nothing, that the war is for nothing, that her son could have died for profit and bigotry. She said that her votes counted for nothing, that the people she helps elect just turn and look the other way (Democrats, I might add. This woman understands what's going on). She knows that they won't do a damn thing to help her. She knows.

And the look in her eyes tore me apart.

Fuck war.

Fuck the people who make war.

And fuck the people that support them.