Reply #57: The families go through all sorts of hell

[frogcycle]

parents losing children is awful. Young wives with young children losing a husband - or in a few cases husbands losing a wife - is even tougher. These people's lives are shattered; they have to deal with it for the rest of their lives. A lot of people struggle to stay "patriotic" because they can't deal with the idea that the person died "in vain." I read their quotes in the paper and somehow I hurt even more for them than for the ones who lash out at bush and the pointlessness. Because deep down, I think they know, and they are conflicted. They need to get angry, but don't let themselves because they don't want the reality.

4456 is a big number - a lot of people killed - with some subset "justifiable" in the initial action in Afghanistan, and even some of the ongoing activities, both there and in Iraq. Most, though, are just cannon fodder for bush's ego. Anyway, while 4456 seems a big number, in fact it is tiny compared to the US population. Look at the count by state on my Zeitlangers site. States like Utah or Wyoming or N Dakota. With 13 total from Wyoming, how many people in that entire (admittedly small population) state know a family who lost someone? Do you think there is any sort of support group for them? Those 13 families are dealing with as big a "hole in their lives" as anyone else. But do they get the impression that the rest of the world cares? They hear that Iraq is no longer a major issue in the presidential campaign. But NOTHING HAS CHANGED since their family member was killed. So if it is no longer an issue, that means the US - We the People - are saying to them "tough shit, pal, but life goes on - get over it."

And there are more families - many more - dealing with someone on a feeding tube in a burn unit, or multiple amputee, or maybe reasonably recovered but horribly disfigured from burns, and they get no press. Local press, yes. Some of these guys - the ones alive - are local heros, with the whole town rooting for them, following their progress.

But for We the People as a whole? Move on, nothing to see here, look at the shiny object.

I get several visitors a day to Zeitlangers who come by way of a google or yahoo or whatever search on a name. Some are from several years back. My site turns up at the top of their search list because of the way I include names in the html, and trick the search engines into crawling it frequently. They come, they go to their person's page, and I assume in many cases they then follow the links I have provided. So I sort of provide an enhanced search capability. Finding that there are several sites out there paying tribute may help just a little. I hope so. That's why I do it.