Freedom

I have met so many people in my travels but to be honest very few women in uniform even less of whom have served in any war.I'm mentioning this because as the body count continues to rise in Iraq on both sides I feel more digust than anything else about this mess.
I have a sense of even more hopelessness about the plight of the innocent people in Darfur. When I think of places such as Sudan and Somalia my blood boils. There is no comfort now in knowing as we head into yet another year and the very real possiblity that some of our thinly assorted troops might end up in yet another country messing up instead of helping.
Still today as I looked through photos from my journies I cringed a bit when I found the picture below.I thought of all the sisters I know who served in peace and war time and kids they left with relatives and or spouses.My mind flashed back to all the immigrants who fled distant lands to come to America who shared ugly stories.Then there is the case of Maj Gloria Davis deployed to Iraq in September and found dead of an unexplained "noncombat" gunshot wound in December.I know a mothers tears of seperation,hurt and loss are the same everywhere but I've had enough of the hate that keeps those salty rivers flowing.
I want to say thank you as I do every year to the men and women who show up at the many memorials,parades,and reunions.They always hold it down for those who paid with their lives. They keep alive those who could not make it back and remind us of the civilians still here but who's voices are never heard,while the media searches for some ideal hero in the name of a better news bite.I don't agree with any of the governments policies concerning our military these days instead I honor the ones who really pay the price, our troops and the innocent people around the world caught in the cross fire of various battles. Yet another generation will know nothing of the word peace, so I say a prayer for them all as my pen is the only other weapon I have to pay respects.