Sunday, May 30, 2004

Echoes of Lives Lost

Far From Iraq, Echoes of Lives Lost in Combat:
"THESE are the things they left behind. A University of Michigan sweatshirt that still smells of her. His stuffed bunny from childhood, the one with a single button eye. A peso from the Dominican Republic. A Harley-Davidson. Some dog tags. A void.

Hundreds of voids, in fact. They honeycomb a map of the United States, from the jazzy avenues of Upper Manhattan to the hushed stretches of Tallahassee, from the other side of the country to the house down the street. As of last week, the official count of American soldiers who have died in the war in Iraq had topped 800.

War always equals loss of life; this equation holds no surprise. We know that in wartime, many soldiers will return to the embrace of their families, and some will return in coffins adorned with flags. That snapped salutes will greet the dead. That government officials will once again utter the phrase 'ultimate sacrifice.'' That instead of a familiar embrace, the families of the dead will receive a flag folded like a red-white-and-blue handkerchief."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/30/weekinreview/30barr.html

No comments:

Post a Comment

con·cept: Echoes of Lives Lost