A Sign

I just now clicked on the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count site to update the section of my blog tracking the number of U.S. Soldiers who have lost their lives in the Iraq War.

My last update was only four days ago. The increase makes me sick to my stomach.

****

As I was walking to the bus last week, a very old, very frail woman drove past me in her car. She turned into a parking lot in front of me, and in the back window of her car, she had taped a couple of pieces of notebook paper. With a black, permanent marker, there were huge, handwritten block letters on the notebook paper that said...

BRING THEM HOME NOW

No exclamation point at the end. It didn't come across as a demand. It was simpler than that. Just a statement. Small. Incredibly loud.

****

In the past four days, while we've been dicking around discussing the fall of AMERICAN IDOL and whether or not Jimmy Carter was out of line to criticize the George W., or why certain people won't give DC Comics a break, nineteen U.S. soldiers lost their lives in Iraq.

I just can't make sense of it.

It would be absurd if it wasn't so fucking horrific.