If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again.

I'm at the office now, on lunch break (the only place I have Internet access), so I can't check it out, but I will be visiting the link when I'm elsewhere and can hear the music and everything. Thank you, Karilea.

~sky

They way you live your life is up to you, but dying is NOT an option!!

(angel friendship hugs) God Bless You, dearest Karilea, for sharing this most wonderful presentation.

(wipes tears) Just because I do not support this war and never will NEVER means I do not support these honorable men and women in uniform, for I believe it is not the soldiers who declare war, it is the politicians. I certainly will never fully understand what these young men and women are thinking or feeling out there on the fields, just as I don't think those currently in power who resisted service as they were growing up ever would either.

The bottom line, is, they are dependent and depending on our support, warmth and comfort. And I'm not supporting them on the basis of their mission exactly, I'm supporting them just because often I think we take for granted there's more than just the soldier, but the father, husband, friend, volunteer within the uniform. We are all God's children and I wish with all my heart that they all return safely to their loved ones and families as soon as possible.

That's what I pray for each and every day since this war began.

None of us can ever speak for all these individuals who are serving. Some truly are eagerly serving out of pride and love for their country, others are doing it because it's the only way they can get college tuition and benefits or grow up in impovished communities where it's the only way to financially succeed. There are those who truly believe in this war, others are conscientious objectors who joined in hope they could carry out foreign aid assignments and such.

In either case, they deserve our utmost respect and support.

God Bless our troops, and God Bless America!

And God Bless you, Karilea, for sharing this!



Sincerely,
Noah Eaton

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other"

Mother Teresa

(big hugggsssssss) Awwwwwww Karilea, I appreciate your wonderful, heartfelt response here. I respect you very much because you have such an honest, pure tone in how you speak, that reflects so many moods. And while you may believe you're both right and wrong, you speak very thoughtfully and genuinely and to me that always sounds more right to me.

And you are so right about children and their parents. Naturally, it is not uncommon for youth in adolescence to believe they know everything and desire individualism and freedom of their own, and I believe that boils in me right now as well. With that said, I believe we take for granted ever so often how just because we're grown up doesn't mean we need our mothers and fathers less than before. In fact, I believe I need mine MORE than ever and I really want to try and know them the best I can before I may regret not committing later in life.

My parents don't go out into the community often like I have done since the invasion began, but they do share my opinion and sentiments on the war. I can never fully speak for what they believed before, and if it is consistent to what they believe now, but I always like the time every weekend when we're off of school and work just to talk and create a more involving mutual understanding of each other.

People change all the time, it's the universal truth. When Medea Benjamin came to Portland last October for a lecture with Daniel Ellsberg and Norman Solomon, she said the best way to keep active and keep that sense of wonder and to preserve the dream is to keep interested.

Being as interested and involved as I am now, I don't think I'll turn 180, but I KNOW I will change, and I accept changing. I believe if I had never changed, that I had never learned anything.

Though I disagree with much all the presidents and politicians that we've had since I was born have said or believed in, it still hasn't obfuscated my belief that the United States of America is a wonderful place to live. And sure, there are other great countries in the world too with strong democracies and living conditions. Costa Rica, for instance, and Norway, New Zealand. But anyway, I am absolutely proud to be an American, and regardless of how I heavily disagree with those in power right now, it doesn't detract from how I believe we owe our young men and women our most heartwarming thanks for maintaining the stars and stripes.

Sincerely,
Noah Eaton

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other"

Mother Teresa