We The People: Thoughts on Loss

Last night Pearl participated in her first political event. The little activist and her two moms attended the Candlelight Ceremony commemorating the death of the 1000th soldier in the Iraq War. Lots of people gathered to advocate for peace deep in the heart of Bush Country.

Today we are remembering 9/11, the vulnerability we felt and continue to feel, as Americans. I am moved reading the words of fellow bloggers Moxie and Neil who tell the New Yorker perspective, in both personal and national terms.

It is difficult for me to understand the direction our nation has taken since Clinton left office. For example, the Republican Party continues to imply that there is a connection between Iraq and 9/11. If the link has not been established in the last three years, especially with the concerted efforts made with that outcome in mind, it doesn't exist, does it? The fact is that Iraq and events of 9/11 are unrelated. But if this is a fact, how is it that the powers-that-be can continue to act under the opposite assumption?

I find myself searching for what, in the Clinton years, we referred to as "a town called Hope." Michael Moore's recent letter in USA Today offers some comfort [if in fact anything by Moore could be called comforting--wrong word?]. I was also inspired by a letter by Garrison Keillor called "We're Not in Lake Wobegon Any More." Some days I read about the popular support garnered by the current administration, and all I can do is wonder, where are we? Have we lost our way?

Comments

[Mieke]

I posted Garrison Keillor's essay on my blog. I think it is wonderful.

I was at a birthday party today, we are all feeling a bit sick, as we here in L.A. come to terms with the fact that Bush will probably win again. Kerry has just been so inept in these last few weeks. Sigh. He first pissed me off with his "if I knew then what I know now, I would still vote for war." comment. All the crap about it being a nuanced answer is PATHETIC. He walked right into that trap.

[shannon]

"If the link has not been established in the last three years, especially with the concerted efforts made with that outcome in mind, it doesn't exist, does it?"

You ask this, and I really don't want to think about it any more, because it's so upsetting, but frankly I just don't think that facts have anything to do with politics anymore. Bush can do what he wants because he has the power to do it and that's all. He took the power, we never elected him and it truly frightens me. I really fear that something will happen to disrupt the election in Novemember--something staged or orchestrated by this administration, mind you, even if it comes in guise of "terrorism."

I was working on a political magazine in 2000 and I used to walk home, late Friday nights, just crying openly all the way, with grief and fear about the state of this country. I have been struggled not to feel that way these days. I have had to go on news strike. I just can't take it.

[Nana]

Your comments connect with my experience last night. I attended a lecture/photo collages during the Civil War in this area of Winchester, VA. One collage and its title burned into my memory showed a barren, brown (sepia) landscape nearby. The photo, taken during the CW showed the "wavy" (hilly) earth , and the artist glued the photo in such a way that it, too, was "wavy"--not glued down flat. The title was: Even the landscape heaved." My heart, my emotions, my ethos, my thoughts . . . heave with sickening implications of war, that still devastates both the peoples and the lands that are ours to nurture/protect/love . . . Enough rambling, but how I want better than this war-ravaged world for my little Pearl!!!

[John]

Why don't people ask why we are in Iraq when the real problem is terrorism? Well, when you have corporate controlled media, the news is whatever the corporate interests who run the media want it to be. And if they're in bed with the administration;... well, the game of democracy is over.