This is the talk I gave last Friday. It was interrupted by a very long standing ovation after the first sentence of the second paragraph. I take that applause not for myself, but for the spirit of self-sacrifice and determination that led Wes and so many others to give their lives for their friends, a spirit that is thriving in many of the rest of us.
As we gather tomorrow, friends of Karen Meredith, whose onlychild, Lt. Ken Ballard, would have turned 28 on Thursday, will release 28 goldballoons south of here in Mountain View. Ken was killed in action in Iraq on May 30, 2004. While we were talking here yesterday, myfriend Karen was taking a trip to the beach to yell at the sky, to tell God howangry she is. My name is Nick Arnett and I am speaking to you on behalf ofan organization that nobody wants to qualify for Gold Star Families forPeace. We are families of soldierskilled in action, primarily in Iraq. Ihave a niece who became a widow at the age of 21, last November 10thwhen someone in Fallujah, Iraq fired a rocket-powered grenade at her husband,Lance Corporal Wes Canning, United States Marine Corps. Wes was trading places in the turret of hisamphibious armored vehicle with another young man named Wes, Wes Campbell, whowas horribly and permanently injured, losing part of his skull. A few days later I was in Friendswood, Texas, where Wes grewup, where he enlisted in the Marines while still in high school because, hetold me, he wanted to see the world. Just before Wes and Chayla were married, I asked him if he would haveenlisted if hed known we would attack Iraq. He said he wasnt sure, but he said that if he had known he would meetChayla, fall in love with her and marry her, he never would have signedup. He had already served one tour inIraq, with the first troops into Baghdad and Tikrit, and I told him that Iknew, from working as a paramedic many years ago, what its like to feelhelpless in a situation where youre supposed to be in control. When I said the word helpless, our eyesmet and it was clear that although I barely knew this young man in the ordinarysense, he was my brother in a way that we dont have words to explain. Wes volunteered to go back to Iraq. The young man who told me he wouldnt haveenlisted if hed known he would marry Chayla volunteered to goback. This made no sense to me until Idiscovered that that the part of me that is still a paramedic is telling me togo there, too. While the rest of uswere observing a sad anniversary on September 11th last year, Weswas on a plane to Iraq. All day, Ithought, this time he knows what hes getting into. He was laying down his life for his friends and there is nogreater love. On November 12th at about 10:20 in the evening,our phone rang. It was for my wife andI asked who was calling. Its Megan,calling for Chayla. Megan is Chaylasbest friend. When you join ourmilitary, they ask your next of kin who should come along if they have tonotify you. That was Megans job. When Chayla had came home that Friday night,she was carrying a bag of baby clothes. She and Wes didnt have kids, she wasnt pregnant, but there was a sale,so shed bought some for when he came home because they wanted to have a bigfamily. Chayla wanted to be a teacher,but shes not sure shell ever be able to do that now, because whenever she isaround children, she cries. A few days later, at Wes parents house, after we buriedhim, Chayla was telling me that the Marines had asked her if she would like tobe notified if and when they found any more pieces of his body because whenthat RPG hit him, he was thrown 20 feet and blown to bits. One of my prayers is that some day soon,Fallujah is a peaceful enough place that our family can go visit his othergrave, the ground in the desert sanctified by the blood of Wes and his friends. If you are uncomfortable with the details Im giving, upsetby how much I am sharing, let me tell you why I have decided to offer somuch. It is because we are family andfamily deserves the truth. Painful truthwhen withheld keeps us apart. When weshare our suffering, we create bonds of friendship and love. You have come here in a spirit ofself-sacrifice, giving up whatever else you could have been doing these fourdays. Although I disagree completelywith the policies that sent Wes to Iraq, I treasure the spirit ofself-sacrifice that led him to lay down his life for his friends. You have come here in the same spirit and Ithank you for it. We honor those whogave it all when we let that spirit live on through us. I have a neighbor, Dolores, who begged her son Erik not tore-enlist after 9/11. But he did and onhis eighth day in Iraq, flying his very first mission, an off-course helicoptercollided with the one he was flying and he was killed. As a result, she had a chance to meet thepresident of the United States. Shetold him how angry and unhappy she is about this war and showed him a pictureof Erik. He wrote, Best always on itand handed it back to her. Best always! I want to challenge you to figure out how to join us in ourgrief, to lead our nation and world in healing, peacemaking rituals in whichgrow closer by sharing our suffering. We in Gold Star Families need this. You need this. The world needsthis. Jim Wallis says that religion isalways personal, but never private. Thesame is true of a soldier who is killed in action. Each one has an immediate family. But we are also a national family and a global family. I want to challenge you to end policies thatisolate us, such as the secrecy when our heroes bodies come home. There is a policy, which nobody seems admitexists, that the department of defense offers no help for the Gold Starfamilies to contact each other, which is why projects like Eyes Wide Open andArlington West are so important. Morethan one million U.S. soldiers have served in Iraq can we tell a millionfamilies that if they hang a blue star banner on their house, their neighborswill offer compassion and not judgme nt? Will you lead our nation and our world to adopt andcelebrate, even for an hour or a day, the lives of Wes, Erik, Casey, Mike,Travis, Sherwood, Patrick and all the others, to share our grief because theyare your sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews? And let us remember that the human family isbigger than just one nation, so that we might share in the grief of ourbrothers and sisters in Iraq and so many places where we rarely turn oureyes. Let us grieve not just for thepeople we have lost, but also for the innocence that our children lose when wegive them immoral orders and they follow them. Give us the courage to speak the words of another of my heroes,Archbishop Oscar Romero, in his final sermon before he was assassinated. No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to thelaw of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. It is high time you recoveredyour consciences and obeyed your consciences rather than a sinful order. Thechurch, the defender of the rights of God, of the law of God, of human dignity,of the person, cannot remain silent before such an abomination. We want the governmentto face the fact that reforms are valueless if they are to be carried out atthe cost of so much blood. In the name of God, in the name of this sufferingpeople whose cries rise to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I begyou, I order you in the name of God: stop the repression. All of humanity is a GoldStar family. Thank you forlistening. Help us tell ourstories. Help the world listen. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening. -- Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Voicemail: 408-904-7198 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
