From the Trenches: Soldier in Iraq Appreciates Human Face on Death Toll
Van Berry, who describes himself as a
sergeant "deployed with the 234th Signal Battalion (Army National Guard) out of
Iowa," explains his views on putting the "human face to war and casualties" in
an article in Editor & Publisher.
Two key paragraphs from Van Berry's essay
in Editor &
Publisher
5/2/04:
What I hope everyone will gain from this tragedy is that there is a human face to war and casualties. Our current president doesn't believe that genuine outpouring of heartfelt emotion and shared suffering is appropriate as a nation. He has used every inch of his authority to block images of the mounting number of draped coffins with respectful flags placed over each and every one at Dover Air Force Base.
Are they offensive? Most think not. Are they a breach of national security? Doubt it. What they do is invoke a strong sense of sympathy which is a natural human behavior. We all mournfully pay our respects to the pictures even though we don't personally know the individuals. We realize that they could have been our neighbor, our ex-boyfriend, a loved one estranged for trivial reasons.
What I hope everyone will gain from this tragedy is that there is a human face to war and casualties. Our current president doesn't believe that genuine outpouring of heartfelt emotion and shared suffering is appropriate as a nation. He has used every inch of his authority to block images of the mounting number of draped coffins with respectful flags placed over each and every one at Dover Air Force Base.
Are they offensive? Most think not. Are they a breach of national security? Doubt it. What they do is invoke a strong sense of sympathy which is a natural human behavior. We all mournfully pay our respects to the pictures even though we don't personally know the individuals. We realize that they could have been our neighbor, our ex-boyfriend, a loved one estranged for trivial reasons.
Posted: Wed - May 5, 2004 at 09:24 AM
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My name is Georgia NeSmith. "Random Acts of Love" is my weblog, but I have numerous other websites you can link to through this blog. "Random Acts of Love" began in February, 2004, and I have been posting to it fairly steadily ever since, although there are a few months when illness and other issues have kept me away. I write about nearly everything under the sun. I also do a lot of photography and digital art and I teach journalism online. Recently I've also started posting videos to YouTube.
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"The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while."
-- From "Crazy, He Calls Me"
written by: Bob Russell / Carl Sigman
Sung by Billie Holiday
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
-- Emily Dickinson
"In our sleep, pain, which we cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
-- From "Crazy, He Calls Me"
written by: Bob Russell / Carl Sigman
Sung by Billie Holiday
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
-- Emily Dickinson
"In our sleep, pain, which we cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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