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i just had an experience which left me very moved, and almost at a loss for words.
I have an extra bedroom that I rent out. My summer tenant, a music school student, had to return to N Y so I have an ad in the paper for rental.
I got a phone call from a man in Denver, asking about the room.
We covered the basics, then he asked about any steps. I said yes, there were 2 flights of steps. Then he explained that he was a wounded Iraq vet. He lost both legs in Baghdad and is in a wheelchair, so can't do steps.
I hardly knew what to say, but it sure brought out the emotions. We on WIX, for the most part, are safe here at home. Even some of those that served are back and still whole, but not this man. I, and we, can have our feelings about the war, and we can read about it or see it on tv news, but for the most part it is still somewhat abstract. We don't live it everyday, my sons did not go and certainly don't have to live with the aftermath permanently, other than the economic recession. We can like the airplanes or despise Saddam, but still mostly abstract. But the folly of this war will be a burden for this man for lifetime. I and most others think the Iraq war was a giant mistake, based on a lie and cost us many more casualties than 9-11 did, one and a half times as many killed and ten times that many wounded. The latest CNN poll shows that by 70 to 20 % people think this war was wrong. But that is the long view, the history class view, the intellectual view; right or wrong, it is not what this man has to deal with in his life everyday and for the rest of his life.
So I just said what Becky says when she meets a vet, "thank you for your service" and I offered to help any way I can if and when he moves into town here. He didn't offer any details beyond that, so I didn't press, but it had an immediate impact on me. I tried to say just the right thing, so as not to make him feel like a victim, especially for nothing, but to feel my empathy. We must remember that when we support or oppose any war, we are not just rooting for the home team or against the others; it is not U of Bush taking on U of Kerry or U of Obama like Texas vs. USC or some such. It is real people putting their lives on the line with real consequences, and a young person's life or limb is a precious thing, not to be wasted.
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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK
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