Stones Cry Out

As Nick wrote at Redstate.org: “Can anyone even imagine the media giving voice to a distraught, grieving mother who lost her son at Normandy, demanding that the war be ended? The bunch of them would have been shot.”

I don't know that I'd die on that hill. Have you ever read Julia Ward Howe's (she wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic, among other things) Mother's Day Proclaimation--which predates either World War?

MOTHER'S DAY PROCLAMATION Julia Ward Howe 27 May 1819 to 17 October 1910

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Very good post, but I feel it necessary to mention my thoughts.

"I can understand the pain of a parent losing a child in the prime of his life...."

No, trust me, Jim, you can't. Not unless you've lost one. You just can't. I understand your sympathetic words and the reaching from your heart, but you can't know what it's like, you just can't unless you have. The painful future after losing a child is as endless as the trail of tears, ripping apart your heart, destroying one of the doors of your future. The sharing of your child's successes, promotions, marriage, children, new cars, new homes, holidays, even sharing the bad setbacks we all go through, you've lost that whole part of your life.

We who have lost children know the mistaken words associated with the heartfelt words behind your statement, but truer words are something like "I can only barely imagine the pain of a parent losing a child...."

My deepest sympathy to you in your heart- wrenching loss. I have not experienced the loss of a child, so although I can understand your pain intellectually, indeed I cannot understand it experientially, deeply, in every fiber of my being--as you obviously do.

Thank you for writing. I will remember you in my prayers this night, as well as others who bear this pain. May God comfort you.

"it was necessary for young men and women to sacrifice their lives to confront palpable evil and dictatorial belligerence that threatened civilization."

We were attacked in WWII. We were not attacked by Saddam. He was incapable of it. We are being attacked now because we occupy Iraq.

Your version of patriotism is different than mine. My definition does not include unquestioning fealty to the president. He is accountable to us, not the other way around. In this particular case he told us fighting was necessary for our survival and he was wrong. He now languishes on a 5 week vacation while soldiers sent to defend us against non-existent weapons are dying.

Is there a point at which you would consider this war not worth the blood of our children? You criticize those who question why their kids were sent to die, but would you urge your own children to enlist and fight for this war you believe in? If not, you have no right to criticize.

The attempts to attack us would be made irregardless of whether we are in Iraq, Afghanistan or Kansas City. Our troops are being attacked while in Iraq, but I think that's preferable to what the terrorists would like to do, which is have the war in our back yards.

We were attacked by Japan in WWII, not Germany, yet it took us four years of fighting alongside our Allies in Europe before we saw victory over Germany.

Maybe Saddam Hussein did not attack us, but we WERE attacked September 11, and there is much proof that Saddam's regime had a large part in the nurturing, protection and funding of many terrorists for many years.

And, as for when I would consider this war not worth the blood of our children. My heart aches upon hearing of any casualty. However, as long as we see the Iraqis lining up to be policemen the day after bombings almost destroyed the police station the day before. As long as we have Iraqi public officials who, in spite of extreme danger, are not shying away from trying to make sure their country has laws, representatives and elections. As long as long-time tribal suspicions and competition does not totally cripple the politicians trying to work their constitution. In other words, as long as the Iraqis keep trying as hard as WE do, do we have the right to walk away? As long as the troops interviewed have the enthusiasm and deep-seated convictions that what they're doing is the right thing to do. When I hear their positive feelings, it's hard for me to think well, we should just leave, leave now and it doesn't matter what happens to millions of Iraqis who had the dream right in front of their grasp before it was yanked away.

America and our allies have worked so hard thus far, and there's so much improvement, so much hope. As hard as each casualty is to hear about, can we just walk away and say hey guys, it's taking too long, we have to leave now?

If we walk away from this, we might as well pack up our embassies because we will never, ever have any country believe anything we say, ever again. And, more importantly, walking away will NOT make us safer, will not make the Jihadists decide to stop trying to kill all of us.

I truly feel we can do this. We have to try and keep trying, because the root problem is not freedom for Iraqis, the larger picture is keeping terrorists contained until we can begin to get a handle on all of them. No easy task, but we must try, because if we let them out of our cross-hairs, we will only insert ourselves into the cross-hairs.