(Cox and Forkum Editorial Cartoons)

I’m not the most patriotic gal you’ll ever meet, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve grown to respect the sacrifices made by those in order for me to live freely.  Our culture in the US tends to downplay casualties and moreso those injured in combat in order to play up the rationale for doing what we do.  It doesn’t always make sense, but those individual soldiers, some as young as 18 have put their life in harm’s way for reasons they sometimes do not completely understand.

As I look at antiwar.com’s website and see our total number of soldiefs killed in Iraq as of today is at 31,285 it makes me sad.  Not to mention those who have committed suicide for reasons related to the trauma of combat.

I salute you all- men and women and your families left behind on this Memorial Day 2009.