Courage

I've been thinking about courage the past few days.  Not just anyold brand of courage, but the courage it takes to stand up for and fight for what you believe s right, even when it flies in the face of reason.

 I know a lot of truly courageous people who are doing just that.  They are not letting the fear that our government and, specifically, our President, thrust down our throats every change they get, stop them.  They are not letting the threat of illegal wiretapping, of having their homes and possessions taken away or the threat of being locked up and never seen again stop them.

I’ve been thinking about courage these past few days.  Not just any old brand of courage, but the courage it takes to stand up for and fight for what you believe is right, even when it flies in the face of reason. 

I know a lot of truly courageous people who are doing just that.  They are not letting the fear that our government and, specifically, our President, thrust down our throats every chance they get, stop them.  They are not letting the threat of illegal wiretapping, of having their homes and possessions taken away or the threat of being locked up and never seen again stop them.

This may sound like paranoia, but in the United States today, these are very real possibilities, thanks to our elected Representatives who continue to lack any kind of backbone whatsoever and act like jellyfish, caving in to the President and his every whim.  They just gave the President everything he wanted and more when they passed the FISA act last week. 

The inspiration for my thoughts comes from the Gold Star families I have met over the years.  These are families who have lost a member of their family due to the Iraq war and the Afghanistan war.  They feel the war is wrong, that it is illegal and immoral and that the United States should end this war as soon as possible.   These families speak out in public forums, write articles, give interviews, and visit their elected Representatives to talk to them about the war and what they can do, what they must do, to end it. 

These courageous people relive over and over again the most horrendous moments of their lives, from the moment they found out about the death of their loved ones right on their the memorial services and burials.  Unfortunately, that’s the easy part of it all.  The hard part is the aftermath and learning how to live a life without that person you always thought would be there.  Yet, these amazing people do just that.

I know of mothers who visit the graves of their sons every day and have done so for years.  One mother I know of visits morning and night and talks to her son.  Other mothers have built memorials in their homes to their dead sons and daughters and pray continually for their souls and the souls of the other war dead. 

One family that comes to mind is the family of Jeffrey Lucey, a Marine who took his own life a few months after returning from Iraq.  Kevin and Joyce, his parents, have filed a lawsuit charging the Veterans Administration with negligent homicide because they did not help their suicidal son in spite of multiple desperate attempts to get help.

Another family that I think of is the family of Pat Tillman.  This family has been lied to time and again and still doesn’t know the truth of what happened to their son.  Yet, they sit stoically and listen to hour after hour of testimony and hearings as they continue to demand to know the truth about what happened to their beloved son.

I don’t know how they found the courage to relive, again and again, the most terrible, horrendous moments of their lives to bring about justice for their sons and to find out the truth of what happened to them.  It takes a tremendous amount of courage and strength just to get out of bed in the morning, sometimes even years after the death of a child (even a grown up one!).  Many of us are able to, eventually, move on and find some kind of acceptance and closure, but there are those who will not ever get that.  Not until they know exactly what happened to their loved ones.  Not until they know that what happened to their sons and daughters will not happen to someone else’s son or daughter. 

These families will continue to stand up and be counted, to demand accountability and the truth.  These families will share their stories and their heartache, hoping somehow to touch the hearts of those whose hearts are cold. 

This, my friends, is Courage. 

You can learn more about these families at www.gsfso.org