Death of a Soldier
A teacher named Dante Zappala has written a very moving essay about the death of his brother Sherwood in Iraq. It is available here (you need to either be a Salon.com subscriber, or to watch some ads to access it). Zappala is a member of Military Familes Speak Out. Below is an excerpt from his essay.
“Sherwood, without question, had an instinct to be a keeper and a promoter of life. And still, he kept the wisdom that try as we do to prevent bad things from happening, sometimes bad things just happen. His life had taught him this much.”
“Sherwood's convictions have begun to release me from the fear spread by innuendo and fiction. What I understand now is that we always live with the inherent risk of death, even if it comes in a way that's less dramatic than war or terrorist attacks.”
“Sherwood would chuckle at the sheltered, overprivileged, retrogressive Americans who believe that their hyperactive sense of danger is a cause worth others fighting for. The security moms, six-figure executives, stock dividend trust-funders -- they aren't in Iraq, they certainly don't send their kids there. Sherwood didn't have to go there to figure that out.”
....
“When people say, "Sherwood died to avenge 9/11," I have to bow my head and leave. Sherwood was not a vengeful person. For his sake, I have pledged to relinquish anger, which seems to be as equally revered in our culture as fear is.”
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