Women's Crossroads

I received the saddest email this morning from Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey died in Iraq three years ago. Sent under the auspices of CODEPINK, Cindy's letter is an invitation to join her and other mothers in a 24-hour protest vigil in front of the White House this Mother's Day, to demand an end to the US occupation of Iraq, and to protest US government plans to invade Iran.

Cindy writes:

"This Sunday will be the third Mother's Day that I have spent without my oldest child in my life. Casey was killed in Iraq exactly five weeks before Mother's Day in 2004.

"Everyday is an incredible experience of pain and longing: for Casey and for his future and for his here and now. Special days like holidays and birthdays always seem to be harder. Casey will never call me again to wish me Happy Mother's Day. I will never get another funny card from him. I will never have a daughter-in-law or grandchild from Casey.

"George and Laura Bush will probably celebrate Mother's Day with their daughters, secure and happy in the fact that they are together. Jenna and Barbara will never be put in harm's way for the avaricious and destructive policies of their father, policies that have sent too many of the world's mothers into a tailspin of grief and emptiness."

Cindy Sheehan is pulling on our heart-strings for a reason--to pull us out of our apathy, to get us moving to demand that the Bush Administration change its destructive course and start focusing on peace, rather than warmongering.

There is no time to lose! According to the grim but excellent website Iraq Casualty Count Coalition, 2.432 American soldiers have died in Iraq as of today. Nearly 18,000 have been shipped home to their mothers grievously wounded, both physically and psychologically (see the excellent PBS Frontline report on post-traumatic stress syndrome for returning Iraq vets, reaching epidemic proportions).

And that's just the American casualties. Start counting all the Iraqis who have lost their lives, including women, children and the elderly, and you really begin to enter the nightmare.

Cindy Sheehan and CODEPINK are absolutely right. This Mother's Day, we mothers who are fortunate enough to be sitting pretty with our children safe and well should not be focused on whether they're going to bring us breakfast in bed, take us out for lunch, or send nice flowers. If we can't get down to Washington D.C. for the White House vigil, we can at least follow Cindy Sheehan's lead and send our letters of protest to Laura Bush, to let our First Lady know that we don't approve of her husband's conduct, and want her to stand with us rather than cling to him.

It's a dream as old as Lysistrata....if the mothers of the world were to unite and insist that our husbands, fathers, brothers and sons wage peace rather than war, just imagine what might be possible!

It may only be a dream, but I prefer to focus on forward-looking visions like this than to accept the current waking nightmare.