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And so he’s leaving
August 9, 2007
My cousin Mark, a soldier in the army, is being deployed to Iraq sometime next week. For a while, I was kind of impartial about the whole thing, which is terrible, I know, although I’ve always had the mindset that he was invincible. That, in addition to the fact that dialog about the war has been made so cliché and redundant, that feeling any real danger in the situation was emotionally unreachable for me.
My family is angry about the whole thing, him leaving college, and joining the army. Maybe it’s my relationship to him, in addition to our similar age and opinions, that has made me unable to say, “You’ve ruined your life.” As much as I disagree with our country’s position in Iraq, I don’t believe that he’s made a mistake. He’s made a decision. What good will it do to chastise him, especially when I don’t think he deserves to be chastised?
I wasn’t sad until I actually saw him yesterday. I’ve always seen him as my powerful, more mature cousin. Yesterday, though, I saw him as a 21-year-old. I’m just hoping things work out.
On a side note, there are going to be some changes around this website. Hopefully, they’ll all be good ones.
August 9th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Well said.
Best of luck to him, and to you. I respect you’re standpoint.
August 9th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
P.S. I’m sure they’ll be great changes.
August 9th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Woa. Way to have it hit home, huh? Best of luck to him. I agree with what you said. Respect the warrior, not the war.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
The cousin I called my best friend growing up just recently came back from Iraq for the second time. It was tough to think about.
I hope all goes well for him and your family.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:26 am
Everyone - Thank You.
Nella - My favorite creative writing professor had that saying on her bumper sticker. Crazy.
Alicia - I hope I have the same good fortune with mine! Twice? That’s much too long, even though I’ve heard that some have gone longer.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:12 am
Best of luck to him!
And how handsome he is!:)
August 13th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
My brother has served two tours in the Air Force.. it’s tough… i did a lot of praying and sent a lot of care packages (and got the kids’ classes at school to send lots of cards) for support!