This past week has been one of the most mixed I’ve experienced in a long time. In theory, we said goodbye to winter and hello to spring (my eight-year-old daughter yelled at the snow, “I am sick of the color white!”). But symbolically, at least, many of us celebrated the coming spring or the renewal of life in one way or another, spiritual or secular.
William Carlos Williams wrote about observing new growth “by the road to the contagious hospital.” He said, “One by one objects are defined—/ It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf….”
And with this definition and clarity, we mark the other more grim observances–five years, and 4000 deaths.
A good friend and I were talking yesterday, and she confided, “I ashamed to say so, but sometimes I forget to think about it [Iraq].” I don’t think she’s alone. I think many, many Americans have the privilege of forgetting to think about Iraq.
Perhaps one reason for our collective forgetfulness could be explained by the media. A recent report said that overall, the mainstream media is now covering the war in Iraq about 4% of the time. What are we hearing about the other 96% of the time? What are we thinking about the other 96% of the time?
And Why else do some of us forget to think about Iraq? Because, as was highlighted during the Easter service I attended yesterday, we haven’t been called upon to sacrifice anything. We haven’t been asked to participate. So is it any surprise that many Americans feel pretty disconnected from this war? Perhaps, we might be moving in such small circles that we’re getting more and more disconnected from each other.
It’s fortunate that we have artistic visionaries to remind us that we’re meant to be members of communities. I was knocked out of my insular mindset (I need this to happen from time to time) recently when I viewed The Graphic Imperative, at YSU’s McDonough Museum. The Graphic Imperative is a collection of International Posters of Peace, Protest, and Social Justice. This exhibit, which runs through the end of the week (until March 28), is compelling, beautiful, and disturbing. It contains 40 years worth of posters, the subject matter of which range from tobacco, to war, to literacy, to the environment.
I found many favorites in this exhibit: a baby reading a book while sitting on top of a television, a bathtub filled with blood, a dove. But near the beginning of the display is Lorraine Schneider’s 1966 response to Vietnam. It’s message is a simple one: “War is not healthy for children and other living things.”
it’s odd how things come full circle. or recur or what have you. Remember on Veteran’s day when Susan did the sermon about forgetting the war because of our daily lives? Just today another favorite blogger noted we hit the 4000 mark. On our side. We don’t hear so much about the others. Men women and children killed, maimed, tortured in their homeland. Last time the number was close to half a million. The blogger I mentioned discussed how Dick Cheney just simply replied “so?” when he heard that two thirds of americans think this war is not worth fighting. They don’t even pretend to be representing us anymore and that scares me. Sorry this is a bit rambly. Tell the eight year old Im sick and fevery too and Im sorry!
I know, and here’s an even more disturbing number that I just (as in within the hour) heard on the BBC news –the number of civilians killed is somewhere between 104,000 and 220,000. Those are some chilling statistics. Susan also said yesterday that the number of injured Americans soldiers is between 30,000-50,000, and we have to remember that “injured” could mean anything from missing finger to permanent brain damage. Scary.