An Open Letter to the Monkey In Charge

Dear George W. Bush,


On March 19 2006, I participated in a march against the war in Iraq. I have done this each March 19 since the start of the war in 2003. I march against this war and the one in Afghanistan every chance I get.

However, this year a man with a box full of popsicle sticks approached each one of the protesters. The sticks had been fashioned into crosses and each one had the name of an American soldier killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom written on it.

I ended up with two. Always prepared, I had a roll of tape and was able to stick the crosses to the signs I carried during the protest. After the rally, I went home and put the signs in my garage.

The next month I cleaned out the garage and found the signs with the crosses. I threw the signs in the trash, but kept those little, white-painted sticks. Curious, I looked up the two names. Then I wondered what I should do with the crosses.

Throwing them away seemed wrong. I asked around and people suggested I plant them in my garden or burn them. I didn’t really like those options either. I thought about mailing them to the families, because I doubt they would want someone like myself keeping them, and in the end decided against that option as well. I do not know what it is like to loose a child and do not want to intrude upon the mourning of another parent.

These crosses are now in your hands. If you want to throw them in the trash, bury them or burn them, that is your choice. And why should I protest? After all, any of these moves would merely be the literal representation of what you did with their lives.

You are not my president. You do not represent me. You should be ashamed of what you are doing to this country and these people.

~Lila Schow
Because Responsible Citizens Clean Up After Their Government
http://goodusgov.org/