For Sgt. Matthew Blaskowski

This afternoon, I received an e-mail request from a reader. Some of you may already know Jenn. Some of you may already be reading her regularly. If you haven’t yet found your way to her blog, I encourage you to do so. She has lots to say, and she says it eloquently

The reason for today’s entry is this: A member of Jenn’s family gave his life for his country in the desolation of Afghanistan. His sacrifice should not go unnoticed. No sacrifice of any soldier, anywhere, should go unnoticed.

Jenn made this heartfelt request:

I'd like to make this link a card for Matt's parents. I'd like to get as many comments as possible for them over the next couple of days and then give it to them. The funeral is Thursday; would like to have it finalized at that point.

Can you please post this link to your blog and direct commenters to it? It is for Terry & Cheryl Blaskowski, parents of Sgt. Matthew Blaskowski.

http://iservethequeens.blogspot.com/2007/10/of-america-heroes.html

Comments will be moderated; no anti-war messages will be posted.

Please, please, do your magic friends, and pass this link along to your friends, who can pass it along to their friends...

Please take a moment to offer solace to the broken-hearted.

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Those of you who know me, know that I vehemently oppose war. On the day that our space shuttle, Columbia, exploded upon reentry...
just weeks before the beginning of our ill-fated invasion of Iraq...
I wrote these words:

"I sometimes run for solace. Today I ventured to a favorite trail for solitude and respite. The path was covered with decaying snow and a raw wind greeted me as I began my run to run from this sad season. As I padded along the limestone trail, my thoughts turned to the men and women on the Columbia. How ineffably poignant that they should die in pursuit of noble aspirations at a time when the world contemplates ignoble war. I took a small measure of comfort in the thought that, far in space, their eyes were filled with the majestic sight of our tiny, beautiful planet coursing through the dark void. One glimpse of profound beauty and then...peace.

I hope that when I breathe my last, it will be in the presence of beauty.

The trail felt hard beneath my feet, and I labored. It is true, what they say, that it is the living who suffer. We, the survivors, are witnesses to a sorrowful spectacle, this life here on earth. We rape our forests, defile our waters, and poison the very sky that nurtures and protects us. All too soon, young men and women, children-almost, will confront unspeakable horror. I grieve to think that some will breathe their last surrounded only by fear, pain and hatred. I question why the act of taking another life in the name of God, Yahweh, Jesus or Allah is not held to be the greatest blasphemy. Why do not the pious and the faithful proclaim daily from every church, temple, mosque, shrine and synagogue that the greatest evil is to inflict pain and suffering on another? How long, how long, how long, before we learn that cruelty is a sin beyond all redemption?

I did not find solace this day. I finished my run tear-stained and exhausted."

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Four years have since melted away, and the killing and maiming continue unabated.

When will we learn?

Will we ever learn?

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