Cindy Sheehan left a post at Common Dreams that made me cry. I hate to cry alone. Your turn.

I received this e-mail today from a distraught Gold Star Mother:

How?
I have so many questions.....How I do I stop the vulgar pain in my chest? How do I do this? How I do I continue to breathe but cannot live? How do I do this? How do I keep my soul in my body? How do I do this? How do I close my eyes wondering if sleep should come but yet knowing if I sleep I will awaken to know this is not a nightmare but my life? How do I do this? How do I love someone with my every being but cannot ever hold him again? How do I do this? How do I go on without that sweet face that brought more joy to my life than I ever deserve never be seen by my eyes again? How do I do this? How do I stop the scream that no one hears but me? How do I do this? PLEASE TELL ME...how do I live without my child, my son, my heart, my soul, my joy, my validation to my life...Please tell me ...how do I do this? How does the world go on without Steven....how do I do this?
*****
I received this e-mail yesterday from a mom who doesn't "qualify" to be a Gold Star Mother (from the other org., she does belong to GSFP) because her son committed suicide. He suffered horribly from PTSD.

Hi,
He (Gov. Mitt Romney, R-MA) was asked about his five boys and his answer was that they were grown, with families and they made their own choices. He then reminded everyone that our children chose to enlist. Aggressively recruited would be a better phrase. And then not told the truth, only to discover like my son that he had made a big mistake. He went on to say that he had attended all the funerals. Kevin said simple, no you haven't... Both Kevin and Debbie felt that the wall was up and that no change of attitude would be forthcoming from our Bush "yes" man. On the positive side his chief of staff spoke to Kevin privately about veteran affairs and that they would like to improve the system.

I find that I can't get Jeffrey out of my mind. I can see him at 11- 12 years old jumping in the car, when I'd pick him up at a friends. It's so real...it's almost like you can reach out and touch him. What a world of hell this administration has put us in. One we will live in all the rest of our days...

Our young people aren't numbers. Our young people are confined to early graves because of criminals who should be confined to prison that are profiting handsomely from the undeclared mess in Iraq. The Iraqi people are less than numbers. If they are counted or thought of at all, they are very often wrongly counted as "insurgents" when they are children and women.
If mere numbers will wake America up, think of Don and Condi when they say that this occupation could last at least a dozen or more years.
What number are you comfortable with? One was too much for me.

I can barely make myself read these letters and Cindy's response because their emotion is so raw and palpable that it breaks my heart. I feel so blessed that I do not have a child in peril in this war. However I feel that my entire country is in peril because of this war. We must fight to spare these young lives and in turn spare our country.

The time to act is now!