Candlelight Vigil

We hosted an EMERGENCY CANDLELIGHT VIGIL to mark the 1,000 + American soldiers that have died in Iraq. It was promoted by the WIN WITHOUT WAR and MOVEON.ORG organization. There were thousands of vigils being held across the US at 8 pm tonight. It was a great experience for the kids, from the sign making, to the questions and answers about our government, our right to protest and assemble.  We downloaded all the names from the CNN website of the dead, and decided to read the names as everyone stood in silence. Of course, there were to many names to read in a 30 minute period, but it still brought it closer to home. We had 16 people show up, all people we didn't know which is pretty amazing for Southern Maryland. The most moving thing was the fact that there were about 6 children under the age of 11. We gave them permission to play nearby with the flashlights as we assumed they would be bored. The all played for less than 5 minutes and then all came over and took candles and stood in silence. Musa held a sign near the road for the cars to se that read, "1000 DEAD HOW MANY MORE?" When we arrived home Musa went and laid down in his bed. I called to him to come and take a shower and he didn't answer. I went to his room and he was lying on his bed. He said, "Mom, I am just trying to get this all in my head. 1000 that is a lot of death."  Then we talked about the fact that the 1000 we were honoring were only the Americans. What about the Iraqi's, the British ect..and then he said, "What about the wounded soldiers?" I agreed it was hard to get into one's head.

We all agreed it felt good, and long overdue to do this as a family. It wasn't about politics tonight, it wasn't about what camp your in, it was a memorial. There should be more.