We'll Leave a Light On Until They Come Home

1945 - How could it have happened?
No one understood. How could those people have let it happen? Why did some choose to take part in such an inhumane scheme? It couldn't, no NEVER, it wouldn't EVER happen here! We aren't like they were, not us.

2007 - I've had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach for several weeks now and my thoughts keep drifting to the death and destruction yet to come. CNN is again beating the drums of propaganda for the radical neoconservative cabal that is firmly entrenched in our nation's capitol. Once again, we are all expected to respond as true believers, and march in lockstep to war. This time, the target of American and Israeli militarists, is Iran.

2003 - It appeared that war was imminent. I lived with that sick feeling for months. I watched in horror as my fellow Americans chose to embrace the Bush/Cheney, Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz war plan to invade Iraq. Then, masked in red, white, and blue war paint, the obedient followers turned on those of us who questioned the intentions of the neoconservative Republicans.

While the brainwashed majority waited impatiently for "the game" to start, my husband and I, along with two of our grown children, joined thirty others for a candlelight vigil. It rained hard that night before the "Shock and Awe" assualt on Baghdad, but as hopeless as we all felt and soaked to the bone, we stood in the rain and kept those candles burning.

1930's - Hierarchical authority and strict obedience were fundamental in the German culture, back then. Males of rank dominated the government, the church, and the family. The average German never even considered questioning authority. It simply wasn't done.

Hitler walked in the door that was left open after the Great War was lost. The German economy had been destroyed. Hunger and hopelessness reigned as the people turned to Hitler. Adolph Hitler rose to power and secured his position by seeding and then inundating radio broadcasts, movies, cartoons, newspapers, and books with the most sophisticated propaganda campaign that the world had ever experienced. The German public didn't question; driven by desperation, they believed, and obeyed.

2003 - March 19th - It happened here. We went to war. There it was on our television screen - terrorism, American-style, lighting up the darkness over Baghdad. We were all numb with grief for what was to come. March 19th, arrogance allied with ignorance were victorious over humanitarian values.

My heart was broken. Someone on-line somewhere (Michael Moore?) suggested placing a light in the window and leaving it lit until our illegally deployed troops returned home. We plugged in a piece of light rope and draped it across our front window. The swag of white light burned for 3 1/2 years. We then replaced it with two small electric candles.



2007 - The lights in the window continue to burn. Our troops are trapped in a civil war fueled by anarchy. America has pounded Iraq into chaos, yet daily for several weeks the Bush extremists, have been demonizing Iran and propagandizing the promise of nuclear strikes against that country. It is a nightmarish deja vu. They are even using the same propaganda playbook. Hell, it worked the last time the United States preemptively and criminally used aggression instead of diplomacy.

2006 - December - My eldest son, a disabled veteran who served as a cavalry scout in Kosovo, made us a peace sign on a large sheet of plywood with colored xmas lights. He set it on a timer to go on every night when darkeness fell. The Peace sign was bright with message throughout the holiday season.

2007 - January - It was time to take the holiday lights down. Several people told me they thought that I should leave the Peace sign lit. I did.

February - The Peace sign shines on through the dark night. It is a political statement and it symbolizes hope because it speaks of the best human kind has to offer. It is up to us, who are immune to this administration's infectious propaganda, to light the way. We cannot allow ignorance to prevail.


.....Resident Scholar, American Patriot Institute..........
.............Kitchen Window Woman.........

**Note - Sorry that this post has taken me awhile. I write slowly as I think things through, edit, and rewrite. Also, I have been busy researching a new skin for my blog template.