Candlelight Vigil No. 152, 1/14/09

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

Candlelight Vigil No. 152, 1/14/09
Posted with permission from http://www.saneramblings.com

The Candlelight Vigils are typically held Wednesdays from 6 pm to 7 pm in Torrance, CA. Please join me by lighting a candle each Wednesday evening for an hour, wherever you are, such as in the privacy of your home or office. If you do, you will find that candle's glow is magic as it brings these people into your heart, and it helps you to feel a sense of humanity. It may even touch your soul.

"A letter ... sent out right around Christmas," said a 50 ish woman who sometimes joins the vigil. "It came back and someone had crossed out the recipient's name and wrote on the envelope in big and bold Magic Marker letters, 'Dead -- Killed in Iraq by Bush!'

"It is a reality check," she said speaking of how stunned people were to see it. "It reminds us the war is still going on and it's real."

"I like your sign very much," said a man with an accent from his car. "Thank you. Where are you from sir," I asked. "Iran," he answered. "I've been here for 30-something years. You're getting a very important message out."

"I hear on the news," said the 50 ish woman a short time later with irritation in her voice, "the bailout money is being used by CEO's to get bonuses or higher salaries, and shareholders are getting dividends. Up to 40% of the bailout money."

"That's a rumor," I replied. "No-one knows for sure because no-one is keeping track of what happens to all this money."

I mention this to you dear reader because the collapsing economy and the taxpayer bailout of giant corporations was raised by a few different people but I'm not going to focus on it in this vigil summary. It shows however that people are scared of how they'll be affected and angry at those they think caused the problems.

"Thank you for doing that," called out two 20 ish women from their car. Just as they did, a 60 ish man walking by stopped and read the sign.

"Do you mean the Iraqis too," he asked. "I do," was my reply, "and the Americans as well. The sign is for everybody who has paid so severe a price in this war."

"You've got the right attitude, I'll tell you that," he said. He then raised his right arm and put this thumb up, as he nodded his head in agreement and smiled.

"You can't get out of Iraq," said a 51-year-old Englishman a little while later. "You're stuck there. You're going to be there for a long time." Hearing those words, a 31-year-old man came over and said to the Englishman, "We are damned if we do and damned if we don't.

"I was an Iraq war protestor," he continued. "Now we are stuck there but we could leave there. It will take time." He then referred to President Bush with an expletive and blamed this war on him, and said the war has led to the collapsing economy as we struggle to pay for it.

He then called the President another expletive and said, "We could have had universal health insurance instead of wasting that money on the war. I haven't seen a doctor in 10-years. I'm a chef and I just got a job with health insurance."

"You're lucky you're so young," said the Englishman. "You don't have any medical problems." "A friend of mine is only 22," replied the chef. "He got hit in the nuts by a basketball and when he went to the doctor, he found out he has testicular cancer.

"You have universal health care in England," said the chef. "And despite it's problems, no-one would want to give it up. But we can't afford it over here. We can't afford the war. Our country is going broke. We're like the British Empire, we're now going broke too. It's crazy."

Soon after they left, a 40 ish woman and her teenage daughter walked-up. "Thank you -- you have really stayed with it," the mother said. "It is such an important message, and we've seen you out here for a very long time.

"So many people have been killed and others have fled," continued the mother. "They're refugees or hiding in their own country, millions of them. But they're invisible. What a terrible thing we've done to them. We've destroyed their country."

Noticing her accent, I asked what country she is from. "I'm from El Salvador," she replied. "And I've seen greed to where the few have so much and most people have so little and their children starve." She felt this is now happening in America but not to the extent it is in El Salvador.

"Thank you for doing this," she said. "You are so determined and you are doing a wonderful thing."

When she and her daughter left, it was well-past time for the vigil to end. Just then, like last week, a bus pulled up and the driver repeatedly honked his horn and waved in support.

"Have you seen what else is going on in the Middle East," said a 36-year-old man who sometimes joins the vigil, and did last night even as the vigil was concluding. "The people over there are killing each other. And they are all doing it in the name of God!" Before he left, he expressed his concern for those dying over there as we spoke of Iraq, Israel and Gaza.

As he left, a 64-year-old woman who often joins the vigil walked-up. She is a well-informed engaging lady. I thanked her for coming out there, but also apologized to her, knowing my wife Anne had long been waiting for me to arrive home.

This good-hearted lady told an uplifting story about how Good Samaritans had helped her this week when she had car problems on a busy highway and asked about Anne's recovery from a serious accident. After giving her good news on Anne's recovery, I gave her a hug and we wished each other a nice evening.

It is amazing all the support this vigil attracts. From horn honks and waves to people joining in, it is uplifting to know that so many people care about those who have paid an awful price in this war. The vigil gives them an opportunity to express their feelings and many of us hope this war and the others will end soon.

Dick