by Cole Harrison, Pat Scanlon (Advocate), Feb-25-10
Following are Pat Scanlon's remarks.
We are here together to mark a very sad occasion, a very sad day marking the death of the 1,000th soldier, a sad day for his family and friends, a sad day for all of us gathered here and across the country in similar small gatherings and last but not least this is a sad day for this country. Over the past week or so, As the number of deaths of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan started to escalate towards 1,000, I started to have a fantasy, of what I knew was irrational hopes. How wonderful it would have been for the count just to stop and not have any more deaths. Not have to be here, I don't want to be here, I don't want to mark the 1,000 death. But sadly I knew, as we knew in Iraq and as we knew in Vietnam that the number of causalities would continue to grow and that it was inevitable, isn't that heartbreaking, it was inevitable, that we would be out here together at Park Street Station sadly and solemnly marking this event.
Today, I am caught up with a number of different emotions. First I feel profound sadness and emptiness over the loss of these, our treasure, our hope, our future. Events like this draw me back to Vietnam, to the body bags and those grey coffins. All of those raw emotions from forty years ago come rushing back and are so very real and present today. I don't see a number, but sadly that is what most Americans will see and hear, if they see and hear at all. They may hear a name mentioned on TV or the radio, which also most likely doesn't mean anything to them. Today, this kind of news is so common place, so impersonal, it is as if it is inevitable, we take it for granted, we have all been pacified. Well those names mean something to me, they represent real people, those names mean something to everyone standing here today. Each and every one of those names means a son or daughter, a brother, sister, father, mother, uncle, aunt, cousin, friend, relative, neighbor, classmate, teammate or co-worker. I see the faces of these kids, and for the most part that is what they are - kids. We were all kids in Vietnam, they are kids today. I see can them, they are of all colors, all races and from all religions. They had hopes and dreams, they laughed and cried, they loved, they had interests and passions, they were beautiful, they had a future. I see their families, friends and neighbors, I see their grief, I feel their pain, I have been there, I am there again today. I see and hear the solemn religious service, the flag at half mast, the honor guard, I see the cemetery and I hear the bugler playing taps and I hear the last prayer. After that there will always be that ever persistent feeling of loss and emptiness of what could have been, what should have been and the ever present question of why, that will never be able to be answered.
I feel a bit bewildered and frustrated today.
Nine long years of war and it is looking more and more like Vietnam every day. I am frustrated because we work so hard to stop these wars. We petition, write letters, make phone calls, fight war funding, talk to our Congressmen and Senators, protest, march and sometimes get arrested. Yet with all the effort, it seems to be all for not because nothing ever seems to change, nothing is resolved. The war machine keeps rolling along and people keep dying.
Where is everyone, where are the masses, why does it seem that no one, other then a small group really cares? A small group that others view as a fringe group, anti-war, anti American, anti-establishment, flag hating, enemy sympathizers, those peace nicks. It is true that we are peace-nicks and I am proud to be one in the midst of such a violent society. Some of us are ashamed of what our country has done. Some of us are ashamed that our flag has been used to support and condone war. But none of the rest is true, we are the real patriots and don't ever forget that. There should be thousands down here, but no, it is always seems to be the same faces, the same signs, the same concern, the same passion. Each and every one of us are here today because we have to be here. We all just have to be here. I can't think of another place I should be right at this moment and I am sure you can't either. We are drawn together to witness and mourn the loss that we all have experienced today. We are drawn together because being people of conscience we have to stand up to war mongers, the war machine, to injustice. I am physically a little sick today, but I had to be here. We all had to be here, to stand in solidarity, together, in solemn remembrance of all these soldiers from number one to one thousand and to express our continued opposition to these wars, to the ongoing killing, destruction and mayhem.
I also feel anger today . . .
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