A Soldier Died Yesterday. So What?

Dick Kazan Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 10:26 am

Yesterday, I read that eight U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq. So were 95 Iraqi men, women and children and a European journalist.

But few people noticed because those are just statistics and they were busy living their lives. Or for those in Iraq, just trying to survive. In America, those eight families each heard a knock at the door and when they opened it they saw two soldiers in dress uniforms, with sickening news.

News that caused their world to crash and brought with it a lifetime of pain and irreplaceable loss. And their hearts screamed "No!" as tears streamed down their faces. There must be some mistake, this can't be happening.

Meanwhile, President Bush will soon be 61-years-of-age and I'm 62. In our lifetimes, we have gotten to enjoy so many wonderful things. We know what it's like to:

-Graduate from college.
-Get a good job and be paid well for it.
-Fall in love and marry our sweetheart.
-Be there for the birth of each of our children.
-Be the loving and supportive parent those children need.
-Buy our first home.
-Be with our family and friends on holidays and other joyous occasions.
-Watch our children grow-up as we share with them their joys in life.
-Mature and find greater meaning in our own life.

I thought about these wonderful experiences in life as I held in my heart, the loss of each of these young soldiers, some still in their teens. Most of them had experienced few of these things as there simply wasn't time.

Because it is too soon for these slain soldiers to have their names released, my mind wandered to three other soldiers killed in Iraq.

There is Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez who at 22, became one of the first U.S. soldiers to die there. Jose, an orphan grew-up in the streets of Guatemala and because no-one wanted him, also in a Guatemalan orphanage. In his mid-teens, he came to Los Angeles and was adopted by Nora and Marcelo Mosquera.

In a loving home, he quickly learned English and with his friendly personality became popular, as he graduated from high school and started college. His dream was to become an architect. But in gratitude for his happy life in America, he joined the Marines to give something back.

Little did Jose know that several months later, President Bush would order the invasion of Iraq and that he would die in a blaze of gunfire so far from his home and from the family and friends who loved him and who were traumatized by his death.

Then there is Army Reserve Sgt. Regina Reali who followed in the footsteps of her older brother Paul who is in the Navy. In 2000, she joined the Army Reserve, also not knowing President Bush would order the invasion of Iraq.

Once she was deployed to Iraq in 2005, she became lonely and scared. But two 6th grade classes adopted her and they actively exchanged letters and gifts with her and she became a hero to them.

Just before Christmas vacation in 2005, they sent gifts to her, and looked forward to hearing from her when they returned. Instead, right after her 25th birthday, she was killed by an explosive device and her funeral was held the day they came back to school.

And finally there is Army Pfc. Steven Walberg-Riotto, who wanted so much to be a man and to make a difference in this world, that he joined the Army right after his high school graduation last year, celebrating his 18th birthday during basic training. In Iraq, a sniper shot him to death. His family and the small community of Paradise, California are devastated by the loss of a life so young, it had hardly begun.

Last night in Washington, as his smile beamed brightly for the cameras, President Bush hosted Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll in a white-tie lavish state dinner. He and Laura are privileged to live in the splendor of the White House, with all of its beauty and security.

Anne and I live at the beach in Southern California and last night together we watched the sun set as it lit the light blue sky in streams of orange and disappeared into the darker blue Pacific Ocean.

In Iraq it was daytime and the carnage continued. But for President Bush who ordered this war and is escalating it, and for Anne and me, the war is far away and not part of our daily lives. And yet it is. How could it not be?

For the loss of each life, whether Iraqi, American or any other is precious and touches each of us who invest the time to care. For in our hearts, we feel the suffering of others and we take action to end this war so that no other families must bear a lifetime of such horrific pain, nor are any more seeds of bitterness and hate planted that will grow into the next war.

Dick