There are other ways the Iraq War affects us...

[Mother Of Four]

Today, my heating went out. The blower wouldn't switch on, it wasn't too cold but it needed to be fixed so we called our heating/air conditioning repair man.

He's outside right now, we know him as more than the "Repair guy"- His child goes to school with our 11 year old daughter. Our unit is almost 12 years old and he can work magic with it. He's talented and incredibly smart, and he's a co-owner of the business. He's always ready with a joke and a smile- even though we aren't normally social outside of saying hey at school or visiting a little when the system tries to give us fits.

My husband just came in and told me that in October, he'll be heading to training and then over to Iraq. I was surprised, then upset: Besides the most obvious reason of him being put in harms way, here is why-

All the ways this ONE person going to Iraq will affect others.

His business may well falter, as he is the "Face" of the business. So it will affect his employees and their families on an financial level.

He IS the "Magic" of his business, many times it's almost like he knows whats wrong with it before even cracking the panels. None of his techs are as good at it as he is, which means more down time for families. In NC thats really no joke when the heat hits, or the cold in winter.

His business is also the one that is called in this area, and the surrounding area in the county, about 90 percent of the time.

He's active in the school, so his childs friends will be affected because they will no longer see him there smiling or play with him when visiting.

These may seem small, but we are in a small town. Less than 5000 people, he's well known and well loved. We notice it when someone is gone, on a deep level.

Add to it this:

We recently lost a local officer, who used to do ride alongs with my husbands Department. Nine others were injured in the same incident, also from NC. It was in the news yesterday, my husband and I talked about it last night.

These aren't family members, these aren't co workers. The war has reached a point now where it's like dropping a pebble in a pond. The ripples are reaching the shore and starting to rebound. It's connected to rising heat costs, more expensive groceries, less travel if more than a few minutes away, changing jobs due to commute time, it's become a love the warrior hate the war issue. NC is traditionally a red state- and I've yet to meet a single person who wants to vote for McCain. It's either HRC or Obama because no matter what the other issues they believe that they will get us out of Iraq and bring our people home.

Things I've noticed:
People are quieter, more subdued. This is the quietest it's been in my husbands line of work for a long time, to quote him last night "Honey, its dead out here. I'm not complaining, but it's like they are holding their breath."

People are buying groceries less than a week at a time, on an "As need" basis. Gone are the big carts of week groceries, and instead you see hand baskets.

Stores are having more sales, trying hard to get people to buy things, and failing.

I'm watching our town die, and hating every second of it. I moved here from a larger city (Over 250k people) in a totally different state. We are watching our house value drop, people aren't really stopping and talking much anymore, gone are the visits over the fence, and the kids at the park are half as many as last spring.

Even the movie rental place has had to do a "Rent one get another" sale to try and get people into the store.


All I'm asking, as some may wonder to the point of this post, is that we step back from the infighting for just a moment and look at just how important this election is to us. The American Dream has a very good chance of becoming a nightmare instead of a few simple chapters in our book of history.

I don't want to leave a nightmare to my children, I don't want to see their shining eyes looking defeated.

I will vote for whoever the democratic nominee is.

I hope you all will do the same.

[closeupready]

1. Absolutely.

K&R

[TooBigaTent]

2. Bush's war has affected everyone in diverting funds from things that are needed

to support the destruction of a foreign country.

Every day, we encounter failures in our infrastructure that the hundreds of billions (or trillions, what's a few zeroes among friends) of dollars could have had a major impact on. Add on the cost of fuel which reverberates among everything we buy and you have a country raped by the republics and their corporations.

Emphasizing the (relatively) few actual casualties is attacking this the wrong way. Most Americans are not affected by the human loss but we all are by the "collateral damage." That is the message that has to be pounded home.

No money for schools or housing or medical care - it is all (minus the corporate and executive profit) being blown up in the desert.

[Mother Of Four]

3. Thank you for responding...

It's a little sad to me that people are more focused on tearing each other down, instead of lifting their candidate up when this is such an important election.