Poem: A Miracle Complete

A Miracle Complete

Crimson rose through cracked macadam
Waters flow ‘neath world-worn feet
Troubles in this life, I’ve had ‘em
Our love reveals a miracle complete

Hard packed clay can’t stop the thrust
Of desert flow’rs on this high plain
Move toward sun for which they lust
Your friendship will restore my faith again.

Some say God grows from these places
Ethereal light hid by arid day
From those myst’rious rigid spaces
Awareness. the path on which I find my way

Delicate extrusions surprise the doubtful
Thomas would have felt this pain
Until he touched the gentle crop
Whose seeds encase the bounteous ambient rain.

Your love
Your friendship
Gives me faith
I find my way
I feel the rain
A miracle
A miracle
Complete

- by Jude Nagurney Camwell

*Note- During this Thanksgiving week, this poem is dedicated to my friends, my lovers, my fellow-dreamers. I'm eternally grateful for the gift you've brought to me, each in your own way.

Jet Crash-Was to Have Carried "41"

Jet Crash-Was to Have Carried "41"

It's a shame about the jet that went down this morning. My condolences to the families of the victims.

"41" must have many mixed feelings today. Sorrow for his would-be companions, gratefulness to God he wasn't on the jet when it went down.

Kevin Sites: Open Letter to Marines

"The Marines have built their proud reputation on fighting for freedoms like the one that allows me to do my job, a job that in some cases may appear to discredit them. But both the leaders and the grunts in the field like you understand that if you lower your standards, if you accept less, than less is what you'll become.

-Kevin Sites

Kevin Sites:
Open Letter to Devil Dogs of the 3.1

Kevin Sites gives his assessment of what he saw in the November mosque shooting, which he happened to catch on video in the course of performing his professional duties. (See my original post). I wish there were more like him. I'm sure there are, we just aren't hearing from them.

I believe Kevin sees his job the same way I wish all freedom-loving Americans would see it. Some questions are very hard to ask. But we have to start somewhere, don't we?

excerpt:

I'm also well aware from many years as a war reporter that there have been times, especially in this conflict, when dead and wounded insurgents have been booby-trapped, even supposedly including an incident that happened just a block away from the mosque in which one Marine was killed and five others wounded. Again, a detail that was clearly stated in my television report.

No one, especially someone like me who has lived in a war zone with you, would deny that a solider or Marine could legitimately err on the side of caution under those circumstances. War is about killing your enemy before he kills you.

In the particular circumstance I was reporting, it bothered me that the Marine didn't seem to consider the other insurgents a threat -- the one very obviously moving under the blanket, or even the two next to me that were still breathing.

I can't know what was in the mind of that Marine. He is the only one who does.

But observing all of this as an experienced war reporter who always bore in mind the dark perils of this conflict, even knowing the possibilities of mitigating circumstances -- it appeared to me very plainly that something was not right. According to Lt. Col Bob Miller, the rules of engagement in Falluja required soldiers or Marines to determine hostile intent before using deadly force. I was not watching from a hundred feet away. I was in the same room. Aside from breathing, I did not observe any movement at all.

and-

For those who don't practice journalism as a profession, it may be difficult to understand why we must report stories like this at all -- especially if they seem to be aberrations, and not representative of the behavior or character of an organization as a whole.

The answer is not an easy one.

In war, as in life, there are plenty of opportunities to see the full spectrum of good and evil that people are capable of. As journalists, it is our job is to report both -- though neither may be fully representative of those people on whom we're reporting. For example, acts of selfless heroism are likely to be as unique to a group as the darker deeds. But our coverage of these unique events, combined with the larger perspective - will allow the truth of that situation, in all of its complexities, to begin to emerge. That doesn't make the decision to report events like this one any easier. It has, for me, led to an agonizing struggle -- the proverbial long, dark night of the soul.....

finally-

....when the Iraqi man in the mosque posed a threat, he was your enemy; when he was subdued he was your responsibility; when he was killed in front of my eyes and my camera -- the story of his death became my responsibility.

The burdens of war, as you so well know, are unforgiving for all of us.

I pray for your soon and safe return.