Some Give All...The Rest of Us? Not So Much...

They don't want us to see the flag-draped caskets as they come home.



And, until recently, there wasn't a whole lot said about those making it back alive--with parts missing--from Iraq.



The feds say they want to resepct the privacy of grieving familes, which is why they won't allow t.v. coverage of the unloading of the caskets of our war dead once they arrive stateside. Others think the administration is applying lessions learned from Vietnam where the steady drip-drip-drip of disturbing images turned a nation against "a police action."



The wounded, though, are becoming another story: ABC's Bob Woodruff survived horrific wounds and lived to tell the story of the caregivers who saved him, of those who are hurt as badly as he was, and of the heroes who are falling through the institutional tracks. The Washington Post broke the story of the Walter Reed situation, and other media are pcking up the mantle.



Then, there's Ty Ziegel--a badly disfigured Marine who is trying to get on with his life, one that includes a new bride who is a living example of the phrase, "for better or worse, in sickness and in health."



There's a story behind the picture to the right--it won the photog honors and created all manner of buzz nationally. Ready more about the woman who took it, and what she saw as she observed Ty's wedding day right here:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/03/10/berman_photo/?source=newsletter


This is a story that's playing out every day with hundreds of our nation's bravest men and women. People who served our country and those around them who have to deal with the aftermath at home, in many cases without institutional support or with situations so unique, no one knows how to cope. War doesn't just kill--it maims, it wounds, it leaves mental scars that take years to heal--if, indeed, they mend at all.

A lot has been done to make sure the war doesn't inconvenience us--face it, unless you've got someone over there, we are asked to give up nothing for this incursion, other than bigger national debt. No one's growing Victory Gardens, we aren't behing handed rationing coupons, and we aren't recycling rubber to beat the Kaiser. We tear up when we hear "God Bless The U.S.A" or when a vet takes a bow at the ballpark, but really, what are we at home asked to give up? Nothing.

We complain about media excess when it comes to Britney Spears or Anna Nicole Smith--yet, how many of us turn the dial to "Extra" or "Entertainment Tonight" when we could be watching Jim Lehrer on PBS or Chris Matthews on MSNBC? Would you have picked up this Salon magazine article if Ty were on the cover, or would you grab instead for Ugly Betty on "TV Guide"? Be honest. It's the first step.

Our friends, neighbors, relatives and fellow Americans are leaving a lot on the battlefied. We owe it to them to pay attention, be informed, and read their stories, no matter how hard they may be to digest or how tough the photos are to look at.