Dear Cindy,
It was almost a year ago that we met following your speech at the WERU Full circle Fair in Blue Hill, Maine. We were both fairly early in our journeys, you to bring the message of the illegal and immoral war to as many people as possible, me in my run for U.S. Senate to try to stop it.
Since then, each of us has been many miles. You around the country in your protest of this administration, me around the state of Maine in winning my primary and now heading for the fall election. Both of us are campaigning for peace. I — as have you, I’m sure — have found many more people in support of our efforts to end this war than I have found wishing to see it continue. And most people understand that our work does not dishonor the troops who have died, but is being done to assure that no more parents, spouses, and children lose loved ones in this illegal and unnecessary war.
Our paths almost crossed again last fall on the day of the 2000th death of a U.S. service person in Iraq. My husband and I were in Washington, D.C. that day, and went to the White House. By the time we got there, you had already been there and “escorted” away. We stood in silent protest with Code Pink.
So I have thought of you many times in recent months, but never more so than yesterday.
I was in Portland, Maine, for a reading of the names. I arrived after the reading had already begun, and stood in line to await my turn at the microphone. We were readings from a loose leaf notebook with page after page of names. Each person would read a couple of pages, then turn the book over to the person standing next in line.
After the women in front of me had read about 50 names she got to the end of her pages, and turned the book over to me. I stepped to the microphone, and turned the page to the next list of names.
The first name I read was Casey’s.
The impact of that coincidence — that Maine’s Democratic U.S. Senate nominee who is working hard to displace a pro-war Republican Senator would step in at just that point in that reading — was not lost on the dozen people, all friends and compatriots, who had organized and were conducting the reading. It was as if Casey was sending me, and us, a message.
I wish you well as you continue your efforts. I, like you, will continue to direct my life to bringing peace to the world.
I do hope our paths cross again many times.
Jean Hay Bright
Dixmont, Maine