this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war

we love and support our troops, just as we love and support the Iraqi people – without exception, or precondition, or judgment.

image and poem below the fold

Third-grade teacher Cindy Rasmussen works with students at Ware Elementary School, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006, at Fort Riley, Kan. Ware Elementary’s brightly colored walls and cacophony of student voices make it seem like any other school. But the students at this school on a military base face a challenge most of their peers don’t. By Thanksgiving, 85 percent of them will say goodbye to a parent heading for Iraq for at least a year – perhaps for the third time in their young lives.
(AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

Blowin’ in the Wind
by Bob Dylan

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, ‘n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

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