this is a great article,

and, as chris says, "somewhat encouraging." it's about the minority of military families who oppose the war.

last spring break ben and i took a little road trip around pennsylvania, and wound up one day in a little town called jim thorpe. we were looking for a place to stay there, and went in to the "visitor center" which housed the jim thorpe's little museum of its history as a former mining town. i went up to talk to the woman at the counter and noticed she had a framed picture of a boy in uniform, so after we'd talked about all of jim thorpe's many attractions, i asked about him. she said he was her son, that he was off in iraq, and that he was coming home soon (along with all the other kids in the military from the town) for the annual st. patrick's day parade. 'i'm lucky,' she said; 'most parents don't even know where their kids are.'

she explained that most kids who graduated high school in jim thorpe went off to the army, because there just wasn't any work for them there. i wanted to ask if they supported the war, but not outright. throughout the conversation she avoided making any statements one way or the other. but the general sense was, all our kids are there, it doesn't matter how we feel, we have to support our kids.

eventually, though, she did tell me that she was somehow involved with code pink, the organization for women against the war. 'i don't know whether to put up a pink ribbon, or a yellow ribbon,' she said. 'i couldn't put up both, or else i'd look like the easter bunny.'

that conversation really touched me - how complicated it was and how naive i was - and i kept thinking about it whenever i'd talk to people who were against the war but didn't know anyone involved in it. it prompted me to agree to write an article for my college newspaper about this group that was trying to collect toiletries and other goodies to send over to the troops ('operation shoebox'). the woman organizing it refused to talk about her stance on the war, and eventually i stopped asking. i didn't want the article to be political.

somehow it all comes back to separating politics from relationships. one woman i talked to when writing that article told me, 'I remember the Vietnam era, and I realize that people can't separate war from soldiers. When their feelings are mixed, it's hard for them to realize that there are people over there who don't have any say either.'

i haven't sorted it all out. if any of you, my loyal zero readers, have it sorted out, feel free to comment.