Numbers

Today is September 11th and I am reminded that I should be able to see the twin towers from my living room window. I purposefully never looked at any information about the WTC tradgedies before today. When it happened I was still grieving for my mother and I couldn't handle trying to grieve for the nation. I made sure my friends in NYC were safe and I compartmentailzed the rest so I didn't have to feel that ache that I knew every single family member of somebody who died that day was going through. Today I finally saw the number of people who died.

2996 people.

2996 families that are still healing from the loss of that day, mothers, fathers, wifes, husbands, children, who are missing somebody so important in their life it that it will never be the same again.

Then I thought of Iraq. We have been "fightning the war on terror" since it happened. First in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. Trying to make sure that we keep something like that from ever happening again on US soil.

The body count in Iraq from March 20, 2003 to today

135,335

135,335 lives for 2996.

Violence will never make peace, it will never make us safe, it does no good at all. It only causes more pain in a world that has already had quite enough.