To
Keep Us Free
March,
2003 - It was the day of the Ultimatum. President Bush had announced
to Saddam Hussein, “Get out or we’ll take you out.” The world
collectively held its breath. History balanced on a cusp of what was
and what could be.
I
needed to grocery shop. Seems mundane in the face of such
world-changing events, but the small things in life are often unaware
of history-in-the-making. I headed to the store, a bit uneasy about
being out in a suddenly unfamiliar universe.
The
grocery store was oddly quiet. I expected the typical “pre-storm”
crowd we get here in the north whenever there is an Event, people
“stocking up” on chips and soda and other essentials they might
need in the few extra hours it would take to get the snowplows out on
the roads. The store, though, was nearly empty, and those who were
there were not laughing and talking. I guess I was not the only one
who felt strange.
Outside
again, I wheeled my loaded cart out to the car. It was a soft night;
soft breeze, soft sounds of cars in distance, the soft wail of a
train crossing a road somewhere. I popped the trunk, and as the
trunk lid raised I lifted my eyes. I saw the sky above; dark blue
sky pierced by bright stars, wispy clouds lower to the horizon. Then
I noticed what was not
there. There were no warplanes screaming through the sky. There
were no bombs whistling death as they plummeted toward houses and
farms. There were no ambulances flying toward someone’s death.
I
saw the woman first. From the sky she looked down. It was a Vietnam
nurse, her eyes were deep and shaded with pain and exhaustion. Her
stethoscope was draped around her neck, her scrubs wet and filthy
with sweat and who knows what else. Next to her stood a World War 1
soldier, weary and grimy. Rank upon rank they appeared, Korean War
vets, Gulf war soldiers in sand-colored gear, World War 2 in olive
drab, Civil War blue and gray standing arm in arm. It was the
Revolutionary soldier who spoke.
“Look
around.” was all he said. I looked around, at the clear, quiet
skies, down then at my full grocery cart. I had all the food I
needed, all I wanted. I realized, except for the soldiers in the
sky, that I was alone. I, a small woman, was totally alone in a dark
parking lot, and I was safe. All the freedoms I ever needed or
wanted surrounded me. Freedom from fear, from want, from pain, from
cruel dictators who would steal my soul. It was all mine, and I had
never acknowledged it.
I
looked up again. The rough frontiersman-soldier smiled. “This it
why we did it”, he said, “for you, and your children.” I
looked down again at all I had. When I looked back they were all
gone. But, I could feel them there, the years of bravery and
sacrifice surrounding and protecting me.
“Thank
you.” I whispered, then drove home, aware, at least for now, of all
I’d been given.
