Gold Star Moms: Lead The Way
Bill Scheurer
100,000 people. 1,627 vigils. Hundreds of stories.
Not since Bishop Desmond Tutu’s call right before the war, have we
seen such a response. And it will only grow.
Who can have such moral authority? Only a mom. A mother who
has lost her son or daughter in this war—a war, like other wars, begun by
people who are not moms.
What Cindy Sheehan unleashed last Wednesday night, in
allowing us throughout the country to share in the Camp Casey experience, can
never be called back.
The mothers of Gold Star Families for Peace must continue to
lead the way. As people gathered in vigils last week, I saw and heard a hunger
in their beings for more.
Cindy, Celeste, Sue, Jane, Lila, and all you other Gold Star
moms—we are ready for more. Issue the call, and we will respond.
Prayerfully talk among yourselves, and with your trusted
advisers. Decide what to do next. Consider our limitations, and we will come
with you.
Insist that large membership groups—like TrueMajority,
MoveOn, Democracy for America, and others (women, minorities, labor,
faith)—continue to spread your call, week after week, month after month. They
cannot deny you.
Fellow members of the peace community—look what unity does
for our cause! By coming together in common action, we magnify our strength.
We can trust these moms. Long before the media showed up,
they were doing these things—confronting the powers, calling them to account.
It is what they must do.
These mothers gave life to the world, the sons and daughters
they bore and raised. Our country—in its misguided nationalism and militarism—took
this life away.
But now, these women are taking it back, and giving it to us
again. Receive the gift.
Bill Scheurer edits The PeaceMajority Report, and is an independent candidate for U.S. Congress in the 8th District of Illinois. He has worked as a lay minister, a lawyer, and an entrepreneur, and is now a full-time writer and activist.