War with Iraq: Protestors hurt families

In the past few months I have noticed the protesters along the road in central and south island. My heart always sunk as we drove past remembering what it was like being a military wife during the Vietnam war. I told myself that everyone has a right to protest. This is a free country. That is what the sacrifices we made and were prepared to make were all about. That is why my husband and friends were gone at a moment’s notice for who knows how long to who knows what danger.

I was very pleased that the protesters here on the island respected the feelings of the military families and stayed out of Oak Harbor. They have a right to be there. There is no denying that. But just put yourself in the shoes of the military spouse or child or parent who is walking around in a fog with a great big hole in their heart and a lump in their throat ready to turn into tears at any moment. These families are grieving. They are feeling that pain because their husband or father, wife or mother, son or daughter had the calling to put their country, our country, your country, before everything and everyone dear to them.

You have the right to protest anywhere in this great land of ours. Why wave your signs and yell in the front yards of grieving families? What does that accomplish? These families don’t need to be told what it means to be Americans. They know what price they are prepared to pay for freedom. They don’t need to be told the costs of war. They know only too well.

Sharyn Mellors

Oak Harbor

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