Originally posted at Writeindependent.org on February 14, 2012
Violence begets violence.
There are few people who really “get” me when it comes to war. Cindy Sheehan gets me. She writes eloquently about the problem in her blog, Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox. She has a no-tolerance attitude about war and violence as the things they really are: no solution for anything.
Cindy Sheehan lost a son in the Iraq war. She isn’t afraid to speak her mind, and in fact, has thrown her entire life into the project of uncovering lies and hypocrisy. She doesn’t fall neatly into any category, except that she lives in her own skin. It’s refreshing to meet or read about someone like her, because she knows a deeper truth: the gut-level kind of truth, that can spot bullshit a mile away.
If you ever realized how many of your opinions come from other what other people say, or television, or the news, you haven’t really lived in your own shoes. Read what Cindy writes, and you will know what it is like to be an authentic person who makes up her own mind, thank you very much. Plus, she’s a mover and a shaker. If something bothers her, she’s liable to get up and do something about it. That’s more than most of us ever do in our lifetimes.
Cindy, you’re one of my heroes. Keep up the good fight.