And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ, the Lord." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, goodwill towards men."

22 killed in suicide bombing in Iraq near Mosul.

Is the country taking this seriously enough? When will the decision makers be held accountable for their actions? Who will decide if it was the right thing to do? Who will decide if it was worth the cost? What will the historians write? Will anything survive into history except the spin of those in charge? In an instant 22 gave up their lives. Hopefully, for most, they never knew what hit them. The problem is for the 2200 intimate friends left behind in the United States. They are scarred. They are disbelieving. They will carry the loss to their graves. Wives without husbands, children without fathers, parents without sons and daughters, stunned, weeping. If it were my boy or girl who was killed, I think I'd be on a personal crusade, not to remove GWB from office, but to do something horrible and deadly to him. It would be easy to risk everything to punish him because I'd already be dead. See the next paragraph about that. Fortunately, my boy is safe, here with me. What a joy and peace that brings.

In the HBO series, Band of Brothers, (a chronicle of Easy company, 506th regiment, 101st airborne, in WWII) an officer speaks to a frightened private about his fear. He says something to this effect. "Sure we are all afraid, but your problem is that you are think you going to come out of this alive. The sooner you realize that you are already dead, the sooner you can get about the business of being a soldier. All war depends on that." The message emboldens the private, Albert Blithe, who becomes a courageous and valuable member of his platoon. Albert later died of wounds he received in battle.

Why do we only grieve for the men and women we know? The ones from our town, or from down the block, our brother or sister, the boy last week who was from East Coweta High School. Why don't we grieve for them all? (Well obviously it's because the country would come to a complete standstill). Why don't we grieve for the estimated 100,000 Iraqis that have died, uncounted by our orders? And the 300 billion dollars, isn't that just the lifeblood of people, spilling onto the the ground? Would that money, used for construtive purposes make an impact on the world? Why do we give 30 million for foreign aid and 300 billion to blow people up? Simple, because showing people who's boss is 10,000 times more important to our leaders than helping people.

There were hard words to hear on the day Rosalyn Carter spoke in our school gymnasium. She told us that although America prides itself on what it gives to those in need, that in actuality, if you look at what we give as a percentage of what we have (GNP), America gives the least of all the first world countries. We are the stingiest, meanest, most uncaring, rich people on the face of the earth. It was shocking to hear this grandmother in her soft voice rattle off the statistics. Believe me, she had her facts together. It made us ashamed to hear it.

Can someone tell me why homosexual marriage was the swing issue in our recent election? Can no one hear the explosions? Can no one hear people crying? Rumsfeld says he is insulted that anyone believes he doesn't feel compassion for every fallen soldier. He's just too busy sign the form letters his office sends out to the families about the loss of their soldier's life. Think how many letters that would be for Pete's sake.

During the Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, I heard the bells on Christmas day, containing these lines:

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Sing angels! Sing! Peace on earth, good will towards men.