I will no longer debate my conscience about submitting the following. I am not a pacifist. Like other Americans that have worn a U.S. military uniform in the past and present, I still holdfast my allegiance to defend the people, and the land of this sovereign nation. In deference to current military men and women fighting an enemy on many fronts, the voices of protest in Crawford, Texas have taken their proper place in history. Cindy Sheehan is a righteous American citizen that has exercised the very freedom that many, like her son, have died to protect.

The strength of our democracy is tested at times like these. As a nation, do we take sides and split ourselves into groups of pro-war defenders or anti-war protesters? Democracy is not a sport. If it were, then it would be a contest of wills: the will of the people or the will of those that do not serve the people. Whose will is it that American lives be lost in this armed conflict?

Consider that no matter how we got into this war, we all need to support each other because the human cost of war is not paid in a lump sum. Like Cindy Sheehan others have lost loved ones and maybe protest in silence, but the price is just as burdensome. We all need to find our way to being on the same side, the side of healing. We need to do this for the sake of humanity, not to satisfy politics.