I sat and watched Baghdad ER tonight, and I cried. I saw this huge, young Marine get operated on, after taking shrapnel to the chest from an IED. He wouldn't stop bleeding, and it became clear that he was going to die soon. The chaplain leaned down and said to him that they wanted him to fight. But, if he couldn't fight anymore, it was okay to let go. And, he died. While it was happening, this group of doctors and nurses prayed over his body. Then he was gone.
The soldier didn't know this chaplain, but at least he had someone there, telling him it was okay, and that he wasn't alone. How many soldiers over there have had to die all alone, blown up on the side of some sand road? If you have ever had to tell someone you love, lying in a bed dying, that it was okay to let go, you know it is the hardest thing you will ever have to do. And, this chaplain had to do it way too much I'm sure. He may not know these young soldiers, but you could see how much he cared for all of them.
When will all of this stop? When is it ever going to be enough?
1 comment:
Reading what you wrote made me cry, sitting right here at my desk. The awful thing is we've been conditioned not to think about the war that way - that individuals suffer and die and some may do it alone. I saw an interview with a mother whose son died in Iraq and she didn't know anything about how or where it happened. It turned out her son was wounded and filmed on Bagdad ER. They showed her the tape and she saw he didn't die alone. It might have been the guy you saw. It comforted her in a small way to know he wasn't alone - so I guess that's something.
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