Tuesday, December 09, 2003

Collective Responsibility

Clonecone at It's Craptastic! provides a heartfelt and moving glimpse of how the loss of a single soldier from a small town should have us all contemplating our own culpability in what is done in our name. He's also my vote in this weeks New Weblog Showcase at Truth Laid Bear.

As members of a democracy - one still thriving almost despite ourselves - we have not only rights but also duties and responsibilities. No matter who you voted for the last time the polls were open (or even if you didn't' vote), our government represents all of us; you and me. As citizens we have the responsibility to ensure that our representatives hear from us, hear how we feel about what they do in our names.

Clonecone's post, "What is the Point?" makes this exact point in terms of the loss of a single soldier's life and the impact it has on him, even though he never knew Iowa National Guard Spc. Aaron J. Sissel.

Even though Clonecone didn't know him, even though I didn't know him, and I'm pretty sure that nobody reading this knew him, we all are responsible for his fate. No matter how small a part any one of us played in the death of this young man, an iota of responsibility in such a fate is almost too much to bear.

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