"Cooked Hard Drives"

I have always known that stuff breaks only when you need it the most. Therefore, all I can say is when it comes to computers, back it up!

Mine broke as I worked to research information for an event to "Honor the Troops but Not the War". My talk was the "warm up" to a Gold Star Dad - whose elloquence was not in what he said - but rather in the fact that he said anything at all.

He spoke of his beautiful young son with a life yet unlived taken from his family and the young woman he planned to marry. He spoke with pride of his son's accomplishments: graduation from college, passing the certification test to become a Certified Public Accountant after first serving his country in Kosovo. He spoke of his son's last call home - making plans to leave for the US in just 12 days...but returning instead in a flag draped coffin. He spoke of the mystery surrounding his son's death...on an American airbase in the shower.

And then he told the audience why he now speaks out against the war. To honor his son's life, he believes he must "adopt" his son's comrades and become responsible for their lives. He believes that he must work to educate young people about military service and caution parents of the possibly devastating outcome.

Although he was not born in this country, he and his family have paid the ultimate price for living the American dream. He is a patriot and a friend.