Thank you very much for this award. I am very honored. For those of you that don't know me, I am an associate member of Veterans for Peace chapter 21, a lifetime member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and also a member of New Jersey Peace Action. I am most active with Veterans for Peace, doing a lot of the behind the scenes work .Many times calling myself the administrative assistant to VFP's president who happens to be my husband.This can involve arranging trips to Washington DC, keeping his appointments straight, and also filling in for the secretary and/or treasurer of the chapter when needed. I also participate in a weekly vigil in Teaneck, table at street fairs, and most recently attended a counter-recruitment call from a frantic mother about her son who wants to join the military. At times I also try to knock some sense into the right-wingers I work with. Although mostly all I get from that is frustration.
I'd like to explain a little about my back ground and how I got here. As a child, I was raised in a family who had lost someone killed in war. My mother's brother a co-pilot in the Air Force during WWII was shot down in the Pacific by the Japanese.Back then they flew in formation and the plane above him got hit and then fell on his plane. At the time I didn't understand my mother and grandmother. I thought it happened such a long time ago, why were they still upset? I can honestly say that both my mother and grandmother never really got over my uncle's death.One reason being that my mother was pregnant with my sister about the same time my uncle was killed. In fact, they didn't tell my hospitalized mother until she came home with my sister because they were afraid she would lose the baby So every time my sister had a birthday, they were reminded of the awful news they received about the same time. My grandmother could have been a Gold Star Mother, but refused because she felt that would be celebrating my uncle's death. Now I've come to realize how much his death has impacted my feelings as an adult. I know first hand how war and the resulting problems it causes can affect a family the rest of their lives. When the Iraq and Afghanistan wars started at first I got active because I didn't want my son or daughter going to war, but soon realized I didn't want anybody's son or daughter going to war. About the same time I also figured out why my anti war feelings were so strong--because of my Uncle Steve who I never had the opportunity to meet.
Just to show how futile war is, I'd like to tell you one more story this one involving our son. In the spring of 2009, as a student at Rutgers University , Brian studied abroad for a semester, in Kyoto, Japan at Ritsuimeiken University . While there he met Hero, a Japanese student studying at the same school. That summer, Hero came to visit the United States to try to improve his English. Part of his trip he stayed with my son in Brian's off campus housing. But during one of NJ's heat waves, Brian called and asked if he and Hero could come stay with us for the weekend and enjoy some air conditioning. So they spent some time with us. While taking some pictures of Hero and my son Brian, we realized ---just one generation ago they would have been expected to kill each other .Instead, here were two young men who had become good friends.
Once again, Thank you and Let's keep our activism going strong.
I'd like to explain a little about my back ground and how I got here. As a child, I was raised in a family who had lost someone killed in war. My mother's brother a co-pilot in the Air Force during WWII was shot down in the Pacific by the Japanese.Back then they flew in formation and the plane above him got hit and then fell on his plane. At the time I didn't understand my mother and grandmother. I thought it happened such a long time ago, why were they still upset? I can honestly say that both my mother and grandmother never really got over my uncle's death.One reason being that my mother was pregnant with my sister about the same time my uncle was killed. In fact, they didn't tell my hospitalized mother until she came home with my sister because they were afraid she would lose the baby So every time my sister had a birthday, they were reminded of the awful news they received about the same time. My grandmother could have been a Gold Star Mother, but refused because she felt that would be celebrating my uncle's death. Now I've come to realize how much his death has impacted my feelings as an adult. I know first hand how war and the resulting problems it causes can affect a family the rest of their lives. When the Iraq and Afghanistan wars started at first I got active because I didn't want my son or daughter going to war, but soon realized I didn't want anybody's son or daughter going to war. About the same time I also figured out why my anti war feelings were so strong--because of my Uncle Steve who I never had the opportunity to meet.
Just to show how futile war is, I'd like to tell you one more story this one involving our son. In the spring of 2009, as a student at Rutgers University , Brian studied abroad for a semester, in Kyoto, Japan at Ritsuimeiken University . While there he met Hero, a Japanese student studying at the same school. That summer, Hero came to visit the United States to try to improve his English. Part of his trip he stayed with my son in Brian's off campus housing. But during one of NJ's heat waves, Brian called and asked if he and Hero could come stay with us for the weekend and enjoy some air conditioning. So they spent some time with us. While taking some pictures of Hero and my son Brian, we realized ---just one generation ago they would have been expected to kill each other .Instead, here were two young men who had become good friends.
Once again, Thank you and Let's keep our activism going strong.
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