As one of those who still listens daily to news reports from Iraq, I was not surprised to hear a couple weeks ago that the US bombed two homes in a small village, but my attention was drawn when it was announced that in the process the bombs had "taken out" a man with a 26 million dollar bounty on his head—one Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Immediately I thought of the parents (and grandparents) of Nicolas Berg. Nicolas was the young man who was working in Iraq for a private company (!) and was abducted and beheaded on tape for his family and the world to witness. I was in shock when that aired—as I'm sure were many of his family and friends and the world at large.

Sure enough, before midnight the next day CNN had an interview with his father posted on their website. Michael Berg (the father) is a man I would wish to have as a friend (not that my friends aren't as likeminded, but he is so level-headed and calm in what must be hell). When asked his reaction to the news, his response was, "I'm sorry whenever any human being dies. Zarqawi was a human being. He has a family who are reacting just as my family reacted when Nick was killed, and I feel bad for that. I feel doubly bad, though because he is also a political figure, and his death will reignite yet another wave of revenge, and revenge is something that I do not follow, that I do not ask for, that I do not wish for against anybody. And it can't end the cycle. As long as people use violence to combat violence, we will always have violence."

He went on to say that after his son was publicly and brutally murdered, he felt he had nothing to lose. That he is a pacifist, so he wasn't going to go out and advocate murder, but he has done things to put his family in danger. "He has been shot at, shown horrible pictures, and called all kinds of names and received threats. But he still feels like he has nothing to lose."

I have felt for a few years now that America is again acting like a "bully" on the world stage; that we are trying (yet again) to tell the world that "we know best, the heck with what you want." I have also been feeling that my vote and voice don't count anymore. We still can't even get past the feelings left from the Vietnam War—then, as now, it seems that if you speak out, if you question, you are not a loyal American. Here we go again, "love it or leave it" bumper stickers!

When having lunch a few weeks ago, I was seated by the most pleasant man—a man who repairs musical instruments for a living at a university. Someone at the table mentioned his sons and asked how they were. Before long he had told us of his three Marine sons—two of whom were in Iraq, the third on his way there next year. One of the Iraq-based sons had recently been hurt and had just landed in San Diego for treatment. He told us his son's injuries were not life-threatening, but of course (because we were dining? because we were a bunch of women at the table?), he didn't go into detail. Someone asked about his wife, the young man's mother—and of course the conversation took a U-turn… She was very upset, she was insisting they go immediately south so she could see with her own eyes their son's condition. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. One woman at the table said that if it were her son, she would feel the same urgency. I added, "I feel like all of them are all our sons and daughters, our granddaughters and grandsons." Then, I'm sorry to say, we all sighed and had dessert.

What are we to do? If we don't do anything, what will we tell our grandchildren? How can we be good examples if we "just have dessert"?

I want to end this piece with the above question, but I figure I must find something (even small things) I myself can plan or want to do. I thought and thought about it, giving myself a headache because this article is due today, Father's Day.

After baking 50 mini-pound cakes to use in a Chocolate Mexican Fondue for our family Father's Day dinner, I picked up the paper and found a "small" answer. Another article by Michael Berg in the Forum section of the Sacramento Bee. In this article, he wrote about how this day of the year is the most difficult for him after the death of his son and how he feels he did "too little too late." But he also wrote about a small thing he did this spring. He joined a group called "Voters For Peace," signing a pledge that reads:

"I will not vote for or support any candidate for Congress or President who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq, and preventing any future war of aggression, a public position in his or her campaign."

There was my answer—a small thing but something to get me going. If I didn't have to make the Spanish rice and go find my father a gift for today, I would have spent time reading more on their website. But I did bookmark it! If you are so inclined, their website is votersforpeace.us.