Lindsay Beyerstein continues her writing for Salon today with an interview with photojournalist Nina Bermanabout her award-winning photos of a newleywed couple, one of whom was severely injured and disfigured by a roadside bomb in Iraq. I saw the wedding portrait on Lindsay's blog, and it was haunting, distrubing, moving... any adjective you can think of.
Berman comments about how this photo brings the cost of war home, especially to those of us who don't know any soldiers there. In many small towns across America, especially in "red states", this is the reality of coming home- warriors who return without limbs, without faces, and really without anything to show for their sacrifice. Both sides of the war debate have seized on these photos to advance their position, and they'll argue much more eloquently than I can at present. But...
I reckon that Ty Ziegel is the kind of guy I went out of my way to avoid in high school (if berman's description is accurate), and not the kind of guy I'd enjoy having a drink with, regardless of how he looks. But, I have nothing but respect and admiration for his (and his wife's) sacrifice, their courage and determination. And his picture only makes me madder about the war. As I mentioned previously, I do have a neighbor who will be in Iraq soon, a 19-year old Marine. In his pre-war life he was not exactly a model citizen, and probably still isn't, but no one, NO ONE, deserves what Ty Ziegel and thousands of his comrades (and enemies, frankly) got, and the pain he endures, especially for what appears more and more to be a lost cause. I'm scared S*&%tless that that's how I'll see my neighbor a year from now. It makes me more certain that the best way through the war is getting out, NOW.
One link for those who can't wait for 1.20.09- maybe you shouldn't wait that long to start a personal purge...
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