Two Fathers Remember Their Sons

I don't have a father to share Father's Day with. Haven't since June 8, 1991. But my spouse, who loves our pets as much as I do, is a fine substitute.

However, I've read two articles about fathers who lost their sons in Iraq. Their thoughts are humbling, to say the least. I am going to give them some blog space here and links so that you can read the rest.

To them, I dedicate my father's day wishes. Must be hard. But to my readers who are dads and have dads, I am glad you will be remembered today.

From Truthout:

His buddies in the Marines called him the "Aztec warrior." Jesus Suarez del Solar was one of the first Americans killed during the invasion of Iraq. On March 27, 2003 Jesus stepped on an undetonated U.S. cluster bomb and bled to death in a remote desert near Diwaniya. Jesus left behind his wife and 1-year-old son, his mother, three sisters, and a father who now speaks out against the occupation of Iraq. As a representative of Military Families Speak Out, a burgeoning organization of 1,500 families who call for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq, Fernando Suarez tells high school and college students: Stay in school; don't be deceived by false promises from recruiters for Bush.

Fernando Suarez del Solar is a Mexican-born American citizen. With his wife and children, he immigrated from Tijuana, Mexico, to Escondido, California, where he delivered newspapers and worked at a Seven-Eleven store.

And the second is from Common Dreams:

by Michael Berg, Nick Berg's dad

Of all of the holidays a grieving father can be confronted with after the death of his child, Fathers Day is for me the most difficult.

My son Nick died in Iraq on May 7, 2004. He is buried next to my father, who had died just a year and a half before. That is not the way it’s supposed to be.

I’m supposed to go somewhere between my father and my son in the graveyard. Nearby are my proud immigrant grandparents, who died first. That is the way it is supposed to be.

There is a lot else going on that is not the way it is supposed to be. Our leaders are not supposed to lie to us. Yet because George Bush and company told us to beware of weapons of mass destruction and so-called Iraqi involvement in 9/11, my son and the loved ones of 150,000 other grieving souls on both sides lost their lives.

Berg's story makes me cry, especially when he says, "Though I doubted our president’s words, I did too little too late."