2012 conventions 2012 election 2013 session 2013 special election arts arts and culture author ballot measures bomb books budget bullying business charlie hales children clackamas climate change coal courts crime culture culture club democrats drugs economy education environment family film fluoride food gay rights guns handguns health health care health insurance high school history housing immigration international internet kitzhaber law legislature lgbt literary arts living marijuana medicine mental health military minor parties mohamed mohamud movies music native americans news newspaper obama olympics oregon our town parenting pers photography police politcs politics port portland portland business journal portland mayor president prevention public safety religion republicans rnc romney rural salem sam adams sandy hook schools science shooting sports suicide supreme court taxes television terrorism theater third parties timber payments transportation union university of oregon violence washington water wildfire women

I absolutely believe we need to hear the stories of the vets in our families, our communities and our nation...I grew up on family stories of various wars.  However, I am always bemused by the lack of stories in our culture from another quarter...that of the bystanders in war situations.....I have friends, aquaintances, and patients who are all non-combatant survivors of conflicts from WW2 to Vietnam to El Salvador to Rwanda to the Balkans and the middle East.  Almost all are women were children during the different conflicts.  Where are there stories in the media, in our art forms, in our culture vocabulary?  Until we also hear their stories as well as the stories of the vets and the ones our leaders tell, we as a country and as a world community can not develop a vision of a world that values all people, and which can envision peace as an outcome of conflict.  As Kristoff and Wudunn state in the title of the new book "Half the Sky", women hold up half the sky......even in war, and yet their stories are rarely told.

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
view in context