"What a wonderful thing you're doing," remarked a 42-year-old woman who walked up pushing a baby stroller. For the next 20 minutes, she joined the vigil.
"Do you just come out here and do this on your own," she asked surprised one person would conduct a vigil. "You're not part of any organization?"
"I don't believe in these wars," she said, bristling in anger, as her eyes narrowed and her facial muscles tightened. "It's bullshit what they tell us!"
These wars are upsetting to her and she spoke passionately about how wrong they are, how nothing can be gained by them and the damage being done to the families of the dead and wounded.
She spoke of the Vietnam War and that when she goes to downtown Los Angeles, she sees homeless Vietnam Vets in skid row, some in wheel chairs. And she asked why it was necessary to happen to them.
She discussed today's soldiers returning home, some of them severely injured, while many of them suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She was also critical of the damage being done to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.
While we spoke, I noticed her five year old son looking around from within the baby carriage. "He has Downs Syndrome," she said, adding "90%" of Downs Syndrome babies are aborted. But she feels her son and other Downs babies are special.
So special, that last year, at her own expense, she took photographs of many Downs Syndrome babies and their families and she persuaded a woman with an art studio to display those photographs in the front window of her shop for a week. This 42-year-old woman and mother also organized a social event for the families, of which more than 40 people attended.
It was a very nice to have had her company during the vigil, and that of her cute little boy, whom she hopes will grow up to be a musician because he loves music.
Meanwhile in Iraq, bombs and gunmen took their toll. On Monday, 21 Iraqis were killed and 72 were injured and on Tuesday, 14 Iraqis were killed and 18 were injured. It is a continuous price Iraqi families pay and have paid since the U.S. invasion and occupation began over seven years ago.
While in Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday, it was a hellish day for many a family. A NATO helicopter was blown out of the sky, killing 4 U.S. soldiers and one other, while a British soldier was blown up by a roadside bomb.
During an Afghan wedding celebration,a 13 year old boy walked up to a group of tables where people were eating and laughing and detonated his suicide bomb laden vest. In a heart beat 40 men and boys were blown to bits and 80 others were injured.
A joyous occasion, became a nightmare of burning flesh and body parts, pools of blood, screams and sirens racing people to hospitals, mothers crying out for their loved ones and funerals to come.
While in Pakistan, the Taliban struck a convoy being prepared to supply U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Near heavily secured Islamabad, Pakistan's capitol, a dozen gunmen opened fire on those protecting the U.S.'s weapons and fuel, killing 7 of them and then threw gasoline on the vehicles and set them ablaze with torches.
When the gunfire and explosions silenced and the bright orange flames and billowing black clouds of smoke finally cleared, more than 50 vehicles had been destroyed in addition to the loss of life.
The Taliban had delivered a brutal message to those thinking the Pakistan military could protect them for even near Islamabad they weren't safe. It also warned drivers that command premium prices from Americans to deliver their goods that they are in greater danger, thus making those drivers hard to recruit and escalating the price it will take to attract them.
1/3 of Pakistan's 175 million people live below that nation's poverty line of $1.25 a day, and many of them are desperate for work. Even so, because of the extreme danger of transporting U.S./NATO military supplies to Afghanistan, shippers in Pakistan's port city of Karachi now charge $7,000 per fuel truck per trip, twice what they charged just last year, before the U.S.'s "surge" began.
This is the status of the U.S.'s Afghanistan War, nearly nine years since it began with the invasion and occupation of that nation, and it has spread to Pakistan. As this is written, just 10 days into June, the month's death toll of U.S. and allied soldiers is already 29.
But thousands of miles away at the vigil, a 50 ish bus driver stopped at a red signal and began waving both of his arms in support. "Keep up the good work," he said with a smile over his speaker system and then opened his doors and shook my hand.
Later, as the vigil concluded, a 50 ish woman, long a vigil supporter called out from her car, "Thank you for doing this Dick," as she and the man next to her smiled ear to ear and vigorously waved. It was a nice way to finish.
Dick
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