I knew Ava Lowery was having a Sweet 16 birthday party. No, she’s not a friend of my 17-year-old son, but I think he might like her. She’s cute and outspoken. Whether you like her politics and position on the War in Iraq or not, I think you have to agree she puts her views into action.
Yesterday on the steps of the Capitol in Montgomery, Ava and her new friends came together for a rally called “Sixteen Candles for Soldiers” to protest President Bush and the War in Iraq. Ava compared her party to those wild and lavish affairs you see on MTV’s “My Super Sweet Sixteen” where spoiled little rich girls and their parents see how extreme they can get when marking this special birthday. I like Ava’s way better.
Ava has a Web site and a forum where the nastiest of things have been said to this young home-schooled girl from a little town in Alabama. She’s been covered in the national media and has even received death threats. I heard a bit of an interview by Sean Hannity’s Fox News partner Alan Colmes where Ava in her soft Southern drawl told about her work. She creates “animations” as she calls them. To me, they are more like fancy slide shows. In “WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?)” image after image of hurt and dead Iraqi children dissolves into each other to the tune of “Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World.”
According to a Montgomery Advertiser story in this morning’s paper, a retired master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force who came out to support Ava said, “violence is the truth of war.” He said he had served 6 months in Iraq.
Tuesday my Scottie will turn 18 years old. We have the special present and Uncle Sam sends his remembrance too. The Selective Service System sent him a card this week, only it didn’t say, “Happy Birthday Scott.” It said, “Men 18 through 25 years old are required to register if they have not already done so.” I worry.
I worry for all of our loved ones in harm’s way.
2 comments:
Sheila,
I think that Ava is a brave young woman who isn't afraid to take a stand. The point of view of young people have shaped a nation. Also thanks for welcoming me back. I took time out to write short fiction and when I raised my head a...month had passed.
Alex
Alex,
Glad you stopped by. Hope the fiction writing is coming along.
Before I received an e-mail notice about Ava's party, I hadn't heard of her. After I read some of her blog, saw her work and heard some of an interview, I realized that our young people still care about what happens. So many of them are caught up in the day to day of school, friends and consumerism that when one speaks up, it makes news.
I hate that some people were so nasty when they wrote to her. Whatever happened to a reasonable discussion without all the name-calling? We must return to a more civil way of talking to each other.
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