I was reading the paper today and discovered that the death toll of American military in Iraq was at over 3,900. That is just US military, and doesn’t include non-military US citizens like contractors or private security, nor does it include fallen military members of allied forces, nor the military or civilian Iraqi dead. I am guessing that at this rate we will hit the 4,000 mark by the end of winter, or very close to it.

To help put that number of 4,000 into perspective, visually represented that figure looks like this:

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Each one of those Xs is a person, with family and friends, who had hopes and dreams, and who is dead. What if all of those Xs were tennis balls instead of people- how much room in your house would it take up? What if they were dollar bills- how much stuff would you buy with $4,000? What if those Xs were miles you had to walk, laps in the pool you had to do, or times around the block you had to walk the dog? Now go back to the realization that all of those Xs represent an entire person’s life. For this exercise, it doesn’t matter if you think this is a necessary war, or are staunchly anti-war. It doesn’t matter if you have a “support our troops” sticker or magnet on your car, whether or not you want the troops home soon, whether or not you think we have any right to be in Iraq. Just take a moment to look at all of those Xs, to reflect, ruminate, meditate, and think about all of those people.

When you are done meditating on the dead, I recommend you take some time with the living, too. The History Channel hosts a show and website called “Band of Bloggers.” This show is about the military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan that are blogging about their experiences as they happen, and I highly recommend that you check out what they have to say. You can find the webpage, and the links to these extraordinarily brave people’s blogs, at www.history.com/minisite.do