This Is the Way
A Knock at the Door

by Robin Webber

Coming to grips with the reality of death is a staggering part of life. Some do it better than others; some don't do well at all; and some keep running from the thought until they die. Woody Allen, the American comedian, once said, "I don't mind dying. I just don't want to be around when it happens." Cute thought, but I don't hear anyone out there laughing too hard.

Other than contemplating our own mortality, perhaps the most painful of life's moments is hearing the news that a loved one has died.

With all the massive onslaught of media coverage regarding the war in Iraq that has come my way over the last couple of months, one article grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. In a war of "shock and awe," push-button computer wizardry and everyone embedded in "real time," this particular article brought home the reality that the world of computer disks and hard drives cannot, or for that matter should not, communicate everything related to a conflict. The personal flesh-and-blood touch still has a place, even when it's a difficult place to be.

Perhaps there is no more traumatic event for relatives of a soldier than to see a car pull up in front of their house and see two individuals in dress uniform get out of the vehicle and slowly walk up the sidewalk towards their home. Life stops, and your mind races.

Perhaps there is no longer walk for the two uniformed individuals than that from the car to the door in front of them. They mount the front steps, rest on the porch to collect themselves, and then knock on the front door. The door opens and lives change forever.

Mike Anton, a Los Angeles Times staff writer, caught the essence of this moment in a fascinating depiction of the personal responsibility some soldiers carry of conveying to family members that a fellow warrior has died. It is a completion of camaraderie that is played out in the living rooms of parents, wives and children of fallen soldiers. Anton offers a moving analysis of the hearts and minds of soldiers and relatives alike in his article, "Notifying Officers Dread 'The Call,'" which appeared in the Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2003.

Read the full article at www.wnponline.org/wnp/wnp0305/way0305.htm

Related Information on UCG Sites:

Table of Contents that includes "A Knock at the Door"
Other Articles by Robin Webber

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This Is the Way A Knock at the Door

by Robin Webber

Read the full article at www.wnponline.org/wnp/wnp0305/way0305.htm

This Is the Way
A Knock at the Door