OPEN LETTER TO OUR TROOPS IN THE MIDDLE EAST . . .

Dear Troops:

Hi. How's it going? Dumb question -- we all hear how it's going, and it doesn't sound so good. In fact, it sounds downright scary, sad, violent, loud. Are you scared? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you eating well? Are you still able to kick back during downtime and play a game of cards, or read a magazine, or rest? Are you leaning on each other, praying for each other, crying on each other's shoulders and letting it all out, so you can recharge and get back out there? Are you sick of it all, or are you still pumped up for the fight? Are you just aching for a bubble bath, or some McDonald's french fries, or a big fluffy carpet to squeeze your clean bare toes into?

Things back home are okay. We had the Oscars last night -- it was vaguely entertaining. Steve Martin was hilarious -- I hope you got to catch some of him. Him, and Adrian Brody planting one on Halle Berry. That was pretty crazy. And did you not think Catherine Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah looked awesome? I hope you saw it and were able to enjoy yourselves, if even for a moment. Not much else is going on here, though -- we're all watching you and thinking about you. We watched Peter Jennings cry on air yesterday evening, speaking via phone to the mother of Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, one of the American POWs. Dan Rather and Larry King are being their usual wacky selves -- also pretty entertaining. But for the most part, it's all about you lately.

I hope you're not annoyed and disheartened that life is going on here as normal (or as normal as it can be under the circumstances) while you're out there doing your thing. We're not being inconsiderate, or ignoring what's happening in our world. I think we just feel secure, knowing that we're Americans, knowing that we have you to fight for us and protect us, even from far, knowing that we are not the kind of people to stand paralyzed by shock or fear. I feel that for the most part, I, and others around me, and probably even those folks in Hollywood, want to honor you all by showing you that just like you, we will not be afraid to get up in the morning and face what comes. We are not idiots, lolling about idly and waiting stupidly for the world to get nicer. We are stalwarts too, doing OUR thing even when it's hard, even when we want to cry, even when we want to stare at you through the television to make sure you're okay, even when we want to bunker down in our basements and hide from reality. So instead of being discouraged by us, I hope you are encouraged, knowing that because of you and your predecessors, we live in a country in which -- despite its imperfections -- we can get up and drive to work safely, we can put on pretty dresses and tuxes and have fun, we can eat and drink and laugh freely, we can read everything and anything we want, we can celebrate all the great things of life, and we can speak at liberty.

Speaking of which, there were more protests in Times Square over the weekend, both anti-war and pro-troops. I just wanted to tell you a few things about that. I hope you know that the anti-war protests aren't, I don't think, anti-YOU. I don't expect that there are many people out there who are against the war, but hating you at the same time. I don't support this war wholeheartedly and I don't feel good about all of you being over there fighting right now, but that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate you and don't thank you for following your orders well and for giving up your lives -- temporally and eternally -- for what you believe in. You are stronger than me mentally, emotionally, physically, and you prove your dedication to your country and to your beliefs by truly laying your lives on the line. You sacrifice family, comfort and yourselves, and I honor and respect you for that because you do it without hesitation, and because I recognize it is something I could never do because I don't possess such strength or fortitude of character.

I also like to think that you are fighting to give the Iraqi citizens the chance to practice some or all of the rights that are guaranteed to us here at home: democratic election of their leaders, freedom to speak out for or against the things they like and don't like, freedom to practice the religion they choose, etc. So please don't be mad or discouraged when you hear about people protesting the war at home. Please don't think that patriotism and protest are mutually exclusive. All the people here who are exercising their rights understand, on some level or another, that they are fortunate to be able to do so. Just keep that in mind, and remember us -- ALL of us -- when you're out there getting ready to whomp he who DOESN'T believe in these same basic rights and would seek to muzzle his people.

Frankly, whether I think this war is justified or not, I just want you all to come home, alive and whole. Already, that won't be happening for too many of you, and that makes me immeasurably sad. It makes me angry, too, because I wonder if you needed to suffer and die. But then I consider that you are doing your jobs, and doing them well, and I am chastened. So, just know that we're doing okay back home, and we can't wait until you're back here with us.

KICK ASS, people, and kick it good.

With love,
Me