A Matter Of Conscience - By Sergeant Kevin Benderman, U.S. Army

01/16/05 "ICH" --Having watched and observed life from the standpoint of soldier for ten years of my life, I always felt there was no higher honor than to serve my country and defend the values that established this country. My family has a history of serving this country dating back to the American Revolution and I felt that to continue on in that tradition was the honorable thing to do.

As I went through the process which led to my decision to refuse deployment to Iraq for the second time, I was torn between thoughts of abandoning the soldiers that I serve with, or following my conscience which tells me: war is the ultimate in destruction and waste of humanity.

A Matter Of Conscience - By Sergeant Kevin Benderman, U.S. Army

The Weight of a Snowflake
"Tell me the weight of a snowflake," a coalmouse asked a wild dove.
"Nothing more than nothing," the dove answered.
"In that case I must tell you a marvelous story," the coalmouse said. "I sat
on a fir branch close to the trunk when it began to snow. Not heavily, not
in a raging blizzard. No, just like in a dream, without any violence at all.
Since I didn't have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling
on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,471,952.
When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch--nothing more than
nothing -- as you say -- the branch broke off."
Having said that, the coalmouse ran away.
The dove, since Noah's time an authority on peace, thought about the story
for a while. Finally, she said to herself, "Perhaps there is only one
person's voice lacking for peace to come to the world." - Source unknown