Goodbye, April... I still can't bring myself to watch Nightline.

[VolcanoJen]

It's just been a horrible month.

So many of us here at DU have shared these daily tragedies together, from the very beginning of this misguided war to "Mission Accomplished" to the burning bodies on a Fallujah bridge, and everything in between.

April was different; harder. April brought it home, made it so much more real; impossible casualties, unheard-of chaos. April pulled me closer to the people whose ideologies I share, and pulled me close to so many DUers.

Three years ago, I would have never imagined that in my future, my mornings would begin with a cup of coffee and a quick click on Lunaville for the daily soldier body count. Followed, usually, if I could stomach it, by a click on Iraq Body Count for the rest of the story. I would have never imagined it.

Goodbye, April 2004. Over this weekend, I will watch Nightline, and I will break just a little more. Goodbye, April.

[physioex]

1. They said it would be boring...

I watched every second and never got bored. Every single American should watch this whether or not they are for the war.

[VolcanoJen]

3. A coworker of mine tonight said the most thoughtful thing.

He's pretty pro-war, but sensible, and intelligent, and sensitive, and young. He told me that what has disappointed him the most about the war as far as the Bush administration is concerned is that nobody has asked anyone to do anything.

He said tonight that he's waiting for someone to ask him to sacrifice something, and then he added that he thought every American, at the very least, should watch Nightline tonight so that they, in their own way, have to sacrifice something, even if it's just a tear. When our shift was over, he hightailed it out of work, and told us all, "Gotta get home, I don't want to miss Nightline."

It moved me, and choked me up, of course, and that's probably why I just haven't been able to watch it yet. I recorded it, and I'll watch it... probably in the light of the first morning in May.

[Piperay]

5. Very touching...

I'm glad that he felt Americans should be doing something, I feel that way too but all the chimp ever asked of us was that we go shopping. x( :-(

[Zomby Woof]

2. April has been the cruelest month...move over February

And to turn over another hoary cliché, just how dark is it going to get before the dawn? Has this week truly been a turning point of majority revulsion against the war? Against Bush?

Is there a point where all of this becomes irrevocably harmful for our nation? Has it already happened? Will people become desensitized and delve deeper into denial (pardon the alliteration), or will there be a collective awakening and coming around?

I always feel DU gives me a peek into the future. We were reading about and looking at the pictures from 60 Minutes II 2 days before it became headline news everywhere else. I was watching CNN today and screaming at the TV, "What the fuck took you so long? This story should have lead 2 days ago!"

Sometimes, I sense things are turning around in favor of humanity.

Other times, my misanthropy gets a 2AM feeding.

Truly, I want peace and my own personal optimism to prevail.

But April sure tested it to limits I care not to go through so much anytime soon.

Peace will prevail. But at what cost?

[VolcanoJen]

4. "irrevocably harmful to our nation"

Yes, I think we've officially "jumped the shark." These photos, this war, this presidency, will haunt our credibility for decades.

I curse the short-sighted get-rich-quick neocons, and I blame them for disgracing the good name of our country.