Angry in the Great White North

From Cindy Sheehan's October 10 piece, "I have arrived, I am home", posted at MichaelMoore.com:

On April 04, 2004, Cindy Sheehan died, but Cindy Sheehan was born. The dead Cindy Sheehan lived for her home and family. She kept a neat and tidy house, often cooked meals, did everyone's laundry, entertained friends, laughed more than she cried, worked at various jobs, and her family meant the entire world to her. She lived an insulated life filled with Thanksgivings and Christmases and Birthdays and other celebrations. The Cindy who was born on 04/04/04 still adores her family above all things but now knows that the human family is worth struggling for too.

Cindy Sheehan puts a great deal of emphasis on the date April 4, 2004.

Dates are important. They resonate in humans. We perceive time is such a special way, cursed with memory, marking our lives with numbers assigned to days and months and years. Some of the greatest monuments of the ancients were designed, in part or in whole, as calendars to help track the passage of time and to mark great events.

For example, Cindy Sheehan marks 04/04/04 as the date of her re-birth.

Now consider this.

First to Texas.

This is the "monument" to Casey made by Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey. It consists of his army boots, a picture, and a hand-made cross.

It stood there for all to see. It became the centrepiece for Cindy Sheehan's grief, played out for the all the press to gawk at:

So for reborn Cindy Sheehan, there was a place to mourn, a marker to commemorate Casey.

Now to California.

This unmarked patch of grass is Casey Sheehan's grave where his mortal remains are buried. The picture was taken by Vacaville reporter Cat Moy, and sent to me to use as part of this piece.

There is no monument or marker for Casey. Even as Cindy Sheehan poses for the press in front of the boots and the cross with Casey's name and picture, the rest of his family is forced to gather around a bare patch of lawn. All around them the dead are commemorated in silent dignity, their names and dates immortalized in granite or marble. Those monuments serve to accentuate the bareness of Casey's resting place.

Why is there no marker? From a source close to the family:

Cindy has not taken the time to purchase a headstone for Casey. He remains in an unmarked grave 18 months after his death.

Why would Cindy Sheehan beg off completing this task? The monument can only be placed with her approval, but she hasn't found the time to do it, or even pay for it. This is causing pain and anguish for a family she claims to "adore above all things".

Perhaps if there were more cameras around. Or perhaps she realizes her grief plays better if there is no "competing" grave site. Or maybe...but speculating on her motivations is probably useless.

The final irony? Amidst the chaos that was Camp Casey, those boots were stolen:

Another thing that happened at Camp Casey I was that some "Patriot" stole the memorial. They took everything that honored our children. They stole Casey's boots. What will these people stop at? They are shameless and they have no sense of moral values.

So now Casey has no monument at all.

Perhaps Cindy Sheehan can be an example to the rest of us of "moral values" and take the time to approve and pay for Casey's headstone.