Last Dispatch from Crawford

When I came to Crawford on a hot, sticky Saturday to meet Cindy Sheehan, there were four of us to greet her.  Three weeks later, there were 3500 of us.  People came from all over the world to a ditch by the side of the road in Crawford, Texas - why?  Every single person I talked to said they just had to come.

Camp Casey was my very best dream of America.  In the 22 days I was there, I saw a lot, but I never heard an unkind word.  It was not a cynical place.  It was a place where people cared passionately about the common good.  It was a place where people respected each other - and tried to make things a little better.  In the evening when the sun went down, it was unspeakably lovely.  At night, looking up from the lonely roads and fields of Texas, you could see the Milky Way.

At the end of our improbable adventure, I feel nothing but gratitude.  So thank you.

Thanks to Dot from Dallas, with the beautiful red hair, who drove the shuttle, directed traffic and worked in the kitchen.
Thanks to Ed from Terlingua, with the tie dye and calm voice who put 100 dozen roses in Aquafina bottles in front of the crosses.
And thanks to Ken Gordon, from the great state of Colorado.  You're right - a ditch is a great place for a civics lesson.

Thank you to the Sheriff's department of McLennan county.  Thank you for your patience and your courtesy.  I know it wasn't easy to stand in the sun every day in polyester pants and I know you worked long hours away from your families.  Sargent Kolinek- go home and see your kids.

Thank you to the town and the citizens of beautiful Crawford, Texas.  It wasn't easy to be the epicenter of the perfect storm of protest, but you did it gracefully and with good humor.

And thank you to the folks on the other side of Prairie Chapel road who support the war in Iraq.  It's a fine thing, that in our fractious, untidy democracy, we all get to speak.

Thank you Bill Mitchell, Celeste Zappala, Nadia McCaffrey and all the broken hearted parents, spouses, relatives and friends of those who died.  Your loss is now mine - as it always should have been.

But most of all, thank you Cindy Sheehan.  Thank you for teaching me to help create the future with a little courage. 

It was a privilege.