Atticus

Today's note, a letter to the u4Prez Independent Party, can wait one more day.

I have no doubt, when each candidate learns of the departure of Atticus and his return to the military, it will fill us all with a myriad of emotion. Loss. Sadness. Patriotism. Confusion. And in that same vein, he will be remembered by each in their own unique way, some to beat their chest and rekindle the flames of war support, some to shake their heads in anguish as another beautiful American is being led to slaughter.

This is Atticus, the way I will remember him, and the way I will see him when he returns.

Atticus was a soldier in the same vein that Pat Tillman was a soldier, wanting to defend and serve, wanting the terrorists gone, and wanting America safe. By the same token, he had huge problems with this war and had no problem expressing it.

When the PNV had just begun on U4Prez, I was awed that, right next to dk08's name, when I saw the profile for the first time, I saw the name Atticus. Which is to say, Atticus was the very first to sign up for it. Atticus had been there before, had seen the worst in mankind, and the sheen of pride and patriotism had been warn off the hard way. I knew he had been in combat, and I also knew he had issues with this war. And yet, there was his name, the first to join what was then the lone antiwar voice on U4Prez.

We talked about videos, and Atticus presented his. There are currently four under the name Bacchus1975, and they all have the names INI and Atticus, names he used on U4Prez. Between all four, if they are all watched, I think you get a much better idea of the man than the myth possibly already being projected onto the U4Prez psyche.

About his videos, they are wide-ranging, and it's hard to think about them being done by the same person. On one hand, you have him printing the lyrics to a reggae song "Murderer", calling to task any leader who wages wars of choice and refuses to understand the carnage he has wrought. On the other, you have a very uplifting, light, cheerful video, done to the delightful music of Ziggy Marley, preaching the joys of love and peace, worthy of being put on any hippie's profile. Possibly the most disturbing video I've seen in the U4Prez canon, entitled "INI", starts with a tiny--and I do mean tiny--infant gruesomely suffering from the effects of depleted uranium, the weapon of choice for both Presidents Bush in their wars in Iraq. I had to turn it off when I saw the very next picture, a toddler whose eyes had exploded to the size of bloody grapefruits outside her head. Having finally stomached the rest of it, I report it as a scathing report on the farce that is the War on Terror, done Atticus style--in your face, THIS is what this war is about, look or be called a pussy!

I am sure the warmongers out there will talk about his final video, and that will be the Atticus they will conveniently remember. The same people will remember Pat Tillman as the man who gave up football riches to defend his country, never recalling that, when overlooking Baghdad from a helicopter, he is reported to have said, "This war is so fucking illegal."

Candidates, don't pick and choose the Atticus you wish to remember. Remember Atticus for what he was.

I could count on Atticus to defend his friends at the drop of a hat. There were a few times he jumped in when I was taking on a handful of Hard Right thugs, and they generally steered clear of him. I don't think they got him, here was a man, possibly more man than any two other men at U4Prez, been in combat, I am sure they wanted to embrace him as evidence the war was noble. He talked frankly about it.

And I think he appreciated my willingness to jump into the fray and take a bullet for something I believed in. On the Fifth of July, after the ruckus died down, Atticus and Mikep1990 both sent me PM's, telling me what I did was the right thing. I appreciated their sentiments, but isn't that what democracy is supposed to be about? Doing the right thing?

When the Hard Right zoomed in on dk08, and I stepped in to assist, Atticus asked me if I needed his assistance, because he was ready to defend not only us, but the PNV he was a part of. I told him the show was over, but to hang tight, things could spark up again.

When MejicoJohn got rooked A SECOND TIME, a month later, in the next run-off, losing to a candidate who hadn't had a comment on his profile since FEBRUARY, the first one to alert me to it was Atticus, who basically came up to me and said, MejicoJohn is getting screwed again, what are you going to do about it, Olivia? By that time, Atticus knew I would stand up and fight, and I think he wanted a fight, too.

The perfect Atticus video was on the PNV profile for the longest time, and you can see it on YouTube at your leisure. It's the Ziggy Marley one, the one with the hand-drawn hearts all linked together, and the words LOVE BEGETS LOVE. In the end, that's what Atticus stood for, even if he believed that's not what could ever come from this putrid war he set to music and pictures in his other videos. That was the soft soul of a soldier, the one I tried to describe to the warmongering set once upon a time, the one who stands out over the battlefield, beholds the multi-levelled carnage and the wasted and broken bodies strewn about in the dusk, thinking not of such petty things as country and courage and presidents, but of his children, how they will be protected on this day, and dear God, if there is one, let this be the LAST time we human beings ever have to fight like this, that we come to our senses and find better ways to solve our differences, for if my children have to fight as I did, this was surely done in vain.

No one else has anything better to offer than platitudes. For once, can we do away with the trite little comments, the patriotic pleasantries, the politicking, and just admire the the equally beautiful and horrific complexities of this man as he leaves the building? Just shut up and watch him go? Just this once, can we do that?