Something has been bothering me about the whole Cindy Sheehan story from the beginning. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it’s been there, nagging me. Today it finally occurred to me. What would Casey Sheehan have thought of his mother’s protest? I doubt he would have been pleased. She talks about offering to drive him to Canada, even suggested she should have forced him…

He chose to serve.

Living to serve anyone is a noble goal. Living to serve and protect the defenseless is an even more important goal. Everything I’ve read about him suggests Casey Sheehan was that kind of person. He volunteered to risk his life to protect others. He knew the price that could be exacted for his beliefs, and he volunteered. To suggest that his death was useless is to dishonor his life.

He chose to serve.

My father passed away a few years ago after a long fight against cancer. I disagreed with some of the treatment decisions he made, but they were his choices. I disagreed with some of the things he did during his last years, but it was his life. I’m still saddened by his loss, but I can celebrate who he was. If I was to protest something he did or believed in, it would dishonor his life. His choices made him who he was. He probably could have prolonged his life by making different choices, but would it have been his life? I try to remember him for those things that made him who he was, not regret them.

He chose to serve.

Casey Sheehan was a soldier by choice. He was a hero by choice. He was brave by choice. By protesting his choices, Ms. Sheehan is trying to make him into something he never was. Sure he could have lived safer, he could have made choices that let him live longer, but would he still have been the Casey his family knew and loved?

You have to honor him for who he was, because he chose to serve.