Cindy Sheehan & Eve Tidwell - The Selfish & The Selfless
A few weeks ago, Eve Tidwell showed up in Crawford, Texas to stand up as a counter-protester to Cindy Sheehan’s Camp Casey crowd. This weekend, she was back for the third time from her home in Columbus, Georgia. But this time around, she had plenty of company and she was ready for them, bringing a giant American flag with her. The flag was made from paintings done by children of soldiers at Fort Benning.
The "You Don’t Speak For Me, Cindy!" caravan rolled into town bringing with it thousands of Bush supporters. Deborah Johns, the California mother of a Marine serving in Iraq, organized the caravan that came all the way from Sacramento. And how’s this for irony - she requested to meet face-to-face with Cindy Sheehan but was refused. Sheehan slithered out of that confrontation by claiming that she will only meet with mothers who have lost a son in the war.
There are plenty of honest people of good character who stand on both sides of this issue. But Cindy Sheehan and the rif-raf that have attached themselves to her don’t measure up to those standards. Eve Tidwell has very simply and eloquently pointed out the difference.
When she had a chance to speak at a rally on Saturday to a crowd of more than 2000 supporters, she stood up in front of the American flag she had brought with her, thanked the troops for their sacrifice, and was off the stage in less than a minute. Then, after setting up a tent and ordering truckloads of ice and bottled water, she fended off praise by saying, "They needed it, so I did it. This is not about me. It’s about our troops. Our young heroes, our protectors of freedom and democracy. I grieve for Cindy’s son, I do. But she’s tarnishing his honor by what she’s doing."
There are those who do what they do out of a sense of gratitude for what they have and a sense of obligation to others. Then, there are those who will do almost anything, including the exploitation of loved ones, to draw attention to themselves.