What's a big number?

27 doesn’t really seem like a big number. You can’t do much with 27 cents, or even 27 dollars. You might easily have 27 books, 27 pairs of shoes maybe even 27 emails in your inbox in the morning. But imagine what it would feel like if 27 people in you knew died in one week. That would have to take out most of your immediate family, some close friends, a couple of colleagues. If 27 people that you knew died next week, imagine what you would have left. You would be hanging on by a thread with no hope, no joy, no sense of ending, no understanding. You would feel as if everything you had ever known, that you were forsaken, and that you couldn’t possibly deserve to experience such a great quantity of pain.

Now. Think of how you would feel if you lost just one person. If one person that you cared about was to suddenly die, maybe in an accident, a shoot out, or in a plane crash. How much would that change your life? How different would your tomorrow be if just one person you loved didn’t wake up in the morning to share it with you. If when you got the news you had been waiting for, you suddenly had to remind yourself that they were no longer there. Pretty devastating isn’t it?

At least 27 families in this country will go in to their next week trying to console themselves, and get past the grief of losing a son, brother, sister, or aunt to war in Iraq. And though they are certainly not the only people to experience loss in this past week, there is something different about losing someone to war. There may be the sentiment that the war is stupid and unjust, but even for those who support the war in Iraq loosing a loved in combat has to feel different. It must sting with resentment, and hurt with hindsight’s vision. It must be selfish because one tells themselves to expect it, but don’t ever really expect it to happen to them. It must be ridden with guilt when they can’t stop themselves from thinking, “Out of all of the people who didn’t die over there, how come it had to be him?” It must seem important but irrelevant when you honestly admit that nobody and nothing can stop terrorism. It must be something you really never get over.

In terms of winning a war, 27 casualities really doesn’t seem like much. It’s not a hundred, or thousands, it’s just 27—that’s not that bad right?

27 people died this week in Iraq, and today is Thursday. If it still seems insignificant, write down the closest 27 people you have in your life in order. And for the next 7 days, scratch off four. Don’t call them, don’t email them. Just pretend their four more of those guys in Iraq that you don’t know that died. Try it...in a few days you realize that much smaller numbers can have a huge impact. 27 doesn't seem so small anymore huh?