Najaf Children Greet US Marines

God Bless the United States Marines.

A Marine serving in Iraq, who wishes to rename nameless, recently emailed his Dad and mentioned the kids in Najaf didn't have much in the way of school supplies. His Dad posted the letter on a popular blog and before long he was flooded with email from people asking where they could send packages. I was one of them.

I had to laugh when I read the Marine's Dad reply. He wrote, "Asking Americans for help with children is like asking for a drink from a firehose."

Indeed. He estimates his son will soon recieve somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 boxes from people all over America and even a couple from other countries.

I would suggest to anyone who is feeling sad and helpless watching images of horror after horror on the news, to try this. Go to www.anysoldier.com or www.soldiersangels.com and make arrangements to correspond with a soldier who isn't getting mail from home. You can even adopt a platoon if you have a lot of energy. I find that I feel so much better when I am able to help in some way, however small.

Look at the face of that Marine. Helping feels good.