ONE WIDOW’S OPEN LETTER TO GEORGE BUSH:
Survivors Walk for Peace
A group of September 11 survivors and friends trekked from
D.C. to New York in a walk for healing and peace. The
November 25-December 3 walk was themed around the phrase,
“Our Grief Is Not A Cry For War.” A dozen participants walked
through Baltimore on November 27. They joined a weekly “No
More Victims” silent vigil outside the headquarters of the
American Friends Service Committee, Middle Atlantic Region, at
4806 York Road.
One member of the group, Amber Amundson, wrote the
following letter to President Bush, which she shared with those
she met during the walk.
Dear President Bush,
My name is Amber Amundson. I am a
28-year-old single mother of two small children.
The reason I am a single mother is because my
husband was murdered on September 11, while
working under your direction. My husband, Craig
Scott Amundson, was an active duty multimedia
illustrator for your Deputy Chief of Staff of
Personnel Command, who was also killed [at the
Pentagon].
I am not doing well. I am hurt that the U.S. is
moving forward in such a violent manner. I do not
hold you responsible for my husband's death, but I
do believe you have a responsibility to listen to me
and please hear my pain.
I do not like unnecessary death. I do not want
anyone to use my husband's death to prepetuate
violence. So, Mr. President, when you say that
vengeance is needed so that the victims of 9/11 do
not die in vain, could you please exclude Craig
Scott Amundson from your list of victims used to
justify further attacks?
I do not want my children to grow up thinking
that the reason so many people died following the
Sept. 11 attack was because of their father's death.
I want to show them a world where we love and
not hate, where we forgive and not seek out
vengeance.
Please, Mr. Bush, help me honor my husband.
He drove to the Pentagon with a Visualize World
Peace bumber sticker on his car every morning. He
raised our children to understand humanity and not
fight to get what you want. When we buried my
husband, an American flag was laid over his casket.
My children believe the American flag represents
their dad.
Please let that representation be one of love,
peace and forgiveness. I am begging you, for the
sake of humanity and my children, to stop killing.
Please find a nonviolent way to bring justice to the
world.
Sincerely,
Amber Amundson