Not just another death

I regret to say I had very little reaction when I read a couple paragraphs in the newspaper recently on the death of Leonard J. Gulczynski in Iraq. My reaction changed significantly when I learned Gulczynski was the nephew of Oak Park-River Forest varsity football coach Jim Nudera. The pain Nudera felt was obvious when he talked about his nephew after the game on Saturday. No longer was Gulczynski just another soldier who lost his life in Iraq. I saw at least a small amount of the pain this death, and certainly all the others, brought upon the family. It would be nice if no other families had to deal with this, but that’s not realistic. I hope I have a different feeling the next time I hear of a soldier being killed.