Monday, August 6, 2007~

Dear Shilah Winslow~

Thank you for writing back to me; it was good to hear from you. I don't get much in the way of mail (letters from Louisiana Sandusky or letters from my folks, or bills, or worse, junk mail!!), so any mail is welcome.

I am sorry you lost your limbs in Iraq. I guess we have something in common, but while you are Army, I am Marines. Yet you seem to have a good attitude; my attitude is shitty, to say the very least. I don't know how you can forgive those people; those people who did this have no soul! How can these people say they have a peaceful religion when they are using their own women, their own children, the elderly, the handicapped! as shields?? They are murderers; I have a very hard time trying to forgive them!!

Because of people like them, my buddies are dead, and I'm without legs. Because of them, life as I know it is over, finito, kaput. I'm just a goddamn cripple!! Nobody is gonna' have any use for me once I start looking for a goddamn job!!

To tell you a bit about myself, my name  is Allie Nichole Soileau (pronounced "Swallow"). I'm a Louisiana Cajun, born and raised in Louisiana (born in Breaux Bridge, moved to N'Awlins when I was in high school, lived there until I went into the service). (I'm just glad I wasn't in N'Awlins when Katrina hit; I'd be in one mell of a hess!) I have one sister, Amy, who has three bratty girls (Hayleigh, Hannah, and Harmony; I never was married--or had kids. (My parents are still alive; they still make their home in Breaux Bridge, where I was born.)

I am glad you believe in God, but to tell you the honest truth, I don't. I was raised Catholic (even went to church--mass--as a child), but I no longer believe in Him. I mean, how can a God of love allow things like war, starvation, sickness, pestilence, death, killings/violence go on unabated? How can He just sit there on His Heavenly Throne and not do anything?? If I were God, I'd be royally pissed off!!

Besides, too many people use religion as a crutch, or else they're hypocrites: they go to church like good little Christians on Sunday, yet during the rest of the week, they live in sin. This is one of the main reasons why I don't believe in God, plus whenever I see one of those religious programs on television, they ask for money, play on people's sympathies, and yet they sit on golden thrones or wear clothes that would shame a peacock! They take advantage of the poor, and I don't like that at all! Plus those faith healers--they give me the creeps. I consider them to be charletains; they freak me out big time!!

So I have no use, no use at all, for God!!

Shilah, I hope you aren't offended by my views (narrowminded they may be), but I can't help the way I feel. I've seen far too much in the way of ugly in this world; beautiful things make me feel nervous, uncomfortable, uneasy.

If you think I seem angry, well, you're right. I am angry!! Who wouldn't be in a situation like mine?? I don't think I'm ever going to get over something like this, losing my legs in a useless war that we have no business being in, or finding out that my beloved New Orleans, Louisiana, was nearly decimated by a monster bitch of a hurricane named Katrina--and nearly two  years later, parts of New Orleans is still in shambles, and people who should have returned home already are still displaced. WHY?? I'm also angry because our President, our government, did nothing to help those poor people!! Why did it take so long to get to those hard hit areas that needed immediate help?? Why did so many innocent people--the majority of them being minority, poor, elderly, very young, or handicapped--have to die in such a horrid way??

With the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina coming up fast, I'm only going to be reminded of the hell those poor people endured--and continue to endure nearly two years later! I've seen just about every documentary about Hurricane Katrina now, and what I've seen has absolutely sickened me to the core!

Well, Shilah, if you don't want to write to me, I can fully understand; still, I do appreciate your gesture of friendship. Take care!

~Sincerely,

Allie Nicole Soileau, USMC (Semper fi! HOO-AHH!).