In honor of her passing...

Activist: Woman spoke her mind for those causes close to her heart

I never met Meredith McLeod. But when I so unexpectedly saw her obituary in the newspaper several days ago, a feeling of loss and grief rushed over me....

Meredith wrote a lot of letters to the editor. A quick check of our archives found that we'd published about 25 of them since late 2000....

Meredith criticized the war in Iraq when most of the country still believed in WMD. In a letter in January 2003, she wrote that, "... the buildup for war on Iraq has misdirected our attention. Newspapers, television and radio spend lots of time covering military affairs and terrorism threats, and little time covering job losses and corporate scandals.... I'd ask why our political leaders are asking our soldiers to die when Americans aren't being asked to buy fewer SUVs or consume less energy."

Two months later, she wrote, "As a proud American and a proud Christian who questions our motives for war in Iraq, I have been screamed at while holding a peace sign. I have been told I am a bad person. I have been threatened and cursed, called a communist, called a sinner.

"Yet I have never felt like more of an American than when I quietly stood in January in Washington with many North Carolinians who protested the war in Iraq...."

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_ColumnistArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031783500157&path=!opinion&s=1037645509163