Did we overplay the death of a local soldier?
An anonymous post caught me short today. The reader accused us of exploiting the death of Kyle Andrew Coumas, the Lockeford man who was killed in Afghanistan. We are making too much of this death, he contends, in order to sell papers.
We’ve done numerous stories and photos. Frankly, we’d like to do more, including an interview with his parents, when they believe the time is right.
Fortunately, we’ve not lost many local men and women to the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. So I believe local interest in the death of this young soldier was - and remains - very high. We’ve covered it accordingly.
When it comes to telling the story of this young man, his service, his life, his death, his sacrifice, I suppose my instinct has been to err on the side of telling more, rather than less.
But perhaps the reader has a point. Perhaps we’ve gone overboard. Perhaps I am being defensive.
What do our readers think?
How could we ever overdo expressing not only our grief and sadness for the sacrifices that our military members make each day, but I contend that we as a nation haven’t done near enough to honor those who have died and the multitude of others who voluntarily place themselves in harm’s way to protect us. The coverage by the Lodi News-Sentinel was presented in such a way as to honor Kyle Andrew Coumas while also treating his family and friends with the dignity that they deserve during a time that few of us could ever fathom.
As there appears to be no real plan to execute the war in Afghanistan, I cannot help but wonder if our military men and women’s morale hasn’t been adversely affected. As individual citizens it is up to us to ensure that each and every one of them understands that we stand behind them in their endeavors and whether they march home or are brought back in a casket, they should never doubt that they are honored. This is our duty to them; nothing less is acceptable.