"Memorial" monologue written & performed by Amelia Ashmall-Liversidge
[From “War Zones” an original 2007 show created and performed by CAT Youth Theatre in NYC]

Everyone thinks the soldiers had it bad. They fought with honor, for their country it was said. They trained for battle, went into battle and died in battle. There are so many stories of their lives. So many people who remember them, and work so hard to make sure they are remembered by their country.

But what about those who got stuck in the war. Who had no choice. The old, the sick, the women and the children. Who remembers them?

Now that it's done, some say the war was vicious and unnecessary. It was not a good war. It should never have started.

My family knew this all along. They never wanted to hear of soldiers dying for their country, to see buildings and homes destroyed. They bore it though, because they had to. Who talks of their sacrifice?

Scared, we sat together in an already crumbling wooden house that had been built years before by my parents' own hands. And the war came closer. We each tried to ignore it, as if somehow that would mean it wasn't really happening. All we needed was each other anyway. But we were running out of food and clean water faster than we thought we would. And each other began to feel like not enough. I could feel the death creeping towards me every day. And then blew my Mom and Dad down.

The soldiers. The guns. The shouting. I couldn't understand their words, but their actions made everything clear. It scared me more than anything had before.

Then they were gone. I didn't know why. Why? Who can tell me why?