Two months ago, a close friend of mine from high school died. Kenny Leisten Jr. was killed in action in Taji, Iraq, July 28 when an explosion was detonated near the Humvee he was driving. Leisten, who was 20 years old, was remembered as a soldier and a war hero at his memorial Aug. 9.
However, before he received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals, before he fought for his country and became a war hero, before he even enlisted in the Oregon National Guard, Leisten touched my life and the lives of the few people he was close to. Under the camouflage jacket and dog tags, Leisten was a pretentious teenage boy who listened to Korn, loved computers and perfected his practical jokes. His laugh was contagious and his smile could turn anyone’s day around. Most importantly, under all of his many faces, Kenny was a compassionate human being.
I’m not a big supporter of the war in Iraq, but up until now it was all just a bunch of numbers to me. It’s unfortunate that so many people have died, but my emotions never went much deeper than pausing to sympathize for the day’s nameless faces on the front page of the newspaper. However, when I heard about Leisten from one of my high school friends who was in the 2nd battalion, 162nd infantry with him, the face of the soldier on the front page of the newspaper now had a name, and a life full of people whose lives he changed.
My opinions of the war are no longer just political and factual. I realize that the people fighting this war are people I stayed out late with, toilet-papered neighbors’ houses with and went to concerts with. These soldiers are peers with whom I shared answers to math homework, friends whom I called when I needed advice.
The war is no longer just a heated topic of discussion between my liberal and conservative friends. I don’t know if the war is right or wrong. What I do know is that obsessing over a bad hair day and being irritated by a $15 parking ticket seem a little less important now, and keeping in touch with the people I really care about is at the top of my list of priorities.
I didn’t get a chance to write to Leisten while he was in Iraq, but I thought about him a lot. I expected him to come home safely because I didn’t realize how very real the war is. Despite differing political opinions and viewpoints, I encourage everyone to remember the soldiers fighting for our country.
As I prepare for fall classes, I have friends my age fighting for my freedom on the other side of the world. And I have more friends waiting to be deployed, friends who won’t be home for two years. When I think of them, and when I think of Leisten, I am grateful to be a part of a generation with such courageous young people. I am lucky to know so many heroes.

Sabrina Gowette, a junior majoring in journalism, is a classified advertising associate and freelance writer for the Emerald. This submission originally ran in The Oregonian