Mother Mary in the Grotto

Mother Mary in the Grotto, originally uploaded by Noel C. Hankamer.

This lovely icon stands in the niche of the Grotto at St. John the Baptist catholic church in Alvin, Texas.
Photo done for the Monday Weekly Photo Challenge and Thursday Retread group.
I got lots of good comments for this photo, and it was featured on the front page of the group in Flickr.

Why isn't this in the news?

UPDATE !! And an apology .
I did not verify the facts about this statue before posting about it . According to Snopes ( www.snopes.com ) , Kalat did make the statue , but not out of gratitude , but was commissioned by the US Army to craft it . Some of the other facts are correct . I feel the point is still valid that the media neglects good stories about the war due to their opposition to it , and thus skew the perception of readers and listeners toward opposition to the war .



This statue currently stands outside the Iraqi palace,
now home to the 4th Infantry division.
It will eventually be shipped home
and put in the memorial museum in Fort Hood, TX

The statue was created by an Iraqi artist named Kalat,
who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad.

Kalat was so grateful for the Americans liberation of his country;
he melted 3 of the heads of the fallen Saddam
and made the statue as a memorial to the American soldiers
and their fallen warriors.
Kalat worked on this memorial night and day for several months.

To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms.

Do you know why we don't hear about this in the news?
Because it is heart warming and praise worthy.
The media avoids it because it does not have the shock effect.

But we can do something about it.
We can show it to everyone we know and talk about it .