Juan, a good man lost in a bad war

On the day I looked for Juanita and Rodrigo Rodriguez, the parents of the late Lance Cpl. Juan Rodrigo Rodriguez, the El Cenizo reservist killed in Iraq , I had only to ask once on the streets of El Cenizo where to find the Rodriguez home.

I found no one home at 425 Morelos and so I left a note. I couldn't help but notice the extreme good order of the exterior of the Rodriguez home -- fresh paint, window screens pulled taught, sidewalks made with great care, beautiful tile patterns on a small walkway, a large and well-tended yard.

The interior was every bit as pleasant and hospitable. Rodrigo, once a carpenter and a contractor, had built the home for his family. The house spoke volumes of the life Juanita and Rodrigo offered Juan and his sister Fatima.

On the afternoon that we met, Juanita and Rodrigo, their emotions raw and at the very surface of their beings, were forthcoming about the ways they love their children and how they raised and nurtured them. We sat at the kitchen table and spoke of Juan and Fatima and war and loss and grief, and even Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, which they had watched with Juan. We looked at photographs and everything else that would tell the story of Juan.

I had the rare pleasure of knowing that when I'd gathered up my notes I would write a good story about all their lives -- Rodrigo's, Juanita's, Juan Rodrigo's, and Fatima's.

Between the time I left my note on the Rodriguez' door and came back to interview them the next day, I spoke to Juan Rodrigo's former employer George Beckelhymer, Jr. Juan had been an assistant manager at Beck's Buffalo Pawn downtown.

“These are not fluffy words for the deceased,” Beck admonished. “Juan was an honorable young man -- consistent, reliable, muy noble. He was never late and he was a super hard worker. We called him El Rayo. He was a little bit anxious about leaving for Iraq, but very willing. He said he wanted to do his part. He had just fallen in love,” he said. “He wrote to us.” Beck began reading Juan's letter, his voice cutting away a couple of times to disappear into the dear memory of Juan, a good man lost in a bad war.

María Eugenia Guerra