This week, our country celebrated/commiserated the four-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Four years of our peers disappearing across the Atlantic to fight a battle most of us know little about, while most of us continue to complain about unfair calculus tests and too much reading.

A friend of mine got married in June 2005. Shortly after returning from their honeymoon, her husband received a notice that he would be deployed for two years to Iraq. They wouldn't be spending their first Christmas, Valentine's Day or wedding anniversary together -- or their second either. Not only would there be thousands of miles between them, but when he finally returned home from the war, doctors warned her that he might want to immediately distance himself from her and could suffer from issues such as posttraumatic stress syndrome.

Because of vaccines and medications he would need to take for his own health, doctors also advised them to wait at least a year after his homecoming before trying to have a baby.

So until October, when her husband is scheduled to return, every time her phone rings she'll have to remind herself to breathe before answering. She'll spend her free time writing letters and living for 10-minute phone calls that always seem to end too soon.

We're in a war that has polarized our country. We're for it. We're against it. We need to withdraw the troops. We need to send more troops. But beyond the Shiites and Sunnis, the Bush Administration and the elusive Osama bin Laden, there are men and women who are willing to pause their own lives, and in some cases the lives of their loved ones, to dedicate themselves to bettering this country.

It doesn't matter to me whether or not you agree or disagree with the war. It's easy to believe our country hasn't changed when I doubt many of our lives have altered in the slightest since the invasion of Iraq. But what does matter to me is that we realize as a country that while the battle might not be on American soil, it is affecting America.

For some, the war couldn't be farther from home if it was taking place on Saturn. And perhaps there's nothing wrong with that. Perhaps it's good that Americans are able to continue to hold dear the freedoms that were attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. But for some, the war in Iraq will never end. Long after we win or lose or withdraw troops until they are called upon again, there will be those who are never again the same. Some may return and be able to continue life exactly how they left it -- I doubt it, but they might. Some may come home so completely altered as individuals that they are entirely new people, almost unrecognizable to those who knew them before they left. And some may not ever come home again.

I don't consider myself especially political. I believe it's important to vote, and vote intelligently. I believe in democracy and freedom. But I'd be lying if I said my eyes didn't glaze over when my sister and dad start talking about the economy and politics.

But there are certain things that should touch us no matter how apathetic and apolitical we are. War is one of those things.

I have two younger brothers in high school, and right now there is a war that seems to be endless. How can I turn a blind eye to those being sent off to fight in a battle, when I can't be entirely sure my brothers won't end up being deployed if Congress reinstates the draft?

In yesterday's paper, Collegian photographer David Walker wrote a first-hand account of his experience while fighting in Iraq. In his piece, Walker talks about his memories and souveniors from his time overseas.

Walker wrote: "I think about the memories of Iraq everyday. I have photos in my room of the group after a mission, a Polaroid of my captain and I, a chunk of the blown-up building that I found in my vest. I have a coin with Saddam's face on it, which I got in exchange for a CD player." I can't imagine what Walker must have gone through. I can't imagine coming home to college and trying to fit in with a bunch of students who think their biggest problems are remembering their weekend antics.

If you go into my bedroom, you'll find pictures of my dog, friends and family. Some dirty laundry is scattered across the floor, and the only coins I have saved are from my vacation to Australia. My room is filled with silly trinkets and clothes -- his is filled with memories of war and life experience. But the thing we need to remember is war doesn't just affect the soldiers thousands of miles away. War doesn't end just because both parties agree to a cease-fire. Certainly Vietnam provides us with a prime example of that.

We're going into year five in a war that is slowly -- but most surely -- dividing our country in a time when we should be coming together. We rallied as Americans when the Twin Towers toppled and American soil was stained with blood, but we turn a blind eye to a red-stained desert.

This October, my friend will finally get to experience being man and wife with her husband, but the true battle for them will just be beginning. I doubt either of them will ever be able to put the war in Iraq out of their minds -- and neither should we.