As we watch the footage from the war in Iraq on our TV screens, from the comfort of our homes, it can be easy to feel detached from the conflict that has taken thousands of American lives. Unless you have a family member or friend serving in the war zone, the media coverage can become numbing after years of battle. Many of us don't want to become apathetic about this war, but the question is: What can I do? Fortunately, although the war in Iraq is extremely controversial, the support for our troops has remained high, and I recently was reminded of a great way any one of us can help our soldiers as they risk their lives serving our country.

It all started as a project set up by the student council at Lewis and Clark elementary school in Liberty. They decided to write letters to soldiers serving in Iraq. The entire school spent a day writing the letters, some 600 in all. They ended up in the hands of Captain Chris Andersen, a member of the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq and a Kansas City native. He handed out the cards to hundreds of his fellow soldiers.

Recently, Capt. Andersen visited the school to say thank you to the kids for their support and all the kind words in their letters. He told them how much each and every one of their letters meant to the soldiers in his platoon. Andersen's father, Pete, told me why the letters are so important. "The soldiers in many cases get literally nothing from home," he said. "When someone, particularly a stranger, is kind enough to take the time to think about them and the sacrifices they are making, in some cases it can mean even more than a letter from family."

Capt. Andersen showed the students at Lewis and Clark pictures from his camp in Iraq, eliciting ooo's and ahh's from the kids with pictures of all kinds of military equipment. But he also showed them pictures of ordinary Iraqis, telling the young crowd that the Iraqi people were very similar to Americans. "They're nice and they care about their kids just like we do," he told them. It gave the students a connection to a distant and complex conflict.

Andersen's father told me he hopes that our story encourages others to send letters to soldiers in Iraq. Let me add my encouragement as well. As our country debates the war, our dedicated military members continue to serve heroically. What can we do? Something as simple as putting pen to paper. It doesn't have to be brilliant prose. For a soldier overseas, support from home in any form is beautiful indeed.