An explosion in Baghdad leaves 37 people dead and 23 injured…
Another explosion results in 13 deaths and 45 injuries…
9 bodies found in an unkempt house…
Etc, etc, etc…
These are the type of things you hear every day on the news. You sympathise and feel sorry for them…and as soon as you get up from the sofa, they are pushed to the back of your mind as you deal with your every day life.
Iraq is destroyed…its people live in constant fear and worry…and death is at every ones door. As much as we try to imagine it…we can not.
I never really understood it. I never felt it. It was events that occurred in another country…events that were happening miles and miles away…figures that were added up without meaning. I did not comprehend the enormity of the problem…I did not appreciate the suffering of those innocent people…so I decided to step into their shoes…I decided to live their life temporarily…
A 3 week visit that changed me in many ways. I learnt so much about life in those 3 weeks…more than I have learnt in a life time. I grew up…
To be so close to death…
To know that what separates you from death is a few feet of ground…
To leave the house not knowing if you would come back alive…
To say the Shahada 10-20 times a day because you think you are just about to die…
To be woken up at night at the sound of explosions…
To have American helicopters hovering over your house not knowing why they are there or what they are doing…
To have an American army tank hit your car while you are waiting in traffic just because it wanted to get past…
To have a choice of 2 roads…one is planted with 2 bombs and surrounded by Americans who would shoot anyone if they get near…the other is full of thieves/terrorists and your likely to be stopped with weapons and robbed/killed…which do you choose? There is no other way…
To SEE bullets flying over your head…
To go to the cemetery and not know where to start because there are so many graves to visit…so many dear ones killed…so many lives ended…
Ok forget all this. What about the basic necessities of life?
To have no electricity...you can’t turn on the air-conditioning in temperatures exceeding 49 degrees…no light at night…no chance of using any type of electronic equipment…
To have no water supply…and even if you do…it is undrinkable…
To be ill and not be able to go to a doctor or hospital because you are not allowed to leave the house…
To not feel safe in your own home…
What kind of life is this??? This is nothing…NOTHING…compared to what they live through…to what they see every day.
And here we are breaking down when facing the smallest problems in life. We are unhappy with our lives…unhappy with what we have…unhappy while living in luxury, safety, security and comfort. We do not appreciate how lucky we are. We do not value the lives we live.
By the end of my visit, death didn’t seem like such a bad thing. In fact, death would be a relief…it would provide a freedom…it would offer peace of mind…
I am SO angry…and I don’t know what to do with this anger…
…I would have welcomed death.
Another explosion results in 13 deaths and 45 injuries…
9 bodies found in an unkempt house…
Etc, etc, etc…
These are the type of things you hear every day on the news. You sympathise and feel sorry for them…and as soon as you get up from the sofa, they are pushed to the back of your mind as you deal with your every day life.
Iraq is destroyed…its people live in constant fear and worry…and death is at every ones door. As much as we try to imagine it…we can not.
I never really understood it. I never felt it. It was events that occurred in another country…events that were happening miles and miles away…figures that were added up without meaning. I did not comprehend the enormity of the problem…I did not appreciate the suffering of those innocent people…so I decided to step into their shoes…I decided to live their life temporarily…
A 3 week visit that changed me in many ways. I learnt so much about life in those 3 weeks…more than I have learnt in a life time. I grew up…
To be so close to death…
To know that what separates you from death is a few feet of ground…
To leave the house not knowing if you would come back alive…
To say the Shahada 10-20 times a day because you think you are just about to die…
To be woken up at night at the sound of explosions…
To have American helicopters hovering over your house not knowing why they are there or what they are doing…
To have an American army tank hit your car while you are waiting in traffic just because it wanted to get past…
To have a choice of 2 roads…one is planted with 2 bombs and surrounded by Americans who would shoot anyone if they get near…the other is full of thieves/terrorists and your likely to be stopped with weapons and robbed/killed…which do you choose? There is no other way…
To SEE bullets flying over your head…
To go to the cemetery and not know where to start because there are so many graves to visit…so many dear ones killed…so many lives ended…
Ok forget all this. What about the basic necessities of life?
To have no electricity...you can’t turn on the air-conditioning in temperatures exceeding 49 degrees…no light at night…no chance of using any type of electronic equipment…
To have no water supply…and even if you do…it is undrinkable…
To be ill and not be able to go to a doctor or hospital because you are not allowed to leave the house…
To not feel safe in your own home…
What kind of life is this??? This is nothing…NOTHING…compared to what they live through…to what they see every day.
And here we are breaking down when facing the smallest problems in life. We are unhappy with our lives…unhappy with what we have…unhappy while living in luxury, safety, security and comfort. We do not appreciate how lucky we are. We do not value the lives we live.
By the end of my visit, death didn’t seem like such a bad thing. In fact, death would be a relief…it would provide a freedom…it would offer peace of mind…
I am SO angry…and I don’t know what to do with this anger…
…I would have welcomed death.
