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content I talked for a while with an Iraqi teenager two nights ago. What struck me about the boy was that while we talked he stopped mid sentence and asked to touch my face. Sure, says I. He places his hand on my cheek feeling stubble and bug bites and in a sort of surpised and contemplative voice says "So you are human too."
Aren't we all? I ask. And we switch topics to Futbol. He's a Manchester United fan, I love Liverpool. He favors Saudi Arabia in the next cup, I think Germany will be strong at home but South Korea could be a suprise. His dad comes up and gives me a cigarette and I look around as they talk to me. Doc is treating wounded kids from a VBIED that hit their mosque. Their car lights and our Humvee lights surround the makeshift triage. And a little girl is harrassing our soldiers for beanie babies, dollar bills, and chocolate. what else could an 8 year old girl want from a foreign military.
"I don't like english." Says Mohammed. "It's difficult." Yeah, I gave up on Arabic, so I can't blame ya.
His father thinks we'll be here for 20 years. That Iraq and the US are one now. Maybe so. Hopefully in that time we can all figure out what Mohammed did. The other guy is human too.
But what if the guys who boobytrapped the corpses I went to see yesterday don't recognize anyone but themselves as human? And here I say that like we're much better.
Humanity, I think, is what fills the little gaps between all the broken shit, all the breaking, and all the plans, schematics, graphics and orders. Its the sand slipping out of grasping fingers. Its our instinct without progress as a motivator. It's who we are when we concentrate on being more than doing.
Should a soldier feel bad about an eager kid pulling a beanie baby out of the razor wire it landed in, due to poor throw? Or should he/she take heart in the child's eagerness and the opportunity to girlishly throw a stuffed toy?
I think its win win. And not a bad way to spend a day.
REV
July 12 2005, 12:25:18 UTC 6 years ago
July 12 2005, 13:53:51 UTC 6 years ago
July 12 2005, 12:50:19 UTC 6 years ago
anyways, i'm glad to know you're human. i thought you were a robot. like me.
JUST KIDDING.
July 12 2005, 13:51:37 UTC 6 years ago
Anonymous
July 12 2005, 13:52:51 UTC 6 years ago
July 12 2005, 13:53:23 UTC 6 years ago
July 12 2005, 13:55:45 UTC 6 years ago
July 12 2005, 16:34:23 UTC 6 years ago
Yeah, it's what makes the herd slow down for its weakest member.
You know, elephants do that. Well, some.
And yeah... i feel ya on "being more than doing."
July 14 2005, 17:55:28 UTC 6 years ago
Telling stories out of school
In reference to your earlier comment re: Mr. Hirschman -- I agreed with your thoughts there, that he was fixating on this "loss of humanity" issue after seeing what he probably felt was a somewhat callous response to a horrific situation.That said, he'd probably eat the above story up with a fucking spoon. Being a former journalist myself, I can attest to the fact that many reporters are looking out for compelling stories, and sadly, too many of them will try and make a compelling story (see above) when there isn't necessarily one. Grim soldiers in warzone find nearly-mass grave, grimly soldier on. That just doesn't sell as many papers or win prizes, so let's shift the narrative a bit, make it about how anyone with a shred of humanity couldn't feel this way about such a horrible discovery, and isn't it just sad, just sad, that they are losing that humanity? Just sad...
Anyway, /Hirshman diatribe.
Knowing you like I do, and reading your periodic dispatches from the front lines (as it were), it's clear that your humanity hasn't gone away. Just a little pep talk there, in case you need one. But seriously, it's very disheartening to hear about all the bad shit that has been going on in the GWOT (Global War on Terror, TM) -- prisoners tortured in Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, and at Bagram. Fallujah razed to the ground, basically. Insurgents killing our guys and civilians. Our guys (or bombs/bullets/various ordnance) accidentally taking out civilians.
All collateral damage, it seems. Or 'necessary' to meet our ends.
You have seen my posts about being an on-again/off-again concientious objector to war. As such, it makes me feel better as an American citizen to know that you (and some others, not sure how many) are doing the best you can to help who you can, and to show humanity to the other humans you meet during your misadventure.
July 15 2005, 11:34:28 UTC 6 years ago
Re: Telling stories out of school
yup, that need to sell papers is exactly why i don't talk to the asshats. I have my audience here, my ventings here, my voice here. and I don't feel compelled to have that voice co-opted by some tool looking to make a buck with my reputation.tanks for the pep talk and the responses here. Its good to feel like I'm bouncing thoughts off someone else rather than a solo game of ethics-pong.
REV