Monday, October 22, 2007 Bloggers Without Borders...
Syria is a beautiful country- at least I think it is. I say “I think” because while I perceive it to be beautiful, I sometimes wonder if I mistake safety, security and normalcy for ‘beauty’. In so many ways, Damascus is like Baghdad before the war- bustling streets, occasional traffic jams, markets seemingly always full of shoppers… And in so many ways it’s different.
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The first weeks here were something of a cultural shock. It has taken me these last three months to work away certain habits I’d acquired in Iraq after the war. It’s funny how you learn to act a certain way and don’t even know you’re doing strange things- like avoiding people’s eyes in the street or crazily murmuring prayers to yourself when stuck in traffic. It took me at least three weeks to teach myself to walk properly again- with head lifted, not constantly looking behind me.
There's often talk & valid concern about post traumatic stress disorder with soldiers returning from Iraq/Afghanistan to the US. There's also often odd debate about "why Iraqis are hostile" - terrorists - to our soldiers & their own fellow citizens in Iraq.
I submit the citizens of Iraq deal with 'constant' traumatic stress disorder, and that we, safely at home, fail to recognize what we've done to the country beyond the destruction of their gov't, their infrastructure, their homes and any semblance of community the diverse citizenship once accepted & nutured. We have destroyed any peace of mind & trust of almost any other human in their midst. And we continue, have continued this destruction for years, in Iraq, in Afghanistan & in recent history, where ever we got ticked off.
If every nation we ticked off launched continuous invasions & attacks across our country, driving us into refugee situations when the insanity of our homes became unbearable, we too would be hateful. Too many of our citizens, with relatively small attacks, have been driven to hate. How would the same deal with the constancy of occupation & destruction?
