In this land plagued by blood and violence I have seen so much. I have seen what they don't show on the news because it's either too sad or too happy. The media seems only to be interested in anger and failure but I've seen so much more. I've seen a mother laying in the middle of a busy highway with her child playing within arms reach so that maybe a driver would stop and give them food or money. I've seen a girl, maybe three or four, hopping up to American Soldiers with a smile in her eyes at the hopes of candy. She had no shoes on her feet because her parents could not afford them. I've seen so much and it's only been a few months.
I've been in America for most of my life and being in Afghanistan has made me appreciate what we have in the States but has made me sad for the same reason. The Afghan people, though most don't have much, have a POWERFUL spirit about them. They are very strong of will and though devastation and fear surrounds them most still manage a smile. I can't imagine 90% of Americans being able to do the same in this kind of turmoil. We, as Americans, should appreciate our lives more, spend more time with their families, and pay more attention to the world. Sure, you might say 'I watch the news', but which news? How often? What do they say? What do others say?
I've seen a lot of angry press about Afghanistan and the international involvement, but when you look into the face of a person born in Afghanistan it's no longer about who is corrupt or whether they will try to hurt me. It is a person just like you or me. They may try to hurt me, but those innocent people who are not involved in this conflict want what we all want in our lives. And those innocent people cannot be forgotten while the world huddles over Afghanistan wondering what will happen next. Most of what they want is peace, respect, room to breath, and enough individual rights not to get bullied around by people of power. However, here most of the Afghan people are in such a position that makes some of the things they do seem unjust to people who have the basic necessities to survive. I'm not justfiying the horrible things done in the past or the horrible things that will happen in the future. I'm saying that most of these people are just trying to survive and make their lives better so do not judge them as a country, know them as an individual. Once you know them as an individual then you can decide how to feel about what that person has done.
Checkout this book that was recently published and let me know what you think. www.irinnews.org/pdf/Veil_of_Tears.pdf
Sometimes we need to stop thinking like the person we were and step outside the little section of the world we carved out for ourselves. Sometimes we HAVE to so we can become the person we want to be. Just because you may have done things before doesn't mean you have to do them in the future. The Present is about retribution and evolution. In every second there is the opportunity to live a better life. Take those seconds and put them to good use, but make sure that your seconds don't take years away from someone else. And don't think that wherever you are that you don't have some effect on the people of Afghanistan, or any other country or person or animal, for that matter. We ALL have the ability to do SOMETHING no matter how small it may be. The question is, how determined are we, as a human race, to do anything for anyone else?
Step outside the box, the weathers fine.
