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Iraq: Picture Yourself, by Dale Mugford

This poignant, impassioned, perhaps hauntingly prescient article was written by my young friend, Dale Mugford, who is wise beyond his years. He wrote it on his website, OldSouls.org. Indeed, he is 'an old soul'. I have republished it here with the kind permission of the author. I will be posting Dale's intelligent, thought-provoking, insightful, compelling, empathetic, wonderfully written articles here frequently. Check out his site for more! ---- Annamarie


Iraq: Picture Yourself
Sunday October 23rd 2005, 4:25 pm

I wonder how many people, when asked to paint a picture in their minds as to what Iraq will look like in 15-20 years, will paint something nice, like this.

I wonder, will they paint pictures in their minds of children who have all grown up, limbs and soft palettes missing? Will they hold in their mind's eye these children, now adults, still trying to make sense of how they are living in absolute poverty, while the smell of McDonald's pervades the streets, easily seen 10 blocks away from where they stand beyond the ruins that remain still of cities that were bombed for decades?

Can you picture yourself an Iraq child right now… your parents dead, lost, taken? Your friends gone, missing, deserted? Your toys broken, stolen, destroyed?

Will those pictures include American troops, new troops, young and recently inculcated with all the fear and dehumanization necessary to carry on the work of imperialism?

Or will they falter, incapable of thinking about what Iraq would look like, since they really have no idea what it ever looked like, outside of the disparate snapshots they glassily viewed in flickered passerby glances at televisions that filtered them from feeling anything at all for the seconds of viewing?

Should we feel guilty? Should Canadians like me feel guilty at all for what's happening in Iraq, Haiti, Darfur? Should I care at all, that what's happening in places around the globe makes what I'm doing right now in my life seem like a dainty stroll through heaven without a care?

Some say no. Some say we shouldn't feel guilty, because it's not our individual fault. We didn't do this to anyone, so why should we feel guilty?

Well, to that I say: It's our planet. It's our world, it's our lives, it's our peace, or lack thereof. It's our wealth, or poverty. It's our responsibility to ourselves, and each other, to ensure that we are protected from this kind of mass murder, subjugation, and pillage.

We didn't need guilt to stop Hitler, did we? And if we did, I'm glad we felt it. I'm glad we felt strongly enough, whatever we felt, to rise as a planet together, as many as were necessary, to stop the genocide and the racist extinction of peoples.

Can you tell me, straight faced, and without a blink, that if we all really wanted this to end, it wouldn't? That if everyone stopped what they were doing, and devoted all of their efforts to raising their voices and calling for an end in Iraq that it would not cease?

I am asking a lot of questions, because I want answers. I want to know that there are people like me who do what they can, when they can to make a difference and to change this world because they know that it's each one of us' responsibility to do what we can, regardless of what others do or don't do.

Any effort you make to show your support for those who have been affected is help.

Even if it's just painting a picture- even it it's just in your mind.

posted by Annamarie at 10:01 PM