"You used to be fun"
one of the guys in my unit said that to me today. We knew each other back in the "real" world and we’ve been over here together for the last 10 months. He’s recently taken to trying to piss me off, just to "get some emotion out of me"
Wow. Have I really gotten that bad?
So I thought for a moment, fun… me… Iraq… nope, I guess not. But I don’t think that it’s that bad. I think that between the two of us, we have different ways of dealing with being here. He’s the kind of guy who uses cynicism and sarcasm and a generally bad attitude toward why we’re here and what we’re doing to make himself feel better. Me, on the other hand, I just try to accept the fact that we’re here and make the best of it. When I’m around him, his negative attitude drives me crazy and probably causes him to think I’m no fun.
Maybe I’m more fun in the real world, but I’m in no danger of going crazy on someone. I just like to keep to myself and avoid most of the complaining and bitching that most people do because that is what brings me down.
Anyhow,
Today (December 8) we went on a civil affairs mission to a couple of villages outside the city we’re in. The civil affairs guys were going to assess the village to see what projects would be most important to the local leaders and to begin the process of getting funds and cooperation from the locals. We brought along a bunch of candy, toys and a couple hundred backpacks to pass out at the local schools.
First, you should all know that anywhere we go where there are people who like us, it’s a mob scene. You get people coming up to you, crowding around the vehicles and asking for things. "Mister, give me", "Mister, take my picture", "Mister, give me dollar". Everywhere we go, and it’s always mister. (I only take pictures of those smart enough to say missus)
So we rolled into the village and parked the vehicles and immediately a couple hundred children were running at us, full blast, yelling "Mister, Mister!" Great. It was mass chaos for a couple hours as we tried to hand out the supplies, shake hands and take pictures. I don’t think anyone had anything left in their vehicles when we left, the kids even got the MREs by the end of the day.
Let’s talk about the Iraqi kids. I don’t want to offend anyone who may read this, but this is just what I see. When we go out and see kids on the streets, the first thing I notice is they have horrible manners. They run up to you, they won’t leave you alone, they’ll take the gloves right off your hands and steal anything when you’re not looking. There are no polite kids, none that sit back and wait for you to give something to you, they all crowd around, pushing each other. I’ve seen kids beat each other up over a piece of candy. The kids are usually the smartest ones too, but the only English these kids know, they use to beg stuff off of you, or try to sell you something.
The adults are no better. There was an adult man today, stealing the backpacks from the little girls and running off with them. When we give things to them, they take them from their kids and sell them. It’s frustrating. And then we bring them supplies, buy them equipment for their schools, government buildings, security structures, and even as we’re bringing it in, they’re asking for more.
You try to feel bad for the kids because they never asked for any of this. But they’ve adopted the ways of the adults in their lives. When we give them something, they want more. They steal from each other and they steal from us.
Being poor and being unfortunate is no excuse for being rude and lazy. Somebody needs to teach these people some manners. They expect us to give them everything and we can’t do that. They have to be willing to work hard and help us help them.
We can’t give the Iraqi people freedom. We can’t hand it to them on a silver platter and expect them to have any interest in maintaining it. They need to be willing to step up and take part in what we’re trying to do for them. They need to join the ING and fight, to stand up to the terrorists who are threatening them and turn in their neighbors who are killing us. We can’t do it alone and we shouldn’t have to.
5 Comments:
Sadly enough that is poverty, it is the same here at home. You are right there is no excuse for it, all a person can do is pray one decides to pull themselves above the norm. Hand them what they need and be comfortable with YOUR INTENTIONS!
Hang in there!
Welfare is welfare. Here at home it's the Food Share program. A store merchant here at home who is Iraq said about the general population of his former countrymen, "Bomb them; thats all they understand". It is more that just bad manners you are witnessing. It is a lack of character. If possible send some photos for posting on my website www.tourfreeiraq.com due to go up 2005. Email: adicario@sbcglobal.net
Buffbabe,
I can't believe that little shit. You are loads of fun. He's still pissed about the photo. Don't sweat it and keep up the great attitude. We're almost through this!
"Let’s talk about the Iraqi kids. I don’t want to offend anyone who may read this, but this is just what I see. When we go out and see kids on the streets, the first thing I notice is they have horrible manners."
Two things:
1) You probably don't see many of the polite kids, because the polite kids aren't running out to you.
2) In a society that is run for 24 years by a government that has absolutely no respect for property or human dignity, it's not too surprising that the Law of the Jungle becomes the way the society is organized. If you have a government that's protecting the weak from getting savaged by the strong, kids growing up see that it's not right for the strong to steal from the weak. If you have a government that is based almost entirely on the strong stealing from the weak, that's also what kids learn.
I think if you go back to Iraq in a decade or two, it will be vastly different.
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