Thursday, April 24, 2014
Riverbend
The Riverbend blog was very interesting to me because it gave a perspective that I have never heard before. Being in elementary school during the beginning of the Iraq War, I never was too involved in the news of everything that was going on, nor did I pay attention to all of the politics of the situation. Partly due to a lack of interest in politics, I have never before really looked into the beginning of the Iraq War. It’s interesting to me to read so much about it now from an Iraqi perspective and have her be so much better informed than I, not only about Iraq, but about the politics and such in the United States as well. One part of the blog that stood out to me is from the post titled “My New Talent” from August, 2003. Riverbend is talking to her brother about their 13 year old neighbor smoking and says, “He’s only 13.” He brother responds, “Is anyone only 13 anymore?” and Riverbend concludes that nobody is young anymore. It occurred to me how fortunate I was growing up to have the option to be ill-informed about the war. Although news about the war was constantly onTV and in the papers, I was able to continue my young meanderings and ignore the news and watch PBS Kids or play with my toys instead. It’s obvious that children in Baghdad did not have this same luxury. Riverbend says, “The silence was shattered a few moments later by the sound of bullets in the distance,” and shortly later says that she can tell if the gunfire is, as she puts it, “‘them’ or ‘us’”. The war is so intrusive to Riverbend’s daily life that she now can distinguish between shots from different guns just based on sound and says that it’s a skill that many people, young and old, have also acquired. The presence of the war is impossible to ignore or escape.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Great blog Kathryn! I definitely agree with you that cause we were so young at the beginning of the Iraq War that we didn't really have an interest in politics. I also liked reading it from an Iraqis perspective because it have me a new outlook instead of being biased and making judgements. You made a good point that the war really does change the innocent. We were so privileged to have all the fun little kid stuff growing up and unfortunately some young kids in Iraq didn't have that opportunity. I also like how you talked about how Riverbend could notice the differences between gun shots. It's just interesting that she kind of got used to having the war happens right in front of her.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post! I find it interesting that the author mentions how she was able to distinguish the type of gun shots. It reminded me of the documentary Five Broken Cameras. The documentary is about the Israel and Palestine land conflict, and how the conflict has affected a man and his family. One of the scenes that stuck with me was when the cameraman/narrator films his child’s first words. His child’s first word was grenade, rather than mom or dad. Although the conflict in the documentary is different than the war in Iraq, the people cannot ignore the daily violence they experience. Just like the child in the documentary, Riverbend learned the sounds and terms of the war.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with what you're saying here. I grew up so distant from the war that it had no affect on me as I was growing up. I was too young to really know what was going in the Middle East and the reasons why the US was fighting in the first place. And to be fighting in a war that isn't on home territory adds more distance between US citizens and the war in the Middle East. I couldn't imagine living and growing up in a war zone that is literally in my backyard.
ReplyDelete