In Iraq there are no good ol' days
Published 2:51 am Monday, January 24, 2005
By Staff
Our View
We live in a world where things are constantly changing. Technology, the way families spend time together, education – all are changing at the speed of light.
Nearly 50 years ago a family would spend their evenings around a dinner table discussing the world around them. Today they sit around the television and let fictionalized and sensationalized versions of their world be fed to them from the television.
Families used to get involved with each other and the neighborhood around them. Now the average person couldn't name more than two or three of their immediate neighbors.
Nearly 50 years ago, in 1958, Iraq declared itself a free republic, in actuality a series of military dictators ruled the country until the overthrowing of Saddam Hussein. Now a small number of Iraqis are fighting against a true democratic republic.
Wednesday more than a dozen men and women were killed as a result of a series of car-bomb attacks by Sunni militants against those who wish to give Iraq a free and open government.
Though our country is far from perfect and our system is flawed we have the greatest system of government in the world.
Whenever we complain about how we are being treated by the government or what the government is or isn't doing for us, we should remember that there are country's in the world who will never know the extent of freedoms we have.
In Iraq there are families who huddle around the blaze of burning buildings for warmth. They are close to their families and neighbors because they need each other for survival.
Many families are still living in the stone age and the idea of a television or media sensationalism is beyond their frame of reasoning.
People talk about the good old days. We talk about the days when there seemed to be no crime in schools. At least we have good-old-days to look back on.
Imagine what life would be like if we didn't.
The Inauguration of President Bush occurred last week. No bullets flew over the heads of participants in the event. No one was murdered.
Despite the mudslinging in the election no one was hit with shrapnel.
We live in a great country. We live in the greatest country in the world despite our worst faults because at our worst we are still better than any dictatorship or jihadist group.
We should be proud that we will never know a life of eternal revolution.