A Biased Story

I want to interject in my own blog/electronic journal to make a few, but in my view very necessary points. I have no doubt that there are people of all political, religious, and ethnic backgrounds reading the stories I share. As there may be many of you who may disagree with much of my writing and have taken it upon yourself to assume a certain bias in my voice in order to rationalize this disagreement, your assumptions are most likely correct .

My upbringing was one of the best I know, one that taught me to truly appreciate and understand all sides to story, no matter how many existed. It is a result of this holistic upbringing that I feel it necessary to make clear the position from which I am writing during my time in Amman.

I fully understand that there is a much greater context into which my writing could be placed, a context containing much more military, political, and religious information to explain and accompany each individuals' journey from Iraq to Amman. This premise understood, I came to work for CRP with the intention of understanding and conveying the notion of human suffering, a notion that is inexcusable regardless of the circumstances upon which it followed. Sunni or Shia, male or female, child or adult, educated or uneducated, it is not these such characteristics that should control an individuals' possibility for danger and suffering in the world.

Most of you reading this blog most likely live a relatively comfortable and stable life. Comfortable in the sense that you are free to see a a doctor if you or your children should find yourselves ill. Stable with regards to the fact that you are able to work for wages, legally, not worried with such great intensity that your children will not receive adequate nourishment to survive until tomorrow. These descriptions of instability and discomfort are unfortunately experienced by a daunting number of people existing in most all parts of the world. It is our responsibility, if not to actively alleviate these sufferings, to understand that we will never experience or live to tell such horrific stories, and it is therefore not in our ability to judge based on this inexperience.

I am writing to tell the stories of those who have never been told. If these individuals' narratives do not include any military, political, or religious context as mentioned above, then so be it. No matter what preconceived notions we as Americans may have about those living in or fleeing Iraq, our preconceive notions will never be comparable to trauma and violence that these families have experienced. The simple fact that there are so many stories I am not able to disclose due to the danger they might possess, needs no further explanation. The possibility that those from Iraq should be so brave as to speak and share with those who are partially responsibly for or representative of their past traumas is yet another testament to their bravery. I understand and want to clearly express that the U.S. military or America's war in Iraq is not the sole or even the most common causation of every individuals' stress, illness, trauma, or danger. Our presence in these peoples' country however, regardless of its intentions, still serves as a contributor to the suffering and displacement of many, and I am writing for them.