The Un building explosion, was unbelievable for Riverbend. She did not think something so terrifying was going to happen. She feels that everyond is lying and blaming it on Al Queda, the media is not telling the truth. Also the people she is surrounded by believe these lies. Riverbend will not submit to what everyone is telling her, she knows that these were here to help and now they are being destroyed. The Ministry of Oil is being guarded, and it would never be destroyed but others who are trying to help are being destroyed. Riverbend is trying to make the best of life, but people who are innocent and helpful keep dying.
In this entry, Riverbend reflects on how chaotic and violent the last few days have been. She couted a total of 23 explosions in just one day. She wrote about how terrified her neices and nephews were everytime an explosion went off and the windows shook. She describes incidents such as the 14th of July Bridge or "Mu'alaq Bridge" that is closed to civilians during war. She then went on to tell about her friend who lost his wife and dog on that bridge when a tank fired at his SUV. Later she spoke about the transfering of powers over to the Governing Council and her uneasiness on how successful it was going to be and who actually elected the GC in the first place. You can tell by the way she was describing the events, she was extremely upset and torn apart at the way her home is being destroyed. Her moral seems to be at the lowest point possible.
Riverbend’s undying perseverance is obviously what wakes her up every morning through the endless struggles she faces. This particular entry was sad and disheartening because she depicts a country falling apart more and more everyday. The soldiers are becoming harsher with the locals and claiming to accidently kill civilians caught in crossfire. Parents of children are concerned for their child’s safety so much that they are keeping them home for the upcoming school year, and Riverbend’s reaction to this is melancholy. She, Riverbend, realizes the importance of education for the children. It serves not only as an activity to distract their minds from the chaos going on in Baghdad, but is also required that the children attend school to further their education. Homeschooling is not an option in Baghdad. Not only are the children suffering, but so are the parents whose jobs are sacrificed for their personal safety and security. University students are upset with failing grades, tardiness because of the traffic surrounding the university and the security stopping everyone before they enter. And of course, the Deans do not care to show remorse because they are vexed over their own situations. Everyone in Baghdad is affected by the “War on Terrorism,” and it appears it may have gotten to its bitter end. Hope seems lost in ominous clouds of melancholy that are reinforced my bombings, “accidental” shootings, and relentless soldiers claiming to do their job. What lies in the future for Riverbend is perplexing to comprehend. How she manages to not let the ferocious waves of death overcome is beyond my belief. I indubitably empathize with her experience in Baghdad, but I will surely never feel her pain as an individual. She puts us in her shoes but the shoes are too big for us, or at least me, to fit in. We’ve all had our struggles, and have surely grown from them, but Riverbend is a strong woman voicing her experience as she becomes more isolated from society and fixed within chaos. I wonder when this will end for her, because the war surely hasn’t stopped 7 years later.
It was the one year anniversary of National Day and it is very apparent that Riverbend is much more angry and desprate than in the beginning of the blog. The mass violence and chaos had only gotten worse and her descriptions of the violence are disheartening. Comparing the way Americans find their dead relitives, several thousand miles away and in a neat casket, is very different than how he rpeople find their dead loved ones. They have to pick through rubble, find dismembered limbs and watch their children die in front of them. This day marks the anniversary of what, in the US, is considered to be a day of freedom. To Riverbend and her city it is one of the bloodiest. I cannot even begin to imagine how it feels like to have your child hurt or killed, violently no less, right infront of you. To find your spouce in a pile of rubble or have a soldier shoot your mother or father. I wonder now where Riverbend is and how her life has changed since the end of this blog/book. I think that she is an amazing woman and she is doing a great job bringing the truth to light.
The Un building explosion, was unbelievable for Riverbend. She did not think something so terrifying was going to happen. She feels that everyond is lying and blaming it on Al Queda, the media is not telling the truth. Also the people she is surrounded by believe these lies. Riverbend will not submit to what everyone is telling her, she knows that these were here to help and now they are being destroyed.
ReplyDeleteThe Ministry of Oil is being guarded, and it would never be destroyed but others who are trying to help are being destroyed. Riverbend is trying to make the best of life, but people who are innocent and helpful keep dying.
November 16, 2003
ReplyDeleteIn this entry, Riverbend reflects on how chaotic and violent the last few days have been. She couted a total of 23 explosions in just one day. She wrote about how terrified her neices and nephews were everytime an explosion went off and the windows shook. She describes incidents such as the 14th of July Bridge or "Mu'alaq Bridge" that is closed to civilians during war. She then went on to tell about her friend who lost his wife and dog on that bridge when a tank fired at his SUV.
Later she spoke about the transfering of powers over to the Governing Council and her uneasiness on how successful it was going to be and who actually elected the GC in the first place. You can tell by the way she was describing the events, she was extremely upset and torn apart at the way her home is being destroyed. Her moral seems to be at the lowest point possible.
November 5, 2003 Between a Hammer and an Anvil…
ReplyDeleteRiverbend’s undying perseverance is obviously what wakes her up every morning through the endless struggles she faces. This particular entry was sad and disheartening because she depicts a country falling apart more and more everyday. The soldiers are becoming harsher with the locals and claiming to accidently kill civilians caught in crossfire. Parents of children are concerned for their child’s safety so much that they are keeping them home for the upcoming school year, and Riverbend’s reaction to this is melancholy. She, Riverbend, realizes the importance of education for the children. It serves not only as an activity to distract their minds from the chaos going on in Baghdad, but is also required that the children attend school to further their education. Homeschooling is not an option in Baghdad. Not only are the children suffering, but so are the parents whose jobs are sacrificed for their personal safety and security. University students are upset with failing grades, tardiness because of the traffic surrounding the university and the security stopping everyone before they enter. And of course, the Deans do not care to show remorse because they are vexed over their own situations. Everyone in Baghdad is affected by the “War on Terrorism,” and it appears it may have gotten to its bitter end. Hope seems lost in ominous clouds of melancholy that are reinforced my bombings, “accidental” shootings, and relentless soldiers claiming to do their job. What lies in the future for Riverbend is perplexing to comprehend. How she manages to not let the ferocious waves of death overcome is beyond my belief. I indubitably empathize with her experience in Baghdad, but I will surely never feel her pain as an individual. She puts us in her shoes but the shoes are too big for us, or at least me, to fit in. We’ve all had our struggles, and have surely grown from them, but Riverbend is a strong woman voicing her experience as she becomes more isolated from society and fixed within chaos. I wonder when this will end for her, because the war surely hasn’t stopped 7 years later.
One Year Later- April 9, 2004
ReplyDeleteIt was the one year anniversary of National Day and it is very apparent that Riverbend is much more angry and desprate than in the beginning of the blog. The mass violence and chaos had only gotten worse and her descriptions of the violence are disheartening.
Comparing the way Americans find their dead relitives, several thousand miles away and in a neat casket, is very different than how he rpeople find their dead loved ones. They have to pick through rubble, find dismembered limbs and watch their children die in front of them. This day marks the anniversary of what, in the US, is considered to be a day of freedom. To Riverbend and her city it is one of the bloodiest. I cannot even begin to imagine how it feels like to have your child hurt or killed, violently no less, right infront of you. To find your spouce in a pile of rubble or have a soldier shoot your mother or father.
I wonder now where Riverbend is and how her life has changed since the end of this blog/book. I think that she is an amazing woman and she is doing a great job bringing the truth to light.