ahmed writes home

Hope is all that I have left right now, and I pray to God every day to see it happen. I hope to come back to Baghdad and be able to drive in its streets without fear and without the concrete blocks the army have put everywhere, without seeing any guns, and without hearing about explosions and dead bodies being found every day.

To be able to park and go to a shop without anyone asking me to move my car because it may be a car bomb. To be able to sit on the Tigris bank and enjoy eating a fish with my children, to be able to visit the museum and show my kids the glorious history of their ancestors, to be able to smell the roses in its gardens and to see its sun fall and hug the waves of its river. And the most important of all, is to see the faces of the people whom I love.

ahmed regularly files an audio diary, and he also works for the ny times. he posted that in his blog today because he has left baghdad and is now here, in the town and state where i live. i cannot imagine what it must be like for him - going from a city like baghdad that has been ripped to shreds, its history destroyed, its people and their lives shattered, everything they knew decimated, to a city like the one that i live in. small. college town. people speaking english, white people speaking english everywhere.

i am thankful. i am regretful that i can't and haven't done more.

sober reminders come from people like ahmed. people who you will never fully understand because you haven't walked in their shoes, but people who are willing to share their story so that you can take a glimpse inside their world and maybe begin to comprehend what life must be like for them.

thank you ahmed.