I've been away from my computer for a few days but in my head, I have not stopped writing...
Everytime I witness a scene or another, everytime I hear a sentence or formulate an idea, everytime I feel a deep truth dawn on me...I register it in my mind, pretending I have some invisible keyboard, recording words lest I forget them...
This business of "recording" has become very important to me -- it feels like am racing with Time, swimming against the current...
I feel I owe it to myself and to Iraq to do so...Truth be told, insofar as the Iraqi people are concerned, I still have mixed feelings. I am not sure whether I am a self hating Iraqi or more of a realistic Iraqi. But that is not the point of my "essay", if one may call it an "essay" that is...
I strongly believe that Arabs, of which am part, are at defining moment in history, a crucial crossroad, where many traps, impasses, and culs de sac lay in front of us.
This is both a blessing and a curse. I'll explain myself...
A blessing, because in the darkest hours, one can find the sliver of light, that very thin ray of light...
A curse, because if we collectively fail to seize that sliver of light, we will be doomed to yet another cycle of "obscurity"...
I don't wish this to turn into some sort of philosophical "treatise", yet there are certain insights, I have been privileged to be aware of by virtue of having been around long enough -- to witness and therefore know...
There are certain traits to the Arab people, and I am deliberately using the word Arab as opposed to Middle Easterner, simply because I have observed these traits across both the Middle East and North Africa (fake categories imposed upon us).
One of these traits, one of these predominant traits is what one may call a "sense of duty/obligation" translated into a "sense of sacrifice".
This probably derives from many factors, one of which is the predominance of Monotheistic religions (both muslim and christian), where this concept of "sacrifice" converges...
Now sacrifice should not be taken in a literal sense, even though it may carry a literal meaning...Sacrifice must be taken in a symbolic sense with all its ramifications...
It feels as if we have all become Abraham's sacrificial lamb for the sake of Truth.
Again Truth is not to be taken as meaning one particular truth over another, not so much as an absolute truth but more of a contextual Truth at a specific time in History...they say it's nothing but conjectures.
Excuse me, but when I see so much fresh blood being poured onto the streets of Baghdad or Gaza, I need to believe in some sacrificial lamb...
When I say so much blood, I mean daily blood...DAILY.DAILY.DAILY. Human blood sacrificed at some altar, and am still trying to figure out the God that presides over it.
Is it the God of Globalization, the God of America, the God of Judea and Samarea, the God of Babylon, the God of Mecca or the God of Jerusalem...?
Which God is it that demands so much blood? But most importantly why Arab (muslim) Blood ? What kind of vampire lives off Muslim Blood ? And does blood have a race or an ethnicity or even a religion ? It's all Red to me...
OK take that as FACT - All Blood is RED. Yellow, Black, White, Colored...it's all RED.
Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhists, Pagan, Animist, Atheist, Agnostic...It's all RED.
So what makes one blood cheaper than another ? What makes one life cheaper than another ?
Yesterday I saw a scene, let me share it with you - A Palestinian boy was hit by an Israeli explosive, he was dying in front of the camera...A man next to him was yelling " Say the Testimony of Faith, say there is No God but God, say it..."
Blood, red blood was pouring profusely, covering this boy's shirt, his trousers, and finally the white sheet that covered him. Say it --- There is no God but God...Say it, there is no blood but Red blood... God manifests Itself in what unites us, Red Blood.
So why is mine cheaper than yours ?
Excuse me but why are your kids so precious and ours not ? Why are you families so important and ours not ? Why are your lives so sacred and ours not ?
Let's go back to Blood. If I mix mine with yours, will you know which is which and whose is whose ?
You would not, it's all RED.
I saw an Iraqi kid bombed out, with blood pouring out, gushing out, he was not even crying...he just stared. Stared at You...
I am so fascinated with Red, I don't even dare wear it anymore. A reverence for Red, the Sacred Red, the fountain of Red...
And who said Paradise is made pastel colors. A light-- blue, pink, green or even white?
Ask the daughters and sons of Ibrahim (Abraham), they will tell you, it's nothing but Red.
Paradise is Red.
Painting : Iraqi artist, Jaber Alwan.
