Drugs Are In The Air (again)
Once again drugs are in the air on a FedEx plane bound for Mosul. This time sadness weighs on the hearts of some of the folks involved in the project. A Baghdad staff worker for Life for Relief and Development, the organization that handles funds donated to the Mosul Chemotherapy Project, was pointlessly murdered by ignorant thugs who apparently felt that weapons and slaughter are the only available solution to the problems they perceive. A news release describing that sad event will be found here: LINK
Sitting safe in my house in California I am continuously aware of the chaos and violence that engulfs Iraq in these days and the risks people there face. The situation there will not improve until people recognize that weapons and murder are not appropriate tools for the improvement of society. The murder of Abdul-Sattar Abdullah in Baghdad protected no one and improved nothing. There is nothing to indicate that he was anything but a decent man working for the improvement of Iraq. It was a tragic act of ignorance and stupidity. Only a fool could imagine that it served any reasonable purpose or pleased god in any way.
The shipment of chemotherapy drugs that is, as I write, on a plane over the Atlantic ocean will hopefully prolong the lives of the people it is used to treat. Perhaps the courage of the people those drugs benefit will serve as an example to those around them. Perhaps their prayers will please god. Perhaps the love they share with family and friends will inspire others.
Which is better, efforts expended in the ignorant slaughter of the innocent, or efforts expended in hope of improving and extending the life of decent people? I know the answer in my heart with total certainty. I can only hope that those who slaughtered Abdul-Sattar Abdullah in Baghdad learn to recognize it.
I never knew Abdul-Sattar Abdullah or the many others like him who have labored in Iraq to try to improve conditions there, only to be slaughtered by the forces of chaos and ignorance. I can do nothing to erase the loss his death brings to his family and friends. All I can do is try to do what is right, as he seems to have done, and hope that others learn to do likewise in increasing numbers.
This project continues.
Sitting safe in my house in California I am continuously aware of the chaos and violence that engulfs Iraq in these days and the risks people there face. The situation there will not improve until people recognize that weapons and murder are not appropriate tools for the improvement of society. The murder of Abdul-Sattar Abdullah in Baghdad protected no one and improved nothing. There is nothing to indicate that he was anything but a decent man working for the improvement of Iraq. It was a tragic act of ignorance and stupidity. Only a fool could imagine that it served any reasonable purpose or pleased god in any way.
The shipment of chemotherapy drugs that is, as I write, on a plane over the Atlantic ocean will hopefully prolong the lives of the people it is used to treat. Perhaps the courage of the people those drugs benefit will serve as an example to those around them. Perhaps their prayers will please god. Perhaps the love they share with family and friends will inspire others.
Which is better, efforts expended in the ignorant slaughter of the innocent, or efforts expended in hope of improving and extending the life of decent people? I know the answer in my heart with total certainty. I can only hope that those who slaughtered Abdul-Sattar Abdullah in Baghdad learn to recognize it.
I never knew Abdul-Sattar Abdullah or the many others like him who have labored in Iraq to try to improve conditions there, only to be slaughtered by the forces of chaos and ignorance. I can do nothing to erase the loss his death brings to his family and friends. All I can do is try to do what is right, as he seems to have done, and hope that others learn to do likewise in increasing numbers.
This project continues.
posted by waldschrat at 1:42 PM
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