After seven and half years, we finally reached the end of the War in Iraq. And yet, in a point I alluded to in my previous post, this war wasn’t real for most Americans. Yes, we saw the names of the fallen soldiers and Marines every Sunday on This Week with George Stephanopolous, and we saw the celebrations as local service members were welcomed home. But it wasn’t real, at least not in the way war was so immediate for Dr. Nafisi and her students, and especially for Amir in The Kite Runner. This was a war we watched on network TV until we cared about neither.
Yes, I have heard stories from servicemen and women about things that didn’t exactly make the nightly news. It was definitely all too real for them and their loved ones. For the rest of us, it was war of words, about whether the troops should be in Iraq and when should they leave. The bombs weren’t going off in our neighbor’s yard, and we didn’t have to wonder who we’d have to confront on the way to the store. I still stand by my opposition to the war, but I have nothing but the utmost respect for the men and women who faced the war that we eventually ignored. Perhaps the best way to honor those who have served is to find the stories of this war and share them with the students I teach.
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