River sounds like she’s leaving Iraq. Gee, I wonder why.
I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn’t know
what our neighbors were- we didn’t care. No one asked about religion or sect.
No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or
Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward.
Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting
it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in
the middle of the night.On a personal note, we’ve finally decided to leave. I guess I’ve known we
would be leaving for a while now. We discussed it as a family dozens of times.
At first, someone would suggest it tentatively because, it was just a preposterous
idea- leaving ones home and extended family- leaving ones country- and to
what? To where?Since last summer, we had been discussing it more and more. It was only a
matter of time before what began as a suggestion- a last case scenario- soon
took on solidity and developed into a plan. For the last couple of months,
it has only been a matter of logistics. Plane or car? Jordan or Syria? Will
we all leave together as a family? Or will it be only my brother and I at
first?After Jordan or Syria- where then? … ..
Comments are closed.