Afghanistan Massacre

Taken from CNN:

To the Editor:

As a journalist, I spent time with the mujahedeen in the mountains of Afghanistan during their war against the Soviet Union. These are an ancient people filled with a wisdom that most Westerners will never understand.

We have no right to be in their country. It is naïve to believe they will ever welcome or appreciate our presence. And now the burning of the Koran and a massacre.

It’s time to leave. Let us bring our soldiers home and help them heal. Let us learn a lesson as a nation, lessen our hubris, expand our global awareness, get over our self-centeredness and cease our aggressions.

BRAD WILLIS
Coronado, Calif., March 13, 2012


To the Editor:

It has been said that “the first casualty of war is truth.” In fact, as demonstrated by our soldiers burning the Koran, urinating on the dead and massacring innocent civilians, another casualty of war is the humanity of “the enemy.”

Most humans can kill another person only when we have turned him into “the other” — an animal, a monster, a nonperson. These events are the awful but predictable consequences of war.

We need to help our returning veterans heal from this horrific experience. As a person opposed to war but an American citizen, I feel a moral duty to support full funding for veterans’ programs.

TIM IGLESIAS
Oakland, Calif., March 13, 2012

Def Poetry - Dawn Saylor - When I Was 14

Listen.

I believe ones identity is encompassed by ones own pursuit for compassion for others and respect for oneself.

d.a.e.w.

Sophia Grace & Rosie Do Tea with Taylor Swift!

Marina - Rolling in the deep

Sarah Kay - For My Daughter (Awesome Spoken Word)

"People Change. Memories Don't."

"People Change. Memories Don't."


Identity is often thought of as ones surroundings, economic standing, race, gender, and status on the social hierarchy. Politically correct standards are put in place to which ones identity is thus measured. But, in the end we ultimately choose to harbor our identity in the friends we associate ourselves with. There goes the saying “you are only as strong as the company you keep.”Unfortunately, we tend to only see a select few qualities in each person that we want to be. It is there that we fail to identify the person they are as one entity. We set out in search of the perfect person to be, containing all the ideal qualities; honest, good, fun, loving, modest…etc. If we find people that represent such qualities, then we are more times then not going to befriend them. We cannot just search for each ideal quality and assign one to every person we meet. Instead we have to hold each person accountable for containing all the qualities we want. But, before that we must hold ourselves accountable. However humans tend not to think that way. If our friends become the puzzles pieces in our lives, each representing a different quality that we want to encompass, we then feel that if we can put them together in our brains as a whole, expecting their pieces to create a picture of ourselves. People tend to believe this is a valid and logical representation of their identity. However this is not the case. You cannot over simplify your identity. If it is over simplified then it is also incomplete.