The 2nd. element.

“Frankly, a lot of us over here are starting to think you guys deserved him.”
I found this statement in one of the comments on the post about the Spanish officers who were killed in Iraq last week.
As much as these words hurt me as much as I found them justified, and in spite of the support of most of the readers of this blog, I could not help thinking how does the rest of the world think.
I am sure that there are lots of people around the world who agree with the statement mentioned above, after so much painful and disgusting scenes reported from Iraq, I myself used to burst in the faces of my friends and relatives with similar comments when they showed an approval or a disinterest in what was happening.
Each time I saw or heard of something like what we all saw, I used to question myself: why are we like this? Can it be true that twenty five million people could all be so barbarian and ignorant? Do we deserve our misfortune and why can’t we change, even after Saddam Hussien was dethroned? What have this devil and his gang done to my people?
No I will not pretend to be a saint living among evil people.
I have lived long enough here and seen and read in history what makes me believe that most of Iraqis are good people and deserve a better life and no video clip can make me change my mind.
Yet the question remains unanswered, and it needs a reasonable and thorough investigation and analysis.
I can’t claim that I have all the answers, but I think I have some.
-One important fact is that S.H. had made it his policy to raise the filthy cruel and ignorant people to the highest ranks encouraging their behavior showing it as the utmost manhood and bravery.
His TV (as one of my fellow Iraqi citizens mentioned) used to show us the horrible scenes of burned bodies of the Iranian soldiers during and even after the Iraqi-Iranian war, some people used to turn off the TV others chose to watch “celebrating the defeat of their enemy” not realizing the long-turn effect of such scenes on their children.
On the other hand, the good hearted, noble, brave and intelligent Iraqis were oppressed, denied most of their rights, forced to leave their country and in many instances brutally exterminated.
-Another fact is that through out history most of the people-with very few exceptions-obeyed their mad tyrants without hesitation, even when it involved killing and torturing innocent men, women and even children.
Can anyone dare to say that Hitler used his bare hands to burn millions of the Jewish people, or was it only Stalin’s gun that killed hundreds of thousands of Russian people?
There were always more people following the tyrants than those who chose to oppose.
-Another fact lies in the choice of the media. Yes, there are lots of bad stuff going on here, but there’s also a great deal of good being done by Iraqis and all the brave and fine people who came from all over the world to help.
It’s up to you to choose. If you want to see what you believe, you will not even need to make the effort of lifting your eyelids.
If you want to see their version of the truth, you’ll have to make a little effort picking your remote control, turning on the TV and relax while you watch your favorite channel. But if you wanted to see the truth, you will need to consume a little more energy moving your body and a much more working your mind out.
I do believe in what most of the scientists -studying human nature- had agreed on, that is the man behavior is determined by his genetics and his environment.
And I see the political system as a major element in the environment.
However I also believe in a 3rd. element that forms and shapes the ultimate course of the life of an individual, and let me call it “the free zone”, a zone of free will that neither the genetics nor the environment and not even God have any influence whatever, and as this zone is free, it is liable for frequent changes throughout its short course on earth.
I think that the governments can not create criminals or saints, but a wise one makes it easier for the good ones to use their free will as it makes it harder for the bad ones to use theirs. And the opposite applies for the bad government; it just acts as a catalyst to the potentialities within each human soul.
I am not asking you to forgive the guilty, I wouldn’t approve of it, but I am asking you to stand for your responsibility and support your brave men and women and the good Iraqis as they act within the (limited space) of the environment to help show the others the wrong from right, and them use their free wills judiciously.
I have a 4 month old nephew who means the world to me, and as part of my job I see a lot of ill babies daily and whenever I feel frustrated and angry enough to judge my whole nation, it just takes a look into the innocent eyes of my nephew or any other child for all my anger to vanish, and my(solid as a rock) heart melts, and I find myself instantaneously thinking: what do(s) he/they deserve, and what is my/your responsibility towards them?