Thursday, December 18, 2008

A Good Afternoon in Baghdad


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We returned to the Baghdad Ballet School to deliver some gifts that were generously donated by a similar school in Mobile, Alabama. It was a great afternoon and I got a chance to interact with a lot of the kids. I laughed because the only English that they could speak was to sing the "ABC song" and count to ten, which they did relentlessly. I taught the boys how to do an "Obama-style fist-bump", as well as thumb wrestle. American culture is good for a lot of things. I walked away smiling. It was a good afternoon in Baghdad.
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Sweet.
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One more little personal insight from over there. From The Gun Line:
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A few days ago, I escorted a working party of young Iraqis who were day laborers… They were all young, and they reminded me so much of any typical American teenager, trying to get through life, chatting away about girls, and sports, and the latest fashions… I felt very encouraged that these young fellows would be the ones to wake up and realize how full of potential their futures are. They will be the ones to take charge of their communities, and decide that they would not allow themselves to be manipulated by religion, by politics, by other countries… “We Won’t Get Fooled Again…” by The Who seems appropriate right now… Perhaps it will happen. I hope it does…

We’ll see if I’m as optimistic at the end of the tour as I am now, but, right now, I am where I need to be, doing what I need to be doing…

I’m happy to be here.
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He's right, you know. It is that young generation that will decide. A future that is different from the past.