Add caption This photo was taken in 2004 in Hawler. Please note the sign behind him. A man his age should be telling stories to grand kids at home, not sell rosaries on some sidewalk :( This photo taken in 2010 of the same guy in the same exact spot in Hawler I asked if he remembered me buying rosaries from him in 2004? After a long conversation, I learned more about his personal life. I decided to buy a few more rosaries, however, he refused to accept anything in return despite his poverty!
How it is possible that atrocities such as the Holocaust, Al-Anfal, or Halabja could ever occur? How is it that innocent civilians can be brutalized by law enforcement? Mass displacements of refugees? The Yazidi genocide in Northern Iraq? The Rohingya genocide in Myanmar? Is it because some human beings are intrinsically evil? Many would argue that refugees are nature’s making, no different than natural disasters and not of a man-made catastrophe, such as war. However, throughout history, the majority of atrocities and suffering brought upon humans is at the hands of other humans. So perhaps the opposite of good is not necessarily evil. The opposite of good is our numbness to the pain and suffering we collectively bring upon one another. Numbness is a term described as “dissociation” by the mental health community. Trauma has the power to undermine our sense of connection to our identity, body, humanity, and life as a whole. At its core, trauma is about losing the deep human-to-human a...
This time I'm reading it at 4:30 pm - but that's me in the photo as I usually look when reading your posts! lol!!
ReplyDeleteI <3 you Andi!
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