Best of the Week: Afghanistan

Our class discussion on Friday with both Mr. Williams and Mr. Allen really forced me into pondering territory and war. How does it affect people? Since I've never lived in a war zone myself, it's a foreign, yet intriguing concept.

I believe that it was Jordyn who started the discussion on how Amir's two only vivid images of Afghanistan are of the Soviet occupied chaos of the late 70s and 80s and the Taliban ridden streets of his homeland twenty years later. The one question that kept popping into my mind was, what can Amir possibly view home as? Is it a safe place? Because personally for me, it's a haven. Because, for Amir, there must be constant images of men with guns and people lying in the streets for him to remember. Call me crazy but that's definitely not an "Eden-esque" picture of home. So, if Amir's view of home really is twisted, how is it affecting his adult-self? Does he feel at peace with his wife? Is he ever relaxed?

Furthermore, I must say that I am totally and utterly empathetic towards the Afghan people. How dare these outsiders, these British, these Russians, these Pakistanis and Saudis, come into their cities, their country, their homeland, the land of their fathers (and mothers :) ) and stake claim, pretending like it's not Afghan property. How dare they insult the Afghans by insinuating that they don't know how to govern and use it? I've never lived through a war and the last time that America was invaded was something like the War of 1812, but I can feel the blood pulsing through my veins and the outrage writhing about inside when I read, or even think of, the Red Army marching through the streets of Kabul with their sky-high tanks just because they can, pretending as if it is rightfully theirs. It's called Afghanistan for a reason, it's the land of Afghans.

As for me, in my life, I'm the kind of person that acts and thinks about it later. But next time I think of taking something that is someone else's in any way, shape or form, I'll bet you that I will think twice. Because, you know what? If I do take claim of their property, however little it might be, they have the all the right in the world to fight me without thinking twice, or even once.