Yesterday, the Chronicle sent two reporters to cover Houston’s Iraq war protest, which drew, we are told, 200 protesters. This is my favorite part:
The Houston Area Department of Peace held the “walking meditation” on the grounds of the Rothko Chapel, said organizer Kathy Kidd.
“Our walk was a way to honor all the victims of all wars,” Kidd said.
“During a walking meditation, your feet barely touch the ground, in a slow walk that is a time to reflect on peace: peace in your own life and in the world,” Kidd said.
There is a nationwide movement to create a federal Department of Peace, which would focus on world disarmament and domestic issues in the United States, Kidd said. The Houston group will participate in a nationwide campaign in May, in which members will bake apple pies for members of Congress in support of the new federal agency.
“Our slogan is, ‘We want a piece of the pie,’ ” Kidd explained.
Okay.
For an alternate point of view, here’s an Iraqi blogger who explains how he feels two years after the Iraq war began:
So you ask me, Husayn, was it worth it. What have you gotten? What has Iraq acheived? These are questions I get a lot.
[snip]
Now I answer you, I answer you on behalf of myself, and my countrymen. I dont care what your news tells you, what your television and newspapers say, this is how we feel. Despite all that has happened. Despite all the hurt, the pain, blood, sweat and tears. These two years have given us hope we never had.
Before March 20, 2003, we were in a dungeon. We did not see the light. Saddam Hussain was crushing Iraq’s spirit slowly, we longed for his end, but knew we could not challenge him, or his diabolical seed who would no doubt follow him and continue his generation of hell on Earth.
Since then, we now have hope. Hope is not a tangible thing, but it is something, it is more than being blinded by darkness, by being stuck in a mental pit without any future.
Hope has been the greatest product of the last two years. No doubt, many have died, many have died by accident or due to crimes. But their sacrifices are not, and will not be for nothing. I refuse to let it be, and my countrymen stand with me.
