Feeling safe at home?

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Other than my occasional irrational reactions to odd noises that go “bump” in the night, I pretty much feel safe in my home. As a matter of fact, it is a sanctuary for me where I can relax, be myself and get away from the everyday pressures of finding a way to make it in this world. There is a reason why, when we have company, the most welcoming thing we can say is “Relax and make yourself at home.”

Because I treasure the sanctuary that “home” is for me, there are two stories that I have come across in the last few days that have haunted me a bit. They have no real relationship to each other besides the fact that they involve a violation of the sanctity of “home.”

The first is a story from Sadr City, Iraq.

Iraqi security forces, after more than of 40 days of intense fighting, on Thursday told residents to evacuate their homes in the northeast Shiite slum of Sadr City and to move to temporary shelters on two soccer fields.

Sadr City has been a battleground since late March, enduring U.S. airstrikes, militia snipers and gunbattles between U.S. and Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Sadr.

Already some 8,500 people have been displaced from the sprawling slum of some 2.5 million people, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent. For weeks, food, water and medical shortages have affected about 150,000 people, aid agencies said.

Two soccer fields in east and northeast Baghdad are expected to receive some 16,000 evacuees from the southeast portion of the city where the fighting has been most intense.

Right now the fields are empty, and families have not come.

Um Mohammed, 48, ignored the Iraqi soldiers calling over loudspeakers for residents to leave their homes on Thursday. Earlier this week the Iraqi army dropped fliers around her home that asked residents to turn over Mahdi Army militiamen and cooperate with the government.

“The residents here are laughing at the government,” she said. “Their demands are very strange. Either hand over our sons or leave our houses to live in small tents.”

Um Mohammed will stay in her home, she said, even though her neighborhood is beset by gunbattles and sporadic airstrikes.

“We refuse to leave,” she said. “Our death will be inside our homes.”

Iraqi military orders Sadr City residents to evacuate

The other story is one of undocumented immigrants and the special fear that haunts their lives, even in what should be the sanctuary of their homes.

So tonight, when I lay my head on my pillow to relax and get a good night’s sleep, I will remember the words of my dear but long departed Aunt Ruth. At these moments, she would always remind me to be grateful for a warm safe bed to sleep in. And I’ll count my blessings and pray for those who are not so fortunate.

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  1. I can think of to do with these stories that haunt is to bear witness and acknowledge my blessings.  

  2. while we’re offering tents on a soccer field to the families of Sadr City, we’re busy planning resorts in the green zone. Effective winning of hearts and minds, wouldn’t you say?

  3. The biggest issue we face is — it’s bigger than Iraq — it’s this ideological struggle against cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives.

    that’s a quote from george w. bush.  i wonder if he knows he’s talking about himself…

    i dont necessarily recommend reading the entire interview…it’s rather fluffy, and idiotic statements are left unchallenged….

    • Edger on May 15, 2008 at 03:32

    “We refuse to leave,” she said. “Our death will be inside our homes.”

    This, from one of Bush’s cheering, happy, liberated Iraqis?

    • kj on May 15, 2008 at 04:17

    nester. space and light and placement and color and treasured bits of memory all around. extremely visually orientated and what is around me profoundly affects my internal senses. i’ve made dozens of homes over the years of all shapes and sizes, always enjoy putting ‘things’ together in a new way.

    i keep obsessing on the people in Burma.  what their visuals are. the horror they’re seeing every single day because there is no way or no one to clean it up. so they see this misery until they too die.  and except for donating to the monks or MFS or one of the NGO’s stormchaser suggests, there is nothing i can do for these people but pray.

    thanks, NL.  very timely and on-point essay, as always.

  4. …How can we do such things to each other?

    Thank you NL.  It is a blessing to experience your insight and few words exactly to the point.

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