CPTnet
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IRAQ REFLECTION: The perils of keeping your head down

by Greg Rollins

"Keep your head down." I hear that a lot whenever I am about to return to
the field or while I am in the field. Family and friends say it with a
smile, but mean it from deep inside.

 It is a simple action--keeping your head down so you are not shot. But in a
war zone or a strange place, it can be more dangerous to keep your head down
than to keep your head up. Not only is it hard to see what is going on
around you but also it is hard for people to see you.

An Iraqi friend once said to me, "To make Iraqis happy, all you have to do
is smile at them and say a kind word." This is not something true of Iraqis
only. People all around the world like to see a smile and hear a kind word.
CPTer Pierre Shantz taught me this when I first started CPT. He said
whereever I go, greet people. Greeting people is something I have taken for
granted in the past but it is something Iraq has reminded me to do. Whenever
I realize I am not greeting anyone, it is often because I am walking with my
head down.

When you are a stranger in a strange land, a smile is the best weapon you
have. To the credit of some U.S. soldiers, a few of them have come to
realize this. They now see the first step in creating relations with Iraqis
and improving the image of the U.S. is not security with a gun, but a smile
and a wave. In one interview I read, a soldier said a smile was the best
work he and his unit could do for the U.S. In their position on the streets,
he said it was the best thing they could do for Iraqi people.

It is funny how such a simple action like a smile or the word "hello" to a
stranger can give so much, but it doesn't start there. It starts with
keeping your head up.* If you keep your head up, you can see what is going
on around you. If you keep your head up you can smile at the people you see.
If you smile at people you see, you make more friends. If you make more
friends, you have less reason to keep you head down.

*Of course, there are times in places of conflict when it is best to keep
your head down because a smile and kind word are not going to stop a bullet
from blowing your head off. However, in times like these, the instincts of
survival tend to override the need to smile.