CPTnet
26 October, 2005

IRAQ REFLECTION: The Kids Always Know

By Maxine Nash

Part of being in Iraq these days for me includes trying to figure out
a way not to be here; in other words, trying to disguise my identity
so I won't be targeted for kidnapping -- or worse -- as a foreigner.
The funny thing about this is that as I walk down the street in my
hijab and my Iraqi-looking clothes, the kids always immediately
recognize that I'm not a local. They stare at me and say "Hello,
hello" and "What's your name?" using the little English they know.

The adults, on the other hand, rarely seem to notice that I'm from
abroad. In fact, often they speak to me in Arabic assuming that I
know the language.

How do the kids know? What gives them the insight that the adults lack?

Kids take things at face value. They haven't yet developed
preconceived notions about things; they don't have expectations, and
so their eyes are wide open to see things as they really are. We
adults often lose that clarity by making assumptions based on our
experiences and our knowledge. We don't usually recognize that we
are making assumptions because it seems so apparent to us that what
we think we see must be the truth.

The other more perilous problem for adults is that we tend to see
what we want to see, often to our own detriment.

The constitutional referendum was held here in Iraq recently.
President Bush and others declared it a success because there was
little violence on that day, and apparently a good voter turn-out.
Living here, I see it differently. I'm not sure success is based on
whether or not there were violent attacks. Does that alone make it a
success? To me, it feels like the quiet before the storm. Was voter
turn out good? Even if it was, does that indicate that the general
public understood what they were voting on, given the fact that
changes were being made to the constitution as late as three days
before the referendum?

Just because we want to see progress in forming a democratic Iraqi
government, doesn't make it so. We desperately want to see that
progress, to find an end to the untenable situation we Americans find
ourselves in within Iraq.

Perhaps the best way around this would have been to be "childlike"
when the messages were being delivered to us that Iraq was a threat,
and war was the only way to deal with the problem.

Are we brave enough to have our eyes wide open when the drums of war
start beating again?

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