Last day of late registration. An over abundance of procrastinators. Too many classes full. A computer system that sucks big, fat donkey dicks. Meetings called during advising hours, pulling advisors out of the office. Did I mention last day of late registration? Yeah. And then...
Three people come in the office. One older man, a younger man and a young woman. They ask about our masters program. As I explain the three options we have for a degree, the older man mentions they are from Iraq and they are interested in going to school here--is there any help? I had to say that I don't know about what might be available at the university level but at the department level, there's nothing. He explained that they had to flee from Iraq and so have next to nothing.
I have an applicant right now attempting to get admission but he went to university in Baghdad. All of his professors are in Jordan now. Further, he can't get transcripts except by going there in person and he doesn't want to go there. I said, "No! Don't go. Send us the ones you have with a letter asking for them back." I certainly didn't want to find out that I had sent someone into Baghdad only to be killed trying to get some stupid piece of paper.
I told these folks about that and the older man, the uncle, looked me dead in the eye and said, "Good. Baghdad is no place to be. My nephew and his friend were walking down the street and were blown up. Just walking down the street." And he laughed. It was the most horrible, empty laugh I have ever heard. It was a laugh that said, "Death! You stupid bint!" It was a laugh at the utter senselessness and waste of such a death. It was an awful laugh.
What could I say? I said, "I'm so sorry for your loss." I said it again, "I am so, so sorry." The second time, I meant I'm so sorry for your nephew. I'm so sorry that my country did this to you. Not just to your country, but to you. And I started to tear up a bit. I never thought I'd ever in a million years have to apologize for my country. And to have to apologize for my country killing someone's family member, not just on a blog, not just in a general way, in a "I, as an American, am responsible for this, despite the fact that I didn't vote for this evil bastard--twice, despite the fact that I've never been in support of this war. It is being done in my name, and so I am responsible for what happened to your nephew.", eye-to-eye was wrenching and awful.
But, what could I say? Nothing I said would ever take away the pain of losing family to stupidity for him and his niece and nephew, and nothing I said could ever take away the memory of that laugh for me.
Three people come in the office. One older man, a younger man and a young woman. They ask about our masters program. As I explain the three options we have for a degree, the older man mentions they are from Iraq and they are interested in going to school here--is there any help? I had to say that I don't know about what might be available at the university level but at the department level, there's nothing. He explained that they had to flee from Iraq and so have next to nothing.
I have an applicant right now attempting to get admission but he went to university in Baghdad. All of his professors are in Jordan now. Further, he can't get transcripts except by going there in person and he doesn't want to go there. I said, "No! Don't go. Send us the ones you have with a letter asking for them back." I certainly didn't want to find out that I had sent someone into Baghdad only to be killed trying to get some stupid piece of paper.
I told these folks about that and the older man, the uncle, looked me dead in the eye and said, "Good. Baghdad is no place to be. My nephew and his friend were walking down the street and were blown up. Just walking down the street." And he laughed. It was the most horrible, empty laugh I have ever heard. It was a laugh that said, "Death! You stupid bint!" It was a laugh at the utter senselessness and waste of such a death. It was an awful laugh.
What could I say? I said, "I'm so sorry for your loss." I said it again, "I am so, so sorry." The second time, I meant I'm so sorry for your nephew. I'm so sorry that my country did this to you. Not just to your country, but to you. And I started to tear up a bit. I never thought I'd ever in a million years have to apologize for my country. And to have to apologize for my country killing someone's family member, not just on a blog, not just in a general way, in a "I, as an American, am responsible for this, despite the fact that I didn't vote for this evil bastard--twice, despite the fact that I've never been in support of this war. It is being done in my name, and so I am responsible for what happened to your nephew.", eye-to-eye was wrenching and awful.
But, what could I say? Nothing I said would ever take away the pain of losing family to stupidity for him and his niece and nephew, and nothing I said could ever take away the memory of that laugh for me.
1 comments:
Dear God woman, you're making me cry just thinking about how that must have felt for you, and for those people and the millions like them who have lost family members (approaching 700,000 dead at my last inquiry) because of the hegemaniacal greed of our Corporate Masters.
I hope you won't mind if I link back to this post. What you've said here should be read and understood by every last living American.
I hope your ability to share this experience brings you the peace of knowing that you're trying to make a difference.
Post a Comment