if my sister was reporting from Iraq...

...we would win the war on terror.

Here's an opinion post. I connected a few dots, and came to the conclusion that--were my sister a reporter in Iraq, we would be winning the war on terror. Or at least the morale of the US citizens back home would be greatly increased.

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to go to Iraq and help out with the reconstruction going on over there. I had many Iraqi co-workers and came in contact with other Iraqi locals. Every single local person I met was glad that the Americans (and British et. al.) were there doing what they are doing. I worked for a company called GRC and one of our employees, whenever Saddam's name was mentioned, would get so mad at him and would tell horrible stories of when Saddam was in power and he would be so glad that we took Saddam and his regime out. One time I was working on an install (GRC installed VSAT [satellite] dishes for NGOs etc) for a company called DAI. They had a guard for their compound. He was sitting in a place that I passed many times as I went back and forth carrying equipment from our van to the roof. He was an Iraqi and couldn't speak much english at all. But when I first met him he shook my hand very affectionately and said the only english words he knew "Hello, hello meester, hello." And each time I walked by him he stood up and bowed to me, smiled and said, "Hello, hello meester, hello." I could tell he was very glad we (the Americans) were there.

A big problem, in my opinion, with the war on terror and the issues going on in Iraq is the focus of the media, the focus of the reporters. They focus on the negative things going on, they focus on the amount of citizens killed, soldiers wounded or dead, the plans that aren't working. And because of this, the morale of the American people declines and they want to pull out of Iraq. And they express such sentiments to the President and congressmen etc. The focus is not on the people of Iraq who are glad that we are there--and there are many Iraqis who are thankful for what we have done (at least there were back in 2004 when I was there). The focus is not on the improved development and improved economy where it should be.

Well...that was one thought I had. That thought really materialized in my mind because I recently visited my sister in Haiti and the orphanage she manages. I got there and saw all the cute, playful kids about whom my sister had told me. I also saw them pout and cry. My sister had told me about that before...like all kids, they cry and get in fights etc., but she had only told me once. The rest of the time she focuses on all the cute things and fun things they do. And that's the important stuff, the positive stuff. Why would you want to focus on the bad stuff? Of course you acknowledge and understand that it happens, to not do so would be ignorant. But to focus on it and complain about it would be negative and pessimistic. That's how the reporters in Iraq are: pessimistic. But my sister is altogether better and amazing. She's not ignorant and she doesn't paint a bleak one-sided picture of what's going on over there. Of course she realizes the kids pout and cry, but that's not what she's interested in, that's not what she focuses on or wants to magnify.

My sister disciplines those kids and doesn't ignore or let them get away with the bad things they do. She doesn't spoil them and give them anything they cry for. She deals with what needs to be dealt with. But she focuses on the good and promotes that.

Let's focus on what is good and amplify it. But at the same time not ignore the bad things that are going on. They need to be dealt with.

Life is a balancing act.