portraits/calgary saudi festival

•  

For most of the past week I've been trying to think of what to post on September 11th.That day is the day the world changed forever,but does anyone really know what happened.Sometimes it seems as most everything about that day has been said to the point of cliche.We've all seen the planes flying into the towers so many times we can picture it in our minds without the aid of a television.And many things,we are told flow from that date and it's events.

So many times I've heard in the last few weeks that if people really saw what war was all about they would not support it.I suspect there is a degree of truth in all of that.CNN and others give us a sanitized version,no doubt.But,are any but the stupidest of us really prepared to believe that it doesn't involve children with their limbs blown off and innocent families made homeless?No matter what the virtue of a war on terror,people suffer,and popular media still play their games.If we could see the real pictures,we would most likely grieve
  the way I believe god grieves at the sight of war.

So I thought I would try to bring you something this September 11th that's a bit different than the usual,well worn rhetoric of the day.I don't know about you,but I don't really need to see more reruns of that day's events.To misquote a well known metaphor,the cell phone camera is mightier than the sword.I find it hard not to believe there hope in the world when I see a child playing ball or reaching for an ice cream cone.Yet how often,in this country do we see Arab children portrayed in that light.How often does popular media show us how Arab women can be attractive in the modesty of their attire?No,scary gets a lot more air play.CNN would have had a field day frightening people with the Catholic nuns of the early 1960's,but I digress.How often does agenda driven media show us scenes of family harmony and the absence of misogyny,like I could see at the recent Calgary Saudi Festival.It'sTime to turn off the television set and start seeing with our eyes.Because I think if we all did that,we really would support peace.