Hat tip: Murdoc Online. Edited for brevity.
...a local Iraqi woman approached from the nearest farmhouse with an armful of material. The perimeter security waved her through and she approached the vehicle with her carefully husbanded cargo. When she made it to the M113 she carefully placed neat palm mats in front of the vehicles treads. By now she had everyone's attention, and all eyes followed this woman as she returned to her modest home and removed more palm mats from her roof to help the American vehicles get out of the mud. The mats provided enough grip for the vehicles to make it out of their sticky trap and the mudcaked vehicles continued to lurch onward.
In every conceivable material dimension our soldiers were better off then this Iraqi woman. And yet she didn't hesitate to help - even though it meant she would have to sacrifice a part of her very home. This woman was poor and uneducated, and the deep lines in her hands were testament to years of back breaking labor. But despite all this (or maybe because of it) she shared what she did have to help some American soldiers stuck on a muddy road. I know we have come to Iraq to build a better way of life, but sometimes we are the ones learning the lessons. |