"I understand how he feels..."

[den]

In the pub last night we were talking about a 30 year old Afghan refugee who lives in town. He's been in Australia for 5 years, made it through the detention camp system and now works at the abattoir.

According to the paper (which is why we were discussing this bloke) he'd grown up in an area that has not known true peace for 40 years. That means he'd been born and grown up and, until he reached Australia, had lived daily with the threat that he or his family or someone he knows would die by gunfire or land mine or bomb..

One of my friends said "I know how he feels."

Bullshit! How can you? If you haven't lived it, how can you know?

I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to grow up in a world where war is the way it is. Where mum could be killed going for the groceries. Where a plane at 70,000 feet can release a bomb that will cause an awful lot of "collateral damage" in my living room while I'm watching telly.

I'm bloody lucky. All I have to worry about are bush fires and those bastards in parliament.

Comments

[lonita.livejournal.com]

We can sympathise, but we can't empathise. Who would want to kmagine it? It hurts too much to think that people must be born, live, and die, without knowing peace. I feel for him.