Who Is My Neighbor?

I have a theory, perhaps naive, that a lot of the difficulties in the world can be traced back to a failure to regard people different from us as our neighbor, as a fellow human being worthy of the same love and respect that we are. Whether it's someone of a different race, a different socioeconomic class, a different sexual orientation, or whatever, until we can make a personal connection with someone, it's all too easy to cast them as "the other", "not like us." Add a little fear to the mix, and it's too often a short step towards making "the other" become "the villian."

I think it's true on a larger scale, too. I think there's been a tendency in the foreign policies of the Western powers, going back to colonialism, to treat the peoples of the Middle East not as our neighbors, but as the other, and often, the villian. I'm not saying this as justification for the attacks of 9/11. But I don't think it should come as a total shock that people who feel like they haven't been listened to, have not been treated as equals, eventually react with violence.

I can't change the foreign policy of the US. But I can personally act on my theory. Blogs are everywhere now, so I went searching for a blog written by an Iraqi. There are quite a few out there, and I found one that I enjoyed reading. I don't know anything about the woman who writes it other than what appears in her blog, but from her writing, she seems like a person I would like and enjoy talking to. Seems like a pretty good place to start finding my neighbor. May I recommend Baghdad Burning?