I Will Never Understand

In February the burning of Korans by US military sparked nationwide rioting in Afghanistan during which over three dozen people were killed. On March 11, a US soldier walked into a sleeping Afghan village and murdered 16 people in their homes before setting fire to the bodies. Many of the victims were women and children. The US braced for more rioting, but nothing happened.

what eye thynk: The burning of the Korans was an incredibly stupid, costly and completely avoidable mistake; but, in the end, it was only paper that was burned. Outrage over our lack of respect I could understand, but not the killing of some thirty of their own over books that could be easily duplicated and replaced. We didn’t destroy God, we destroyed pressed wood pulp decorated with ink.

Yet, when sixteen lives were taken, there was no rioting, no call for reprisals. There was sadness and outrage but even that seemed muted. Abdul Rahim Shah Ghaa, a religious leader in Afghanistan, explained it this way: “But it was only sixteen people. Even if it were one thousand people, it wouldn’t compare to harming one word of the Koran”.

I will never understand a culture that values paper over human life. I find it hard to even respect it.