Winks Blog

Time To Feel

Good morning,

Injuries that are suffered by people are often diluted by reporting that comes out of Iraq. A death count leaves nothing to the imagination. A person is killed, and although we do not know nor do we rarely see the graphic details of the death, we do understand the extreme serious nature of the event. Afterall, a person has died.

Exact Iraqi citizen injury figures are not known, but a safe estimate would be 3 to 1 on the death count, which would make the Iraqi injury count about 90,000 people (Which would be a very conservative estimate). Innocent people have been hurt, disfigured, dismembered, scared, incapacitated, etc... but we rarely give the injured much thought. People in the US, don't really seem to care about the Iraqi civilian's that have been killed, why would people here really give much thought about those injured?

Today, a much beloved ABC news anchor, Bob Woodruff,and his camera man Doug Vogt, were seriously injured by schrapnel while they were embedded on a mission with Iraqi and American Troops. Their goal was to show, from an Iraqi perspective the dangerous conditions in which they perform their daily duties. What better way to get their message across to the American public than to themselves been seriously injured. While their story might have educated many here as to the dangers that Iraqi troops are faced with, the true danger is somehow brought much closer to home and into the hearts of the American people because Mr. Woodruff himself was injured. His injury, in particular, since most people have gotten to know him via television, has elicited reaction and caused people here to **feel**.

I wish both these men a speedy recovery. To the extent that they made the decision to put themselves in harms way to report this extremely important situation, but they themselves ended up being the story, I give them my gratitude. I am not grateful that they were hurt, do not get me wrong, I am grateful that because of them, American public's emotions were stirred. It is time to get stirred. It is time to get stirred for all those 90,000 people who live suffering with their injuries. It is time to get stirred for each and every citizen in Iraq who have not yet been physically injured, but have been emotionally terrified and left under a shroud of fear every day.

Have a nice day.

posted by Wink @ 10:12 AM