Iraqi Murder-ball League: Today's Scores

I generally do not read or comment on news from Iraq. I have ignored it because, frankly, deaths in Iraq are no longer news. It is the status quo. Three years ago, a friend of mine said that news of deaths in Israel and Palestine was like the day’s sports scores…10 points for Israel, 12 for Palestine, tune in tomorrow for results of the rematch. Repetition trivializes news, even news of people dying. I find that to be the case now. We have developed a tolerance for dead Iraqis, just like we develop a tolerance to a bad smell in our home or a red wine stain on the carpet. Eventually, our eyes do not see the stain and our noses do not smell the stink.

And our minds no longer object to the deaths of innocent people.

60 Iraqis were killed and 150 wounded in one incident in Irbil. Today I am choosing to react. I am tired of glancing over death counts as though they were NBA scores. Therefore, I wish my greatest condolences to the families of those who were killed by the senseless act. And I offer this to the families affected by previous incidents: I am sorry that I overlooked and trivialized your loss. The human heart cannot survive if it chooses to feel sadness every day.