On Dignity...
Are you aware that not many people use the above word these days ?
Dignity.
How many people do you come across that would mention "dignity" in your face ?
My bet is not too many.
Most people I come across use the following words too frequently -- Fun, pleasure, sex, money, self, (as in myself, me and I- the boring ego), and they may go even further and use the words - justice, equality, love, peace...
But how many did you come across in the last years, months, weeks and days that have used the word "dignity "?
My bet is that the last time you heard the word was probably eons ago.
I want to bring back dignity into fashion.
I realize that the word is not so cool and fashionable these days. But I insist on bringing it back to the forefront and make it an explicit, imperative, crucial word in your day to day vocabulary.
Dignity is not to be confused with self importance, nor with ego. Dignity is above these two. If you search and look for your own dignity as a human being, you will find fairness, justice and love. They go together. You need to ponder on that one deeply...
Dignity is in my opinion a form of Nobility. Nobility not in a class sense, but in a being sense...
Iraqis have many faults and many shortcomings, but one thing you will find in any "average" Iraqi is dignity. Of course there are exceptions, like in any society. But overall that dignified trait you will find it, even though it may be covered with grief, want, lack, circumstances and the like...
Dignity is one of our strong points. Forget about the riff raff you read on blogs and elsewhere. Forget about the ignorant idiots who think themselves smart because they can articulate a word or two...These don't represent us. They only represent themselves and the Occupier and the filthy taqiya Iran. They don't represent true Iraqis, at least not the Iraqis I know and grew up with...
We have been brought up to stand upright. To stand for truth and principles even though that bothered us on a personal level. Because that meant that we had to sacrifice self, always, for the greater good. We have become a rare breed, almost extinct...Hence my constant disappointment and anger with today's Iraqis. They are no longer of us.
I say "us" with a whole lot of assurance, because I know it to be so...I have experienced, lived it, and even rebelled against it.
Trust me when I say I know.
The epitome of Dignity for me is Saddam Hussein. The day he stood at the gallows bare faced, composed, full of assurance, full of life... I will never ever forget that day for as long as I live. Simply because that day for me, on a personal and am sure on a collective level, will remain as a mark, a stamp, a seal of the ultimate.
Very difficult to put in words...
For me Saddam Hussein's death is the epitome of everything I really need to learn in this life time. Something so crystal clear, so pure yet so vulnerable...Something that defies human understanding, human psychology and human fears...
There was/is something so dignified about this man. Something that beats all human understanding...A certain form of manhood that is so rare, ever so rare.. A form of love that is so difficult to ever experience. A dignity so impossible to find...and so impossible to measure up to.
Dignity.
How many people do you come across that would mention "dignity" in your face ?
My bet is not too many.
Most people I come across use the following words too frequently -- Fun, pleasure, sex, money, self, (as in myself, me and I- the boring ego), and they may go even further and use the words - justice, equality, love, peace...
But how many did you come across in the last years, months, weeks and days that have used the word "dignity "?
My bet is that the last time you heard the word was probably eons ago.
I want to bring back dignity into fashion.
I realize that the word is not so cool and fashionable these days. But I insist on bringing it back to the forefront and make it an explicit, imperative, crucial word in your day to day vocabulary.
Dignity is not to be confused with self importance, nor with ego. Dignity is above these two. If you search and look for your own dignity as a human being, you will find fairness, justice and love. They go together. You need to ponder on that one deeply...
Dignity is in my opinion a form of Nobility. Nobility not in a class sense, but in a being sense...
Iraqis have many faults and many shortcomings, but one thing you will find in any "average" Iraqi is dignity. Of course there are exceptions, like in any society. But overall that dignified trait you will find it, even though it may be covered with grief, want, lack, circumstances and the like...
Dignity is one of our strong points. Forget about the riff raff you read on blogs and elsewhere. Forget about the ignorant idiots who think themselves smart because they can articulate a word or two...These don't represent us. They only represent themselves and the Occupier and the filthy taqiya Iran. They don't represent true Iraqis, at least not the Iraqis I know and grew up with...
We have been brought up to stand upright. To stand for truth and principles even though that bothered us on a personal level. Because that meant that we had to sacrifice self, always, for the greater good. We have become a rare breed, almost extinct...Hence my constant disappointment and anger with today's Iraqis. They are no longer of us.
I say "us" with a whole lot of assurance, because I know it to be so...I have experienced, lived it, and even rebelled against it.
Trust me when I say I know.
The epitome of Dignity for me is Saddam Hussein. The day he stood at the gallows bare faced, composed, full of assurance, full of life... I will never ever forget that day for as long as I live. Simply because that day for me, on a personal and am sure on a collective level, will remain as a mark, a stamp, a seal of the ultimate.
Very difficult to put in words...
For me Saddam Hussein's death is the epitome of everything I really need to learn in this life time. Something so crystal clear, so pure yet so vulnerable...Something that defies human understanding, human psychology and human fears...
There was/is something so dignified about this man. Something that beats all human understanding...A certain form of manhood that is so rare, ever so rare.. A form of love that is so difficult to ever experience. A dignity so impossible to find...and so impossible to measure up to.
Comments
Thank you for this truly beautiful post. I won't say much because, I believe, you know my thoughts.
Dignity ... the one virtue no occupation can take, not from Iraqis or from any honourable person on this planet.
May President Saddam Hussein rest in peace - yes, his final hour was a lesson in DIGNITY to us all.
In solidarity.
Dignity, let me take that English word and put it in Arabic to show how Not to go to hell, the worst kind of pride is "Kibr" - this is the kind of pride Iran's mullahs and Israelis Rabbis and Americas White priests teach - Muslims must avoide Kibr becuase one tiny drop on Kibr means going to hell.
Kibr makes one think they are More equal than others, that the lives of others are less valuable than theirs - Pride, so Iranians and Americans can kill millions of humans and think it is OK, just like people who do not worship any god at all - Thou Shall Not Kill, becomes thou shall kill for your god Khomayne, or the Pope or Pat Robertson or for Iran or America - meaing they worship something other than God - that is Kibr, one drop of it and one goes to hell, even a Muslim.
Saddam was a harsh man, but know I see he was kind, what he did was necissery to keep his nation and his people safe from the zionists tools America and Iran - they had to get rid of Saddam to murder millions of Iraqis - Saddam had Pride but they had Kibr, but they have a long time to feel sorry for what they did to Saddam and Iraq while they burn in hell.
Saddam had dignity, Khomayne had Kibr and Khomayne taught that Kibr to his worshipers and death squads, now the Iranians have almost as much Kibr as the Israelis and Americans have - it is what Islam came to cure and it will be easier to defeat all of them this time than it was 14 centuries ago inshaAllah.
No need to worry about Saddam, he was murdered and all his sins will be on those who murdered him - just pray for him and trust in God to take care of ALL his murderers, the people who should worry can do that when they spend eternity in the hell they do not fear (Kibr does that).
I look at Israel, Iran and America with love and pity, they have no excuses and they all pretend to know that murder is wrong, even after murdering six million Afghanis they cry becuase Taliban killed 500 of their baby killing soldiers - and they think that murdering another million Afghanis will help then gain a victory, poor jerks do not know how deep they are digging their places in hell - Kibr.
I like Dignity, it is the proper kind of human pride, maybe one day Iran will have some dignity and become a Muslim nation again inshaAllah, till then Iran helps Israel and the White man murder one million Muslims per year, even in the time of the crusaders Muslims had to get rid of them before getting rid of the crusaders - probably why Bush loves them so much, Bush put Khomayne worshipers in Afghanistan and then Iraq - Islam helps get rid of them, with Dignity :)
Do not worry too much about Saddam's memory, the zionists will have ALL Iraqis (Shia and Kurds included) praying for his soul soon. Just leave the hate, when people hate they gain the same Kibr that rules Iran, Israel and America - pity them but do not hate them, they will pay the price of their crimes in hell - nothing you can say or do will hurt that much - when you hate you become like them, not our way.
Thanks Layla - I didn't realize how much I missed Saddam, Allah Yarhamoh, and may God take his revenge in this life and the next for all Iraqis.
Peace
Saddam Hussein is not great because he was murdered, Mussolini, Ceausescu etc. too were murdered and yet I don't call them great.
He is great because he led a good life, a useful life, a life of devotion, love, struggle, challenges and monumental achievements, a life at the service of the Iraqi and Arab dignity, liberty and progress.
Even if he was still alive or had died a natural death, he would still deserve to be honoured and cherished as the ingenious statesman who took a backward, illiterate, helpless former colony and made it a first class advanced and prosperous nation, as the revolutionary thinker who taught the Arabs to have pride in their identity, and as the valiant fighter who defended his land and people against the barbarian hordes from both West and East.
The St. Thomases of my butt, both Westerners and Arabs, who needed the extreme proof of his human and political worth to change their hate or indifference into admiration are either myopic like bats or hypocrites in bad faith - and if you ask me, I personally consider them as much responsible for what they allowed to happen as the executioners themselves.
Be eternally blissful in the glory of Heaven where you belong, beloved President; this stupid world did not deserve you.
You sound like that raving case called Alison,
I bet you anything you're a western piece of shit yourself, most likely english. Because only the filth from England would come up with the sentence " a backward illiterate nation".
You are the backward one and the illiterate ignorant one, because had you not been you would have known that Iraq had a history of learning throughout centuries,you stupid thing.
And you also obviously know nothing of the concept of dignity in the Arab sense.
Get lost and go to hell. I don't need some piece of dung like you tell us and me who is loyal and who is not.
I agree to a certain extent with "loyal" re the crocodile tears but at the same time, it's better late than never.
Layla, prior to Saddam Hussein (RIP) coming to power the literacy rates were not as great as after Saddam's ascension to power. I think that was the point "loyal" was trying to make.
Only an imbecile does not know how ancient and rich the Mesopotamian/Iraqi civilization is (and I am not one despite what Layla may have wished or needed to write) but it is a FACT that when Saddam was still a young freedom fighter and his Baath still an underground party the country was going through a rather squalid age of post-colonial misrule, illiteracy and poverty, and he was the one who brought revolutionary economic reforms, social justice, political stability, cultural renaissance etc. etc. and restored Iraq to her rightful place on the international stage.
And, dear Layla, for fruitcake's sake...by "crocodiles" I was referring to the likes of "Snoozer" above who said he "hated" Saddam all his life and only took to love him when he was already gone (how very convenient), NOT to you who maybe did not always agree with his government's every single policy but never "hated" nor despised him !!!
By the way, "crocodiles" everywhere and in all times were/are mostly MALES. I find women to be more consistent and coherent both in loyalty and in opposition. After all, Judas was a man, the three Marys were women...
Have a good night.
P.S. I am not British.
If my criticism of some of your people hurt you in any way, please forgive me or ignore me...it's that this bitter taste of death just won't leave my mouth and heart ever since, and am so FURIOUS at everyone who let it happen...bunch of short-sighted, ungrateful, envious weathercocks.
Be safe.
For you:
http://www.equalityiniraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73:-after-4-years-of-occupation-and-oppression-our-struggles-continue&catid=35:articles&Itemid=55
Isn't it amazing that the very people who accused Saddam of mass murder and torture, are doing the same. We need to change the THINKING in the Middle East that it is somehow OK to collaborate with the Occupiers despite their past involvement with the very people who are supposed to have been the previous torturers. We need to exchange more information and talk to one another more in order to avoid the installation of evil puppits who kill in the name of one nation or another.
R.I.P. gentle-hearted warrior.
i have met many people here in Qatar that nearly worship him. and just the same way when i find someone hating him it doesnt bother me, the same way when i find someone loving him, doesnt make me happy either. and what ever they say to me i just regard as a compliment. say thank you and givem a smile.
i find it a waste of time to define Saddam Hussein to westerners and people who hate him or have a negtive image about him. because the Zionist dirty tool (the media) spent billions of dollars just to ruin the reputation of this man. and these people have poisoned minds since 1990 with lies. so i find it a waste of time to convince them. its just like cooking stone (as we say in iraqi), no matter how much you cook stone, it will stay stone. i know Saddam Hussein, knew how he lived and what is he. and its enough for me that i know, who ever doesnt want to believe; its their choice, and who want to join the club and believe; its also their choice.
Just like unrequited, patiently loving parents, great leaders in history are doomed to be fully appreciated by their spiritual children only late in life or even after death.
Forged by the fire of misfortune, he had suffered the same injustices, abuses and neglect, gone through the same pain and helplessness and fought the same struggle for survival as the Iraqi people as a whole had, and all through his rise to power and building of the modern Iraqi state he continually drew on his personal experience to understand and work on the needs, dreams, limits and potential of the common Arab citizens so in depth as no Middle-Eastern kinglet, princeling, puppet president, cloud-cuckoo-lander cleric could possibly have.
Well beyond his grossly trumpetted-of 1001 nights "sultan" image and the strict one-party political system which the adversity of fate forced him to adopt, he was and remained till the end a man of the people, Arab, too Arab, familiar, too familiar, seeming your neighbor, seeming your relative, seeming your father...seeming YOU.
Crawl back under your rock and stay there, possibly reading some history.
That's because you have no backbone. tfou!
Not true, it can turn into larva.
And who asked for your two cents worth?
Anything stemming from your father's seed SHOULD HAVE been lost!
I first learned about dignity when I had my first exposure to the black South when I was quite young. I grew up among racist whites but have been "cursed" with objectivity and the need to form my own opinion. I marveled at the dignity and calm with which these people carried themselves in the face of constant, negative scrutiny and injustice. Later in life I became acquainted with many such people and learned their life stories. To this day I am in awe of the dignity, some special place and state of mind they found deep within their cores, which exudes from these individuals. Not all, of course, but such generalities never apply anywhere and to any people.
So thank you for affirming a deeply held belief that is quite personal to me and a word I use frequently to describe a desired end in the public discourse, in international relations and in our personal concepts and behaviors.
I have a deep respect for you for this and many other reasons.
American Conscience
No Iranian has ever approved of Saddam. lol. Today we know why.
And you know, that wasn't Saddam that was hung, the teeth didn't match and he runs free in Russia. So lets give the dignity to the man who was hung in his place, and who had to play a game for however ever long that was after the "capture."
Hello and thanks for stopping by. Next time you read my blog, please don't forget to take your anti paranoia neuroleptics.
Best.
For Layla...
You are the Soul of Iraq
http://www.al-moharer.net/mohhtm/alison_gundle275.htm
The Guardian Martyr of Iraq
http://www.al-moharer.net/moh265/alison_gundle265.htm