In the past few weeks, exposure to life narratives was like being on an adventure that took me into the lives of others through the combination of visual and verbal displays. Nevertheless, I was unsure if I would be able to understand the circumstances that people lived under, especially in the cases of Salam Pax through his blog, Where is Raed? and Riverbend’s Baghdad Burning. But both bloggers had this way with words that drew me, as a “Western” reader into the events of their lives, which was during the Iraq War. Such context, I couldn’t say that I was unaware about but more or less didn’t try to acknowledge because it wasn’t part of my life; a situation that seems so far away. If there is one thing that I have learned through reading Pax and Riverbend’s blog, it is that the internet (and globalization in general) has definitely turn our world into a global community. The Iraq War that started in 2003, was triggered by the 911 terrorist attack, in which both events weren’t exactly the kind of stuff I was told about when I was at the age of 8. But know that I’m 17 and I have the opportunity to take this chance to educate myself about the conflicts that happened while I was growing up gives me the determination as a citizen of the world to want to do something and the first step is to understand the situation, from not one perspective but all perspectives. Pax and Riverbend is able to share their experience which is very courageous. Just as I am typing this blog post, I feel nervous about sharing my thoughts, and for them to have to share such personal experiences with strangers requires a strength that is admirable.

Context, is everything to understanding and that was what I felt Pax did while I read through his posts. He was the one that helped set-up the context I needed to understand the terrors of a war happening in my lifetime. This I found was crucial because in Social Studies and History we are constantly taught about World War !& II that happened in the 20th century but only occasionally discuss about current events, which supposedly lie in our own hands if we want to be “well-informed”, a characteristic of what it means to be a “Global citizen”. However, it was through Riverbend’s blog posts that I felt I could put myself in her position. The fact that she talks about her family, and a lot more personal daily situations going on in her life, helps with drawing connections. Also the most important aspect that I got out from reading her blog is that she made me feel that the gap between the East and the West isn’t as big as I imagined it to be. One aspect that I noticed from reading her posts was that I didn’t feel like I was reading about the life of a 24 year old (the age she started blogging in 2003; The Beginning…). The reason for that was primarily due to the fact that she was living through a time of war and the 24 year old woman that she is wasn’t allowed to go out without “E. [her brother] and either a father, uncle or cousin” (Post: We’ve Only Just Begun…). With the lack of freedom imposed on Iraqi women during that time, they have been forced by the situation to be treated as if they were young girls. Applying this to the Western society, I can’t imagine how that would possibly be like, especially now where my everyday life consists of transiting on my own to school and to get that taken away from me seems surreal. Thus, as different as the East and West are, there are always at least some connections that we all share with one another, and in the case of Riverbend, I have to say that it was the mentioning of her younger brother, E that automatically caught my full attention into what she had to say about her life narrative. It was this bold connection that if I had a mind map would draw a line between Riverbend and me.