Today’s prompt for the blog was something I fear most. I
thought about all the things I fear, and I kept going back to a novel I just
finished this summer. I recently read The
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It depicts Kabul, Afghanistan culture
before and after the Taliban have taken over the government. Without giving too
much of the plot away, in case this is a book you will read someday, the
Taliban has taken over Kabul. Upon taking control, they want to “clean” up the
city by killing the lower class citizens. The Hazaras. They murder them for no
reason. Take them out of their houses and shoot them in the head. A genocide of
sorts. After they murder these families, children are left orphaned, if they
are left alive. These orphans are left to live on the streets or in rat-infested
orphanages where some are sold as sex slaves to the Taliban men. The widows are
not allowed to work under Sharia law, so they are left to beg to feed their
children. People are stoned to death at sporting events as a pregame show.
Houses are taken from people, women are whipped in public for speaking too
loudly, men are flogged for cheering at a soccer game, soccer players are told
they can’t wear shorts because it is not proper so they must wear pants. The
people are not allowed to eat meat. Only the Taliban can have meat. People don’t
even flinch at seeing a dead person hanging from a beam in the public square.
Having to live in a nation that no longer recognizes the individual
and controls every aspect of my life. This is my worst fear.
This novel haunts me. I cannot believe there is this kind of
evil in our world, but I know it exists. I am humbled after reading this novel.
Whatever hardships I have suffered up until now are nothing compared to the
hell these people and kids go through everyday. I didn’t grow up in an
orphanage without my family;I was educated, and I had freedom to have a career
a family, a home. These are things that are unheard of to the refugees in Afghanistan.
The book says, “Perspective [is] a luxury when your head [is] constantly
buzzing with a swarm of demons.” These orphaned kids no longer have a
childhood. They are raped and beaten and starved. I thank God I was born in
America. My heart breaks for these people.
More about the author or novel click link below:
Click Here
 |
| www.marshall.edu |
I haven't read this, but I recently read a novel about a 10 year old girl in the middle East whose father sold her "in marriage" to this horrible man. She had no say. It was so sad and eye-opening that things like this exist in the same world in which my children are growing.
ReplyDeleteWhat is that novel? Sounds interesting!
ReplyDelete