Sycamore's Interactive War Diary

[elSicomoro]

A collection of photos, thoughts, and other odds-and-sods that I will cull during wartime.

Today, I was listening to CBC Radio One Toronto (which is currently broadcasting nationwide war coverage), and a reporter went to a Muslim grade school in Calgary to talk to the students.

Now granted, I realize that these were just 13 and 14 year old kids, but some of what I heard coming out of their mouths worried me.

Many of course were upset about the US going to war against Iraq. They expressed their concerns about how innocent civilians would be killed, how the US is only concerned about oil, etc. But then one girl said that if we are so concerned about nuclear weapons, why don't we attack North Korea? And it was the way she said it--as if it was cool to bomb North Korea, but not Iraq.

Then, this same girl mentioned that b/c Iraqis are Muslims, the war hurts them that much more.

What concerned me so much about these statements was that these kids seemed to put too much religion into the current situation. I'm not a fan of this war, but I'm pretty certain that this war is NOT about Christianity vs. Islam. We're not attacking Iraq b/c they are a Muslim nation.

What are these kids being taught at home? Are they looking at various sources before coming to these conclusions, or is it them mirroring their parents' beliefs? (I'm leaning more on the latter. Though, they seemed like well-articulated kids. The internet and satellite television allow kids to learn more about the world now than I could at age 13 in 1988.)

This underscores one of my biggest gripes about organized religion. In some sects of each one, it seems to go "You attack one of us, you attack all of us." That's something I might expect from a country, but a religion?

Very unsettling. I hope this is the exception and not the rule.