Najaf Battles Leave Many in Risky No-Man's-Land

[UpInArms]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5993696

excerpt:

A body lies in the street, covered in a dirty blanket, but it would be too risky to remove it and Ghalib knows it.

"A sniper killed him yesterday at two o'clock. He was crossing the street. I don't think he was a militant fighter, just an ordinary Iraqi," Ghalib, 24, an unemployed vegetable trader, told Reuters.

<snip>

"There is an American tank down that street and troops who shoot at anything that moves, like that man laying dead," said his neighbor, Hani Hassan, 40, a father of two.

<snip>

The men complained that in some ways Iraq has not changed for the Shi'ite majority since the fall of Saddam.

<snip>

After spending hours in the dark with no electricity and water, residents of the Old City have few diversions except for picking up huge pieces of deadly shrapnel.

...more...

I wonder why it is so hard for me to have sympathy for the hurricane state of Florida?

[chuck555]

1. Empathy should be universal.

Human misery is just that. Empathy should be without qualification.

It might be that you watch cable "news" channels. Do as you will,but it colors your perspective.

[UpInArms]

2. the meaning of words

sympathy

Main Entry: sym·pa·thy
Pronunciation: 'sim-p&-thE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -thies
Etymology: Latin sympathia, from Greek sympatheia, from sympathEs having common feelings, sympathetic, from syn- + pathos feelings, emotion, experience -- more at PATHOS
1 a : an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other b : mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it c : unity or harmony in action or effect
2 a : inclination to think or feel alike : emotional or intellectual accord b : feeling of loyalty : tendency to favor or support <republican sympathies>
3 a : the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another b : the feeling or mental state brought about by such sensitivity <have sympathy for the poor>
4 : the correlation existing between bodies capable of communicating their vibrational energy to one another through some medium

empathy

Main Entry: em·pa·thy
Pronunciation: 'em-p&-thE
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek empatheia, literally, passion, from empathEs emotional, from em- + pathos feelings, emotion -- more at PATHOS
1 : the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
2 : the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this

I used the word sympathy - you used the word empathy.

I am not without empathy, yet I am without sympathy.

[0007]

4. Excellent!

[Rowdyboy]

3. Its really not that hard to feel grief over the Iraqis that we have

destroyed AND feel sympathy for our fellow countrymen who are suffering too. Our governments horrible misbehavior in a foreign country does not negate the misery of our friends and cousins in a storm ravaged area closer to home.

FWIW, personally, I have no problem hoping both groups can get their lives back to normal as soon as possible. Neither asked for the tragedy that has been visited upon them, and both are suffering. Glad I live where I do.

[vetwife]

5. The Iraqi Vets won't get their lives together...already hearing from

familes and friends who had Troops who have been deplored to Najaf after being promised to come home. Got a call last night from a woman who used to be pro war pro Bush and now upset over her best friend's husband not being able to say much but terrified over there. The wife has been calling the Red cross and I was told packages of antibiotic cream is being sent to troops. Imagine that! THIS GOVERNMENT IS PAYING HALLIBURTON BUT CAN'T AFFORD CREAM FOR SUPERFICIAL WOUNDS !

This call came from a person of the church I attended but quit due to division of Bush lovers and now some are calling me, who aren't so sure about Bush anymore. I never tok political views to church but they did and that is why I quit going. I only tell them to weigh it out and to me it all weighs one way. Get Bush out of office. We have people who will never recoup and most of those are military families. Hope enough wake up before Nov. 2.

[Barrett808]

6. kick