[olivebranch] - I am posting this here, and a link to Najma's Blog , because it is one of the many views I share with Najma. This blog, and her blog, and all blogs that are loved by their authors are a cause to celebrate.

Writing a good blog feels great, the responses feel better, the emails better still...
In the long run, who knows where blogs will go.

[/olivbranch>

[Najma's Blog]

It was a year ago that I wrote this sentence.. My very first letter.

"This is my first letter in my first blog, I'm 16 years old, a student in a secondary school. And I'm from Mosul, a city in Iraq, you know it all, even if you didn't before you sure know it now."

Read more..

On the 10th of June, 2004; I wrote my first post on this blog.. I had to check it twice and made dad read it for me, and correct it. Reading it now, I feel like editing it, and writing a brand new introduction, but I won't, it's always going to be a pleasure to see how much progress I've made :)

Since then, I have written tens of posts, made tens of friends, learned tens of words and made lots of memories.. If it wasn't of those, I wouldn't have written this post.

Happy birthday dear blog, tens of years are yet to come, may you only grow stronger and better.. It doesn't feel like a day I should write in but rather to read and remember in.. But, I felt I should remind you of this great event for me.

I might be posting paragraphs of this blog later today, be prepared for updates..
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War was never a way of life, but it is turning to be, in the middle east, thanks to America.

Najma.. February, 25th, 2005.

Tell me now, a soldier, holding a gun, pointing at you, you can't see what's in his mind, what he's been through, or what he has come here for.. What you know is that he's a foreigner, holding a gun in YOUR country, and might kill you at anytime since you're always a threat to him.. Is it wrong to kill that man? Is it wrong to defend yourself? Self defense?

Najma.. May, 6th, 2005.

Can't resist pointing to this:

I asked him what vehicle he drove: a Suburban was his reply. I suggested he use a less American-looking vehicle that would not let would-be attackers know they were coming a mile away. His reply: "then the Americans soldiers might shoot at us". With the Suburban, he chose the lesser of two risks. Make your own deductions about life in Iraq for Iraqis.

Gilles, Montreal, Canada.. June, 7th, 2005

Maybe 4 years from now, I'll go vote. Let's just pray that in 4 years things will be much better that I won't have to go through all this battle again..

Najma.. January, 30, 2005.

"It's falling and not wanting to get up, it's hating the life we're living that didn't make her resist the pain. It's like when I fell off the stairs yesterday and lied there in pain not wanting to get up! Mom came and helped me and I went up to continue studying (Nothing broke thank God).. I had something to look up to, a break, a niece, a hopefully good future."

"How cruel life can be, how heartless people can be! Beheading a fellow human being, kidnapping your neighbor or killing your country for whatever!! Giving me more reasons to run away, to get the most education I can get so that I can live a better life somewhere, build a better future for my own family.."

Najma.. January, 17th, 2005.

Today, is a day that should be recorded in history. It's the first Thursday that is considered a weekend in Iraq. Nevertheless, if it wasn't a weekend, we wouldn't have gotten to school anyway, because the bridges are still closed.

Najma.. December, 23rd, 2004.

This blog is not the Qura'an, you can not take everyword as if I meant one hundred things by it!

Najma.. December, 22nd, 2004.

posted by Aunt Najma @ 11:58 PM

[/Najma's Blog]