This Is Disgusting

And its how the poor Iraqi people, the innocents, have to try to survive. Yeah, I know your commute is tough, but quit bitching.

My husband and I asked our relatives and friends not to visit because they, too, would be regarded as strangers. We kept telling ourselves that this would pass and that things would return to normal.

But things never returned to normal. It seems that nothing ever does.

When the school year ended, the neighborhood grew even more deserted. One day, a carload of gunmen drove by our home and peered into our garage. We'd already endured a wave of killings and kidnappings in the area, so we didn't want to take any chances. We packed up and moved temporarily to my in-laws' home in a safer district.

Two days later, a car bomb exploded on our street. It blew out every window in our home. A chunk of the bomber's car landed in our garage. Shrapnel and dust covered my pretty carpets. And still we returned to our home.

This time, however, we took more precautions. My husband knocked down a wall and built a passageway to my parents' house next door so we'd have an escape route in case we were attacked. We stopped shopping at the neighborhood grocer because we were afraid of drive-by shootings and bombings on the main street.

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