Unintentional Perspective From an Iraqi American Friend

I recently received this email from a good friend of mine who grew up under the wonderful rule of Sean (I went over there and there's nothing bad about that guy) Penn's one time aquaintance, Saddam Hussein.

My friend grew up in Iraq back in the day's when Saddam's crew took over his family's apple orchard and tore it down so there would be ample visual clearing for one of Saddam's new mansions and he grew up back in the day when my friend was sitting in a restaurant and Uday (or however you spell Saddam's son's name) shot a young female hostess point blank dead in the head for bad service and had his crew come back in a few minutes later and drag her body away. Just a few of his stories.

Since the war with Iraq, my friend has lost several family members both here and in Iraq for reasons related to their upbringing in Iraq. Most notably was his nephew who died in Iraq, as an American soldier, shot while pursuing Saddam's sons. When Saddam was captured, my friend, and hundreds of his family and Iraqi friends met in Northern California and celebrated for the entire weekend. When the Iraqi elections came, that same group of people proudly and anxiously drove to El Toro Marine base and voted for the candidate of there choice. I had the pleasure of meeting him in a restaurant for lunch a couple of days later and immediately went for his thumb.

"Manny, show me your damn thumb!. I want to see some ink dude."

He held it up high for everyone to see, with a huge smile on his face. That was one of the biggest rushes of my entire life to see first hand, right here on American soil, the fruits of justice, bravery, sacrifice, and truth exercised by those around the world who can understand the concepts and act on them.

He does not know I am forwarding this, and the point of this email is not to just celebrate his life, or experiences, or the impact on my life - as there are thousands of other Iraqi's who have similar and far worse experiences- but to show a snapshot into the soul and perspective of someone who truly appreciates freedom.

Here it is. A cute little ecard passed on to his friends, without much thought, but says so much about the point of view that very few of us, if any, could ever maintain. (The animation portion could not be pasted.)

Please read with that in mind.
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If you woke up this morningwith more health than illness,you are more blessed than themillion who won't survive the week.
If you have never experiencedthe danger of battle,the loneliness of imprisonment,the agony of torture orthe pangs of starvation,you are ahead of 20 million peoplearound the world.
If you attend a church meetingwithout fear of harassment,arrest, torture, or death,you are more blessed than almostthree billion people in the world.
If you have food in your refrigerator,clothes on your back,a roof overyour head and a place to sleep,you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank,in your wallet, and spare changein a dish someplace, you are amongthe top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If your parents are still married and alive,you are very rare,especially in the United States.
If you hold up your head with a smileon your face and are truly thankful,you are blessed because the majority can,but most do not.
If you can hold someone's hand, hug themor even touch them on the shoulder,you are blessed because you canoffer God's healing touch.
If you can read this message,you are more blessed than overtwo billion people in the worldthat cannot read anything at all.

You are so blessed in ways you may never even know.

If you are feeling blessed, repay the blessings bestowed unto you and do something for others.
A blessing cannot be kept. If it stops with you, then the blessing will disappear. The blessing will only keep working if it is continuously passed around. If you are a recipient of a blessing, keep the blessing working by being the source of blessing to other people.