Earlier in the week, I read a sign urging Americans to remember that Memorial Day is not National BBQ Day. What is it then? The following is a stream of consciousness I wrote initially through Twitter and would like to share with you.
Tomorrow appears to be National BBQ day — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
War is a very sensitive thing and in its dramatic destructiveness, it can indeed bring populations together — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
But with the U.S. involved in, what, three useless wars, I don’t see any “community” here. — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
Maybe that’s why people spend more time BBQ-ing rather than remembering on Memorial Day — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
Who wants to remember years of drone bombing on civilian populations? — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
Who wants to commemorate a war that costs more than healthcare? — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
Who wants to remember all the money poured into war machines that could’ve actually gone to building schools, homes, etc. — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
Maybe bbq-ing all day is America’s way of ignoring accountability during Memorial Day — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
War is so commonplace that Americans just don’t care anymore if another nation faces its cruise missiles — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
The name of Rihanna’s new perfume makes more headlines than the deaths of 14 Afghani family members — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
And so when people wonder why Americans bbq on Memorial Day, say it’s because they don’t even know what’s going on — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
War to today’s Americans is something external, something that can never affect them, something that only hurts the bad guys
— Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
BBQ your meats as Afghani, Iraqi, Pakistani, etc. families watch their homes face the American war grill — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
“Well, what about the troops?” Well, what about them? What about that old man who was taking care of his mom in Basra? — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
What about that daughter whose school was bombed by a Hellfire missile? Or her teachers who were killed? — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
Will you remember them during Memorial Day as you grill your accountability away? — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
There is nothing “American” about all these wars except for the fact that they achieved nothing overall. — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
Is the U.S. any more secure now than it was ten years ago? Maybe there’s one less enemy around but the internal problems are far worse. — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
Now we have Americans who think it’s okay to set fire to mosques. Memorialize that. — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
Today, Americans think it’s funny to watch films characterizing Muslims as backwards animals. — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
Today, Capitol Hill plots the next big “investment” which could very will consist of a couple hundred thousand dead — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
But who cares? They aren’t Americans! They wouldn’t be remembered anyways. — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
This Memorial Day, I will be Iraqi, Afghani, Pakistani, Native American, Syrian, Libyan, and anything the U.S. exploits for another day off. — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
And what humanity-serving nation cancels school for a big bbq festival? — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
Grill away, oh mighty America. Your conscience is about as dead as that meat patty. — Sami Kishawi (@samikishawi) May 28, 2012
