Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Patriotism in an unlikely place
Occasionally, an act of heroism can bring people together:In the aftermath of Baghdad's bridge stampede that claimed more than a thousand lives last week, an unlikely hero has risen as a symbol of Iraqi unity at a time of sectarian tension.
Uthman al-Ubaidi, a 19-year-old Sunni, jumped into the river Tigris where dozens of pilgrims from the rival Muslim Shi'ite sect were drowning in the murky waters after being forced off the bridge overhead.
He rescued six people from the brink of death. When he went back for a seventh, his strength failed him and he never returned.
After heavy media coverage, the young man from Aadhamiya -- a Sunni district across the river from Kadhamiya, the site of a major Shi'ite mosque -- has become a household name, and a rallying call for Iraqi reconciliation.
Dozens of posters of him are plastered on walls across his district. His image sits in front of two main mosques, one Shi'ite and one Sunni.
Uthman's heroism was of great comfort to his father, who lost his only son:
Ali al-Ubaidi, the boy's father who accepted condolences from a flurry of visitors, sobbed as he stood in Uthman's bedroom next to a bed now covered with flowers.
"I am really proud of my only son," he told Reuters. "At first I was distraught but when I heard he drowned after rescuing so many people it eased the pain."
"The sectarian conspiracy has ended, Uthman was the one who put out the fire," he said in an optimistic tone.
Let us hope that Ali's optimism is well-founded. The "ethnic divisions" that are the fountainhead of so much blood in recent Iraqi history are ultimately so much dicking around. It is time for Iraqis to get serious about building their country and submerge their intramural animosity. If it takes a tragedy for that to happen and the posthumous recognition of heroism, so be it.
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