A BED OF RED FLOWERS

My book about Afghanistan.

"Whoever rides the horse of self confidence
fighting life's battles with the power of the will and faith
will always be victorious."

Families go to Mazar where the hillside is covered with red flowers, they stop to picnic. This story about one girl's family is just like our family. They are forced to flee their home and leave everything they treasure. One of their treasures is book shelves full of books. The gramma is the one who prays for them all and who is loved by them all.

I cannot imagine the fear and hopelessness that must come with living with death all around. The ground on which they travel becomes graves for all the battered corpses and lost souls.

"Why should a small country like Afghanistan become a permanent battleground for proxy wars and political rivalries? A battlefield which used religion and the struggle for power to destroy the lives of the innocent.

We looked at our own country and feel the shame in the way we treated those who we felt were less than human. We have our ghosts that
now we have to face as reality. We have to listen to the stories of the abused and mistreated and try to understand.

"In the search for the past," I Nelofer Pazira, "I'm amazed at the power of history and human folly. But it is also a corridor-however narrow and dark-to a partial understanding of our existence and behavior, our relationship with the rest of the world"

"It may be illusionary, self-indulgent or bizarre, but I still think digging into the grave of history might lead to an understanding of the present."

The noise on our roof is jarring and we both feel we need to leave and find a quiet place so we head over to the library. We are reminded by a display that June 21 is a day to celebrate the cultures and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Metis people.

My dad would came from England was very interested in the native culture and lifestyle and art like their beadwork. He learn how to camp and how to do their dances. My mother had seen too many drunken Indians so she had a different attitude.