odd


March 20th 2006
copyright don oddy

~ collateral damage~

Collateral damage is a US military term for unintended or incidental damage during a military operation. The term started as a euphemism during the Vietnam War, and can refer to friendly fire or the destruction of civilians and their property.

The world will be a better place when we move away from this euphemism. Listening to news from Iraq tonight, I am horrified that reports continue to view the Iraqi people as collateral damage.

We went to war to liberate a nation, we seem to forget that a nation is made up of human beings, as important as we are to this world and the people in it. We need to find our humanity, we need to realise that as civilisations develop, every human is precious.

Dehumanised people react accordingly, and we are all sensitive to this process.

A human life is precious and never collateral, we need be mindful and careful or lose our humanity to time...