My Blog Was One Year Old
One year ago, on a rainy Monday evening, I found myself singing up for something called a blog. Everybody was talking about it and it was for free, and even though I had no idea what this thing was, I had to be part of it. You can read here my very first entry ever.
Instead of putting a picture of a cake with candles and 'happy anniversary' in capital letters and stuff and make this a silly reason to celebrate and drink and get high and perhaps get laid and maybe just go out drinking and driving and throwing money out of the window and screaming and yelling and so on, I've decided to take this opportunity to reflex and think.
My first name starts with J and my last name with G, Francois is my middle name. A big part of me is Latino and the rest is European from where I got my name. Looking through the casualties of American soldiers in Iraq I ran into a guy who shares my initials, J for his first name and G for his last name: Juan-Guadalupe Garza, his family is originally from Latin America. No Jean-Francois' on that list.
A soldier of barely 20 years old from Texas, Juan-Guadalupe was kill by a bullet for only God knows what reasons at this point. Only 20 years old. . . At that age I was in college thinking that I was invincible, the last thing in my mind being my own dead. This little anniversary is dedicated in part to Juan-Guadalupe Garza and the almost 2,000 soldiers who came back to the US in a plastic bag.
And is also dedicated to Shahir Faisal Shakir, an Iraqi who died on June 8 2004, the day after I published my first entry. He was taken away by gunfire and his age, picture and other details are not available. He was perhaps a guy like you and me, with a girlfriend who liked to have a couple of beers everynow and then, who visited the mosque regularly; grew up in a family with a couple of siblings and had a lot of friends. He wanted to be a doctor in order to "save lives" as he said so many times, but the first war, the embargo, the stupid government and lack of opportunities pushed him to work in the hospitality business. Times were hard for him and his family and they struggle for many years, always optimistic he dreamt of a better life in the future. He wanted to get rid of the government and live a peaceful life where he could have more opportunities and eventually start a family. But the invasion took away his most precious gift: his own life.
This post is dedicated to the more than 23,000 people who have died in Iraq. The liberty that the current US government wants to create comes with a very high price tag, doesn't it? Or was it the WMD? Anyway, whatever the reasons the cost is just too high in human lives to justify it.
This anniversary is a time to think about all of them.
And is also a time to think about the whole direction that this STRANGE blog has taken. Current changes in my life and the need to pursue other writing goals that I've been procrastinating for a long time, have pushed me to end this little exercise. In other words, this blog is coming to an end. No more Jean-Francois talking about his daily life and the silly things that happen here in the Bible Belt on regular bases; no more trashing of co-workers; no more trying to re-write the rules of grammar for the English language; no more silly little pictures beside my posts; and [thanks God] no more posts about caffeine.
I'll keep this blog alive though and maybe an entry once in a while would prevent Google from deleting this part of my life. As everything in life is dynamic and things change, perhaps in few months/years I'll pick up from here and will start bloging again, but until then there'll be silence -and perhaps a little whisper once in a while. For those lost souls who've came here and who have commented and/or linked me on their kick ass blogs I'd say: Behave. . . I'll be watching you!
Cheers!
Instead of putting a picture of a cake with candles and 'happy anniversary' in capital letters and stuff and make this a silly reason to celebrate and drink and get high and perhaps get laid and maybe just go out drinking and driving and throwing money out of the window and screaming and yelling and so on, I've decided to take this opportunity to reflex and think.
My first name starts with J and my last name with G, Francois is my middle name. A big part of me is Latino and the rest is European from where I got my name. Looking through the casualties of American soldiers in Iraq I ran into a guy who shares my initials, J for his first name and G for his last name: Juan-Guadalupe Garza, his family is originally from Latin America. No Jean-Francois' on that list.
A soldier of barely 20 years old from Texas, Juan-Guadalupe was kill by a bullet for only God knows what reasons at this point. Only 20 years old. . . At that age I was in college thinking that I was invincible, the last thing in my mind being my own dead. This little anniversary is dedicated in part to Juan-Guadalupe Garza and the almost 2,000 soldiers who came back to the US in a plastic bag.
And is also dedicated to Shahir Faisal Shakir, an Iraqi who died on June 8 2004, the day after I published my first entry. He was taken away by gunfire and his age, picture and other details are not available. He was perhaps a guy like you and me, with a girlfriend who liked to have a couple of beers everynow and then, who visited the mosque regularly; grew up in a family with a couple of siblings and had a lot of friends. He wanted to be a doctor in order to "save lives" as he said so many times, but the first war, the embargo, the stupid government and lack of opportunities pushed him to work in the hospitality business. Times were hard for him and his family and they struggle for many years, always optimistic he dreamt of a better life in the future. He wanted to get rid of the government and live a peaceful life where he could have more opportunities and eventually start a family. But the invasion took away his most precious gift: his own life.
This post is dedicated to the more than 23,000 people who have died in Iraq. The liberty that the current US government wants to create comes with a very high price tag, doesn't it? Or was it the WMD? Anyway, whatever the reasons the cost is just too high in human lives to justify it.
This anniversary is a time to think about all of them.
And is also a time to think about the whole direction that this STRANGE blog has taken. Current changes in my life and the need to pursue other writing goals that I've been procrastinating for a long time, have pushed me to end this little exercise. In other words, this blog is coming to an end. No more Jean-Francois talking about his daily life and the silly things that happen here in the Bible Belt on regular bases; no more trashing of co-workers; no more trying to re-write the rules of grammar for the English language; no more silly little pictures beside my posts; and [thanks God] no more posts about caffeine.
I'll keep this blog alive though and maybe an entry once in a while would prevent Google from deleting this part of my life. As everything in life is dynamic and things change, perhaps in few months/years I'll pick up from here and will start bloging again, but until then there'll be silence -and perhaps a little whisper once in a while. For those lost souls who've came here and who have commented and/or linked me on their kick ass blogs I'd say: Behave. . . I'll be watching you!
Cheers!
Jean-Francois was drunk at 11:50 PM
3 Comments:
Best of luck to you. I'll miss your writing.
It's been interesting.. best of luck to you from me also.
I just found this blog only to discover that you're leaving. May I wish you a belated Bienvenue? And most definitely a big Bon Chance for your future endeavors.
Post a Comment
<< Home