About four days ago a soldier died in Afghanistan. Normally this would not be much of a problem for a person in Australia until you hear that it was an Australian soldier.
Since Australia followed the US into places like Afghanistan and Iraq they have been doing quite well in making sure that their troops return home in one piece.
This isn't the first soldier to have died for Australia in Afghanistan. SAS Sergeant Andrew Russel died from an anti-vehicle mine in 2002. For the sake of the family of this victim his name has not been released to the public. Which is fair.
I hope that the family of this currently unknown soldier can have enough time to heal before we learn his identity, and that they are supported by their friends and also those around them that may not be their friends.
I also hope that other Australians serving in Afghanistan will be ok, especially since it seems that attacks are on the rise there.
There is one thing that I thought of when I wrote this. I feel more for this family then I would for an American family or an Afghani family.
I guess it is easier for me to relate to an Australian then it would for the others that I mentioned. This is rather hypocritical though. I do feel sorry for the families affected from the other countries but all to varying degrees.
Is this really what being human is? Caring more for certain people because they live in the same country as you?
Why is it that the news makes a bigger deal about a casualty from the country they are from then about the civilians who live in the country in question?
Why is it that the enemy and the civilians are faceless compared to the coalition troops?
Some people already recognise this but I think the rest of the people should too, think about the other people, and not just your own people, and think (and feel) more for the civilians, those who don't have the training a soldier would to fight, people who are trying to keep living in the homes that they lived in for years.
Don't forget about them, but don't do it at the cost of the soldiers as well.
They are all people too.
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