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Secret, personal weblog of slain CNN employee Duraid Isa Mohammed.  A BoingBoing reader who wishes to remain anonymous points us to what is understood to be the personal weblog of slain CNN employee Duraid Isa Mohammed. Duraid died earlier this week along with fellow CNN employee Yasser Khatab, when the vehicle they were traveling in came under fire from Iraqi insurgents. The weblog, titled "Memories of a war torn heart: Sometimes I feel like screaming", was started just one week before Duraid was killed.
The following poem, "Risks" -- printed in English and signed "anonymous" -- was found in Duraid's personal car in Baghdad. The nature of the poem is similar to other material on his short-lived blog. It is presumed that Duraid did not author the poem, but that the handwriting was his (a quick Google search turns up the same poem on various "inspirational quotes" webpages throughout the 'Net).
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd Is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is To risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing dies nothing, Has nothing and is nothing.
They say they avoid suffering and sorrow, But they cannot learn, Feel, change, grow, love, feel.
Chained by their attitudes, they are slaves.
They have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.
-- Anonymous
Duraid's blog does not bear his full name; each entry is signed "Mr. D.," and one post states, "I work as a journalist now with a big corporation, I was a basketballer in college, I was a DJ in my Baghdad, a war-torn town by now." The blog includes lyric quotes from Poison and Bon Jovi, and mentions that its author was permitted to travel with the military. This link to a related CNN story mentions also that Duraid was a DJ before the war. The BoingBoing reader who brings this story to our attention shares further information (and asks that it not be repeated here) which leads me to believe that the blog is in fact Duraid's. |
Saturday, January 31, 2004
