Snow Falls On Baghdad
It has snowed for the first time in living memory in Baghdad. It didn’t stick, but it didn’t need to. For a city that has been beset by violence for so long, even something as simple as snowfall can have a profoundly positive affect.
Residents of the city wandered out into the streets to watch it. Were everything like the wonder of snowfall in the desert, what a paradise we might make of this world.
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January 12th, 2008 at 11:22 am
So true
January 12th, 2008 at 11:31 am
People in this country underestimate snow. As a collective, we have nothing better to do than bitch about shoveling snow. They also have nothing better to do than to focus on the latest bombing in Iraq.
I adore snow.
January 12th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I wish it to be true.
January 12th, 2008 at 11:36 am
shame it wont last……
January 12th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Read about this earlier, The looks on their faces, happiness and joy.. it was wonderful to see that
January 12th, 2008 at 11:41 am
thats pretty crazy it snowed there
January 12th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Its very symbolic to me. That after all the bloodshed over there through out the last nine years and more so beyond that, that snow should fall.. Cleansing the sadness of the past, so it can make way for a future, hopefully filled with grace, peace and tolerance of each other.
January 12th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
well said hopeforchange…I was thinking something along the same lines.
That somehow I wish the pristine beauty of the snow could erase the ugliness that is underneath it all.
Symbolic indeed.
January 12th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Apparently the first time in a century or so, it’s good to see that such a pure event occured in a city marred by so much chaos.
January 12th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
The last statement you made was so true… It is nice to see that the snowfall alotted the people of Baghdad to take a moment out to enjoy that phenomenal event. To give them even a moment of peace, a positive surprise that could be enjoyed by the masses is definately somethign special, given what has been happening.
I just keep imagining the looks on the kids faces!!! Or even the really old folk who have never even fathomed (sp?) such a weather forecast! Awesome for them:0)
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The only thing that worries me about this event, is that it truly shows that somethign profound is happening to our world. Deserts are getting snow, tropical paradises are experiencing more frequent and severe storms, and the ice caps are melting at a phenomenal rate, etc, etc….it is really a scary thought to see what the future will bring. Mother nature is truly fighting back for all the things we have done to this planet.
The question is: Will we be able to reduce the almost equal and opposite force that’s going on and find homeostasis ? Or will the stress we have created be too much (will Le Chatelier’s famed principle work for us, if we make significant change) ? There is no doubt there is a point of no return, and we certainly can’t go back and undo what’s already done.
I only fear the thought of bringing children into the world because I feel as though the world won’t be guarenteed for them.
January 12th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Warms my heart.
January 12th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
that’s beautiful…
January 12th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Simply amazing.
January 12th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
There are no guarantees. Our parents had none yet they brought us into this world anyway.
It would benefit us all to embrace the joy and wonder such as that the Iraqis experienced with Mother Nature’s unexpected gift.
January 12th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
sounds like a song to me….”Snowfall In Baghdad”. No?
January 12th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
The BBC article contained the following quote:
“Fawzi Karim, 40, said he had asked his 80-year-old mother, and she had never seen snow before in Iraq. “This is so unusual, and I don’t know whether or not it’s a lesson from God,” he added.”
I wonder what percentage of the population found the event more ominous than pretty?
January 12th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
^from the same article (i think) that donkeygrey quoted:
“For a couple of hours anyway, a city where mortar shells routinely zoom across the Tigris River to the Green Zone became united as one big White Zone. There were no reports of bloodshed during the snowstorm. The snow showed no favoritism as it dusted neighborhoods Shiite and Sunni alike, faintly falling (with apologies to James Joyce) upon all the living and the dead”
…..
it warms my heart that for a brief moment the iraqi people felt happiness and awe.
finally a humanized story coming out of iraq.
January 12th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Sorry to disagree with most of the people here, but when I heard about the snowfall I wondered if it would be interpreted by the people there as the American “occupiers” bringing even their weather to Iraq.
January 13th, 2008 at 2:04 am
[quote comment="38519"]Sorry to disagree with most of the people here, but when I heard about the snowfall I wondered if it would be interpreted by the people there as the American “occupiers” bringing even their weather to Iraq.[/quote]
That very well could be true from an extremist point of view. But for a great deal of others, it’s probably the furthest thing from their collective minds, especially if they realized that there was no bloodshed for the entire two hours the ground was white.
[quote comment="38512"]“Fawzi Karim, 40, said he had asked his 80-year-old mother, and she had never seen snow before in Iraq. “This is so unusual, and I don’t know whether or not it’s a lesson from God,” he added.”[/quote]
I’m not Muslim, I would consider it a lesson from God. :) But that’s just me. I’m fairly certain it will all be forgotten in a mater of hours.
January 13th, 2008 at 9:51 am
A friend of a friend is over there and he sent out an email to us telling us about it. There is apparently a link with snow signifying peace. And given the conditions of the area, I can only imagine that for once, it looked clean - cleansed by the whiteness of the snow. I’d have loved to have seen their faces; awe, joy, even some confusion… but a good kind. Perhaps enough could fall to start a snowball fight. THAT’S the way to settle things. ;)
January 13th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I don’t know how I feel about the snowfall in the desert. It makes me want to paint a surrealist painting. Who would’ve thought snow would fall in the desert? I’m sure it was only a matter of time, but so soon?
I’m a fence sitter. The thought of snow falling in the desert is surely a beautiful thing. Or just a calm before the storm. I’m also happy that it helped some of the Iraqi people in finding peace and serenity, at the same time, what is to come from that display of nature?
I’m currently experiencing the one and only beautiful thing about Saskatchewan winters, and that is the (Hore?) Frost. Everything covered in beautiful icicles and frost. At the same time, it has been the warmest winter I’ve ever experienced here. Is it soon to be warm in the Winters of the Prairies, and snowfall in the deserts? I dunno.
A godlike experience, surely. Something to remember, for sure. A warning…quite possible.
Bruise Velvet - As someone who recently found out they were pregnant, but who worried the same thing as you, I have to say that in the world we live in, you can’t stop doing what you’d like to do for fear of what the world may bring. People have been thinking the world will end for centuries. Spanish flu in World War 1, The Bubonic Plague, Y2K, Global Warming…
Not to say that Global Warming doesn’t exist for as I mentioned just above, it is surely in our perils, but we must do our best as people to live the fullest life we possibly can, even if it isn’t long. We’re all on our way to facing death one day, whether it’s now or later.
January 13th, 2008 at 10:52 am
For anyone who is feeling particularly uncomfortable with the thought of snow falling in a desert perhaps this may help:
1. A desert is generally defined as any region that receives less than 25 cm/year of precipitation (there are some exceptions to this rule depending on the amount of transpiration that occurs in the region).
2. Antarctica is a desert and there’s still a little bit of snow left there (last anyone checked).
The majority of deserts are generally hot during the day and cold at night. Many of the ‘hot deserts’ approach freezing temperatures every night. It’s the combination of precipitation and freezing temperatures that makes the event in Baghdad unusual. If Baghdad is technically classified as a desert (I’m too lazy to look it up right now), it’s a rare enough event for them to receive rain. It’s rarer still for it to be below freezing when it does rain.
I’m not trying to diminish the symbolic beauty of the snowfall in Baghdad. Just thought I would interject a little of the science in here to help further understanding of what constitutes a desert.
January 13th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
That is the beauty of the world.
This snowfall in Baghdad, I can only believe it will entice hope out of dark corners and instill faith into tired souls.
Hope for a different era and faith in the recuperative power of nature.
Snow falling in a land ruled by sand is purely amazing grace persevering amidst despair.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:24 am
[quote comment="38532"]For anyone who is feeling particularly uncomfortable with the thought of snow falling in a desert perhaps this may help:
1. A desert is generally defined as any region that receives less than 25 cm/year of precipitation (there are some exceptions to this rule depending on the amount of transpiration that occurs in the region).
2. Antarctica is a desert and there’s still a little bit of snow left there (last anyone checked).
The majority of deserts are generally hot during the day and cold at night. Many of the ‘hot deserts’ approach freezing temperatures every night. It’s the combination of precipitation and freezing temperatures that makes the event in Baghdad unusual. If Baghdad is technically classified as a desert (I’m too lazy to look it up right now), it’s a rare enough event for them to receive rain. It’s rarer still for it to be below freezing when it does rain.
I’m not trying to diminish the symbolic beauty of the snowfall in Baghdad. Just thought I would interject a little of the science in here to help further understanding of what constitutes a desert.[/quote]
Anybody ever watch the mini-series Planet Earth? The whole idea of a weather phenominon such as snow in a desert is reminding me of something they covered in the episode on deserts. Might be the parts about how a rare species of camel in Mongolia that eats small patches of accumulated snow to keep hydrated.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:44 am
Every year I can’t wait to see the first snowfall, it’s as if I see snow for the first time, every year.I’m happy like a kid. I’m glad they got to live such a joyful moment.
January 14th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Those opposed to Mr. Gore and his views on global warming (the “disbelievers”) would have a wild time with this one… ohh boy.
January 14th, 2008 at 11:59 am
[quote comment="38498"]
The only thing that worries me about this event, is that it truly shows that somethign profound is happening to our world. Deserts are getting snow, tropical paradises are experiencing more frequent and severe storms, and the ice caps are melting at a phenomenal rate, etc, etc….[/quote]
Don’t worry, it’s not the first time it snowed there; it’s just rare, is all. It happened previously about a centery ago.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
It’s amazing, people love to hear stories like these. All the smiles and happy people that morning. We like to see this, we like to see people happy. But we support our troops dropping bombs instead of snow flakes.
You’ve heard the saying if you stand aside and let the bully bully, you’re no better.