To the memory of Doa Khalil Aswad, the 17 year old Iraqi Kurdish girl who was brutally stoned to death by her tribe in April 7, 2007. Her crime was LOVE! Listen to this song sung by John Goetelen dedicated to her.
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Anonymous
said...
In 1920, at the age of 17, my grandmother was forced into a loveless marriage by her father. When I think of this beautiful and innocent Catholic girl, sacrificed in marriage to a man that she hardly knew, let alone love, I feel a deep sadness for her. Thankfully, after raising her children, my grandmother was able to leave her husband, with whom she kept an amicable relationship, and move in with her only daughter, my mother. My grandmother committed the rest of her life to God and the church. I hope she was happy when she died at the age of 63. The women of my country have come a long way since 1920. We no longer have to be forced into loveless marriages; we no longer have to ask our fathers or our husbands, permission to work or to buy property. Since 1920, we have earned the right to vote, the right to make our own decisions, to choose our own professions, to select our own husbands or even the right not to marry. We take all these rights for granted, forgetting that some of our sisters in the Middle East are not as lucky as we are. Our sisters in the Middle East are still struggling for basic freedom; for the right to select their own husbands, the right to marry for love, the right to make their own decisions; the right to be free. In 2007, a young and innocent girl, who had never known fatherly love, dared to defy her father and love someone of her own choosing. By doing so, she sullied his honor; his honor, the only thing he was thinking of when he threw the first of hundreds of stones that would crush her head, and turn her beautiful body into an unrecognizable mess, while strange men watched her laying on the ground like a dead animal, blood gushing from her body. Let us never take our freedom for granted; let’s not forget our sisters in the Middle East; let us never forget Doa whose only crime was to love. Thank you, John Goelelen for honoring her memory in song. May we never forget that some women don’t have the right to love! Let us never take anything for granted!
1 comment:
In 1920, at the age of 17, my grandmother was forced into a loveless marriage by her father. When I think of this beautiful and innocent Catholic girl, sacrificed in marriage to a man that she hardly knew, let alone love, I feel a deep sadness for her. Thankfully, after raising her children, my grandmother was able to leave her husband, with whom she kept an amicable relationship, and move in with her only daughter, my mother. My grandmother committed the rest of her life to God and the church. I hope she was happy when she died at the age of 63.
The women of my country have come a long way since 1920. We no longer have to be forced into loveless marriages; we no longer have to ask our fathers or our husbands, permission to work or to buy property. Since 1920, we have earned the right to vote, the right to make our own decisions, to choose our own professions, to select our own husbands or even the right not to marry.
We take all these rights for granted, forgetting that some of our sisters in the Middle East are not as lucky as we are. Our sisters in the Middle East are still struggling for basic freedom; for the right to select their own husbands, the right to marry for love, the right to make their own decisions; the right to be free.
In 2007, a young and innocent girl, who had never known fatherly love, dared to defy her father and love someone of her own choosing. By doing so, she sullied his honor; his honor, the only thing he was thinking of when he threw the first of hundreds of stones that would crush her head, and turn her beautiful body into an unrecognizable mess, while strange men watched her laying on the ground like a dead animal, blood gushing from her body.
Let us never take our freedom for granted; let’s not forget our sisters in the Middle East; let us never forget Doa whose only crime was to love. Thank you, John Goelelen for honoring her memory in song. May we never forget that some women don’t have the right to love! Let us never take anything for granted!
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