| Hero? Martyr? Or Just A Good Boy? |
He was a good boy. That's what his mother always said. He got good grades, and always treated his elders with respect.
He didn't understand what was happening when the invasion started. He was only 11. The soldiers on the street he lived used to
give him candy. One soldier even saved his bullet casings for him. He could trade them at the recyclers for money and give it to
his family. His father couldn't work anymore after losing his leg in a bombing on the first day.
As time passed he began to understand more of what happened. The government had said that his countries leaders were evil,
and invaded countries without reason, and tortured their prisoners. That was why they invaded. To make the world safe from
his country. But he could reason better, now at age 15. He had friends his age who were fighting against these invaders, who
wanted a government like theirs, instead of the one he had had before. He began to see them as an occupying army. There were
pictures of men they had tortured, and those who had been taken away and not heard from since. He could see that they were
not trying to change anything, but to make his country part of theirs. With the same kind of government and leaders they had
picked who would do as they were told, like puppets.
His religious leaders openly called for calm, while secretly telling their worshipers, that these godless invaders had no right to
be in his country. They said that those who gave their life for god would be rewarded when they got to heaven.
One day the head of his church asked him to come visit him. He asked if he would be willing to give his life for God and be a
suicide bomber. Many of his friends and older boys were there and encouraged him to do it. He agreed.
One week later he went to a friends house who owned a video camera. He sat in a chair and told his name, and why he was
willing to die for his freedom. Afterwords, he and several men used rolling pins to flatten out the C4 into thin sheets. They
wrapped him with it. Then they put nails and pieces of glass and tapped them to his body. They said it would cause more
damage. Finally they were done. An older man attached the detonator, and told him he would only have to walk into the building,
and the bomb would be detonated from across the street with a cell phone. Then he was given a shot in his arm to relax him.
As he walked toward the police station, he thought about his mom who had cried, and his father who told him how proud he was
of him. He had said "you become a man today." The lobby of the police station was filled with police and soldiers. He walked to
the desk and said he wanted to file a complaint against a neighbor. That was the last thing he ever said.
The next day, everyone was talking about the bombing. They were overjoyed that it had gone so well. He was called a martyr
by his priest. The underground papers called him a hero, and spoke of the great blow he had delivered to the enemy in the
cause of freedom.
The government controlled newspaper called him a psychopathic murderer who had wasted his life for a futile cause. The
headline read "Suicide Bomber kills 14 police, and 22 Chinese soldiers in downtown Los Angeles Police Station
bombing"
In a bar that night, two men having just watched his video on the undergrounds web site, sipped their coffee, and argued over
whether there was a difference between a martyr, and a hero?
He didn't understand what was happening when the invasion started. He was only 11. The soldiers on the street he lived used to
give him candy. One soldier even saved his bullet casings for him. He could trade them at the recyclers for money and give it to
his family. His father couldn't work anymore after losing his leg in a bombing on the first day.
As time passed he began to understand more of what happened. The government had said that his countries leaders were evil,
and invaded countries without reason, and tortured their prisoners. That was why they invaded. To make the world safe from
his country. But he could reason better, now at age 15. He had friends his age who were fighting against these invaders, who
wanted a government like theirs, instead of the one he had had before. He began to see them as an occupying army. There were
pictures of men they had tortured, and those who had been taken away and not heard from since. He could see that they were
not trying to change anything, but to make his country part of theirs. With the same kind of government and leaders they had
picked who would do as they were told, like puppets.
His religious leaders openly called for calm, while secretly telling their worshipers, that these godless invaders had no right to
be in his country. They said that those who gave their life for god would be rewarded when they got to heaven.
One day the head of his church asked him to come visit him. He asked if he would be willing to give his life for God and be a
suicide bomber. Many of his friends and older boys were there and encouraged him to do it. He agreed.
One week later he went to a friends house who owned a video camera. He sat in a chair and told his name, and why he was
willing to die for his freedom. Afterwords, he and several men used rolling pins to flatten out the C4 into thin sheets. They
wrapped him with it. Then they put nails and pieces of glass and tapped them to his body. They said it would cause more
damage. Finally they were done. An older man attached the detonator, and told him he would only have to walk into the building,
and the bomb would be detonated from across the street with a cell phone. Then he was given a shot in his arm to relax him.
As he walked toward the police station, he thought about his mom who had cried, and his father who told him how proud he was
of him. He had said "you become a man today." The lobby of the police station was filled with police and soldiers. He walked to
the desk and said he wanted to file a complaint against a neighbor. That was the last thing he ever said.
The next day, everyone was talking about the bombing. They were overjoyed that it had gone so well. He was called a martyr
by his priest. The underground papers called him a hero, and spoke of the great blow he had delivered to the enemy in the
cause of freedom.
The government controlled newspaper called him a psychopathic murderer who had wasted his life for a futile cause. The
headline read "Suicide Bomber kills 14 police, and 22 Chinese soldiers in downtown Los Angeles Police Station
bombing"
In a bar that night, two men having just watched his video on the undergrounds web site, sipped their coffee, and argued over
whether there was a difference between a martyr, and a hero?
