Jackass sey di worl' no level. Jackass sey madda lose har son from 'friendly fire' an' she no 'ave no one fi chat to.

I read a story in The Sunday Gleaner yesterday that really touched me. Under the headline 'Friendly fire in Afghanistan robs mother of beloved son', the article told the sad tale of Edith Bailey who is grieving for her son Private Mark Anthony Graham, a member (or former member) of the Canadian armed forces, who was killed when American airplanes fired on a platoon that he and 30 others were in.

As Bailey puts it, "me no know when dis wound ago stop bleed."

When indeed.

The world is not level at all. Because first of all, Private Graham should not even be in Afghanistan fighting a war that should not have started in the first place. And secondly, he was killed by people who were supposed to be on the same side as him.

(And Jackass remembers that it is not the first time since the supposed 'War on Terror' began that American troops have killed Canadians. It seems that they mix up the Maple leaf with a Koran or something.)

A BIG BOTHER

It really bothers Jackass that the people who started this war and those who are benefiting from it through big contracts are not the ones who are on the ground fighting people they do not know and killing or being killed. I do not hear about anybody named Bush or Blair in a Humvee, carrying a rifle and collecting a small money for the privilege of killing or dying in the name of freedom.

And the wickedest thing of all is that so many of the soldiers are not only black, but were not even from America or Canada or England in the first-place.

Blacks in the military

Whether we like it or not, there will always be black people in the armed forces of the first-world countries that they migrate to in search of a better life. It is unfortunate, but true, that enlisting in the armed forces is a sure path to steady, if not a lot of, cash, as well as a very good thing to put on the résumé so that potential employers will see that this immigrant is a proper patriot. At least, patriotic enough to put on the uniform and do as ordered.

Jackass really does not believe that most people enlist in the armed services to go and kill anybody, especially those who enlist in the reserve. It is a way to get to college for many, something that they could not afford to do otherwise, and a way to make the résumé look more attractive.

But here was Private Graham, half-way around the world, dying at 33 years old, while those who started this whole thing were safe in America where all the fast food is.

Of course, he is not the first Jamaican to be killed in this very futile and very cruel war. Jackass remembers a soldier named Bernard Brent Gooden, whose body was escorted to its final resting place in Cane Piece by U.S. soldiers, with the traditional volley of gunshots dome over the coffin.

Just another accident

And, the wickedest thing is that Bailey cannot even blame 'the enemy' for her son's death and the American pilots who killed her son will never be penalised. Her son's death was just another accident. Just like that.

Jackass sey di worl' no level. Jackass sey why some American Senator whe support de war no sen' dem pickney ova deh fi get kill by frenly fia too an' see how frenly it feel when yu unda hit.