St. Patrick’s Day and the Inception of the Syrian Revolution

St. Patrick’s Day and the Inception of the Syrian Revolution share the same week. We all know St. Patrick’s Day, the day the patron saint of Ireland, is honored for his missionary work converting ‘heathens’ to Christianity. The three leaved shamrock which he used to teach heathens – symbolizing the Christian ‘Father, Son and Holy Ghost’ - is still used today to symbolize the Holiday.

Likely not as many know that the Syrian Revolution was born on March 14, 2011 when school boys wrote graffiti on a wall in Daraa, Syria which translates to “The people want to topple the regime.” Their simple written act of defiance was met by unspeakable cruelty, murder, rape, imprisonment, torture, bombings, chemical weapons and barrel bomb attacks by the Assad regime against millions. What was hoped to be part of the optimistic wave of Arab Spring – offering hope to millions – turned into a blood bath that continues today.

While we celebrate St. Patrick’s Christian missionary work, I hope we remember, too, those suffering in Syria and in surrounding nations who have fled for their and their children’s lives.

Blizzard of 2015 in the northeast of the United States. 

Journalists run outside, cameras aimed at the sky to catch snow falling as if we’ve never seen it before. Hurry! Show the snowplow heading down 5th Avenue as if it were Godzilla that has yet to be filmed!

While in Syria barrel bombs fall on children and no one is there to video…and when pictures are snuck out of the country no news outlets – or very few – dare show the pictures of children blown in half. I wonder why…