Suicide Bombing

What compels a young man to strap a belt of c-4's around his torso and step out of his apartment to face his last living day? What is he thinking when he looks up to see the sky for the last time, feeling a breeze brushing against his skin under the blazing sun? What is going through his heart as he stands in the midst of the crowd of faces, watching mothers holding their childrens's hands, hearing young men speak excitedly about a soccer match, witnessing lives that will pulverize into bloody shreds by his own doing as nothing of himself will remain save for a mist of blood that will splatter the ground in a blink with the explosion?

These days, reports of suicide bombing have become so commonplace in the news that I don't even miss a beat in my morning routine as I hear about another attack on CNN while I get ready for the office. It's embarrasing to admit that a trivial statistic on the calorie count of a supposed healthy item that I hear during the same news hour is something that will more likely be committed (subconsciously) into memory (which will undoubtly surface during an equality trivial lunch hour chat), than the name of the city where the attack took place and the ensuing statistic on the number of casualty and the extent of damage. Between things like standing in long lines for a double double at Tim Horton's, selecting the right fund plans for 401K, poring over news bits on the latest health regiments recommended by top nutritionist or fitness gurus in random newsbits, and other middle class diversions, it is embarrasingly easy to lose sight of the fact that unimaginable to a middle class North American, there are people elsewhere in the world so wretched in their situation, that while I'm making fantasy vacation plans (oh yeah, and navigating through the office politics to to hold onto this job), they are spending months plotting how to sacrifice their lives (and innocent victims) in the name of martyrdom and in general, making an ardent point.

Here's a report (link) that gives a brief glimpse into the world of the people in countries where becoming a suicide bomber is a prospect seems as likely a path as achieving a good college education, 1.5 kids and a 3-car garage house in the suburbs is for a young man in the States.

To quote:

"It was little surprise that the bomber came from a village near Jenin, one of
the West Bank’s strongholds of Islamic militancy. From the Hammad home his
family can see the olive groves and fertile valleys of Israel but feel nothing
for its denizens save enmity. "

And...

"He was a hero and I am proud of Samir but I have suffered from his loss,” she
said of her eldest son. “I have seen their soldiers killing our children and
destroying our home, making everything bad, so how can I see them
sympathetically or kindly?"

Then you get a whole different perspective from the other side (link). There are countless links like this where you get a very methodical, academic analysis of the psychology of suicidal bombers and social situations. Sadly, it's seldom when the reports do not conclude with some condemning conclusion about condoning religion, misguided minds or blind malevolence.

Strangely, I am reminded of my elementary school classes in Seoul where stories of the Korean "patriots" and "heroes" who gave their lives for the struggle against the Japanese occupation during the first half of the 20th century have been a major part of our social science class lectures. These are regulary accompanied by paper assignments (exhortation of their heroic acts and selfless sacrifice), songs of their tales that we'd sing a countless times, and propaganda-like videos that stirred emotions way more complicated than what a 9 year-old can fully understand. Twenty years later, in a whole different place thousands of miles away from either countries, it doesn't take much to see how one country's 'terrorist' can be viewed by the other side as a 'hero,' but in my elementary school years, we were only taught the 'hero' version and the dogma associated with it is irrefutably etched in my psyche. I don't know if the American media and their daily tally of suicide bombing casualties is doing anything much different than what I was exposed to as a child growing up in (unabashedly anti-Japanese) Korea.

BTW, link to trailer for Paradise Now, a movie about fictional suicide bombers.