The importance of hope

I noticed today that there is a fundamental difference between Americans and Iraqi's. Americans have a great deal of hope for the future. Not to say that Iraqi's don't but it is a different hope. Americans hope that one day things will be OK, like they are in the United States or something. Iraqi's hope that someday everyone will leave them alone. They don't think that it will ever be OK.

This makes for a huge problem when dealing between Iraqis and Americans. Americans get frustrated because Iraqis won't turn in their neighbors who are criminals. The Americans think that it makes sense because they will have a better neighborhood. But the Iraqis just want to be left alone. They have always had criminals for neighbors, and as long as they mostly leave them alone, no big deal.

Iraq has never been more than barely holding on. Whether it was the Assyrians and Babylonians, or the Sunni's and the Shi'ites there has always been conflict. They see no reason to believe that they can ever have a stable life. That hope is what is holding up the whole process. Everyone is hedging their bets, but democracy has no room for hedging bets.