Dear Barbara Bush,
Going back years, remembering moments that are deeply etched in the soul, hearing you say, “Sometimes the pain was so great, I felt the urge to drive into a tree or an oncoming car.” This is how we usually feel when all windows are closed. When we become unable to communicate or see the flowers. When we lose our appreciation for the grace of trees and clouds. When we feel “very depressed, lonely, and unhappy.”
A long time ago, a girl called Robin woke up one morning. She said, “I don’t know what to do this morning. I may go out and lie on the grass and watch the cars go by, or I might just stay in bed.” When you heard that, you knew with your instincts for motherhood that that didn’t sound like a normal three-year-old child. A killer illness knocked on your family’s door and played havoc with Robin’s delicate heart. Long painful days passed. After all the suffering you sensed that Robin was about to leave the world. “I really felt her soul go out of her beautiful little body. For one last time I combed her hair, and we held our precious little girl. I never felt the presence of God more strongly than at that moment.” Your husband was devastated by Robin’s death, “But she is still with us. We need her and so we have her. We can’t touch her but we can feel her. We hope she’ll stay in our house for a long, long time”, he said. You and your husband were deeply touched; as you said, “George and I love and value every person more because of Robin.”
Even Robin’s big brother, George W. Bush, now the president, didn’t feel the same after she had gone. “His sister’s death was a painful experience for him.” He said, “I was sad and stunned. I knew Robin had been sick, but death was hard for me to imagine. Minutes before, I had had a little sister and now, suddenly, I did not have one. Forty-six years later, those minutes remain the starkest memory of my childhood, a sharp pain in the midst of an otherwise happy blur.”
At a time like that we look for some peace of mind, away from the darkness of this world. We are today in a part of the world, the Middle East, lost in darkness, fear and threats. With each day, the beat of war drums gets louder and more aggressive. Your voice comes to us, “War is not nice,” and then we hear you say “If more people could read, write and comprehend, we would be that much closer to solving so many of the problems plaguing society today.” If any decision-maker listened to those words and acted upon them, we wouldn’t have to deal with so many problems today. Someone said you talk the talk and you walk the walk when it comes to creating a peaceful environment through reading. You stated once that the solution for society’s problems is education. It’s the vital key for any defeated soul. “Poor reading skills,” you once said, “directly, and indirectly, are linked to crime, teenage illiteracy, pregnancy, drug and child abuse.” You encouraged families to spend time reading to their children. You said there was no better way to spend time with children and grandchildren than to read to them. It has been proven that children who are read to have larger vocabularies and a higher level of intelligence.
Despite all the hunger and suffering, Iraqi children are experiencing, they are reading, writing and comprehending, but we don’t know for how long they can continue to do so.
You often volunteer and support hundreds of charitable and humanitarian causes. Today we need people like you. Your confidence in the renewal of the human spirit through education remains an inspiration for many people.
Let’s join forces to make this world better. A group of women want to launch a campaign for Middle Eastern children called “DON’T DROP BOMBS HERE; CHILDREN ARE READING.” We will begin at the hottest spot. We are going to Iraq. We want to take books to Iraqi children and send them the message you believe in — that reading is good for children. It gives them the power to make correct choices in life. You like to be called everybody’s grandmother. Grandmother, you are invited to join this group of women.
Wajeha Al-Huwaider
[Wajeha Al-Huwaider is program and evaluation analyst at Aramco. She holds an MA in Reading Management from George Washington University.]
Arab News Opinion 2 March 2003
