Why I'm Going to Iraq: Don't Blame Me!

Iraq.

Two months.

Um, not a chance. Pass the doughnuts, please.

That's what I thought when I first heard the idea.

I was in a teacher meeting in August at Arizona State University when the director first introduced the possibility of sending a team of teacher trainers to bring English to the Iraqis. It sounded bold, almost ridiculous. Take English to a hostile nation that has been left in ruins. I could just imagine the angry stares I would get. Yeah, right, sign me up.

But as I listened to the director, the idea did have a simplicity that appealed to me. Since Iraqi education is down in the dumps (bombs will do that), a fine education for the best and brightest Iraqis will most likely take place outside of the country. And going outside the Middle Eastern context means that many potential Iraqi scholars will have to speak English. Our job, the director explained (should we choose to accept it) would be to train 200 Iraqi teacher trainers. They, in turn, would teach their teachers. And they, in turn, would teach their students. Our impact could and would be felt throughout the entire nation. The hope was to eventually send thousands of Iraqi students to receive educations in universities throughout the world.

Hmmm, I thought. Fascinating. Interesting. Mostly crazy.

And then a funny thing happened while passing the doughnuts. A different thought creeped into my brain completely uninvited. The thought was this:

You need to go.

If you are like me, you know that there is this funny thing with crazy thoughts that come from nowhere, and the funny thing is this: If you aren't careful, crazy thoughts have a way of sounding reasonable.

So, of course, the best thing to do is to shoot down a crazy thought with logic (crazy thoughts HATE logic). I made a list:

too dangerous
too long away from family
too weird
too hard on Dixie (my wife)
too hard on the kids
too hard on me
strange food
political opposition
mortar falling on the hotel roof would probably disrupt classroom chats...

But the thought persisted over the next few months. It pointed out how I was uniquely prepared to do teacher training because of my past experience, experience that couldn't have been by chance. It pointed out how I had just had unforgettable experiences in teacher training. It pointed out that all my life I had wanted to make a difference. It pointed out that I was once given a charge to influence people for good throughout the world. It pointed out how seriously I took that charge. And then the director sent me letters from the Iraqi teacher trainers and the crazy thought led me to notice how wonderful the teacher trainers seemed. And then, to be completely unfair, I was also sent this picture of an Iraqi student.


And my heart swelled. And now I just know. I know I'm supposed to go. I know that my life has, in a way, led up to this. I've always been a teacher, and I've always wanted to use my skills to DO something.

Wish me luck. And blame crazy thoughts.