This is the second part to of my anniversary series about my times in Baghdad last year. I posted this several months ago on my Herald site. This was the first time I had encountered some Iraqis

Tea time in Baghdad

    The Vietnamese Buddhist monk and philosopher, Thich Nhat Hanh (pronounced Tick-naught-han), writes about enjoying a good cup of tea. The other day in Iraq, I had gone to the Airport formerly know as Saddam International.  I was with a few Contractors who work for General Dynamics plus one other soldier with whom I work with.  As the rest my group left to do a little shopping, I chose to stay in the terminal area and smoke a cigarette (yes you can smoke inside) and to catch a look out of the window to see the Iraqi Airline planes that seem to be perfectly intact and ready to fly the clear blue skies.    Afterwards I sat down in the lounge chair to finish off my cigarette.  When suddenly 3 older Iraqi gentlemen sat in the seats adjacent to me.  At first I started to move but my instincts told me to remain seated. I noticed one of the Iraqi gentlemen was carrying a tray with 4 small glasses of hot tea.  Since there was an extra glass it was offered to me.   Of course I accepted because it would have been offensive in their culture if I chose the contrary.   The tea was good if you might have asked.   We finished our tea with a cigarette followed by an enjoyable conversation.  The only problem I had was the fact that I am left handed (the left hand is considered unclean in Islam) and in the past I had struggled mightily when using my right hand to hold a cup to drink tea or coffee from.  I managed and if I can say so I did a good job.  I left the airport feeling good about myself and rightly so.  The group that I was with jokingly said that I have a future as an Ambassador.  I would say I agree.   

     Finally, I could have easily fallen towards my comfort zone and used the left hand.  However life is all about sacrifice.  I am willing to change what I am comfortable with to make a difference and so are the hundred of thousand other men and women who the media ignores.  Therefore it truly pains me to read and hear about the bad things that the soldiers are doing.  The disdain for the media is what fuels me work harder and furthermore, ensure that the peace is won.  It was probably the spark I needed to flawlessly use my right hand to drink that tea.  

Life is truly like a good cup of tea.