All Who Are About To Die

Cherry

By Bee

Mon, 21 Dec 2015
  • 3821 reads
17 comments
 

To die with pride - having God 

on our side is the highest honour.

Unlike suicide, brave



martyrdom brings rewards -

heavenly riches and virgins 

as promised - and promised. 



This is my faith. I do not notice

innocent children, women and men.

In my fight for an end to tyranny 



victims are victims. Though young 

and gifted, there's nothing for me 

to live for in a country wracked by war



where an enemy thought so little

of killing my father, mother, 

my sister and brother -



I'll gladly avenge their blood. 

Tonight I cleanse my soul - till purified 

in prayer - tomorrow, I claim the prize. 



Strap explosives to my back 

in this inconspicuous ruck sack, 

and I will detonate myself to paradise,



and if I end some worthless lives, so be it -

I'm heading for a better place -

and anywhere is better than this. 

 

Certificate 18
Poem
Unclassified
Horror

Comments

Submitted by celticman on

suicide porn and the saddest part is children mirroring it with makeshift 'sucide bombs' on their back like superman costumes. Very sad. 

 

Submitted by Bee on

That is sad.

I've been reading about the mindset of a suicide bomber - all the different reasons and put a lot of them together, as they often come. It's really scary. 

Thanks for readng CM

Bee

Submitted by Deliberately Ev... on

This is very powerful and moving. Excellent poem Bee. 

The beat of your heart is the mellifluent rhythm to my soul.

Submitted by Bee on

Glad you found it so, AE. I took it from three actual interviews with suicide bombers who failed, or changed their minds, but would still do it. 

Thank you.

Bee

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

This is such a powerful poem Bee,

Sends shivers through me. We live in such fragile times.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Bee on

And we don't even know how fragile... Thanks Jenny.

Bee

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

a very hard mindset to get ones head around don't you think? I'm normally quite good at seeing the other side, however awful, but with this I am stumped. Really sad poem bee

 

Submitted by Bee on

Hi insert.

It's  hard to understand the wicked forces behind such mind sets if we have been brought up with safer (for us) values. I wasn't really trying to see a point of view, more attempting to understand what's going on, but reading and thinking into it more I've come to see the danger of the consequences of true beliefs. We all have them - often as far fetched to one as to another. I'm not even questioning what's true - ghosts, Angels, heaven, Devil, or that none of the above exists. Just that what we believe is just that - we truly believe it. So fearfully dangerous and no getting round the fact that intelligent, seemingly reasonable people are amongst us who believe in stuff that could get us wiped in an instant, off the face of the earth, or blow us to kingdom come. Oh there I go again... What kingdoms is that? 

Bee

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

So totally powerful, Bee. Heartrendingly sad.

Tina

 

Submitted by Bee on

Thanks Tina. 

Bee

Submitted by Bee on

Thank you for the cherries.

Bee

Submitted by camilla on

A really interesting read about this subject is " The Banality of Suicide Terrorism" by Nancy Kobrin.

She advises the US government. In it she describes how the suicide bomber is identified with a damaged Mother figure and acts it out. Fundamantalist Muslim males are not allowed to separate from Mother and must revere her while despising women at the same time .

Maternal hatred comes into it because women in those societies are brutalized by the very people who are supposed to love them. Trauma transmits through generations and affects attachment. Which is why a woman tortured by FGM can permit her daughter to be tortured in the same way.

M Attas Mother will have been a victim of FGM and was married age 14 to an austere man. That she internalized self hatred can be seen in M Attas "request" that no woman be allowed to handle his body (what body after exploding a plane but hey no one said he was sane)

So the poem is a poem but suicide murders are not directly related to loss.

A damaged person seeks revenge. A whole person with secure attachments works for charities to make things better for others.

 

Submitted by Bee on

Hi Camilla.

Yeah, I read Kobrin, but I was aiming at giving multiple reasons - not all in one poem - one narrator. It's taken from a composite interview of actual statements. But as apposed to some popular opinion, I was trying not to generalise too much. But thank you, comments much appreciated.  

Bee

Submitted by VeraClark on

it is an unthinkable place to go in the head so an interesting piece to write from in attempting to unpin something so defeating to understand. I found Kobrin's discourse very dangerous - whilst she attempts to unpack some of the causal factors through her psychoanalytic discourse, it is a dangerously reductionist perspective to conclude that displaced rage against the mother is behind such atrocities. I question if she provides sufficient, and cohesive enough argument for what is a socio political web of deep complexity. 

 

Submitted by Bee on

I agree Vera. I found her too generalizing and conveniently explanatory. What frightens me most is how ordinary some of these people are - men, kids, and women, who come from a variety of backgrounds - some with a cause, some who get caught up in the glory of it all, (even when their parents beg them not to do it) and some who literally have nothing better to do, lose, or without prospects. And then, what if there are some who are possibly just plain suicidal? There was a general profile, but not everyone fitted into it - surprise! I just remember my son when he went though his angry, emotional teenage years - frightening to imagine if he had been indoctrinated with such hatred... But in the interviews, there was often no animosity toward victims. It was like they were irrelevant to the mission. Can't fight against that, or interview the successful ones - they're dead. 

Bee

Submitted by jeand on

HI Bee

Such a difficult subject for you to write about, and you have done it very well. I like the fact that you tried to show things from their perspective - even though most would not appreciate or understand their way of thinking. But all war situations have an element of doing something that might kill you for the greater good - and I suppose most soldiers realise the risk they are taking, and would hope to avoid getting killed.

Jean

Jean Day

Submitted by Bee on

Thanks Jean. I don't think any country is without guilt when it comes to war. Sometimes there are no answers, and no way of getting past those prepared to die in amongst innocent people, and who can't be identified in the crowd. 

Bee