Bittersweet Victory

I was flipping from one webpage to another, reading different bloggers' reactions to the Asia Cup victory by the Iraqi team. And then I got to BT's page, and it just resonated within me, because I was thinking of someone else, someone who would have celebrated this victory with such gusto, had he been with us today. I was thinking of Cousin A, who watched the Asia Cup final in his aunt's house in the US, by himself, thousands of miles from his family. I'm sure he thought of how much funner it would have been had he been sitting in the middle of his father, cousins, brothers, watching the game, like he had watched hundreds of other games. I'm sure he wished he could have joined in his people's street celebrations. I'm sure he thought of his brother Bilal, and how he would have enjoyed this so much. All I could think about was how a few short months ago, after the elections in January, Bilal was joining in his political party's street celebrations. driving around with his friends, beeping their car horns, flying their flags. How he would have done the same today with Iraq's win in the Asia cup, beeping his car horns, flying his flag, popping his fire crackers... . Allah yirhamuh and all of Baghdad's martyrs. Bittersweet victory...