You don’t need me to tell you what a heartbreaking story Kevin Cullen offers us in today’s Boston Globe on the death of Rakan Hassan. I’ll just add this: the original series on Rakan, by Cullen and photographer Michele McDonald, was so moving, so deeply reported and deftly executed, that I’ve exposed several classes of journalism students to it.
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Awful. Not the way I’d planned to start my Sunday morning, but it surely wasn’t Rakan’s plan for the day either. The poor kid went through so much.
Rakan’s story is sad but speaks to the realities of that region. When I completed a military tour in Iraq, I was exposed to many other stories similar to his.It is important to realize that under the Sadaam’s regime, murders, rapes, and torture were utilized.
Though the whole story filled my soul with sorrow, the photo of Rakan dressed up like Spider Man, proudly holding his Spider Man doll literally brought tears to my eyes. This poor innocent kid, who had his parents murdered right in front of him, (and literally all over him), and who was paralyzed by the same attack, idolizing an athletic super hero that could run, jump, & climb. Just realizing the struggle & determination it took him to even walk at all again, and knowing the sad, tragic, & pointless ending of his tale, I just can't convey how it tears me apart. All I can say is that even though I've hated this war since before it started, Rakan's sad tale only reinforces my feelings a hundred fold.