By Cathy Breen
Voices in the Wilderness
Baghdad

How upside down the world is. We have no telephone service here in our neighborhood. Should an accident occur, should someone need to talk urgently to a loved one or with someone across town, it is impossible to communicate. And yet here I sit writing at an Internet center near to our apartment. The people here are very kind to us, offering help whenever needed.

Yesterday my bag went missing in the early morning–everything dear to me gone in a moment! Except, thanks be to God, my passport and ticket. My calendar, notebook, phone numbers, digital camera, house key to apartment, ID, sunglasses–things I can’t do without–I am suddenly without. My only hope at their reappearing is that Ewa, who was on her way out to the south for a few days, may have grabbed my bag by mistake. Time will tell, but I can see by the effect this has had on me that there is a lesson in this.