Just a game of dominoes?

A few days ago, SGT Kellena Leech sent me a picture.  I immediately knew I was drawn to the picture, but I was not sure why.  I think that sometimes we have an subconscious attraction to  a thing and we don’t understand why until we take a minute of introspection.

She has asked me if the photo would qualify for a Public Affairs contest we have for the best stories, photos, TV and radio products, graphic arts, and special projects that support our mission in Iraq.  Although I liked the picture, I could not in good conscience say it met the submission criteria.  However, I did want to talk to her about the program, her picture and why I liked it.

I sat down with SGT Leech last night to do just that, and I was forced to put into words what had drawn me to it.   As I began to talk to her, the words about the picture began to come to me. 

“I think this picture is symbolic of a lot of things that we and the Iraqis are experiencing here,” I told her.  “Sometimes art says things that represent more than we think.”  I thought out the expression that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, but it seems a little too cliche.

The picture itself was taken a few weeks ago outside the Combined Press Information Center.  Most days the local Iraqi men who work the custodial and maintenance section here gather after lunch for a friendly game of dominoes.  They sit on an old picnic table that has seen better days.   The same could be said for the dominoes that they use — a little dirty and ragged around the edges, but they are the best that can be found.  That does not seem to both the men at the table.  They are making the best of what they have and the circumstances of their lives. 

“To me, that picture tells a story,” I explained to SGT Leech, thinking back to a class I had taken a couple years ago that focused on the use of metaphors to explain life.  “The table and the dominoes seem to be symbolic of Iraq today.  Things are a little ragged around here”.  I guess living through decades of oppression followed by six years of war and related violence can do that to a society — and its picnic tables. 

“Even the way those dominoes are placed says something to me,” I added.  “They seems to be just thrown onto the table without much precision.  You can see they are in the right place, but there is not much attention to detail.”  The same could probably be said about the way many things have happened over the past six years — we and the Iraqis have put things in a place hoping they would work, but they have not been precise.

The final symbol in all of it for me, and maybe the one that is most ironic, is that the story this photo tells is being told with dominoes.   They are keeping track of who the winner is , but this game is more than that.  The Iraqis may not have same expression that we do about “domino effect,” but it probably does not escape Americans.   It might be just a game, but if one falls, so goes many others. 

As I finished my conversation with SGT Leech, I left thinking about all the other things I see every day that are affecting me — things that I need to spend a little more time considering.   I thanked her for taking the picture and let her know it had a great impact of me. 

“Keep taking those pictures,” I told her.