Matt Willingham 
Heartbreaking. Saddening. Tragic. Awful.
After a quick search through my email’s trash I found these words scattered throughout our staff discussions about Fallujah.
Have you ever said or read a word so many times that it seems to lose its meaning? I’ve followed the situation in Fallujah closely for weeks now, hoping to understand how we can provide encouragement, relief, treatment for people there. But each headline feels a little less shocking than the one before it. Violence creeps closer to the norm, and media outlets unwittingly brand a city for generations to come: this place is violent, unsafe.
Thankfully, this video shook me out of that and forced me to remember that the way things are now isn’t the way they were or, most importantly, the way they’ll always be.
I know that because you sent our team to this exact location outside Fallujah General Hospital. We mingled, told jokes and took silly pictures with families in that courtyard, just a few feet from where that mortar struck.
We bought popsicles at the burned-out shop across the street, and I filmed flowers and traffic in this area that used to be buzzing with expectant moms and dads, sick children in tow.
When encouraged to leave, one doctor there said “…there is still 20% of the population in Fallujah; who will treat them if we left the hospital?” These doctors are risking their lives every day to care for injured civilians there. Please remember with us: there are families and friends—people you’ve helped us care for—in Fallujah who are trapped, scared, still waiting for relief. Thanks for looking past the violence and seeing people in need—we are grateful for you.
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