WWI+RAFT+G+Jenny

History RAFT Entry R – a ten year - old son of a WWI veteran (from Ottoman Empire) A – mostly himself F – diary entry T – the injustice of the imperial powers versus the colonial subjects Dear Diary, I think I have had enough of this nonsense. I just had supper with my seemingly content family and somehow the conversation drifted on from the dead mouse my little brother found in the plum pudding this morning to the political geography of Mosul – the country I consider myself now a part of. I guess the mouse had reminded my father of the life in the trenches back in the days of the Great War. He had told my brother and me all about it as well as the rats that pestered him and the other soldiers. And I know it wasn’t just rats that horrified them there. So you think that we would be happy for the war to be over. But alas not. I’d say we are, in fact, all very glad to have him back and we just hope that there would be no other factor in the future that would take him away but he himself does not really seem all that grateful that the war is over. I do not really comprehend that man’s mind either. So the discussion at the dinner table was becoming more paternally dominant by this point and he started to mention //les francaises// and the “Mandate System” that came with the Treaty of Versailles. He always becomes very furious about the fact that now we are no longer called the “Ottoman Empire” but “Mosul” by the French government. It always starts the same way: “You know Son, all of us used to be under the rule of one title for this nation. We were the Ottoman Empire and now there seems to be countless number of provinces and we don’t even classify ourselves into one now! Those despicable French! All those years of fighting! All those years!” Then it continues on with his monologue, and it is indeed a monologue, as I cannot bring myself to respond – not because I am ignorant of this matter but because I never have a chance to since my father does not really seem to stop for breath. I have a lot to say about the matter, in fact. Firstly, I do not understand why my father blames this on the French because it was not even their intention to mark this part of then Ottoman Empire as their territory after the War was over. In fact, they were mandated into this – as //clearly// stated by the name of the system – the Mandate System. I wonder how my father fails to see that it was quite a burden for France – as well as other nations that were involved in the War – I am ten years old and I understand it.I pity those nations. I must say that it would be rather burdensome if it were I in that situation. Imagine! You are finally done with the war that went for //years// and they //mandate// me take care of the losers. All those work you must put in! And they are trying so hard to improve this country so we become more like them. Wouldn’t this benefit Syria so much? We could be as strong as France! I do hope father sees some aspect of this sometime soon as he seems to be under some kind of belief that France is destroying this country while they are trying to actually make better of whatever remains of Ottoman Empire – the past. I must go to sleep now, the sun has set an //hour// ago. I am rather tired from finally spilling out my thoughts, which I had bottled in for a long while.