All About Perspective

In light of the events last week, I thought I should open with an update. Yes, there's a grill on the deck. Yes, the car is in the shop and I'm driving an automatic loaner...which is hard for this stick-shifter. But the bedding took an odd twist.

Along with the comforter, sheets, shams, and coverlet, those shining stars at Macy’s put a duvet and shams set into the bag. Which was very nice since the duvet was more than $200…except I neither wanted nor paid for a duvet. I only discovered this when my daughter-in-law and I unpacked the bag to make sure the color was right for the bedroom. (It is.)

Returning the errant duvet isn’t as easy as it sounds. You see, I would be asked for the receipt, which I have…but it lacks the right UPC code. The shining star would probably think I was trying to return it for cash and call in-house security. So rather than risk a scene, I headed off the whole mess by walking into Macy’s with the receipt and the duvet, went straight to the executive offices, and asked to see the store manager on duty. Fifteen minutes later, after a most pleasant conversation, I left with her thanks and a job offer…which I declined. Seems they need people with actual experience in that area. Thanks, but no thanks. Or, as Ziggy would say, "been there, done that, got the t-shirt."

But all of that became rather trivial after I sat down with Sunday’s New York Times. Two articles dominated: Islamists Flood Square in Cairo in Show of Strength and In Afghanistan, Rage at Young Lovers. I couldn’t get either of these out of my mind.

Pictures of Cairo’s Tahrir Square this week  didn’t look much different from the ones last winter, but this time, they weren’t protesting for intellectual, commercial, or personal freedom, they were advocating for the enactment of Sharia, law that would restrict more than it would encourage Egypt to emerge into the 21^st century. We’re not even talking about Muslim Brotherhood here; we’re talking Salafists who advocate for the Wahhabi school of Islam, the same version that runs Saudi Arabia. Instead of moving forward, this would send Egypt back a century or more. And support for this movement is growing rapidly.

Meanwhile, over in Afghanistan, two 17 year old kids from Herat were caught in a car by her family. A mob gathered, demanding their deaths, a riot erupted and people were killed, although not the kids. The boy is in prison, the girl is at home. Her father believes the family has been shamed. 

“'What we would ask is that the government should kill both of them,' said the father, Kher Mohammed.”

I cannot decide which is more gruesome…the crowd demanding their deaths, or the girl’s father. And just in case you’ve not heard enough, the family of a guy killed in the rioting told the girl’s father they would accept her as a bride payment for the life of the man killed in the riot.

Y’know what? We cannot help those kids. The elders of that country cannot be forced to change, and we cannot force them to stop honor killings. Yet, we continue to pour money, arms, and blood into Afghanistan to prop up a government that condones such behavior because that’s their way of life. At what point do we have to ask the question “is the fornicating we’re getting worth the fornicating we getting” when it comes to any intervention in the Islamic world.

It’s not just these two examples. Look at Syria. This weekend, Assad’s military stormed the city of Hama and scores of people were killed in what were reported to be peaceful demonstrations. The army opened fire on women and kids. What was their crime? Thinking?  Wanting a better level of existence for their families? Where are all the flotilla peace-niks for that one? Why aren't they sending a flotilla of aid to Syria? Or Afghanistan? Or Tahrir Square?

Just so you know no stone is left unturned, there were huge demonstrations in Israel this weekend calling for social justice. Israelis took to the street, and Israelis created street camps to block traffic in Tel Aviv. There was no army, no shooting, no riots... just a whole lotta people of all kinds protesting the cost of housing and things like education reform and health care. Kinda like Wisconsin. But joking aside; this should point up a major difference between Israel and her neighbors. Do I really have to spell it out?

Oh, I do? Okay, it's called F-R-E-E-D-O-M.
.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week:
 ~ to our Congress-persons ~

If you have federal health care, generous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays,
three weeks paid vacation, AND unlimited paid sick days,
maybe you should share it with those who have nothing left.