DixieBedouin

Time

2011-09-07T14:57:00.000+03:00

What to do about time's evanescent nature? Shall we succumb, give up on attempting to catch its flying coat tails where we might have ridden into tomorrow in comfort, watching the events of the moments play out like a slow-moving dream?
It seems to be that the moments of my life have accelerated to such a point that there is not much room for enjoying the ride anymore. No way to kick back and take in the aroma of the flowers nor the pleasure of a languorous respite. Those days are long gone- misty memories from a childhood spent in boundless hours and days of adventure and happiness.
And so I wonder: do our children, all of our children have any moments like that? Do they have time when there are not responsibilities and deadlines looming? Are there times when they feel free to be themselves without the prying, judging eyes of their peers? Is there space for not caring about what brand of bag, shoes, or clothes that they wear?
I am worried about children in general but my own specifically. I don't know if there is a difference between time here and Kuwait. Do kids in the US have more or less time to live than in Kuwait? There are many more diversions in the US, and so I think that that could serve to either slow down or speed up time. There are more opportunities to have help in your homes and lives here in Kuwait, but does that help or hinder? So I wonder, is it that the measure of time is subjective, leaving some to relish and stretch out into its shadow, while others are spent and breathless in its vanishing vapor?

God and Evil

2011-08-14T17:29:00.000+03:00

Very nice

The Cultural Divide Surrounding Weekends

2010-11-17T09:06:00.004+03:00

Sometimes being an American living in Kuwait is more difficult than others. It's not always the overtly apparent things like clothing, driving, or restrictions on society that are hardest to get used to. For me, it has been the demands and or expectations of my time that are exhausting both mentally and emotionally. Of course I am only speaking as an American who is living here and married to a Kuwaiti because a non-tethered American wouldn't face these issues.

I don't want to complain a lack of time because it's not truly that; it is rather the sense of obligation attached to time and how it is spent. Take for example the weekend. I work the whole week, deal with the children's demands, plan meals, and other motherly duties, so when the weekend rolls around, I want to relax. I want to not have to worry about what I am wearing, throw on some jeans, and languor in the luxury of forty eight hours of 'free' time. What happens instead is: Thursday after work is "family time", not our little family, mind you, but Baba Oud's and the extended family. Ok, that is understandable, but then we have Friday where the time is divided between prayer and what time we can eke out to go have a dinner in the middle of the day together as our nuclear family. Then, Saturday rolls around and it is another day of extended family obligation, and then the weekend is over.

Many would say, and have, "Why don't you just not go?" To which my reply would be that I have missed many a family gathering, but my husband pays the price for it. They ask where I am, why I am not there, what is wrong with me, and make plenty of assumptions and inferences that are simply not true. The fact of the matter is that it is just a huge chasm of cultural difference that separates us revolving around the ways of spending down time. I get it. And I am not saying that my way is right and the other wrong. I just would like to have some peace from the continual knock knocking in my head of compulsion calling and me feeling like a jerk for not answering.

Being a Muslim Statistic

2010-11-16T14:56:00.001+03:00

This is an excellent essay on the current situation of Muslims esp. in the US, from his website Sandala Productions.

When You’re a Statistic - Hamza Yusuf

It’s been said that a liberal is just a conservative that hasn’t been mugged yet. Sometimes it takes something traumatic to wake us up to the realities of our situation, and to force us to rethink our beliefs and behaviors.

Americans are essentially civil and decent people and not prone to violent reactions, but now millions of Americans are being exposed to a profoundly radical and extremely distorted view of Islam, which is that 1) Islam is an evil religion; 2) it was born in the crucible of violence, and engenders violence in its followers; and 3) a significant number of American Muslims are actively working to undermine the government of this country, and to establish shariah law.

These ideas may sound outlandish and farfetched, but some of the major websites promoting such views get hundreds of thousands of visitors each month. The trouble with such misinformation is that when someone wants to learn about Islam and Googles, for instance, shariah law and women, they’re likely to see an image of a girl with her nose cut off. Worse yet, most of the top ten articles returned from such a search are not expository articles explaining what shariah actually is – they are articles propagating the idea that the shariah is evil.

Hence, even if people sincerely search for information about Islam, they are likely to get misinformation and anti-Islam propaganda. Moreover, even educated people are having a harder time sorting the wheat from the chaff, distinguishing what is accurate from what is propaganda against Islam. There are also a lot of very negative emails circulating on the Internet either misquoting Qur’an and hadith or quoting out of context.

In fact, if you walk into a bookstore today and simply browse under the subject of Islam, about half the books are anti-Muslim or written by apostates from Islam who actually hate Islam. If a person scans the shelves for a book on the Qur’an, the best looking book that catches their eye could very well be The Infidel’s Guide to the Koran, and so one starts to read it, and it distorts Islam using the sources of Islam, such as Qur’anic verses or hadith. The verses quoted are explained without historical context, and are used to distort the holistic message of the Qur’an.

It is easy to make Islam look like the most evil religion on the planet using quotations from primary sources. It is also easy to do the same with Christianity, Judaism, or any other world-religion, but most people, Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins notwithstanding, know that Judaism and Christianity are not evil. However, they do not know that about Islam because we have allowed other people to define Islam. Look in the bookstore sections about other religions, and you’ll see a vastly different set of books. For instance, you will find nothing negative about Judaism in the section on Judaism, and if you did, rest assured that major Jewish activist organizations would soon have a slew of volunteers writing to the publishers and the bookstores and have the book pulled from the shelves in record time. The Christian section is so vast as to overshadow the few titles that present Christianity in less than a positive light. Even the section on Wicca and Paganism comprises of titles mostly like, How I Found Inner Peace by Worshipping the Moon and How Satan Can Cure Your Migraines.

*** *** ***

When Alice is in Wonderland and questions Humpty Dumpty about his usage of words, he says, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”

Alice responds, “The question is whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

Humpty Dumpty replies, “The question is which is to be master – that’s all.” That is, which definition is going to be definitive?

When we say “Islam,” is it the beautiful religion of peace and spiritual elevation that sustains millions and millions of people during their journeys through life and inspires countless good deeds, or is it the violent, misogynistic, anachronistic medieval madness that is now infecting America?

When we say “jihad,” does it mean an honorable struggle for social justice and the internal struggle with our own selves against the ego, envy, pride, miserliness, and stupidity, and the universal right to defend one’s land or one’s home from aggressors, or does it mean brutally and barbarically chopping off heads, cutting off noses, lopping off ears, flogging women, or blowing up innocent people for simply not being part of the faith?

Who is going to define the words? Is it going to be every Tom, Dick, and Humpty Dumpty? Are we going to leave it for those who have passed through the looking glass and are living in Wonderland where black is white, up is down, and right is wrong, and where, like the queen reminds Alice, “Sentence first – verdict afterward” is how things work? Who is going to decide?

This unrelenting and hateful messaging is taking an effect over time. We can see this in the changes in public views of Islam. In polls taken immediately after 9-11, most people did not have a negative view of Islam. That has changed dramatically now. The majority of people in the United States do have negative views of Islam now. This is because the people who want to propagate that narrative have been working hard. They have been funding organizations, funding the publication of books, getting anti-Muslim messages on TV shows, and in general, they have been the only voices heard by most Americans. Muslims have been sleeping through this, or else simply watching in horror as the propaganda takes hold.

Here is what happens. Most people out there who do not like Islam or have a negative view of it are not going to do much, as most people mosey along through life and do not think about much other than their own concerns and preoccupations. However, talk-show hosts, editorial writers – what Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point calls “mavens, connectors, and influencers” – are reading the negative books on Islam that are best sellers, such as Islamic Infiltration; Muslim Mafia; Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerable Religion; Infidel’s Guide to the Qur’an; Why I am Not a Muslim; Infidel; Islamic Invasion – and a lot of these books are being sent to congresspersons and senators. The majority of people in this country do not read books or even newspapers, but many watch Fox News. They listen to talk-show hosts. They listen to Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Bill O’Reilly. And these pundits have access to millions of Americans and for many of them, this is the only view of Islam they’re getting.

Now, you have some media figures, such as Keith Olbermann, who do attempt to present another view, but he and those like him are more often than not preaching to the choir. You also have court jesters who can speak the truth without losing their heads, such as Jon Stewart, and millions tune in to such programs, but such audiences are considered either pinheads or potheads according to the other camp. These shows do not reach the large segment of Americans who are conservatives (or even moderates) and who need to hear a different and more accurate portrayal of Islam. I don’t want to be Manichean about this, as many of the right-wing voices also address other issues that are necessary to address and are often ignored by the left. They are not hearing any counter voices because we have not made strategic alliances in the conservative community.

According to a recent study, over 50 percent of Evangelicals believe that people outside of Christianity can go to heaven, but only 34 percent of that same group believes that Muslims can go to heaven. There are millions of people out there who think that all Muslims are hell bound.

Among that segment of society, there are people whom the Qur’an terms sufahah. These are the fools, the idiotic people – the jahilun: people of ignorance, impetuousness, and zealotry. Every community has such people in it. The Muslims have them; the Jews have them; the Christians have them; the secular humanists have them. Every community has sociopaths or irrational people who may even slit the throat of a Bengali taxi driver because he said, “Yes, I am a Muslim.” Those people are going to be empowered increasingly. And people are more susceptible to new villains during times of economic hardship. As the unemployment rate rises and crimes increase, and people are looking for new targets for their aggression, why not a Muslim? Already, we’ve had “Burn the Qur’an Day” – will it be “Mug a Muslim Day” next?

*** *** ***

Our choices are clear. We can sit here and watch all that is happening and think that things are fine. We can think to ourselves, “My neighbors are fine; everybody is nice to me at work.” But if that is what you think, you are living in a bubble. And your bubble is about to burst. I have been watching a trend that is getting worse and worse. And if something is not done, if there is nothing done to countervail, no other mitigating force, things are headed in a dangerous direction. Newton’s law of physics applies here as well: Bodies at rest will remain at rest, and bodies in motion will remain in motion, unless acted upon by an external force.

We have a body of messaging in motion, and it is hateful, it is effective, it is well-financed, and it is having its impact on opinions that were at rest before 9-11. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, “Civil strife is asleep, and may God curse the one who wakens it.” This hadith indicates that calamities are waiting to happen, and people’s passions are easily aroused. This is a recurring phenomenon over the ages and all around the world. Just ask a Bosnian refugee in America how his Serbian neighbors turned on him and his family after being friends for all their lives. This happened through a powerful and violent campaign of propaganda waged by Serbian nationalists allied with certain extreme elements in the Orthodox Church. The result was tragic, but people thought then as we do now: that could never happen here.

Unless there is another force out there to counter this, Muslims are going to wake up in a very different America, an America that has drifted far from its own admirable and noble ideals, and they are going to wonder what happened.

What happened was that you were asleep. Just like people slept before. People forget that the 1920’s in Germany was one of the most liberal periods. But there was hyperinflation, high unemployment, a lot of social problems, and before they knew it, they democratically elected fascists into power. The fascists did not seize power; they were democratically elected. Right now, we have several angry and hateful candidates in close races in the House and the Senate and even governorships. You can say, “Oh, well, they are only a handful of people.” But this is how it starts. And in hard times, people turn to demagogues. And they are waiting in the wings.

I plan on writing next about what Muslims can and should do to counter this wave of anti-Islam propaganda.

For You, S.M.

2010-08-16T05:49:00.003+03:00

Little girl lost,
and you are not so little anymore:
the world is a scary place,
that which smiles and calls your name is not
necessarily your friend
and just maybe
your path is a little more fraught with blind spots,
pot holes, and
icy patches.
But you have always marched to
your own beat.
And you have always lived in
a kingdom in your mind.

It is time to put on the eyes that will make the blueprint.
It is time to find your patch of earth.
It is time to gather your provisions.
It is time to start piecing together
your tomorrow.

The sun is just
coming
up.

Wow

2010-07-14T22:23:00.004+03:00

I just had an epiphany. This stanza by Rilke has been a part of my heart for so long; on an inexplicable level, it has resonated with me. Today, as I was reading Hamza Yusuf's blog, I was struck by the hadith below that conjured in my mind a similar profoundly moving image. I wonder if anyone else sees it?

Who has twisted us around like this, so that no matter what we do, we are in the posture of someone going away? Just as, upon the farthest hill, which shows him his whole valley one last time, he turns, stops, lingers--, so we live here, forever taking leave.
-Rainer Maria Rilke-

According to a beautiful hadith, the Prophet, God bless and grant him peace, said that on the Last Day, when the last two souls are brought forth before God, they are both condemned to hell. As the angels escort them to their final fiery abode, one of them wistfully looks back. Thereupon, God commands the angels to bring him back and asks the man why he turned back. The man replies, “I was expecting something else from you.” God responds, commanding the angels, “Take him to My Garden.”

Excerpt from Hamza Yusuf's blog

Injustice Cannot Defeat Injustice

2010-07-14T21:59:00.001+03:00

Life Right Now

2010-06-30T22:30:00.002+03:00

I am in the US for the summer now, and I notice that I seem to write more on my blog when I am away from Kuwait. I think that is for many reasons like starting a new job, but perhaps the biggest one is that I am just now coming out of a culture shock daze. The funny thing is I haven't experienced culture shock for the reasons that most people would expect of an American living in the Middle East. It is the day-to-day stuff that hits me most: driving, common courtesies differences, communication style differences, employee/employer expectations, etc.

It is not my intention to expound on the many ways that life has changed, is challenging or difficult, or to illustrate these points with many images of the absurdities of my life. This would only feed into the common misconception that 'they' are different from 'us' theories. What is more interesting to me is the level of acceptance and peace that I have arrived at today. Make no mistake, I am still frustrated on a daily basis about the aforementioned issues, but after the dust of the frenetic first few years has finally settled and a pattern of life has emerged and crystallized, I have to admit that there are many benefits of living in the Middle East that surpass living in the US.
And I can honestly say now that my decision to go there with my family has proved to be a good one.

Consequences of Muslims Targeting Civilians

2010-06-29T22:34:00.002+03:00

People in the West who misunderstand Islam and Muslims continually are often asking where is the condemnation of terrorist activities supposedly perpetuated in the name of Islam. This is a great essay about the issue written by an American convert to Islam.

Consequences of Muslims Targeting Civilians

By Imam Zaid on 06 May 2010

This essay, written in the immediate aftermath of the failed New York City bomb attempt [1], will examine some of the theological implications of Muslims violating civilian immunity. I have written elsewhere why attacks against innocent civilians are in opposition to fundamental teachings of Islam. Unfortunately, there are some Muslim ideologues that sanction such actions and a growing number of Muslim civilians and noncombatants are being killed by their coreligionists, in Iraq, Afghanistan [2], and elsewhere. For these reasons, the argument that follows is more than merely hypothetical.

Western military commanders, politicians and philosophers who have sanctioned the widespread bombing of civilian populations –owing to the industrialization of war and its being wedded with nationalist ideology during the 19th and 20th centuries- realize that their actions involve a dangerous moral leap. The following passage from Phillip Meilinger’s work on the moral implications of modern warfare illustrates this point:

The Fall of France in 1940 left Britain alone against Germany. The ensuing Battle of Britain, culminating in the Blitz, left England reeling. Surrender was unthinkable, but it could not retaliate with its outnumbered and overstretched army and navy. The only hope of hitting back at Germany and winning the war lay with Bomber Command. But operational factors quickly demonstrated that prewar factors [emphasizing precision bombing of military objectives] had been hopelessly unrealistic. …Aircrew survival dictated night area attacks, and, in truth, there was little alternative other than not to attack at all. Moral constraints bowed to what was deemed military necessity, which led air leaders down a particularly slippery slope. [3]

That slippery slope led to wanton massacres of civilians that were unprecedented in history and they culminated in the nuclear incineration of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Muslims who would sanction gross violations of civilian immunity, owing to strategic desperation, are entering on a similarly slippery slope. However, there is a huge difference between the norms that govern western strategic thinking and those defined by Islam. Namely, western norms are socially constructed while those defined by Islam have their origin in revelation –the latter as understood by Muslims. Hence, from a Muslim perspective, and that perspective is critical for the argument we are making, western norms are subject to change with changes in social, political, economic and especially technological considerations, while Islamic norms are transcendent. [4]

The idea of total war, which holds that there is no distinction between the combatant and noncombatant elements of an enemy population, and that both groups can legitimately be targeted by an armed force, is ancient. The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), as documented by Thucydides, involved both the mobilization of entire populations for the war effort and likewise the eradication of entire populations, such as the inhabitants of Milos. During the Middle Ages, the Mongol invasion of the Muslim heartland of Asia could be described as a campaign of total warfare that left unimaginable death and destruction in its wake.

The existence of total war campaigns during early historical periods is accompanied by efforts to extend immunity from violent conflicts to civilians. Plato, various Roman philosophers, Medieval Christian theologians, orders of knights and in the early modern period, theorists such as Francisco de Victoria and Hugo Grotius all advocated various degrees of civilian immunity from the scourges of war.

In the western intellectual tradition, thinking surrounding this idea during various historical epochs was associated with prevailing views of just and unjust actions as well as the self-interest of relevant societal actors, as opposed to clear and deeply rooted scriptural pronouncements. This was true even among Christians. Hence, we do not see meaningful discussions on limiting the destructiveness of war among Christian theologians until the 4th Christian Century with the work of St. Augustine.

In Europe, changing conditions and circumstances have led to changing positions on the issue of civilian immunity. For much of the latter Middle Age the prevailing European views were dominated by ideas emerging from the Catholic Church’s Peace of God movement, and the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. The advent of the nation-state in the aftermath of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 would introduce a new epistemology to govern thinking around strategic affairs, even though Medieval Christian thinking still informed attitudes and policies related to civilian immunity, at least until the French and Industrial Revolutions.

These nearly simultaneous developments led to the idea that the civilian infrastructure needed to support a modern war effort was so essential to its successful prosecution that it transformed civilians into combatants. As a result, beginning with the Napoleonic Wars and the American Civil War, conflicts in the West would witness the erosion of civilian immunity –at least until the aftermath of the World War Two.

Unlike the situation prevailing in non-Muslim lands, the idea of civilian immunity among Muslims has been rooted in clear scriptural pronouncements from the prophetic epoch. Qur’anic passages establishing the sanctity of innocent life (Q. 5:32) and not expanding hostilities to noncombatants (Q. 2:190) coupled with prophetic strictures against killing women, children, monks, and other noncombatants created the basis for a strong and enduring Muslim ethic governing civilian immunity. Although there have clearly been instances when some Muslim rulers and commanders have not respected that ethic, it has generally remained a restraining factor throughout Muslim history. [5]

Among its greatest fruits has been the existence of large non-Muslim populations in historical Muslim empires, the general lack of forced conversion of non-Muslim populations, a lack of genocidal massacres undertaken by Muslim armies [6], and the peaceful coexistence of Muslims and other faith communities in areas such as Andalusia, Bosnia, Palestine and Iraq, historically.

As changing geopolitical and technological realities dictate changes in the norms governing the intentional targeting of civilians in western strategic thinking, there is no inherent damage to the integrity of western secular thought. Indeed, the socially constructed nature of those norms only serves to reinforce the secularity of the process whereby they are arrived at and the analytical methods governing their assessment. This is not the case for the transcendental Islamic ideal governing civilian immunity. When it is abandoned by Muslims, a critical aspect of the religion itself in abandoned.

As Dr. Tim Winter (Abdul Hakim Murad) [7], expanding the work of John Gray [8] and others, argues, when that abandonment occurs in the modern context, it is precisely because the transcendental Islamic ideal has been forsaken or lost. Muslims who target civilians are robbed of any moral high ground in their struggle with opposing forces and are left naked before the bitter winds of political expediency. If expediency demands suicidal murder, bombs in mosques and marketplaces or in the heart of western cities then in the view of those who have entered upon this vile path, so be it.

At the heart of the Islamic ethic regarding the sanctity of innocent life is the following verse in the Qur’an, alluded to earlier:

Owing to that [first instance murder] we ordained for the Children of Israel that whosever takes an innocent life for other than retribution for murder or murderous sedition in the land it is as if he has killed all of humanity, and whoever saves a life it is as if he has saved all of humanity. Our Messengers have come to them with clear proofs, yet even after that many of them exceed limits in the land.[9] (Q. 5:32)
من أجل ذلك كتبنا على بني إسرائيل أنه من قتل نفسا بغير نفس أو فساد في الأرض فكأنما قتل الناس جميعا و من أحياها فكأنما أحيا الناس جميعا و لقد جاءتهم رسلنا بالبينات ثم إن كثيرا منهم بعد ذلك في الأرض لمسرفون

This verse emphasizes that the immunity extended to innocents is a principle that was upheld by all of the Prophets. Hence, the specific mention of the Children of Israel, who were the recipients of a long line of Prophets, and the mentioning of the Messengers at the end of the verse.

The idea that to discard the immunity that is extended to innocents is to abandon an indispensible part of the divine law is emphasized by Imam al-Qurtubi in his commentary on this verse (Q. 5:32). He states:

The meaning is that whoever makes it lawful to take the life of a single innocent person has made everyone’s life lawful, because he has rejected the divine law [establishing the prohibition of killing innocents] [10].
المعنى أن من استحل واحدا فقد استحل الجميع لأنه أنكر الشرع

Abandoning the divine law when one makes the blood of innocent people lawful to shed is emphasized from a deeper perspective by Imam Fakruddin al-Razi in his commentary on the same verse. He states:

When he [a murderer] resolves to intentionally kill an innocent person he has given preference to the dictates of his bloodlust and anger over the dictates of obeying God. When this prioritization occurs, in his heart he has resolved to kill anyone who opposes his demands, were he capable of doing so. [11]
أنه لما أقدم على القتل العمد العدوان فقد رجح داعية الشهوة و الغضب على داعية الطاعة و متى كان الأمر كذلك كان هذاالترجيح حاصلا بالنسبة إلى كل واحد فكان في قلبه أن كل أحد نازعه من مطالبه فإنه لو قدر عليه لقتله

The murderous campaigns undertaken by some misguided Muslims that have led to the massacre of thousands of civilians in the Muslim world and that are now threatening the innocent people in this country are not manifestations of Jihad, as some claim. Rather, they are a mirror image of the godless murderous mayhem and carnage this country has inflicted on the innocent civilians of many Muslim countries, and, as explained above, it involves an abandonment of the prophetic legacy.

Every Muslim who is concerned for the future of his or her faith and the future of the prophetic legacy in the world is morally obliged to work in whatever capacity he or she can to stop attacks that target innocent civilians by any party –Muslims or members of other communities. The basis for this moral obligation is powerfully stated by Imam Razi in his commentary on (5:32). He mentions:

If all of humanity knew that a single individual intends to exterminate them they would undoubtedly try their utmost to prevent him from obtaining his objective. Likewise, if they knew that he intends to kill a single person then their seriousness and exertion in trying to deter him from killing that person should be just as great as it would be in preventing their own mass murder. [12]
هو أن جميع الناس لو علموا من إنسان واحد أنه يقصد قتلهم بأجمعهم فلا شك أنهم يدفعونه دفعا لا يمكنه تحصيل مقصوده فكذلك إذا علموا منه أنه يقصد قتل إنسان واحد معين يجب أن يكون جدهم واجتهادهم في منعه عن قتل ذلك الإنسان مثل جدهم واجتهادهم في الصورة الأولى

The reason for this is that the life of a single innocent person has the sanctity of the lives of all humanity. This is an ideal we cannot let die. If we allow it to die who will revive it? Human history has shown how quickly we can begin a free fall into murderous madness once we have entered upon the path that justifies murdering innocent civilians and other noncombatants. If the American military and the warmongering interests supporting it are guilty in this regard we condemn them in the strongest terms, and if our fellow Muslims are guilty we must likewise condemn them.

The only difference between the two cases is that when the American military kills innocent civilians it is violating principles of human rights and worldly conventions, which, as we have seen with the current arguments justifying torture, are subject to change or being discarded altogether. When Muslims do it, we are betraying our faith and the legacy of the Prophets, peace upon them, who have left us a wealth of timeless, enduring wisdom.

Notes:
[1] I am not assuming that Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American who has been arrested in association with this bomb plot is guilty. The investigation is ongoing and his guilt has yet to be established. The affair does provide an occasion to discuss the issues that are raised in this essay.
[2] This statement does not discount the existence of black or psychological operations that are undertaken against Muslim civilians by the security apparatuses of Western powers at war in the Muslim world, along with their agents and surrogates. However, it is undeniably true that an increasingly large number of the attacks against Muslim noncombatants are being undertaken by Muslims themselves.
[3] Quoted in Ward Thomas, The Ethics of Destruction: Norms and Force in International Relations (Ithaca, London: Cornell University Press, 2001), 90.
[4] The transcendental nature of Muslim norms does not deny the human effort that went into translating those norms into policy. Hence, like their medieval Christian scholastic counterparts, Muslim theologians struggled to define the scope and limits of civilian immunity.
[5] For an insightful study of the generally peaceful nature of Islam’s spread among non-Muslim peoples, and its respect for them see Professor Thomas Arnold, The Spread of Islam in the World: A History of Peaceful Preaching (New Delhi: Goodword Books, 2001).
[6] The most notable exception to this assertion is the Armenian Genocide that occurred in Ottoman Turkey in 1915. This controversial tragedy occurred during the waning years of a Muslim world governed by a viable Islamic tradition, and after Turkey had been transformed into a nationalist, quasi Islamic state led by the Young Turks. By that time, the Sultan was a powerless figurehead. For most of the Ottoman reign Armenians were a self-governing minority that enjoyed the protection of the rulers in Istanbul.
[7] See Abdal-Hakim Murad, Bombing Without Moonlight: The Origins of Suicidal Terrorism (Bristol, England: Amal Press, 2008). Murad convincingly demonstrates how Muslims who engage in wanton attacks against civilians are merely extensions of a deeply-rooted history of such violence in western civilization. Likewise, he shows how Muslims who would justify such violence openly reject the Islamic tradition of patience and restraint in strategic affairs.
[8] See John Gray, Al Qaeda and What It Means To Be Modern (New York: The New Press, 2005). Gray argues that the philosophy of al Qaeda owes more to the positivism of Saint-Simon and Comte than to any traditional Islamic influences, and its organizational structure is a reflection of 21st Century globalization.
[9] Their exceeding limits lies in the continuation of their murderous ways.
[10] Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Qurtubi, al-jami’ li ahkam al-Qur’an (Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, 1995), 3:147
[11] Muhammad b. ‘Umar Fakhruddin al-Razi, mafatih al-ghayb (Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, 1995), 4:344
[12] Ibid., 4:344

Blind Drivers????!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-23T10:55:00.003+03:00

Ok, now I thought I had lost the ability to be shocked about driving in Kuwait...thought I was fairly well aware of the hazards, but I admit I am completely dumbfounded and unnerved by the thought of BLIND DRIVERS!!!!! WTH?!

'Blind drivers' on Kuwait's roads

Published Date: January 23, 2010

KUWAIT: A number of blind or nearly-blind people in Kuwait are reportedly still allowed to drive, despite their visual impairments being classified as 'severe' by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor's (MSAL) medical committee.

One MSAL official said that although some of the individuals are receiving social benefits on the basis of their visual disabilities, the ministry sees them as 'healthy handicapped' and allows them to retain their driving licenses and drive unaided, reported Al-Rai. The MSAL official said that he holds the Higher Council for Disability Affairs wholly accountable for this situation since it has sole responsibility for issuing driving licenses for the disabled through its medical committee.

Suppose that the doctors made a mistake in diagnosing the medical condition?" the official said. "Why doesn't the traffic committee not check the names of the 'healthy handicapped' in coordination with the Ministry of Interior to ensure their information is correct? The traffic committee is not pro-active and hasn't played its proper role.

Family, Time, and Life

2010-01-15T09:11:00.004+03:00

I have been a spectator to time's evanescent nature, as my parent's visit came and went so expediently that I was never able to settle into the luxury of their stay.
It was the first time that they came to visit that I was working and unable to spend the entire time with them. My only hope is that it was beneficial for them to not have anything to do and therefore be forced to just relax. It was a strange turn of events to have me going off to work and my father at home. Reminds me of the Cat's in the Cradle song.
I think at some point, it would be really nice to move closer in towards the city. We are just too far away to make going out any pleasure at all. The driving is still hair-raising, and I fear that I may get in trouble someday with my 'expressive' nature. Although, I have held myself back from using any American, quickly recognizable gestures, and have chosen instead more colorful Italian ones. :)
Anyway, life keeps playing regardless of its players, which could seem cruel and indifferent at times, but I find it permissive instead. I think that that essence is what sometimes encourages me to duck out because I recognize that quality in this life and sometimes view my participation as detached. Of course, in reality I know that it is not, that however tenuous my connection to the world is, my connection to its inhabitants, namely my family is not. Further, I know that my footprint in their lives and hearts is indelible, much as my families' are in my own. And that which might seem a simple act: a hug, smile, or acknowledgment at a tender moment, lives on beyond my delicate tether.
Thank you to my family, all of you, for being my teammates, for keeping me grounded, and for etching into my life some beautiful memories.

Positive Things

2009-12-02T17:55:00.004+03:00

Lately I have felt hopeful due to several things I have discovered in Kuwait. First, is the two recycling groups: MRC and Green Target (their website is not up, but this is their contact info). Additionally, I received this sms from a friend:

"Friends, please come to the green rally on Saturday, December 5th from
10am to 11:30am. Wear green and support the peaceful cause to keep
reasonable hedges and stop cutting down Kuwait’s trees. The Green
Rally will be held in West Mishref, across from the Australian college
facing the Mishref Fair Grounds. Bring the kids!"

I can feel a groundswell of awakening about environmental concerns in Kuwait. It is exciting and encouraging indeed.

*Update* I am sorry to say that I have to deflate my bubble a bit. After trying to contact both of the above companies about their services, I am sad to report that neither of them have replied to my queries. I guess they are still working on company structure?

Thanks and Eid

2009-11-26T14:41:00.002+03:00

I have been talking to my students lately about doing something with their lives that would make a difference in the world. We have been watching news videos about people who have done seemingly small things that have had large effects. I recently came across an effort to do just that. And the link here is for Global Giving and specifically dealing with helping Palestinian children. Please check it out and pass it on.

Negative Phenomena aka It

2009-11-21T10:41:00.003+03:00

OOOoooOooooo... 'negative phenomena' has such a cryptic, spooky sound to it.
Perhaps that is indeed the intent for calling *it* so, for what, in actuality, is this phenomena anyway?
Whatever *it* is the government is looking at trying to study *it*, contain *it*, and fix *it*.
*It* has been accredited with the demise of the society and the backtracking in the country's development.
Indeed, if we could only pin *it* down and censor *it* , then we could once again start progressing.
Alas, I fear that if we keep looking without
for the elusive *it*,
we will fail to see the *it*
of our own makings
from
within.

"Indonesian maid ban an 'insult' to Kuwait"...If the Shoe Fits...

2009-10-31T16:54:00.002+03:00

Hellloooooo????? Why worry so much about Kuwait's reputation if there is a VALID concern that needs to be addressed. I mean, don't worry about what earrings you are going to wear if you're naked!
Ever wonder why there are so many careless, clueless maids "falling" off the balconies of their sponsors' houses? Or why there are so many maids running away seeking asylum in their respective embassies?
Again, I will say, if the shoe fits people, if the shoe fits!

Extended Hiatus-No End in Sight

2009-10-24T18:54:00.002+03:00

I suppose when one starts working again, whatever synchronicity one previously, maybe mistakenly supposed that one had, is totally upset, overturned. I am not operating under any delusions here, and I have not thoroughly convinced myself that I indeed had anything in sync, but hindsight has me waxing nostalgic.
Setting foot back in the classroom, even if it is one that is across many waters and lands, is a familiar, wonderful, if not overwhelming experience. I love the expectant, anxious faces that await me on day one. I too, am beset by a multitude of competing feelings, leaving me slightly nauseated, although I hope, not visibly so.
I have been pleasantly surprised that my college students have been most welcoming and interested, for the most part, in me and what we are embarking on in this class. Sure, there are some cultural differences that can be at the same time, intriguing, frustrating, perplexing, and maddening. I would even venture that they might say the same of me.
First of all, 'tardy', what the heck is that? And forget about homework; they just ain't having it. Most of all, don't even think about wrenching the most beloved of possessions, the Blackberry, from their grasps; it is a task too monumental for mere mortals to achieve.
Beyond all of that they are wonderful, endearing, and charming young people.
I really can't complain at all.

Yale Criticized for Not Publishing Controversial Cartoons

2009-09-08T13:06:00.003+03:00

So the Danish cartoons rear their ugly heads again, but this time it is in the US and at Yale. Yale University decides not to include these cartoons in a publication about the ensuing violence triggered by the original cartoons' debut. They have consequently been roundly criticized as being cowards, due to the fact that Yale has listed fear of violence as a reason for not printing them.

What really bothers me about this all, aside from the cartoons themselves, is the fact that people could not accept how offensive and disgusting these cartoons are to millions of people around the world and then have that be the reason for not airing them again. I hate that the fear of violence is the only reason for not printing them. I hate that they were printed in the first place, and I hate that people reacted in such a way as to give the cartooner's intent a wrongly perceived and placed validity.

Congrats Women!

2009-05-19T20:46:00.002+03:00

What does it mean to Kuwait to have women in the government? Actually, what does it mean in any government? I think there is reason to hope. All of the things that I have complained about could be addressed with women in power (education, environment, lawlessness, etc.). Not that men can't address the issues, rather that they haven't. Too much testosterone seems to lead to progress constipation, so my hope is that the women will be true to their nature and give this country some long needed nurturing.
I know, I know, not all women are the same, but let's face it, that is what we need here in Kuwait, a mother's eye for prioritizing, organizing, and getting things accomplished!

Prioritize: Who is really Influential?

2009-05-18T16:28:00.002+03:00

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip. You don’t have to actually answer the questions.Just read the e-mail straight through, and you’ll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of Miss America .

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people with whom you enjoy spending time.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.

Perhaps the Truth about Swine Flu

2009-04-30T11:20:00.001+03:00

Interesting background and not so available information about this global worry -click on the link for more to the story of the Swine Flu....

What is Being Said About Cleanliness in Kuwait

2009-04-12T08:26:00.004+03:00

Judging just by what is being said in Kuwait Times, it is apparent that there is a big disconnect between the powers that be here, and reality!

Mahboula residents suffer from municipality's negligence

...Driving on these roads is damaging to the cars," said Metwali, an Egyptian expat who lives in Mahboula with his family. "The area is filled with garbage and it isn't taken care of. When we the residents asked about it, we were told that the cleaning company's contract has expired. This didn't make sense to us; how come the health and safety of the residents can be dependent on a contract with some cleaning company? Did any officials ever check before the contact ended? This isn't a simple matter than can be neglected this easily.(...)

Municipality hosts 'To Make Kuwait Clean' workshop

The Kuwait Municipality held a workshop titled, 'To Make Kuwait Clean' at its premises yesterday. During the workshop, different issues like the renewing the contracts of cleaning companies were discussed. "The level of cleanliness in Kuwait is excellent, so we always aim at making Kuwait more beautiful," said Dr. Fadhil Safar, Minister for Municipality Affairs and Public Works during the workshop.(...)

Special needs children clean Salmiya marine environment

...The activity also aimed to increase the public's general awareness about the dangers associated with pollution on coastal and marine environments. It also aimed to teach children with disabilities about volunteer work and serving society by adopting good habits that include keeping the environment they live in clean.(...)

How a Government is Like a Parent

2009-02-12T14:57:00.002+03:00

So I got to thinking...I hear all the time, being an American, how the US doesn't treat its citizens the same way that Kuwait does.
"Kuwait takes care of its people better than you do in the US," they say.
After hearing variations on this theme again an again, I found myself reflecting on the notion of 'taking care of' and all of its connotations.

I grew up an educator's child, and this afforded me a view into a world that was at once mine and also not. Being part of a world of highly privileged people and in some ways being one myself, just not to the level of some of my counterparts, I became an adept observer of life.
So many of my good friends worked diligently to get the highest grades, participate in athletics and extra-curricular activities, and generally polish themselves into well-rounded, educated, cultured people.
There were some other of my friends, however, who coasted along not worrying too much about their grades or their future, for that matter. For them, their family dynasty was awaiting, and they needn't be bothered so much about the interim; they knew they would be taken care of.

In the end, after college, where some friends attended 'A' list and some 'C' list, and the early learning years of careers, both types of my friends ended up as 'successful' people, meaning that they were still a part of the economically privileged. Often they ended up living in the same neighborhoods, driving the same cars, having children in the same private schools, and being members of the same country clubs, but owing to the decidedly different modes of arriving at that point, some inherent difference between the two types of people must exist. How is this difference manifest, and is it significant? My short answer to that question is a decided yes.

And here is where my analogy starts to come into play. You see, my friends who were never encouraged to worry about developing and educating themselves never evolved that much and remained much as they were in high school: self-involved, self-serving and inward-looking people. That is not to say that they weren't nice people, but they just never got much beyond their own little world and their own needs. I also noticed that they carried a dependence on their family into their adult years that rendered them juvenile in many ways.

My other friends who worked hard to get where they were understood the value of hard work, and that there are many ways of solving a problem. They had a sense of accomplishment that could never be given to them by anyone. In short, they had evolved; they had come across a problem, set a course to tackle it, and they had achieved their goal. They had learned that they could stand on their own two feet.

The funny thing is, both kinds of friends had loving, well-meaning parents, whose only goal, I feel sure, was to take care of their children. And there are many ways to skin a cat, so to speak, but in the end, what is most beneficial to the survival of a species, is to produce productive, contributing, creative, compassionate individuals who can do something to make the world a better place to live in, if even in only some small way.
It ultimately falls to the parent to decide what is the best way to encourage such an outcome.

One Thing That Kuwait Needs Most

2009-02-08T23:18:00.002+03:00

Why can't Kuwait have a police force that is effective? I don't think I have ever seen anyone getting pulled on the highway. Many are the times that I wish I could become a police officer and pull some of these idiots who fly down the highway with absolutely NO regard for human life. Also, I would love to slap a fine on the jerks who toss their trash so casually from their cars.
Maybe, Kuwait could contract the job out and get some police that would be able to enforce the laws here. I truly think that if there was effective law enforcement here, then you could get so much accomplished in the way of straightening this country out. Heck, you could impose labor punishment for violators of littering. Imagine how embarrassed ol' 'Bader' would be to have to don an orange work suit and pick trash up along the highway.
And why is it that other Gulf countries don't seem to have the same problems with respecting their own countries and their respective laws? Why don't people here get enraged about having to live in all of this trash...and where is the government?????????????????????

Killing My Laundry

2009-01-12T13:33:00.003+03:00

Does anyone know what the heck is wrong with the water in Kuwait? And if so, how to remedy it? I am so sick of the water killing the colors in our laundry. All of the colors fade and the cotton pills (makes small balls). I don't think it is the detergent because we have tried all of the different kinds and nothing helps. I am assuming that either there is too much chlorine or the water is too hard...I don't know...anyone?

A New Holocaust

2009-01-07T09:25:00.003+03:00

Well, I will say it. I am so disgusted, horrified, and enraged by the way Israel arrogantly flaunts their wealth and military might over a subjugated people, by the way they blatantly lie about the murder and genocide that they are perpetrating. And this is NOT about religion. This is about an EVIL agenda.
Is there a real difference between them and the Nazis? No, there isn't. Why did we always learn about the Holocaust in school?.....Oh yeah, because we don't want it to be repeated....hmmm. Never forget. Never forget.
Maybe somebody didn't quite get that there are other people in the world just as important as they who deserve to live in dignity just as much as they do.
If we remain quiet, we are complicit, and I am not complicit. I will not be cowered by the fear of being called 'anti-semetic'.
Hello, the Arabs are semites too!!!!

I will NEVER forget seeing Ehud Olmert on Nightline, when he was the 'mayor' of Jerusalem. He told Ted Kopel, and I paraphrase, that the Palestinian people were 'not the same as you and me' they were 'different'. I was so happy when Ted got visibly maddened and told him that they were indeed the same and that their mothers and fathers wanted their children to have a chance at life and safety too.
I shuddered and thought, if someone like that ever got a larger audience, he could be really dangerous....

May God help the oppressed all over the world.
Ameen

Our Wake Up Call

2009-01-04T16:33:00.000+03:00

Every now and then something happens that wakes us from a somnambulant state and forces us to see the world around us.
Sometimes it is a personal tragedy: the death of a loved one, the sickness of a friend, the dissolution of a marriage that was deemed idyllic.
And other times it is the rumblings of the world around us which tell us, all is not right.
This may manifest as natural disasters, societal discord, epidemics, etc.
What does it take, though, for a collective stirring, a wake-up call for the masses?
Does life have to smack us personally in the face before we take notice of suffering around us?
Too often we feel insulated and removed from the incident. Too often we feel lethargic, apathetic. So often we feel that when the television goes blank, so follows the world.
But lives continue to be destroyed; children are killed, or orphaned, or hungry; people are praying with their last breaths for their family's safety; and we, we sleep on...
But try as many may to ignore the suffering of those whom some even consider insignificant, it will come back to haunt them.
Indeed, it will come to haunt us all.
For, although the hand may remain complacently still, the heart is indelibly imprinted upon, and will circulate the bereft mothers' cries into an empty night,
until no one is left sleeping.

God help us to help; help us to care.
Ameen

Time Keeps on Slipping...

2008-12-31T13:06:00.003+03:00

The children have been out of school now for almost a month and soon to return. We didn't travel anywhere, so the holidays were a bit tedious. Granted, I am no longer a Christian, but I do miss the Christmas holiday traditions and accoutrements. Just goes to show how indelible family traditions can be. I can almost smell the Russian Tea, Moravian Love Feast buns, and sweet pine.

Along with all of the maid drama(I won't get into that), I am contemplating going back to work in the fall. I say contemplating because my son will only be 2 and a half, and I have never left a child of mine at that age. With all of the global economic discord though, I am thinking that a profession right now might be handy. The key would be to find one that had some flexibility though....
I have talked to several colleges and universities and there are some promising prospects of teaching; I just know me and how much of me teaching takes away. It is a most rewarding job, but it is an all-encompassing one for me. Maybe I should have stuck with psychology.

Anyway, I had had hopes of getting back into painting, but space and time constraints have dampening my inspiration and motivation.
Ahhh...if only we had snowy or even rainy days to go with my mood right now....

Speak Out Against Terrorism

2008-11-30T13:49:00.001+03:00

I don't know how many times I have heard non-Muslims in the US say, "We never hear Muslims condemning violence in the name of Islam". To that end, I wanted to post this article which appeared in the Arab Times, Kuwait. BUT, I want to note, for anyone out there reading this blog, that Muslims DO condemn violence committed in their names, but the US media usually chooses, for whatever reason, NOT to shine a light on it.

Crime against humanity, Islam: Kuwait’s Deputy PM

KUWAIT, Nov 29, (KUNA): Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah condemned Friday the attacks in the Indian commercial city, Mumbai, and said they were “crimes against humanity and Islam.” “If those (who carried out the attacks) claim they did what they do in the name of Islam then Islam is better without them,” Sheikh Mohammad told reporters after receiving Kuwaitis who returned home after they were released from a hostage-taking ordeal in a hotel in Mumbai.

“We as Muslims strongly condemn this act and we have expressed our sympathies to the Indian authorities, and I hope the international community affirms, through this incident, the necessity of fighting terrorism,” underlined Sheikh Mohammad. The attacks in Mumbai killed almost 195 people and injured over 300 others.

Meanwhile, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah sent a cable of appreciation to Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh, thanking him for efforts exerted by Indian authorities in ensuring the safety of Kuwaiti citizens there. In the cable, Sheikh Nasser thanked the Indian government’s endeavors in ensuring the well-being of Kuwaitis, who were trapped in one of the hotels that were attacked by terrorists.

Sheikh Nasser, who described the attacks as “criminal”, offered his deepest sympathies and condolences to the Prime Minister and the friendly people of India for their losses and a wished speedy recovery for the injured. He also reiterated Kuwait’s condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and for whatever reason.

In another development Kuwait’s Salafist Group has denounced the Mumbai terrorist attack which affected hundreds of innocent citizens, while foreigners were also used as shields for issues that did not concern them, reports Arrouia daily. A press statement released by the group stressed that these armed militants wrecked mayhem on innocent people due to their wrong beliefs and unacceptable ideologies. The Mumbai incident is an example of unwarranted extremist attacks against humanity in their bid to pull down the system at all cost, the statement added. “We condemn this act in totality while calling on the concerned authority to take decisive steps in waging a war against extremism. There is the need to monitor suspicious communications, since it is possible to use the websites to spread such undesirable ideologies to Kuwait,” the statement suggested.

This Day

2008-11-05T14:18:00.002+03:00

What do I feel on this day, half a world away from home when a new president has been elected? It is a truly bitter-sweet moment for me.
Today is a historical day for the US. Perhaps Obama was elected because he embodied the polar opposite of what we have known for too long in the US. Perhaps he was elected because he rallied those who had ceased to care about politics. Perhaps he was elected because he garnered the hopes and dreams of people who thought they might never be represented. And perhaps it was a combination of all of those things plus the fact that he is the right man at the right time. God willing, he will be a man of beneficial change for the US and the world.
Today, I am proud of my fellow country men and women. They have seen what has been wrought on our country by adhering to a demonizing, paranoid world policy and a greedy, self-serving domestic policy, and they have said enough.
I am just sad that I wasn't there to be a part of it.

Skin Care That May Be Not So Caring

2008-10-20T23:11:00.004+03:00

Ok, even if you are not a typical 'green' kind of gal, or guy, you could be harming not only the environment, but also yourself by the skincare and cosmetics that you use. This is an excellent website called Skin Deep
It lets you browse products or search for something that you use and then see what it contains that may be damaging.
Like, I looked up Secret antiperspirant and it said this, among other things:

Ingredients used by this brand:
	Cancer
	Developmental/reproductive toxicity
	Violations, restrictions & warnings
	Allergies/immunotoxicity
	Other concerns for ingredients used by this brand: Neurotoxicity, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Miscellaneous, Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes

Yikes! Makes you think twice...

Helping Out/Changing Your View

2008-10-15T12:42:00.007+03:00

Being from one part of the world and living in another affords a person the chance to wonder, observe, and appreciate what it is that binds us all in this human experience minus all of those polarizing lines of demarcation.

My journey in this life is perhaps not so remarkable, but it is who I am. Each place and time that I have lived in has left an indelible and ineffable imprint on the world that is my life. I believe each person inhabits her or his own world that was created through fate, inheritance, action and inaction. The result is, however, not only the physical world of each person's own residence, but also the lens with which they see out.

Having grown up in my homeland of the US in an upper-middle class, educated family was part of sheer inheritance and fate. I realize that I was fortunate to know some luxuries in my life, not the least of which were the luxuries of having a home, food, health care, and an education. I can't say that I can imagine what it must feel like to have lived differently because I realize that all of the aspects, considerations, and concerns that converge to shape a person's life can never be fully appreciated or understood by another, but it should be attempted none-the-less.

In times passing too fleetingly in my life, I have known those affected by a less financially fortunate life than my own. As a teacher in the inner city schools of Boston, I met and fell in love with children from families, some that had no heat in the dead of winter, others not enough food to feed their child before he came to school to get his one meal of the day, still others living with family members jammed into apartments too small to house them. These people became part of my world; regardless, that the time I knew them was brief. And I would like to think that in some ways I did something to help them, however small it may have been. But in looking back, I see that what I could have done was so much more, and regret is such a bitter and constant companion.

I think most people would like to reach out to others and help but are stymied by not knowing where to begin. Where I live now, there are areas where families live in squalor, (I know about them because I have seen some pictures on peoples' blogs.) and my own children know nothing of such things. It is my intention to find a way to help at least one of such families. I want my children to make an effort to make a difference. That requires that they, and I, step out of our own worlds and into another's.

Of course, there are so many ways to help the world so vast with people needing a helping hand. One of such ways is through Heifer. That is a great organization that helps people help themselves. But there is so much need out there that is just waiting for caring and innovative people to find a way to attend to it. It seems too daunting a task. Until it dawns on me: I know of some people right here with me who qualify and are just waiting for someone to teach them that this is something important, that this is more satisfying than the latest PSP game or designer purse, and this is something that could not only write on their lives in a meaningful way, but also shape the lens with which they view the world around them. It is only a small start.

"Every Muslim has to give in charity". The people asked, "O Allah's Prophet! If someone has nothing to give, what will he do?" He said, "He should work with his hands and benefit himself and also give in charity (from what he earns)." The people further asked, "If he cannot find even that?" He replied, "He should help the needy who appeal for help." Then the people asked, "If he cannot do that?" He replied, "Then he should perform good deeds and keep away from evil deeds and this will be regarded as charitable deeds."

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Hunger

2008-09-26T12:19:00.002+03:00

This is an older article written by Hamza Yusuf, which appeared last Ramadan in The Guardian, UK. If you are not familiar with him, check out the link in my 'places I frequent' under Zaytuna Institute. Masha'Allah he is a brilliant convert to Islam. He was raised as a Greek Orthodox and was born in, of all places, Walla Walla, Washington.

"Hunger can bring out the worst in us. In a wonderful scene in Shakespeare's As You Like It, a desperate and hungry Orlando comes upon Duke Senior and his exiled court in the forest, who are about to start dinner. Assuming the law of the jungle presides in Arden, Orlando brandishes his sword and demands food upon pain of death. Duke Senior rebukes him for his lack of civility, and wisely adds: "Your gentleness shall force, more than your force move us to gentleness." Orlando responds: "I almost die for food, and let me have it." Unfazed, the duke says: "Sit down and feed, and welcome to our table." Orlando is shamed by the duke's gallantry and explains that hunger had bred violence in him.

Almost four centuries later another bard, Bob Marley, melodically reminded us: "Them belly full, but we hungry / A hungry mob is an angry mob." We all know the primal nature of hunger; we have experienced the irritability that comes from missing breakfast or skipping our cup of morning coffee or tea. We hyperbolically talk of "starving" when a mealtime draws near. Our food trysts are now frequent every day in what sociologists refer to as "repeated food contacts" and farmers simply call grazing. At the drop of a hat, we indulge in lattes and biscotti. Many people no longer eat three "square" meals but rather graze all day, with Starbucks troughs sprouting up everywhere to ensure none suffer the pangs of hunger or the pain of caffeine withdrawal. In the lands of plenty in the west, we tend to forget that the abundance and easy accessibility of food was not always so and is not as widespread even now.

Few of us who have the luxury of reading the daily paper over a cup of coffee and a piece of toast slathered with rich butter and marmalade have ever gone hungry intentionally, unless we succumbed to some ridiculous crash diet. But there was a time in the west when Lent, which commemorates Christ's 40-day fast in the desert, meant fasting all day and eating one meal at night. As time passed that tradition devolved into a semi-fast and now means merely giving up something one really likes, such as chocolate.

Even our portions of food and drink are much greater than what our grandparents had. In the midst of this cornucopia of consumption, millions of Muslims voluntarily abstain from food, drink and sex during daylight hours in the month of Ramadan. They watch their co-workers eat and drink throughout the day, and occasionally have to apologise for not joining in due to their religious observance. Fasting for a month makes them aware of hunger as a palpable physical sensation, not a remote occurrence they read about in the newspaper. When the UN tells us that almost a billion people suffer from hunger and malnutrition and 25,000 people a day die from hunger, a faster appreciates these statistics in ways that remain distant to others.

But fasting is not just about giving up food and drink. It's about tending to "the better angels of our nature". The prophet Muhammad said, "If one is not willing to give up bad behaviour during his fast, God has no need for him to give up his food and drink." Muslims are encouraged during this time to be better people, to treat others with more deference. If enticed to argue, the faster is advised to respond: "I am fasting."

There are many ways to be hungry. One can hunger for love, or fame or social justice, but hunger for food seems to curb all other cravings. In being aware of others' hunger, we contribute to a more empathic world. Perhaps, if, like Duke Senior, we responded to the cries of the myriad desperate Orlandos foraging in the forests of famine out there with hospitality and help, they might be coaxed into civility themselves. Certainly, hunger can bring out the worst in us. But it can also bring out the best."

· Hamza Yusuf is a Muslim scholar, lecturer and author, and the co-founder of the Zaytuna Institute in California, which is dedicated to reviving the traditions of classical Islamic scholarship

Too Little Time

2008-09-19T20:07:00.002+03:00

Yesterday, as I was driving down the Fahaheel Expressway, I was almost crashed into by a flying, black SUV that appeared suddenly in my rear view mirror and out of nowhere. As quickly as he appeared, careened towards me, causing heart-palpitations, and then sped off, he was gone. As I was gathering my wits, I began wondering aloud, perhaps no so eloquently or subtly, just where in the heck does someone have to be that he should have to drive so recklessly?
I came to the conclusion that either there was an emergency that suddenly presented itself, or he had somewhere he was supposed to be and had not allotted enough time to get there, or he was just a fool.
Given that this was not the first, second, or third time that I have seen this sort of thing happen, I will give the person the benefit of the doubt and say that he most probably was just in a hurry and wasn't thinking about anyone other than himself. Which also lead me to wonder about time...
It seems that so many of us are chasing, rushing, hurrying to this and that and the other. Often we hurry for no particular reason, just that it has become habit, which leads us to all kinds of other problems, not the least of which is that we have, for the most part, lost our ability to notice the other.
Be it the other person, the other landscape, the other beings, we have just lost our touch with the world around us. This is evident by the way many of us treat that world. In fact it is often used as our passing through place to dump our trash, throw out cigarette butts, and generally ignore and disregard.
If we are rushing past it all, how should we even notice its decrepitude and demise? If we are rushing past everyone, how should we notice others' needs or feelings? If we are rushing past it all, how can we ever invest ourselves to make our surroundings a better/safer place to be?

Have you ever stopped to think about the places you are driving through? Noticed the people that you pass on the side of the road? Looked at the shape of the terrain that you are driving through? Having the ability to be in the car and fly past the world around us in some ways puts us at a disadvantage. Sure we gain a lot from rapid transit, but we lose our connection to the world at large and to each other; therefore, we start to view each other not as people who have their own lives, needs, and rights, but as impediments to our own destinations, road blocks, as it were.
Islam says that speed is of shaytan, many other traditions also relate this sentiment in various ways. Henry David Thoreau said this: The finest workers of stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.
Would that we could all slow down and observe the workings of life around us enough to appreciate it all.

Art

2008-09-08T12:46:00.000+03:00

I love this man's art, so I thought I would share something beautiful with you.

How to Let Go or Forgive

2008-09-06T21:15:00.003+03:00

I found this online tool that is a unique way of approaching and practicing forgiveness and letting go. It helps you to identify, analyze, and let go of, or forgive. Interesting and worth a try.

And Now for Something More Uplifting...Ramadan Advice

2008-09-06T17:02:00.002+03:00

I love Zaytuna Institute and its Imams. May Allah be pleased with them. Here is a Ramadan message from Imam Zaid. (It has been shortened)

...O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those who preceded you; that perhaps you will be mindful of God. Al-Qur’an 2:183

We encourage everyone to be especially generous during this blessed month. Our beloved Prophet , was normally exceedingly generous. In Ramadan, he was even more benevolent.

Ibn ‘Abbas, May Allah be pleased with him and his father, relates: “The Prophet , was the most generous of people. He was even more generous in Ramadan when Gabriel would meet him and review the Qur’an with him. Gabriel would come to him every night of Ramadan to review the Qur’an. During these times, the Messenger of Allah , was more generous than the freely blowing wind.” Al-Bukhari and Muslim

We encourage everyone to read through the Qur’an at least once. Those who can read the Arabic script should do so in Arabic, even if they do not fully understand what they are reading. They should also try to read through the English translation. Those who are unable to read Arabic, should try to read through the entire English translation. Ramadan is, among other things, a celebration of the Qur’an. We should join the celebration by reading the Book of God much during this blessed month. Our Imams, Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi’i, and others, May God have Mercy on them all, would cease teaching Hadith and Jurisprudence during Ramadan and devote themselves exclusively to the Qur’an.

God says, concerning His Majestic Book: The Month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was revealed, a guidance for mankind, [containing] clear proofs of guidance, and the criterion of distinguishing right from wrong. Al-Qur’an 2:185

We encourage everyone to refrain from all of the ruinations of the tongue during Ramadan. In his seminal work, “Quickening the Religious Sciences,” Imam al-Ghazali mentions them as the following:

Speaking in matters that do not concern one.

Excessive speech.

Speaking about sinful matters.

Disputation and contestation.

Argumentation.

Excessively embellished speech.

Lewd, insulting, or crude speech.

Invoking the Curse of God on someone.

Singing indecent songs, or relating immoral poetry.

Excessive joking.

Sarcasm and ridicule.

Revealing secrets.

False promises.

Lying and false oaths.

Backbiting and slander.

Instigating tense relations between people.

Being two-faced.

Praising someone who is either undeserving, or unable to remain humble when praised.

Speaking about involved subjects and ideas one lacks the necessary knowledge or eloquence to adequately convey.

Ordinary folk speaking in subjects that are the domain of specialists.

May God spare us from these ruinations both during and after Ramadan.

The Prophet, Peace and Blessing of Almighty God be upon Him, said: “Whoever fails to leave off ruinous speech, and acting on it [during Ramadan], God does not need him to leave off eating and drinking.” Al-Bukahri

We encourage everyone to avoid all arguments, disputes, and unnecessary worldly entanglements during this blessed month. This is a time for deep devotion and dedication to Allah.

We encourage everyone to work to restore any severed relations or kinship ties they may be experiencing. This is a time when the gentle breezes of Divine Facilitation are blowing. Any good we endeavor during this blessed month will come to bear its proper fruits, Insha Allah.

We encourage everyone to eat simply during this month. One should try to make a vow to give up unnecessary, and generally unhealthy fare during this blessed month. Pizza, ice cream, fast food, pastries, and soda should all go. We should make our solidarity with our suffering brothers and sisters in other lands real, and not something confined to speeches and pamphlets.

If one is in the habit of watching television, or listening to commercial music, one should also try to give these things up for Ramadan. They are things that divert us from the remembrance of God in any case. During this special month when every letter we recite from the Majestic Qur’an is tremendously rewarded, we should busy ourselves with recitation, and drop frivolous pastimes.

Married couples should encourage each other to engage in spiritual pursuits during this month, i.e. reciting the Qur’an, attending Tarawih, etc. Those in the habit of hosting extravagant dinners in Ramadan should try to avoid doing so, especially if they involve burdening cooks with long hours in the kitchen at a time when everyone should be increasing acts of worship. Usually, the womenfolk are disadvantageously affected in this regard. While it is certainly virtuous to provide the wherewithal for the believers to break their fast, dates, water, and simple, easily prepared dishes suffice.

Everyone should endeavor to pray the Tarawih Prayers. This is practice that should not be left without an excuse. The Prophet , mentioned, “Whosoever stands for prayer during the nights of Ramadan will have his/her prior sins expiated.” Al-Bukhari and Muslim

The prayer is the symbol of our devotional life. Ramadan is a great time to rediscover the power of the prayer, and to renew our commitment to our Lord through the prayer.

These are some of the things we wanted to convey to you. Hopefully, they will prove of benefit. Please take this message in the spirit with which we have conveyed it, as sincere advice. Again, we wish you a very successful Ramadan and would like to thank all of you for past, present, and future support.

On behalf of the Zaytuna Staff,

Your Brother in Islam,

Imam Zaid Shakir

[1] Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Lata’if al-Ma’arif [The Subtleties of Knowledge], (Damascus: Dar Ibn Kathir, 1997/1416) p. 282.

[2] Ibn Rajab, p. 278.

RNC: Either You Agree with Us, or You Must be a Terrorist

2008-09-05T20:04:00.005+03:00

What is it with politics? I am so turned off by politicians of late. I only watched snippets of the RNC, as that was all I could stomach, and it really made my skin crawl.

I am so sick of the hypocrisy! Why can't a politician say what s/he is for and against and leave it at that? Why do they have to act like 7 year olds trying to make friends, 'What, did I say I like Power Rangers? I mean I hate them!'
The latest hypocrite is this Sarah Palin, but heck, she is just joining ranks with the rest of them; "Did I say abstinence is a Christian value? I meant: we are all sinners, and let he who is without sin cast the first stone!"

Don't get me wrong, I am not pointing fingers at her daughter, I just seem to remember some of my good ol' Republican friends saying that Bill wasn't fit to lead and be an example to our children because he 'had a moment of weakness', (which they could have forgiven him for) and yet Sarah Palin is leading the Christian conservative charge with her unwed daughter and her daughter's 'baby daddy'!
I just don't get it...
I will go on record saying that just like I don't want my children to become desensitized to immoral behavior by watching the likes of Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, or Jaime Spears(sp?), I also don't want them to do the same by watching the Vice President's family!

Is anybody awake out there?

What really gave me the creeps was the look in the eyes of some of the attendees at that convention...I think I spotted drool on their faces when the speakers, Sarah, John, and Rudy, were bashing Obama. Was that glee in their eyes? I found the whole spectacle to be distasteful and hateful. Rather than focusing on what they were going to do, they spent their whole time focusing on demonizing their opponents. And woven throughout the truculent grandstanding was an undercurrent of 'we are the right people; they are the wrong people'. It was not about issues; it was about the people themselves...sinister.
They very much epitomized George's mantra, 'Either you are with us, or you are against us'.

I think I like the Islamic way, if you seek to govern, then you are unfit to govern.
Throw 'em all out!

Ramadan Blessings

2008-09-01T23:47:00.002+03:00

Ramadan Kareem to all.
And let me just go on the record for this: It is nearly impossible to keep one's fast while driving in Fahaheel!
God give me patience, Ameen

The Weather is Here...

2008-08-31T01:44:00.004+03:00

I won't continue on with Jimmy's lyrics 'cause they don't fit entirely right.
But what is up with the weather here...can you say, steambath?
Sure, I knew you could. (a little allusion to the old SNL)

Suffice it to say that we arrived in Kuwait around 48 hours ago, and after making my way around in a semi-somnambulant state, I can positively say that I am thoroughly not adjusted!

The flight across the pond was very turbulent! What is it with BA? They don't come on to say anything to the passengers about what is going on up there in the cockpit?! Maybe it is the overly circumspect nature of us Americans, but heck, I want to know if we are going down so I can panic!
The ever-cool British pilot just remarked upon landing that that was some bad turbulence we went through back there, and it 'wasn't fun, was it?'!

Anyway, after being back for only one day, husband o' mine had to take off for Hamburg, leaving me to fend for myself to get ready for Ramadan, school, and settling back into Kuwait, gee thanks, Hon.
As he usually does, when he has to leave me here and travel for business, he tries to downplay where ever he goes; like when he went to Paris recently and said, "There's nothing much here, just basically one street."!
So, today, after spending a harrowing 25 minutes trying to get my exhausted and nearly comatose sleeping daughter to open her door and after failing, basically dismantling the faceplate and lock, I pick up the phone and give him a call; I ask him, "How is Hamburg?" and he says, "Oh, not much here, but I really didn't see too much, you know, just from the hotel to the conference....but the weather is nice."
Great, Hon, enjoy yourself. Meanwhile the water guy is breathing down my back for waiting for 'Sir' to come home- can't he talk to me if we owe him? And the car washing guy and the grass cutting guy continue to dispute and argue over who keeps moving the car washing guy's bucket. I am afraid that it will soon come to blows.

Hurry home... the weather is here.

The Dance

2008-08-26T00:49:00.005+03:00

What is it about packing that pits husband against wife, mother against child? I think this is one time where personality and cultural differences become almost insurmountable, I admittedly aggrandize.
Never-the-less, I have watched as my husband works himself into a tizzy to symmetrically tape the edges of the boxes he is packing...no, not enough tape on the right edge, the left edge had more! I must wrap it around the complete circumference a full three times!

Man, his inner dialog must be killer. I keep telling him, he doesn't ever hear me when I ask him something because those voices in his head are soooooooo demanding and noisy!
He, the ever-perfectionist; I, cannot be bothered! I mean, when you are dealing with three children's needs, who has time to worry about color-coding suitcase tags? I am just fortunate to get to the airport with the kids, our carry-ons, PSP's, in-flight junk food, iPods, laptops, cameras, sippy cups, diaper bags, emergency diversion supplies, sans migraine, and I feel vindicated.
Ahh, God must have a great sense of humor!

All My Bags Are Packed I'm Ready to Go...

2008-08-25T05:19:00.002+03:00

Not really, on either account.

I just can't believe it is time to go back already, and I absolutely loathe saying goodbyes.
And gee, I really wish there were some pithy humorous anecdotes I could relate, but life doesn't always present itself to me like that.
I guess in another life I might have been Hank Williams or Johnny Cash cause it seems like I'm always looking at the back end of a Trailways.

Apple

2008-08-21T23:57:00.004+03:00

I don't usually write about a company or product, but I was so impressed with one that I feel the need.
My daughter's Macbook was acting up a bit , and I thought I would take it to a repair place before we went back to Kuwait, as it was not easy getting my Macbook worked on there.Well, wonder of wonder, turns out that it was the logic board(should that be one word?) problem.
Of course, I have no idea what that is, or that it would run about $800.00 for the part alone! Here is where Murphy's Law kicks in... The warranty ran out in July, (did the husband listen when I told him to buy the extended Apple Care...no, course not) and being that it is August, the fella tells me, I don't think they will care.

Ok, I am left with two, no three choices:
1. Bite the bullet and fix it for around 900.00
2. Buy a new computer for around 1100.00
3. Call Apple

So, I rolled my dice and called Apple. After making the correct selection of category on the phone, I actually spoke to a person, a real person...in California! Juxtapose that to my previous AWFUL experience with Dell when I had to talk to some folks over in India for 4 hours each time and NEVER solved my problems, apparently because one hand doesn't know what the other is doing with them.
Anyway, after I explained my problem to them, they told me that they were going to help me and fix my daughter's computer for me! Amazing, "so shines a good deed in a weary world"(Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
To top things off, I called the place that had her computer, at 5:30 p.m.yesterday, and he told me he would order the part from Cali today, mind you, we are in South Carolina, and he would get it that same day. Well he did do as he said and called just a bit ago, at 3:00p.m. to say that the computer is indeed ready!
I am so impressed. That is what you call great customer service!
Way to go Apple and L2 Technologies!

What Do You Want to Do With Your Life?

2008-08-20T19:18:00.004+03:00

I remember when I was a teenager being questioned about what I would like to do with my life. I don't think I was really able, at that time, to grasp the enormity of the meaning of those simple words, 'do with your life'. Never-the-less, questions do cause pause and I did think, even at that time, that what I wanted to do was something that could benefit someone.

I went to private schools which valued and included community service, winterims, (breaks in high school where you spend time in an internship of choice) and making students aware of what potential humanitarian opportunities were available to them. It was always emphasized that these were life-enriching opportunities for the potential volunteer and not burdens or obligations.

At that time I was really interested in joining The Peace Corps alas, being a teenager with the world of college, partying, and fun, stretched out in front of me, I was distracted and did not go. Ah, regret is a very sad thing. I keep preaching that to my children. :) It happens everywhere. It is the circus that distracts us on the way to living a real life, and maybe the sirens that take us away from what is meaningful is not so different in Kuwait as America. Partying, alcohol and such are not as readily available, but I understand that they are a problem here too.
As seductive and all-encompassing as drugs, is giving one's life over to consumerism too. Sadly, it seems that Kuwait is not providing much in the way of diversion and entertainment for its youth besides preparing them for a life of buying and indulging themselves. Forgive my religious tangent as I remember that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "The mouths of the sons of Adam would never be filled until it was with the dirt of the grave."

But maybe there is something that we could indulge ourselves in that would be more satiating than the latest clothes, store openings, burgers, or cars. Maybe the answer is all around us just waiting to be discovered. After all, I sense that if one waits, in Kuwait, for the powers that be to provide something, one might spend one's entire life in inertia.

Today, worldwide, there are even more opportunities for people to get involved in and do something with their lives that could have a huge impact on the world around them. Like they say, though, often it is best to start with your immediate circle of influence. Eventually that circle will ripple out and touch many. One good turn, you know.

I don't write this to try to preach to others, rather to say that often what I have been guilty of doing in Kuwait is complaining about the lack of this and the presence of that, but these problems could just be opportunities in disguise. How often do you/I walk by a disgustingly dirty street and complain, or lament the quality of life of some poor worker, or feel bad for starving/hurt animals, or worry about the pollution in the sea?

Just perhaps these problems around us could be invitations from God.

And the invitation reads...

"Do something with your life."

Reach Out

2008-08-13T04:03:00.004+03:00

I came across this article in a great new magazine called Boho
With all of the avid shoppers and 'shoe-collectors' in Kuwait, it seems plausible that there would be many shoes that could be donated. Anyway, maybe folks could pass the website along. Many of us are so fortunate and never even give pause to realize it. Sometimes it takes very little to give a lot.

soles4SOULS

With over 300 million children without shoes, see how one company is changing the world, one shoe at a time.

It's a simple concept: get shoes and give them away. That's what Soles4Souls founderWayne Elsey did after the Tsunami hit. While watching television at home one night, Elsey was moved by an image of a single shoe washing up on the beach. That ignited a flame inside him. After a few calls to some friends in the footwear industry, Elsey secured a donation of over a quarter million shoes to send to the victims. A year later, when Hurricane Katrina hit, Elsey called up the same group of friends and over 1 million pairs of shoes were delivered to towns along the gulf coast. Elsey admits that he could not have predicted such a successful turnout, and it left him wondering, why not do this full-time? A year later, Elsey left his executive position at a large footwear company and formed Soles4Souls. As for today, Elsey says he wants to inspire others to say "Hey, wait a minute! I can do something like that with my own resources."

Or, at the very least, "I could send them my shoes that are cluttering up the closet." We know that there are plenty of people in the world that could use them.

Soles4Souls have given away 2.6 million pairs of shoes since they started; that translates into one pair every 28 seconds. www.giveshoes.org

illustration by barbara von tannenberg

Am I the Only Chicken---- Out There?

2008-08-12T06:32:00.002+03:00

Granted, I am in the US now, but the news I am reading sounds ominous at best. What is the word 'on the street' about the possibility of a regional conflict due to Iran blocking the Strait of Hormuz? Are the Kuwaiti people taking this as seriously as it sounds like they should? The paper today said:
'"...Firstly, the procurement and distribution of medical supplies." For example, he noted, "If there is a nuclear leak from one of Iran's nuclear reactors we need to have stockpiled iodine.

He said, "Kuwait must have emergency medical teams ready to deal with such situations who are equipped with supplies ready in all areas of Kuwait who are ready to deal with every contingency." Secondly, Kuwait would have to "stockpile food and have alternative routes to import food into Kuwait." stated Khathor.
He noted if regional violence broke-out, it may be difficult to rely on airplanes and alternative land routes would have to be made available. "Kuwait would need to procure more trucks for this purpose." Khathor affirmed that the state's Ministry of Commerce has already begun preparations by increasing the strategic food supply and limiting food exports."...

Beautify

2008-08-11T20:53:00.002+03:00

Elias Ahmad and
Adib Fattal

I recently stumbled across the work of the above Syrian artists. I love to *find* art. I mean, to some these artists are well-known, just not to me, hence the *finding* applies.
Anyway, all around the world people are finding ways to express themselves and make their world beautiful. This is a segue from my previous post on going green. There are many ways of tending to one's environment. Recycling and cleaning it up are basic, mandatory aspects; however, so is adorning it with human expression and beauty.
A sadly-noted, missing aspect of life in Kuwait is the outward expression of the human experience. That may be manifest in visual, musical, architectural art, and countless other ways. While I am aware that many tremendously talented Kuwaiti artists are out there, there doesn't seem to be much of a forum for them in the public realm.
I wonder why that is...after all Islam says "God is beautiful and He loves the beauty-maker"

Go Green

2008-08-10T06:06:00.002+03:00

While I know that some of the following suggestions would be impossible in Kuwait, most of them are more than doable. The following article can be found here, for all-inclusive, intact links.

Keep reading for 10 simple things you can do today to help reduce your environmental impact, save money, and live a happier, healthier life.

Save energy to save money.

Armistead Booker/flickr
- Set your thermostat a few degrees lower in the winter and a few degrees higher in the summer to save on heating and cooling costs.
- Install compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) when your older incandescent bulbs burn out.
- Unplug appliances when you're not using them. Or, use a "smart" power strip that senses when appliances are off and cuts "phantom" or "vampire" energy use.
- Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible. As much as 85 percent of the energy used to machine-wash clothes goes to heating the water.
- Use a drying rack or clothesline to save the energy otherwise used during machine drying. If you must use a dryer, consider adding dryer balls to cut drying time.

Save water to save money.
- Take shorter showers to reduce water use. This will lower your water and heating bills too.
- Install a low-flow showerhead. They don't cost much, and the water and energy savings can quickly pay back your investment.
- Make sure you have a faucet aerator on each faucet. These inexpensive appliances conserve heat and water, while keeping water pressure high.
- Plant drought-tolerant native plants in your garden. Many plants need minimal watering. Find out which occur naturally in your area.
Less gas = more money (and better health!).

richardmasoner/flickr
- Walk or bike to work. This saves on gas and parking costs while improving your cardiovascular health and reducing your risk of obesity.
- Consider telecommuting if you live far from your work. Or move closer. Even if this means paying more rent, it could save you money in the long term.
- Lobby your local government to increase spending on sidewalks and bike lanes. With little cost, these improvements can pay huge dividends in bettering your health and reducing traffic.
Eat smart.
- If you eat meat, add one meatless meal a week. Meat costs a lot at the store-and it's even more expensive when you consider the related environmental and health costs.
- Buy locally raised, humane, and organic meat, eggs, and dairy whenever you can. Purchasing from local farmers keeps money in the local economy.
- Watch videos about why local food and sustainable seafood are so great.
- Whatever your diet, eat low on the food chain [pdf]. This is especially true for seafood.
Skip the bottled water.
- Use a water filter to purify tap water instead of buying bottled water. Not only is bottled water expensive, but it generates large amounts of container waste.
- Bring a reusable water bottle, preferably aluminum rather than plastic, with you when traveling or at work.
- Check out this short article for the latest on bottled water trends.
Think before you buy.

Michael Reinhart/flickr
- Go online to find new or gently used secondhand products. Whether you've just moved or are looking to redecorate, consider a service like craigslist or FreeSharing to track down furniture, appliances, and other items cheaply or for free.
- Check out garage sales, thrift stores, and consignment shops for clothing and other everyday items.
- When making purchases, make sure you know what's "Good Stuff" and what isn't.
- Watch a video about what happens when you buy things. Your purchases have a real impact, for better or worse.
Borrow instead of buying.
- Borrow from libraries instead of buying personal books and movies. This saves money, not to mention the ink and paper that goes into printing new books.
- Share power tools and other appliances. Get to know your neighbors while cutting down on the number of things cluttering your closet or garage.
Buy smart.
- Buy in bulk. Purchasing food from bulk bins can save money and packaging.
- Wear clothes that don't need to be dry-cleaned. This saves money and cuts down on toxic chemical use.
- Invest in high-quality, long-lasting products. You might pay more now, but you'll be happy when you don't have to replace items as frequently (and this means less waste!).
Keep electronics out of the trash.

Gaetan Lee/flickr
- Keep your cell phones, computers, and other electronics as long as possible.
- Donate or recycle them responsibly when the time comes. E-waste contains mercury and other toxics and is a growing environmental problem.
- Recycle your cell phone.
- Ask your local government to set up an electronics recycling and hazardous waste collection event.
Make your own cleaning supplies.
- The big secret: you can make very effective, non-toxic cleaning products whenever you need them. All you need are a few simple ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, lemon, and soap.
- Making your own cleaning products saves money, time, and packaging-not to mention your indoor air quality.
Bonus Item!
- Stay informed about going green. Sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to World Watch, our award-winning magazine.

ADHD?

2008-07-20T18:20:00.005+03:00

As a mother of three and an educator, I have been personally and professionally acquainted with the umbrella terms of ADHD and ADD for many years. I have always been concerned about the environmental aspects of this supposed disease: additives in food, television and computer exposure, etc.

The most recent book I have read on the subject by Thom Hartmann called The Edison Gene focuses on the positive aspects of ADHD and challenges the use of term 'disorder'. He maintains that it is the schools' inability to adapt and individualize pedagogy to channel the inherent energy and creativity in these students that causes the rift between student and teacher and not a disorder per se.

Additionally, he looks to other factors such as loss of nutrient rich soil in today's corporate farming world and how foods are deficient in brain-powerful fuel, as a contributing factor to many children's lessening ability to focus.

And I just ran across this blurb about food colorants in food the reconfirms fears of mine that I have simply been too sidetracked to address with my own family. It looks like Europe may be more ready to objectively deal with the situation of public health than the US:

Europe Manages Risk: USA Pretends It Doesn't Exist.
There's a pattern here. European Union nations phase out the more hazardous of the pthalate plasticizers: USA lobbies against it and resists it in the US. Europe tests animals for Mad Cow disease: USA makes it illegal to test them. Europe takes climate action: USA resists. There are plenty more where these come from. You get the idea: when it comes to protecting children from dye marketed mainly to children, Europe leads.

Now, synthetic dyes are getting a second run. New research indicates the chemicals can disrupt some children's behavior, and activists and consumer groups are asking for bans or limits on the dyes. A prestigious British medical journal recommended that doctors use dye-free diets as a first-line treatment for some behavior disorders; British regulators are pressuring companies to stop using the dyes, and some are complying.
The issue has generated much less attention on this side of the Atlantic. The FDA says the dyes are safe, and has no plans to limit their use.

We know FDA won't act. Administratively Disordered Hypoactive Dysfunction (ADHD) has taken over.

Sounds like a foolish wish, but maybe Wal-Mart will take the lead. These days corporate mavericks can show more common sense than the agencies set up to manage consumer risk.
Via::Balitmore Sun, Color Me Concerned, Activists ask FDA to ban artificial food dyes after research supports possible link to ADHD Image credit::Balitmore Sun, by Algerina Perna

What Men Should Know

2008-07-16T06:05:00.002+03:00

I cam across this and thought it was good. I don't know if this really translates well for all of our Arab husbands married to American women, but heck, even American men don't get it! Read and learn men.

Also, I would be interested to know if there were Arabic equivalents to these terms?

You may want to read carefully, and keep handy for a quick review in tense situations with your loved one.

1.) “Fine”: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up. A shrewd but effective psychological tactic.

2.) “Five Minutes”: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house. It may be that women are able to fold the space time continuum to achieve this.

3.) “Nothing”: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes for at least the next 72hrs, if not longer. Arguments that begin with “nothing” usually end in “fine”.

4.) “Go Ahead”: According to all experts on the topic this is considered a dare, and not permission. Don’t Do It!

5.) A Loud Sigh: This is not actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and further discussion is pointless because she is right in this discussion about nothing important. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of “nothing”.)

6.) “That’s Okay”: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake. A 72hr waiting period doesn’t apply, this goes on your permanent record.

7.) “Thanks”: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you’re welcome and back away slowly.

8.) “Whatever”: Is a woman’s way of saying “bite me”.

9.) “Don’t worry about it, I got it”: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking “What’s wrong?” For the woman’s response refer to #3. Pray that you don’t receive a “that’s ok”.

Satire or Mind Control?

2008-07-15T05:24:00.002+03:00

I have to say it... I know the New Yorker is a sophisticated publication, but the supposed attempt at 'satire' is sadly, perhaps *paranoidly*, suspicious to me.

I think it is condescending for their response to the response of offended people to be, "You just didn't get it. It is satire!"
And I do think that there might have been a more sinister attempt at subliminal stimulation: If we place these images in front of people they will subconsciously start to associate Obama with Muslim, anti-American, terrorism, etc. And we can just say, "Hey, man it's satire...come on!"

Now, the real question is why. Why would a magazine that has historically been liberal and Democrat-leaning do this to the Democrat candidate. Well, I won't spell it out, but some group out there is really nervous about getting someone in office who just might not cotton to the status quo.

Comorbid with the insidious political aim is the damage and the deep offense that the New Yorker seems to pay no heed to that they inflict upon the 7 plus million Muslims in the US alone. Do you think that if it were any other religion depicted in such a negative light that people would remain silent?

Really, I hope there is no emotional, hysterical response to this cartoon, rather a well-thought out manifestation of the true, peaceful and beautiful Islam.

Patience

2008-07-11T20:48:00.003+03:00

A friend sent this to me, and I think it is great. Given the hustle and bustle of our lives, and in particular dealing with the driving in Kuwait, I think it prudent for all of us to practice being more patient and how not to lose our temper.

A man once asked the Prophet, peace be upon him, to give the man some advise, and the Prophet told him, "Do not get angry" and repeated it three times.

Tally marks. This is the first strategy, if you have real problems with patience: start by simply keeping tally marks on a little sheet of paper every time you lose your patience. This is one of the most effective and important methods for controlling an impulse — by learning to become more aware of it. Once you become aware of your impulses, you can work out an alternative reaction.
Figure out your triggers. As you become more aware of losing your patience, pay close attention to the things that trigger you to lose that patience. Is it when your co-worker does something particularly irritating? When your spouse leaves dirty dishes in the sink? When your child doesn’t clean up her mess? Certain triggers will recur more frequently than others — these are the things you should focus on the most.
Deep breaths. When you first start to lose your patience, take a deep breath, and breathe out slowly. Then take another. And another. These three breaths will often do the trick, as your frustration will slowly melt away.
Count to 10. This one really works. When you feel yourself getting frustrated or angry, stop. Count slowly to 10 (you can do this in your head). When you’re done, most of the initial impulse to yell or do something out of frustation will go away. Combine this with the breathing tip for even more effectiveness.
Start small. Don’t try to become as patient as Job overnight. It won’t happen. Start with something small and manageable. Look for a trigger that only induces a mild impatience within you — not something that gets your blood boiling. Then focus on this, and forget the other triggers for now. Work on controlling your temper for that one trigger. If you can get this one under control, use what you learned to focus on the next small trigger. One at a time, and with practice, you’ll get there.
Take a time out. Often it’s best just to walk away for a few minutes. Take a break from the situation, just for 5-10 minutes, let yourself calm down, plan out your words and actions and solution, and then come back calm as a monk.
Remember what’s important. Sometimes we tend to get upset over little things. In the long run, these things tend not to matter, but in the heat of the moment, we might forget this. Stop yourself, and try to get things in perspective.
Keep practicing. Every time a situation stretches your patience to dangerous thinness, just think of it as an opportunity to practice your patience. Because that’s what it take to become patient — practice, practice, more practice, and even more practice. And then some more. And the more you practice, the better you’ll get. So cherish these wonderful opportunities to practice.
Visualize. This works best if you do it before the frustrating situation comes up. When you’re alone and in a quiet place. Visualize how you want to react the next time your trigger happens. How do you handle the situation? How do you look? What do you say? How does the other person react? How does it help your relationship, your life? Think about all these things, visualize the perfect situation, and then try to actually make that happen when the situation actually comes up.
Remember that things can take time. Nothing good happens right away. If you expect things to happen at the snap of your fingers, you’ll get impatient every time. Instead, realize that things will take time, and this realization can help your patience tremendously.
Teach. This is something that helps me a lot. I remember that no one is perfect, and that everyone has a lot to learn. Be patient, and teach others how to do things — even if you’ve tried before, it might be the 11th time when things click. And remember, none of us learn things on the first try. Find new ways to teach something, and you’re more likely to be successful.
Find healthy ways to relieve frustration. Frustration can build up like steam in a pressure cooker, and if you don’t relieve that steam, you’ll explode. So find ways to relieve that frustration in a healthy way. Punching a pillow, going outside to a place where you’re all alone and yelling, exercise, kickboxing … these are just a few examples. Once you get that frustration out of your system, you usually feel better.
Try meditation. You can’t meditate in the middle of a frustrating situation, usually, but often meditation can help you to learn to find a center of calm within yourself. Once you learn how to go to this calm place, you can go there when you begin to get angry. Meditation can also help you to be in the moment, instead of always wanting to get to the future, or instead of dwelling on the past and getting angry about it.
Just laugh. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that no one is perfect, that we should be enjoying this time with our loved ones, and that life should be fun — and funny. Smile, laugh, be happy. Doesn’t always work, but it’s good to remind yourself of this now and then.
Just love. Instead of reacting with anger, teach yourself to react with love. Your child spills something or has a messy room or breaks your family heirloom? Your spouse yells at you or is cranky after work? React with love. It’s the best solution.

“Genius is eternal patience.” - Michelangelo

Summer

2008-07-06T06:27:00.004+03:00

He is amazed.
Life is so close and holds so much wonder.
Pine cones, squirrels, blue jays, the nightly serenade by tree frogs, all draw him in,
begging to be discovered by his new eyes.
What calls his name is not always apparent, but for him, it is compelling.

Vanilla

2008-05-30T17:12:00.004+03:00

It conjures up memories of baking cakes and cookies with my grandmother and great-aunt; 'Granny' on the Beverly Hillbillies used to dab it behind her ears; I used to sniff it to almost intoxicating levels when I was a child,
and I oh so miss it now.
I have been trying to pretend that I really don't need it, but my charade is over. I have been making chocolate chip cookies and fudge and so forth for the kids, sans vanilla extract, but the jig is up.
I am contemplating making Tiramisu for dessert and I just don't know how to go about it with that powered vanilla stuff. I have looked for the vanilla pods too but with no success. I have even hit up other expats for an extract connection... :( Nothing!
I never thought something so simple and pure as vanilla would be so painfully absent.
Ideas anyone?

One Year

2008-05-27T13:10:00.003+03:00

Well, we have almost made it through our first year here in Kuwait. It's funny that time has seemed to fly and drag by simultaneously.
My older children have adjusted somewhat to school and life in general here. They both have made friends in school; although, none of their friends are Kuwaiti....
Life in Mangaf has been interesting to say the least. One day I looked out and was surprised when I thought I saw a kite flying by the window, only to be let down by the realization that it was a grocery bag aloft.
We, the kids and I, are eagerly anticipating going home this summer. Can I still call it 'home'? You betcha! Even though we will be going to the sweltering heat of the deep south, I am so looking forward to being able to go outside, see green things and hear wildlife and nature. How I miss the sound of wind, rain, birds and squirrels!
Maybe next year I will be able to concentrate on life around me better here. Maybe one day I will think about going back to work too. Maybe, maybe... but for now, I am just relishing the thought of home.

My Life Lately

2008-03-25T13:02:00.002+03:00

I think I mentioned earlier, or maybe not, that I had joined a gym. Well, today, I went for my first personal training session. It has been so long since I took myself seriously and actually paid attention to myself, and although I feel a bit guilty for leaving my son with our maid while I go, I must admit that it felt great to rediscover myself.
My trainer is wonderful, she's from NJ, and I don't know how long she will stay in KW, but I hope she will be here for a good little while, at least until I can muster up momentum on my own.
I have been having some eye trouble lately; I don't know why, but every time I come to KW, I get eye infections. Crazy thing is, the first Dr. I went to, at a govt. hospital barely gave me any time to tell him what was going on and just threw a prescription at me. Well guess what....wrong diagnosis, surprise surprise, a little thing like 'listening' is important after all!
Anyway, crazy reaction to the meds made me look like a raccoon on crack and sent me to a Dr. at private clinic, who I think may have gotten it right. At least, I am hoping.
Last thing, and it really pisses me off....I went to complain to the middle school principal at my kids' school about the fact that they are grading according to ABILITY in P.E.! That is just crazy. He said, "Well, since we are a prep school, we like to treat all of our classes the same." Hmmm...sorry, but no dice, bud, I didn't send my kids to school to become athletes. You are supposed to be educating my children, and just by the nature of the beast, P.E. is different.
Ah, well, it continues to pull her GPA down because she is not an athlete, but I am not going to obsess about it; it's just another one of those annoying things.

Has Anyone Noticed...

2008-03-13T13:56:00.002+03:00

....that time has seemed to have sped up? Wow, I can't believe that it is already mid-March! I won't go into all that has yet to be accomplished, but suffice it to say that it is indeed much. Thank God, though, that the kids have made some friends in school. Granted, they are not Kuwaiti friends, as they don't seem to open their circles readily for newcomers, nevertheless, they have some friends.
I finally joined a gym that is close by, and that should help with my mind-funk. I have also started driving...woo hoo! I hope I don't get into too much trouble, but I have been known to yell at reckless drivers, even in Roxbury, MA.
I have been adventurous and have been making my own bagels and planting heirloom seeds. The tomatoes and basil are thriving!
I am looking forward to going home in June, although flying with three kids, one 12 month old, will be a challenge. I can't wait to see my green home and loving family. The kids are psyched! All summer at the beach.
Sorry I have been absent, but I can't seem to give myself permission to just ramble needlessly. Oh, yeah, and also, my computer is in the Digits hospital trying to be mended. It's amazing how much I miss it.
Hopefully, I will find the rhythm.

This is Islam

2008-01-29T22:07:00.000+03:00

“There is none amongst the believers who plants a tree, or sows a seed, and then a bird, or a person, or an animal eats thereof, but it is regarded as having given a charitable gift [for which there is great recompense].” [Al-Bukhari, III:513].

Alone again...naturally

2008-01-21T11:02:00.000+03:00

Well, actually not alone. Alas, my parents visit here went by far too quickly, but it was so nice having them here. We never made it out of Kuwait though. Since my husband's family is fairly large, there was quite a few dinner invitations that kept us busy.
My mother, the artist and introvert, did rather well and only complained of 'too much kissing'. My father, on the other hand, has been renamed: Robert of Arabia. He loved all of the social aspects of Kuwait and went to a couple of diwaniyas, with one of them throwing a dinner party for him!
We went to the dessert one time, (if you can overlook the horrendous amount of trash, litter, and dead animals strewn about) it was fairly nice.
A stroll along the beach brought new seashells for my mother's collection(they live on the beach in SC), and we actually took daily walks in Mangaf amid the cellulose tumbleweeds.
The children loved having their grandparents here and are still lamenting their absence, as am I.
My mother brought with her many books for me to read, and I am really enjoying Hunting and Gathering, a French novel by Anna Gavalda.
I am really contemplating how to go about some sort of clean up Kuwait campaign. I know it sounds terribly naive or idealistic, but really, if one could only publicize pictures of the trashed landscape here, I think some locals might be truly motivated, if only by embarrassment.
Anyway, I hope to be able to start blogging and writing again. My easel didn't make it to KW in last infamous shipping, so I will have to wait for the next one to arrive before setting up shop, so to speak.
BTW, is there such an animal as 'condensed milk' here in KW? I have yet to see it at co-op, Sultan, or Carrefour...and I want to make flan!
Thanks to all for your input for my parents. I tried many of the places suggested. Yall were a great help!
Ta ta for now.

Parents are Coming!

2007-12-16T13:33:00.000+03:00

Hello all,

I am just putting out an open call for advice as to where to take my parents around Kuwait when they come on Dec. 28th. We have been thinking of taking a quick trip to Jordan to see Petra and other sites for a few days, but would like to get some ideas from any of yall who have favorite restaurants or sites around KW. My parents are not into malls or shopping, unless it is of traditional middle-eastern flair. Both of them are into art, literature, music, etc.
Any help is appreciated!

Sign of the Times

2007-12-15T16:30:00.000+03:00

I have thought it all to often, as I am sure countless other parents and 'grown-ups' have: children are not having a real childhood anymore. Granted, anyone could argue that childhood experiences will adapt to the times and change accordingly, but what has happened to kids today is more than that. The New York Times had an article that discusses the problem.
I have to admit that I am guilty of buying my son electronic devices that keep him away from really experiencing the world around him, but now I am stuck in a quandary: how do you connect with the natural world in a place like Kuwait? Oh, I know there is the sea, beach, and the desert, but it is not exactly accessible to me right now, given that I am not driving here yet, and I cannot walk to any of those places. Do I just wait for summer respite? And again, I am back to the same question...why doesn't Kuwait invest in ANYTHING other than MALLS????? Can't we offer anything to our children other than just growing up to be consumers or citizens of another country?

A Door

2007-12-11T14:34:00.000+03:00

A door holds the promise of so much, and while it may seem cemented shut at times, often a determined pull will dislodge it from its resting state. I feel, so many times, that the door of my life it just waiting, waiting to be opened. What lies beyond? Perhaps we don't open the door because we feel the futility of it all: we know what lies on the other side; we have explored its possibilities; we are tired of its mundanity; we cannot muster the strength to budge it. Regardless of the reason for the apathy or lethargy, a closed door truly holds more potential than it appears. How many times have I walked away from an opportunity that could have been if I had only tried? What sights have I missed out on?
One can only lament lost chances,
and regret is the real bummer.

Life Without R's

2007-11-28T12:22:00.000+03:00

I have been putting off getting my Macbook fixed until we could get DSL, since I have the only connection through Zain, but now I am going to have to soon. My kids used my compute and have uined the lette R. Ganted it can still be pessed, but with much effot; theefoe, it will most often not show up in my posts, until I find a competent place to get it fixed.
Anyone know of a good place that woks on Macs hee in Kuwait? It's still unde waantee, but fom the US. It fequently feezes too, and when I squeeze it o pess the battey doo, it sometimes unfeezes. I think thee might be some electical poblem, but shot of it telling me itself, I may neve know.
On the positive side, we have had the wokmen come out to install the phone! They said thei pat was done and now we just have to wait fo thei manage to come tomoow, but that was a week ago. I think the manage is Kuwaiti and it could take a bit longe!
Oh, well at least it is a stat!

I'm trying real hard to be positive...

2007-11-17T11:22:00.000+03:00

....but it's hard! Not only have we had major issue with appliances bought here, but also we still haven't gotten our shipment from the US. It's been in the port here since Aug., but due to a corrupt company in the US, we have been unable to get it! I hope all of our things are not ruined.
In addition to that, yesterday, I found out that somehow someone has intercepted my card info and has been on a buying spree in Florida. Great. The thing I cannot understand is how they do it? If they somehow got my info from online, how are they buying stuff in a gas station or CVS?
I don't know how some people can sleep at night!
Trying real hard to keep my chin up...

Mulla Nasrudin

2007-11-16T12:46:00.000+03:00

When the sultan was visiting Nasrudin‘s town, he decided to put on a show for the locals for their entertainment and to foster his popularity. During the great festivities, the Sultan summoned his best swordsmen before the crowd.

The first approached the stage with a tiny little box, out of which a bee flew out, then, with a single blow of his sword, the bee was sliced in two. The crowd cheered in amazement! The second now walked onto the stage, with another small box, out of which a wasp flew out, then, with two swift blows of his sword, the wasp was chopped into three pieces. The crowd cheered in awe. The third swordsman, eager to meet the challenge, now pranced onto the stage, carrying a small little box out of which he let out a fly, then with three determined blows, he sliced the fly into four pieces. The crowd was going wild.

Not to be outdone, Nasrudin immediately rose to the occasion, he shuffled onto the stage amid the cheers of the crowd, with a makeshift little box in one hand and his sword in the other. As he opened his little box, a tiny mosquito flew out, then, with a flash, Nasrudin delivered a determined blow, but the mosquito continued to fly about, obviously still alive.

„A very ambitious attempt indeed Nasrudin,“ said the Sultan in a magnanimous, yet clearly disappointed tone, „but I see the mosquito is still alive!“

"When properly performed, circumcision is not supposed to kill, your Majesty!“ replied Nasrudin

Ok, I May be Getting Hokey, but...

2007-11-15T12:27:00.001+03:00

Dolphins save surfer from becoming shark’s bait

A pod of bottlenose dolphins helped protect the severely injured boarder

NBC News video

Dolphins help shark attack victim
Nov. 8: Todd Endris was surfing when he was bitten by a 12- to 15-foot shark, but thanks to a couple of Flippers and a friend he survived. TODAY anchor Meredith Vieira reports.

Today show

By Mike Celizic

TODAYShow.com contributor

updated 9:57 a.m. ET Nov. 8, 2007

Surfer Todd Endris needed a miracle. The shark — a monster great white that came out of nowhere — had hit him three times, peeling the skin off his back and mauling his right leg to the bone.

That’s when a pod of bottlenose dolphins intervened, forming a protective ring around Endris, allowing him to get to shore, where quick first aid provided by a friend saved his life.

“Truly a miracle,” Endris told TODAY’s Natalie Morales on Thursday.

The attack occurred on Tuesday, Aug. 28, just before 11 a.m. at Marina State Park off Monterey, Calif., where the 24-year-old owner of Monterey Aquarium Services had gone with friends for a day of the sport they love. Nearly four months later, Endris, who is still undergoing physical therapy to repair muscle damage suffered during the attack, is back in the water and on his board in the same spot where he almost lost his life.

“[It] came out of nowhere. There’s no warning at all.

TODAY

Todd Endris

Maybe I saw him a quarter second before it hit me. But no warning. It was just a giant shark,” Endris said. “It just shows you what a perfect predator they really are.”

The shark, estimated at 12 to 15 feet long, hit him first as Endris was sitting on his surfboard, but couldn’t get its monster jaws around both surfer and surfboard. “The second time, he came down and clamped on my torso — sandwiched my board and my torso in his mouth,” Endris said.

That attack shredded his back, literally peeling the skin back, he said, “like a banana peel.” But because Endris’ stomach was pressed to the surfboard, his intestines and internal organs were protected.

The third time, the shark tried to swallow Endris’ right leg, and he said that was actually a good thing, because the shark’s grip anchored him while he kicked the beast in the head and snout with his left leg until it let go.

The dolphins, which had been cavorting in the surf all along, showed up then. They circled him, keeping the shark at bay, and enabled Endris to get back on his board and catch a wave to the shore.

Our finned friends
No one knows why dolphins protect humans, but stories of the marine mammals rescuing humans go back to ancient Greece, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

A year ago in New Zealand, the group reports, four lifeguards were saved from sharks in the same way Endris was — by dolphins forming a protective ring.

Though horribly wounded, Endris said he didn’t think he was going to die. “Actually, it never crossed my mind,” he told Morales.

It did, though, cross the minds of others on the beach, including some lifeguards who told his friend, Brian Simpson, that Endris wasn’t going to make it.

Simpson is an X-ray technician in a hospital trauma center, and he’d seen badly injured people before. He had seen Endris coming in and knew he was hurt.

“I was expecting him to have leg injuries,” he told Morales. “It was a lot worse than I was expecting.”

Blood was pumping out of the leg, which had been bitten to the bone, and Endris, who lost half his blood, was ashen white. To stop the blood loss, Simpson used his surf leash as a tourniquet, which probably saved his life.

“Thanks to this guy,” Endris said, referring to Simpson, who sat next to him in the TODAY studio, “once I got to the beach, he was calming me down and keeping me from losing more blood by telling me to slow my breathing and really just be calm. They wouldn’t let me look at my wounds at all, which really helped.

A medivac helicopter took him to a hospital, where a surgeon had to first figure out what went where before putting him back together.

“It was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle,” Endris said.

Six weeks later, he was well enough to go surfing again, and the place he went was back to Marina State Park. It wasn’t easy to go back in the water.

“You really have to face your fears,” he told Morales. “I’m a surfer at heart, and that’s not something I can give up real easily. It was hard. But it was something you have to do.”

The shark went on its way, protected inside the waters of the park, which is a marine wildlife refuge. Endris wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I wouldn’t want to go after the shark anyway,” he said. “We’re in his realm, not the other way around.”

International Shark Attack Research Foundation: Learn more about the organization and their work to prevent shark attacks by visiting this site.

Good News?

2007-11-05T12:16:00.000+03:00

Ok, this could be considered good news:

"...the Ministry will cancel the licenses of expatriates holding Article 24 visas if they are involved in a tragic accident in a year while expatriates who will commit traffic violations leading to fatal accidents twice within the specified period will be deported as per the recommendations of the Legal Affairs Department at the Ministry."

if it weren't for that one painfully obvious and burning question...
where will they send the Kuwaitis who commit such offenses?

Looking for some Good News

2007-11-03T11:56:00.000+03:00

There seems to be a proliferation of bad news: health care, education issues, political situation, environmental problems, etc. So rather than just reiterate all of that doom and gloom and back my behind up into a box and wait for the end of the world, I am going to look for some good news. Ok, Pollyannaism is not my usual flair, but if I don't start to look for the bright side, I fear for my sanity! Granted, there is so much to be thankful for: health, family, home, food, and on and on, but every time I look around me and at the news, it seems so grim.
And I grow weary of looking at the same old fellas on the cover of the newspaper sitting in their grandiose chairs, drinking tea, while trying to pat themselves on the back for the quagmire that this country finds itself in!!!!...ahhh, I digress.
So, starting today, I will seek out good news. I will ask people and read between the lines.
Hey, and if anyone finds some before me, could ja pass it on?

What it Takes

2007-10-25T23:13:00.000+03:00

It is night-
a welcome respite from frenetic, harried day-
although what constructs this agitation is unclear, its end is gratifying.
If I squint my hearing,
I can almost imagine the lull of the air-conditioner
to be a warm autumn rainfall,
hushing the ever-present thoughts that goad me on:
something is not quite right.
Still, and stillness is not easily obtained,
the night affords the luxury of solitude-
A deserved hiatus,
a whisper like cocoon that envelopes not only body but also mind,
and finally puts to rest the
noise of nocuous playing.
Something is not quite right...
be still,
be yielding,
bend twig,
bend.

Surfing in Strange Turf

2007-10-16T11:30:00.000+03:00

It has been a long time since I last wrote. One might think that due to a frenzy of activity; if one did, then one would be wrong, however. Eid has come and gone...Eid Mubarak one and all, and a relative calm has fallen over the house. Need I stress the 'relative' part? I have spent many a night trying to herd my children to bed- chasing them from this room and that cousin-essentially prying fingers away from each other- to coax them to sleep, at a 'way past bedtime' time, in preparation for a day much more structured than home life.
Alas, we are still at the in-laws, and as such, we are party to the comings and goings of every person who deems it time to come and pay respects to the elders. It is not a bad thing, but it is nearly impossible to construct a routine for children here.
I did witness an usual thing the other night while riding down the highway...as I was looking around, something not quite right caught my eye. Something was moving on top of the car next to us! And as we exited and slowed to a stop for the light, I saw an extremely bewildered looking kitten atop the adjacent car. Poor creature, looked as if he was taking part in some new extreme animal sport: kitty car surfing, but I knew this was not in case. Thankfully my husband was able to coax the driver into pulling over and the the grateful cat escaped unharmed.
Although, as we drove off, I couldn't stop worrying about whether he would be forever fretfully scanning the crowds for familiar faces...

The "N" word and non-Americans

2007-09-30T13:32:00.000+03:00

Here is the thing: I am a southerner-meaning, I was born and bread in the deep south of the US. The 'N' word surely was coined in the south by slave owners/bigots/racists. It is a word that is far more offensive than any cuss word, and in my circle of people in the US, it is never uttered. So, it is strange to hear it tossed into the banter of everyday discourse.
The other night while sitting with family, I was surprised when a cousin, who is a doctor educated in the UK, say, "Well when X is ready to get married, he prefers n-----s"! Oh, my gosh! I almost spit my tea out all over her designer clothing!
As it happens, I began to ask other non-Americans in and around the family, and they also have used that word to simply mean a person of African origin. Shocking! How terrible what the US truly exports to the world! I am assuming that it comes simply from people listening to rap music and just mimicking that. But honestly, I fear for any person to travel to the US and use that word and not get the crap beat out of him or her.
Let me add one caveat: There are still people who still use that word casually in their circle of friends, but they are probably wearing white sheets over their heads and burning crosses in the evenings too.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

2007-09-24T12:29:00.000+03:00

So, well, I am working on being positive and seeing that half-full cup right now. No, I will not look at the litter in my yard, (not put there by me) and I will not read the newspaper, and I will not listen to negative thoughts or words, and I will not critique Kuwaiti drivers, and I will not correct teachers' English, and I will not compare internet service providers with the US, and I will not lament the lack of vegetarian fare, and I will not poo-poo lamb brain stew?!!, and I will not curse at the poor traffic engineering, and I will not look sideways at the dust and wonder about its contents...this is Ramadan. I am trying; I am trying; oh please, I am trying.

Styrofoam

2007-09-20T12:07:00.000+03:00

I can understand how some people give up: take drugs, abandon society, commit suicide, drink to excess, whatever. It is the mundanity of life that engulfs one's being and threatens to never loosen its grip. Television, shopping malls, keeping up with the Joneses, can lull a person into such a somnambulant state, that before you know it, you are 30, 40, 50 and what have you to show of your life: a house with a huge mortgage, a couple of leased cars, credit card debt, a plethora of plastic objects, too many unwanted clothes, an estranged family, a failed marriage, entitled children, and a part in a society that increasingly just doesn't get it.
We have all forgotten what we were striving for. What was the point again? Oh yeah, to "be happy"- the elusive goal that most think is just one major purchase away- one more self-indulgence and then I will be satiated-and yet, at the end of that cocktail party or check-out line- the feeling is hollow, cold, empty-a styrofoam cup in the parking lot after the fair has left town. And so all that had glittered has been boiled down to its essence- and it ain't pretty-in fact it is so useless and cheap that it skitters over puddles of filth and breaks apart with the slightest of pressure-littering the corners of life with fragments of itself so ubiquitous that soon its presence is acceptable, indeed the norm. And that is what we have become- an empty fairground parking lot- the threshold to a place that promises titillation, excitement, but delivers saturated fat instead.

Too Much to Add Right Now

2007-09-18T09:06:00.000+03:00

I have so much to say now, that I don't think I will be able to post it in one time. Also, my addled brain doesn't support so many thoughts being dealt with at one time.
Suffice it to say, the "nonstop" flight over to Kuwait took almost three days! We were so exhausted by the time we got here, it took almost a month to recover! We have taken root in my in-laws' house and seem to be tarrying here for awhile, suspiciously during Ramadan. (I think my husband thinks there will be no food if we move now) Also, we have no phone number...there is a box, but no line connected to it? huh? I don't know, but we are waiting for some wasta to get us up and running so that we can get satellite and then internet.
And so I think, gosh, that is crazy, you have to have connections to get a phone number??!!
And then I remember my telling the kids,
'Don't compare Kuwait to the US'
Ok, ok, we will wait...
The house in Mangaf is looking pretty good. Although the area looks a bit like someone decided to make a neighborhood in a junkyard, I am so hoping when construction abates, the trash tumbleweeds will magically disappear.
The kids' schooling issue remains just that. My daughter maintains that the girls are not friendly and that she will never have friends there. While my son is aghast that his teacher cussed at the class on the second day of school. AHhhhh... yes, I am planning on being a thorn in the principal's side this year!
The weather has been as expected. Sunny and hot. sunny and humid, sunny and dusty, hot and hotter, scorching and dry, take your pick. :)
I don't know why my posts are not showing up on the front page, so if you have made it here, let me know...
I'll write more as my brain becomes more lucid, insha'Allah. :)

I am finally here and connected!!

2007-09-17T23:37:00.000+03:00

Well, it has only taken us two months to get an internet connection, but we are finally connected! (this statement would have totally different connotations in Boston, those of u in the know know:) Anyway, I'll just revel in the glory of this accomplishment tonight and post tomorrow, insha'Allah. I just wanted to let anyone out there who might be wondering know that I am back!

I'm Off!

2007-07-17T22:54:00.000+03:00

Well, the day has finally dawned. I am off for KW. I won't be blogging for a bit, I suppose, so I will look forward to reading and writing from my new domain as soon as possible. Tah-tah for now, insha'Allah.:)

No Expat Administrators?

2007-07-15T18:43:00.000+03:00

Ok, what the hay? International School Review is now recommending that teachers not return to Kuwait and those there consider leaving. It seems that the American teacher who finally got out, is now banned from going to any GCC country. To top it all off, now it appears that no expats will be allowed to hold administrative positions in schools in KW!!!! What does that mean for international schools?
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Kuwaitis holding whatever position that they, or any other person, are qualified to hold, but since when does nationality qualify as credentials? And how are 'international schools' going to remain international, if they are, in essence, Kuwaiti? Ahhh...someone shine a light on this for me, please!??

People

2007-07-13T03:38:00.000+03:00

I recently read a post by Harmonie that touched a nerve with me. It is one of the most despicable aspects of any society but perhaps just more pronounced and blatant in the middle east.
I remember when I first came to Kuwait. After somewhat settling in and getting to know my new in-laws better, I found myself curiously watching the 'hired help'. Now don't get me wrong, because my husband's family treats their maids well, but I was fascinated by them. How did they get here? What were their lives back home like? How could they leave their children behind?, etc.
Many are the times that I would go out and sit with the maids, after they had served and cleared away dinner. At first, they looked at me as a crazy American, but I think they came to tolerate and then maybe even like me.
The first occasion that I had the misfortune to witness mistreatment was when I was waiting in the car outside of the grocery store. I was people-watching and spied what appeared to be a mother, her overgrown baby girl, around 14, and their maid. While the mother and daughter rapidly churned toward the store, they intermittently spun around in turn to spur the maid along. I can only guess that she was still not progressing as they wished because then one of them, I think the daughter, swung and hit the maid repeatedly in the head with her purse. Now, I am not pretending to have never witnessed any wrongdoings, but this was shocking to me. Why? Was it that the violence was so unwarranted?; was it that the maid was so unflinchingly accustomed to it?; or was it that the balance of power was just so exceedingly unfair? I think it was all of it.
But what ensued was perhaps equally if not more troubling. I felt so terribly complicit. Granted I was in a foreign country, but I felt the injustice of what had transpired was far greater due to my inability to say or do something. I later told my husband that in the future, I was going to be like Buford Pusser and carry a big stick in the car with me.
Many years and distance separate me now from that day, but the memory is still fresh. I have often recalled it and played over in my mind my culpability. But what intrigues me about the larger issue is what I have been able to extrapolate from it.
The question is, for any society: what enables a person/people to accept the mistreatment of others? When does a person learn the devaluation of the other? It must be a long, convoluted, and complex amalgam of variables brought to bear. But, it would be naive to dismiss the effect that desensitization has on a people.
Once, when I was out of the room, my son was watching a movie where there was some killing in it, and I came in and said, "Turn that off; that is terrible." My son replied, "It's ok, Mommy, you get used to it." Well, we had a little conversation, believe you me, and I told him that that was the point: I didn't want him to get used to it, because that would be indicative of the death of his heart.
In the States, people, often the ones who stand to lose money, will object to anyone drawing a correlation between watching violence on T.V. and violent behavior. That is just insane though, and I think the excuse is blown out of the water by a little thing called advertising. If the television didn't have influential power, then why would billions be spent on producing seductive advertisements?
I know I am being simplistic here, but I feel more than certain that one of the ingredients in viewing some people as dispensable, is viewing them as objects, merely shells that don't/can't feel. How else could anyone justify treating another human in a way that she would not treat a loved one? And just to go a little religious on you: it says in Islam that a person will not be judged as much by how she treats her peers, but how she treats those over whom she has some power.....(steps down from her soapbox, exits stage right).

Proof Enough

2007-07-09T00:38:00.000+03:00

One of the perks of working for the airlines was the opportunity to watch the receptions and departures of a myriad folks. There was always so much emotion involved, and at times it was hard to remain detached when I saw people crying over their departing loved ones, for I myself, was away from my family at the time.
Not knowing the stories behind the watched, I would spin their lives into existence in my own mind; I was never at a loss for subject matter.
It was during this time that I was introduced to the religion of Islam. I had never known anything about it. I grew up in a southern Episcopalian cocoon, but to me one of the evidentiary elements of Islam was its understanding of traveling.
I was amazed after enduring the angst from my own travels and being party to viewing countless others suffer similarly, that Islam understood the pain of traveling and even accounted for it. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said that the prayers that a traveler made for someone else would be answered; he also spoke about how to treat travelers when they came to you. Islam understood that traveling was a hardship in more than one way and made dispensation for that.
It would be one of the many amazing qualities that I had yet to discover about this religion.

Warning: Shallow, Girlie Post!

2007-07-06T19:31:00.000+03:00

I have been seeing these shoes on The Today Show and elsewhere in the US lately. They are called FitFlops, are from the UK and are supposed to exercise your leg muscles and burn more calories while you just casually walk around. They are supposed to be extremely comfortable, but they are sold out everywhere! I finally found a pair my size on ebay and ordered them. I hope they will get here before our flight to KW next week! I will keep you posted if I suddenly become very buff due to these shoes. :)

4th

2007-07-04T16:15:00.000+03:00

For most of my years growing up in the US, the 4th of July has been about family, summer fun, and eating. I come from an atypical southern family; my parents have always been very progressive/liberal/open-minded in terms of education, politics, and religion. So, when it comes to the 4th, we were never bedecked in red, white, and blue finery. We didn't have gatherings regaling our attendants with patriotic lore.
What we did do was to enjoy a semi-mandated time of being together. When prior engagements and obligations fell away to allow for the luxury of simple pleasures: corn on the cob, beach, barbeque, bon fires, cole slaw, sparklers, baked beans, and fireworks.
I suppose all celebrations take on their own flavor and individual style, and when in the future, I find myself separated from country and family, I hope I will find a way to create family celebrations that are as evocative and nostalgic for my children.

Jesus was a Capricorn

2007-06-28T04:42:00.000+03:00

"Jesus was a Capricorn, he ate organic foods.
He believed in love and peace and never wore no shoes.
Long hair, beard and sandals and a funky bunch of friends.
Reckon they'd just nail him up if He come down again.

'Cos everybody's got to have somebody to look down on.
Who they can feel better than at anytime they please.
Someone doin' somethin' dirty, decent folks can frown on.
If you can't find nobody else, then help yourself to me.

Egg Head's cousin Red Neck's cussin' hippies for their hair.
Others laugh at straights who laugh at freaks who laugh at squares.
Some folks hate the whites who hate the blacks who hate the clan.
Most of us hate anything that we don't understand.

'Cos everybody's got to have somebody to look down on.
Who they can feel better than at anytime they please.
Someone doin' somethin' dirty, decent folks can frown on.
If you can't find nobody else, then help yourself to me.

Help yourself, brother.
Help yourself, Gentlemen.
Help yourself Reverend."

I Love Kris Kristofferson, although I know he doesn't have the most beautiful voice, his songs have always been so evocative to me. Actually, this song was written by John Prine, another fav of mine.
Anyway, what inspired me to write about ol' Kris? Well, it was watching Hardball with Chris Matthews last night. He had Ann Coulter on, and she was unpardonably obnoxious and repulsive! I don't understand what is happening to the world/US when people such as her are held up as pundits and knowledgeable. She has made fun of John Edwards' son's death, called Arabs 'ragheads' and called Edwards a 'faggot'. She has said that the US should invade the middle east, kill the leaders, and convert everyone to Christianity.
She is supposedly an educated person, which makes her hate-mongering that much more pernicious, and she has a huge, supportive audience.
What I can't understand is why do people feel placated by hate? Is it necessary to hate the 'other' in order to be content?
I guess some people can only view themselves worthy juxtaposed to the 'enemy'. And who is the enemy du jour? Right now, it seems to be the Muslims, oh wait, not all of us, just the 'fascist Islamist'. Although, in my life, I have seen it be African Americans, 'hippies' (or liberals), Jews, etc.
People are choking with hate and looking for a place to release it. 'Radical Muslims' are the group that it is ok to hate now. Of course, in the US, most people are not knowledgeable enough about Islam to be able to differentiate between Muslims, and think that the Muslims who drink alcohol and act like 'regular Americans' are the only kind of Muslims who are ok.
The sad thing is that there is a void. On the one hand, there is the lack of media coverage of American Muslims speaking out about what Islam really is, and on the other, there is the continuous coverage of the vociferous, hate-filled speech of other Muslims lashing out at who they deem 'the enemy'.
Nothing is as clearcut as it seems. People who hate, hate from a simplistic, ill-informed opinion of the unknown other. It is easier than searching out, learning for oneself. What does the Qur'an say? (paraphrasing here...) "Had I wanted to, I would have created you all the same, but I created you with differences, so that you might come to know each other."

Some Signs of the End of Times

2007-06-25T04:40:00.000+03:00

Of course no one knows when the Last Day will be, but there is an abundance of thought-provoking information in the Qur'an and hadith. Even if you don't believe, it is interesting:

In the End Times of the community of the faithful, people, those who adorn the mosques but leave their own hearts in ruins, who fail to look after their religion as much as they do their clothes, who forsake their religious obligations for the sake of their activities in this world, will increase in number. (Agreed upon)

The Last Hour will not be established until there will remain those people who will neither be aware of the virtures and never prevent the vices. (Ahmad)

The Hour will come when voices are raised in the mosques. (Tirmidhi)

The Hour will come when leaders are oppressors. (Al-Haythami, Kitab al-Fitan)

When the Qur'an is read as if singing a song, and when a person is esteemed for reading in that way, even though he is not knowledged …(Al-Tabarani, Al-Kabir)

'The Hour will come, when people believe in the stars and reject al-Qadar (the Divine Decree of destiny) (Al-Haythami, Kitab al-Fitan)

Undoubtedly, a period will come upon people wherein not a single person will be saved from indulging in interest. If anyone avoids direct indulgence in interest, yet he will not escape from the smoke (effects) thereof.. Its effects will somehow reach him. (Narrated by Abu Hurairah)

The day of Judgment will not come until the very lowest people are the happiest.
(Tirmidhi)

Only people one knows will be greeted with the salaam... (Ahmad Diya'al-Din al-Kamushkhanawi, Ramuz al-Ahadith)

When the old have no compassion for the young, when the young show no respect to the old … when children grow angry … Judgment is at hand. (Reported by Omar (r.a.))

In the Last Days, there will be such people, who, when they meet, curse and abuse each other instead of greeting (with salaam). (Allama Jalaluddin Suyuti, Durre-Mansoor)

Bribes will be called gifts, and will be considered lawful. (Amal al-Din al-Qazwini, Mufid al-'ulum wa-mubid al-humum)

The Last Day will not be established until …time will pass quickly. (Bukhari)

Great distances will be traversed in short spans of time. (Ahmad, Musnad)

The Last Hour will not come before time contracts, a year being like a month, a month like a week, a week like a day, a day like an hour, and an hour like the kindling of a fire. (Tirmidhi)

My community will find such well-being at that time that the like will never have been seen before. (Ibn Majah)

My community, both the good and the bad, will be blessed with blessings they have never seen before (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-Zaman)

Another hadith describes the richness of this period:

During the period, the earth will throw out its treasure…(Ibn Hajar Haythami, Al Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi 'alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar)

The Blessed Teeth

2007-06-23T15:31:00.000+03:00

I'm trying to get everything wrapped up before we move to Kuwait in a couple of weeks, and so I go to the dentist to get a cleaning....ends up, I'm getting another root canal! This will be my fourth. Can I chalk that up to my British heritage (sorry yall :P)? Anyway, each time before I have this done, I ask them, "Can't we just pull the tooth?" And I guess it's a good thing they say no because I would be looking a bit snaggle-toothed by now, but this is getting ridiculous.
Anyway, if it has to happen in KW too, does anyone know of a good endodontist and dentist there? I have always heard the best trained dentists and doctors work in the public sector, but I am not crazy about going and sitting and waiting and then being booted out before they are finished. Has anyone had a root canal and crown in KW?

Time is Drawing Near

2007-06-20T06:07:00.000+03:00

I got our tix for KW the other day...time is drawing near. I guess we will be arriving just in time for the electricity outages and blistering heat (and I don't even like hot weather!).
We decided to take the non-stop to KW. I don't know which is worse, but I do hate getting off the plane in Heathrow just to sit and wait in the lounge with all of the other dilapidated looking folks, and with children too.
There is something very leveling about travel, especially by plane. People are all equally at the mercy of greater forces; (meaning air traffic control, pilots, etc.) I know we are always under the control of a greater force, but international travel just brings it down full force! It is definitely a test of patience.
I must ashamedly admit that last time I flew Kuwait Air, I got so mad at the flight attendants, I think I thoroughly embarrassed my husband. But, I had had enough of their unequal treatment of folks, and when I saw one of them being rude to a child from a southeastern Asian country, I just lost it!
Alas, my rantings did nothing but purge my anger, and no one else seemed to give a crap about it.
I think I get a little crazed too, being cooped up all that time. And I try to not think about the fact that we are flying over the ocean. (For a crazy period in my life, before I got my Master's, I was a flight attendant for Delta, and so I remember practicing for ditchings, a.k.a. crashing in the water!)
Yes, there is nothing like flying to make you fully appreciate the fact that, at least for the interim, you have absolutely no control over your life.

Yuck!

2007-06-18T02:42:00.001+03:00

I was watching the new season of Top Chef and some of them had to cook this, Geoduck, pronounced 'gooeyduck'. It is a saltwater clam found on the Pacific coast of the US and Canada. They are dug up here and shipped to China, where they eat them. I must say, this is one of the most repulsive looking 'clams' I've ever seen! Glad to be a vegetarian...

I Love Nasruddin/Joha Tales

2007-06-17T00:21:00.000+03:00

Once Nasruddin bought some meat and asked his wife to prepare kababs.
But his wife felt tempted and ate it all herself.
When asked, she blamed the house cat.
The amount of meat being one kilogram,
it was hard for Nasruddin to believe that a cat could eat so much.
So he weighed the cat on a balance. It weighed exactly one kilogram.
Nasruddin exclaimed: ''If this is the same cat, then where is the meat?
Or, if this is the meat, then where has the cat gone?''

Family and Misunderstandings

2007-06-15T05:20:00.001+03:00

Some of my family members came to visit and see the new baby the other day, and I was again confronted, and still surprised, by the ignorance (and I mean this in the true sense of the word, not being insulting) and bias that they, as well as soooooooooo many other Americans have in regards to Arabs/Muslims.
Their first concern was for my safety in living in Kuwait. I understand that, heck KW has some iffy neighbors, but when I tried to bring up the fact that we are not so secure and safe in the US, they were like, "Whaaaaaaaaaaat, what are you talking about?" (Ok, so I'll bite my tongue and move on...)
"Well what about women, then? Will you be able to drive? Will you have to wear a burqa?!" (Please, I know they did not just ask that! It's not like we haven't had this conversation over the past 14 years countless times, but I guess the more they show their spin on the news, the more I have to answer redundant questions).
"Well what about the kids and you if things go wrong...did you see (no, no, no, please don't say what I think you're going to say...) Not Without My Daughter?"(Damn!, and yes, I did)
And we are not talking about uninformed, uneducated people here. They both graduated from Ivy League schools!
I won't even go into the political discussions, cause they get me tooooo heated. Like how there was some sort of link between Saddam and Osama..."Well, don't you think Saddam was funding Osama?" (What the hay??!!!) Or "The Palestinians weren't even farming their land..." (Count to ten, twenty, thirty......ok, it's not working!!!!)
I love yall, I really do, but next time, let's just talk about the weather.

To Be a Vegetarian

2007-06-10T16:22:00.001+03:00

I have been a vegetarian since 1985, and I have come to rely on all of the wonderful meatless companies here in the US. But what will there be in KW? The last time I was there, about 6 years ago, there was nothing in the way of soy products and not much in the way of fast foods, except for Haloumy cheese. I know being a vegetarian is not popular in KW, but is anyone else out there in the same boat?

Oppression

2007-06-10T03:53:00.000+03:00

So, Oprah is going to visit Israel and see the people she says are suffering the most from terrorism...It is a shame that the truly oppressed go almost unnoticed by the world.
It is hard to imagine the blessings that are taken for granted until you take a walk in the life of another less fortunate than yourself. For some perspective, I have included a link to this wonderful Power Point about the lives of Palestinian women. You will have to download it from the site, but it is worth it...take a look.

I Have Absolutely Nothing to Say

2007-06-09T03:14:00.000+03:00

Ever notice how those with nothing of substance to say are always the most vociferous? You know those loudmouths who yack on and on thinking that everyone within earshot should be enthralled by their erudition.
Or how about those people who talk about inane, superficial drivel? Have you ever been stuck at a party or gathering talking to someone who just went on: "Look at what X is wearing...can you believe that she did...and then they went to that new store and bought....he left her and told her that he never...."
The fact that a person really has nothing to say isn't often enough a deterrent for gibberish. It seems that people are somewhat unnerved by silence. It is too difficult to be in the presence of another and not make some kind of conversation, even if it is completely vapid inanity................

.................................kind of ironic ain't it?

What to Bring to Kuwait?

2007-06-06T06:17:00.000+03:00

We just came back from my niece's high school graduation. I can't believe how quickly time has flown. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was graduating high school, in actuality it was MANY moons ago, and getting ready for college. Anyway...

As the time draws near, I am starting to panic about packing all of our things up and getting them to KW. Then I started thinking about what things I should really stock up on to bring there. I know some things are much cheaper or more accessible here. My husband always says sheets are better and cheaper here. Does anyone have any other 'must brings'?

I must add that I am simply dreading that flight with two children and a little baby! I always get so anxious: baby crying/people staring.

The Most Censored

2007-05-30T14:32:00.000+03:00

At least KW is not in the top 10:

North Korea
Myanmar (Burma)
Turkmenistan
Equatorial Guinea

Libya
Eritrea
Cuba

Uzbekistan
Syria
Belarus

Seriously though, my daughter is wondering whether she can get any magazines in KW. We're not even talking about the lascivious Seventeen, but how about Girl's Life or the dreaded American Girl. What will be allowed; can you get subscriptions in KW at all, or will the moral police, for lack of a better term, take them away?

Is the censorship in KW getting more so or loosening up a bit?

Summertime....

2007-05-25T15:27:00.000+03:00

...And the livin' is easy? Well, maybe it used to be, but is it anymore? Sure, we have help with the housework, and technology has made humongous leaps forward, but isn't life just much more complicated now in a way that will never allow for 'easy livin'?

How I long for those days whose hours stretched out before me languidly, allowing for the sinful indulgence in leisure. It seems like now, summer is just a tease. Once you are finished with all of the appointments and obligations you neglected during the school year, and you just start to settle into the schedule of the summer day, it is all cruelly yanked away by the realization of its impending end. And face it, once you know that there is only a week or two left, summer has suddenly lost its allure, as you begin the dreaded countdown of its remaining days.

Ok, I sound like a pessimist, I know. Maybe I am just a long lost relative of Thoreau; maybe I am a closet hippie, or maybe I am just like Ferdinand the bull who 'loved to just sit, and smell the flowers.'

Room to breathe or Easy commute?

2007-05-23T04:54:00.001+03:00

Ok, so now we have to choose, because we will have to rent a place until we can build our own house...insha'Allah, insha'Allah. So, do we rent a place that is closer in to the kids' school and hubby's work but is much smaller, or a larger place that is farther away?

I keep hearing all of the horror stories about driving there, and I am seriously thinking about looking for a tank to drive over there. ;) BUT, seeing as how the kids won't be playing outside that much, due to the charring factor, perhaps it would be wiser to go for more space.

Is there any hope for a subway?

Is That All There Is, My Friend...?

2007-05-19T03:45:00.001+03:00

...If that's all there is, then let's keep dancing...
With all of the money being thrown into mall-building in Kuwait, it makes me wonder about motive. I mean, I am not a paranoid person, but you know the ol' shell trick? The magician occupies the audiences attention while he switches the coin under the shell. I just wonder why do Kuwaitis need to occupy themselves by buying? I know we do it here in the States too, but there are many other diversions and pursuits too. And after all, doesn't consumerism leave people empty and ultimately depressed? Wouldn't money be better spent building better schools, libraries, parks, museums, auditoriums, etc.? And so, I wonder whom all of this benefits? To whom is it important that people are continuously engaged in a shopping frenzy? And why?

New Planet

2007-05-17T04:27:00.000+03:00

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An odd planet the size of Neptune, made mostly of hot, solid water, has been discovered orbiting a nearby star and offers evidence that other planets may be covered with oceans, European astronomers reported on Wednesday.

Called GJ 436b, the planet orbits quickly around a cool, red star some 30 light-years away, the team at the Geneva Observatory said.

'It's not a very welcoming planet,' Frederic Pont, an astronomer who helped make the discovery, said in a telephone interview. The planet is hot because it is near its star and under high pressure because of its mass...."

When I read stuff like this, I always imagine some creatures on a distant planet viewing images of the newly discovered planet Earth and wondering about its habitability...one could easily say that Earth 'is not a very welcoming planet' either, right now. Scratch that; it is the Earthlings that are not always so welcoming.

On a similar, yet totally different note: I am so encouraged to read that the Kuwait schools will be implementing a Japanese program that teaches environmental awareness! That is progress.

I am a treehugger

2007-05-15T04:04:00.001+03:00

Local flora
Originally uploaded by talbiya.

What in the world am I going to do in Kuwait? I truly love trees. There is something so soothing and relaxing about them. This tree is in Australia-hubby just came back from a business trip there and snapped this shot. I believe this is a Walking Tree.

Is there any way to 'green' one's space there (KW), or is it too water-wasteful? Also, has anyone out there ever tried to grow tomatoes in pots there? Jus' askin'

What drives me crazy

2007-05-10T14:25:00.000+03:00

I just got the dress code for the children's school next year in KW, and in it it said that "mid-riffs" must be covered. Ok, now this is a school where English is supposed to be the first language! What the heck is a 'mid-riff'? It must be the middle of your 'riff'? That is crazy. I know it is hard to catch all of your errors in writing, but a school should never send something out with errors in it. It is just wrong.

Far from the Home I Love

2007-05-08T04:53:00.000+03:00

As I prepare to leave my home and family for Kuwait, I can't help but remember Fiddler on the Roof. I feel like that daughter, saying good-bye to her father. And I wonder: How can I say good-bye to my father? How can I watch him smiling on the outside, holding himself so bravely, being ever-supportive, never trying to hinder. I almost wish that my family had been ugly about me marrying a Kuwaiti man and moving overseas, but they never were anything but supportive. And so that leaves me here, walking, in a way, happily forward, but looking back, ever mindful of the undying love and support that allows me to.

"Far From The Home I Love
How can I hope to make you understand
Why I do what I do,
Why I must travel to a distant land,
Far from the home I love.
Once I was happily content to be
As I was, where I was,
Close to the people who are close to me,
Here in the home I love.
Who could see that a man could come
Who would change the shape of his dreams.
Helpless now I stand with him,
Watching older dreams grow dim.
Oh, what a melancholy choice this is,
Wanting home, wanting him,
Closing my heart to ev'ry hope but his,
Leaving the home I love,
There where my heart has settled long ago
I must go, I must go, I must go,
Who could imagine I'd be wand'ring so
Far from the home I love
Yet there with my love, I'm home."

Books and Libraries?

2007-05-06T04:17:00.000+03:00

So, I got to thinking... I am not a historian or anything, but I know that the greatest and oldest of libraries were in the Arab world, like the picture here of Nineveh, Iraq, or Alexandria, Egypt. And it got me to thinking about the whole bookstore issue and further to wondering about the issue of books, reading, knowledge, libraries, and initiative.
Which led me to wonder: How many libraries are there in Kuwait? I mean public, non-specific ones. And then I started thinking: How many publishing houses are there in Kuwait, or even neighboring countries? I mean really top quality publishing that produces beautiful books. And if, as I suspect is the case, there are not many libraries and publishers, then why the heck are the people not up-in-arms demanding them? I have read so many blogs about The Avenues Mall and how people are upset about not having enough new and different stores in it, but I have yet to see as much of an outcry for books.
And, if the problem is the religious factor, how can they justify that? The whole of the Qur'an is a call to humanity to seek knowledge, think, and read...how could much of the Arab world have moved away from its previous love of books?