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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Unrest

As I sit and watch the latest news from Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Tunisia there are so many emotions flowing through me, it’s almost impossible to decipher exactly how I feel. On one hand I am supportive of people who feel it necessary to rid themselves of regimes which are violent and discriminatory, on the other I’m overwhelmed by the brutality of it all. I especially feel for the women and children. I don’t imagine the women in any of those countries would be particularly empowered or free. I assume they would be somewhat under the control of the men in their families and, if those men are involved in the protests and fighting – on whichever side, their women will be drawn into the unrest in some way.


I feel for the children. In particular those children who are too young to know or even care what is happening around them. They must be living in such a permanent state of terror that it will impact them for the rest of their lives, however long those lives will be. I can’t begin to imagine how the mothers of young children and babies must be suffering. I wonder if they were already suffering so much that this is simply another burden to be born.

I can’t help but think of the children involved in the fighting between Israel and Palestine, the children who grew up with violence until they became adults who now continue the violence.

I hope and pray there is a successful result to the unrest in all of these countries. A result that is successful in the eyes of the people who live in these countries, the people who are fighting for their rights and equality.

I hope and pray that very soon the women of these countries will be able sanctioned to take control of their own lives and that the children of these countries will quickly know peace.

I don’t think I have ever felt quite so insignificant or unimportant as I carry on with my life in a democratic country, whose most pressing issues seem to be whether we should have a carbon tax and which of our sporting heroes have misbehaved.

10 comments:

  1. Your last paragraph truly resonates with me (and probably many others) because over here we are waiting for the next big news from Charlie Sheen or Lindsay L.

    I feel as you do. Like I just don't know what to think and wonder if there is anything I could do, which I fear there really isn't.

    Although, maybe, the best thing we can do is work in our own neighborhoods for the better. Which I do in a very small way. Maybe I need to do more of that. Rambling here.

    I like this post.

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  2. I stay away from the news because of this. I hear about all the destruction going on, and can not believe in this day and age we still have wars to this extreme. I just can not understand it at all.

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  3. life is cruel...always has been , always will be,. It is a male world out there and they are power hungry. The middle east has so many problems with equality. Until they get that together it is going to be ugly. Women and children will suffer. The world will worry. We are just lucky that it is not outside our doors.....

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  4. I concur that women may not gain greater freedom, in some ways they may even be worse off.

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  5. You and I have the same mixed feelings. How can I completely support something that really won't be any better of a situation for women and children?

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  6. Oh I know it is all so hard to understand how these women and children live!

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  7. Very well said. Thanks for this post. I appreciate and fully agree with your sentiment.
    xoRobyn

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  8. I also feel for the children. I can't imagine how scary it is for them.

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  9. Deborah - I like to think we do make a difference if we work for the better in our own neighborhoods or even with our own families - hopefully its not wishful thinking!

    mermaid - I totally agree with everything you've said!

    Mrs Tuna - I wish there was some way to help them.

    Summer - It's tricky isn't it?

    gayle - I don't think I could live in those countries, that's for sure.

    Robyn - thank you for reading!

    Whispering - it must be just awful.

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  10. It is hard to imagine what people in warzones go through and what gets me is that we don't learn. We have been doing the same thing since the beginning of time,irrespective of who gets hurt or killed.

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