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.