It is a beautiful Friday morning and in front of me is a wobbly gangling pile of work I have to grade.
Ugh. Well, let’s get to it, shall
we? In a minute, I have to empty my head
of thoughts before I tackle the gangle.
After class yesterday a student told me he was in India
a few months ago for medical reasons and his doctor told him every Afghan he
has seen suffers from some sort of acute anxiety. I didn’t ask him what those symptoms might be
but I can guess.
The Afghans I have met are resilient people. They, the ones I’ve met, endure daily
obstacles I cannot simply imagine.
Economic distress, the chance to improve their lives is a fight close to
impossible. So many hurdles lay before these people; from the Taliban to their
own system of governance to antiquated codes, the constant threat to society is
ever present and the tension is an attack on the peace of one’s conscience.
Before I booked my flight to Dubai next week I talked
to the senior travel officer at the university about visiting Bamiyan or Herat
or Mazar Al-Sharif, and there were no flights on the days I’ll have off thanks
to Mujahedeen Day. Bamiyan is only six
hours by car and it is just too dangerous to drive, such nonsense and such a disappointment I
told him. How in God’s name will peace
ever come to this ancient land if ideologies and corruption and social
divisions and inequality for women, how can this land ever come to the place
where peace is shared by everyone, I don’t know and neither do its citizens.
Anything else?
It’s a full moon today and it’s earth day. Strange that this day to recognize the planet changes every
year. Seven years ago it was in March. Anyways, the sun is out and anywhere else I’d
be outside soaking it in.
4:57pm
A year ago I wrote this novena:
And it worked, well something happened, something I never
expected. I haven’t used it since then and
I don’t know why, my future is as cloudy as a warm spring afternoon in the
capital. Do you have any reason not to
go through it? Lots of little things tax
me but they don’t seem too important today.
I’m thinking of going to some pharmacies when it is dark to inquire
about more Tramadol which I took the last of this morning after I finished
grading my student’s first unit test. I
appreciate the state two of these put me in for right now it is quiet even with
a raucous game of volleyball in the next compound and I am calm.
9:42pm
The press conference with the UK prime minister and
President Obama just finished and I’m telling ya, America was, is, fortunate to
have had this man as their leader for seven years and the next president,
whoever she is, and if she chooses Elizabeth Warren as a vice-president, is the
only way America is going to save itself from a stretch of calamitous roads we
will regret and those who have decried the last eight years are gonna miss a
leader with a good heart and whose only interests was peace through policies
that were fair and equal.
Of course we don’t know what the future holds for
planet earth. Tomorrow everything could
end, the Lord could come back in the clouds and every eye would see the Blessed
Hope with or without Pat Robertson or Wolf Blitzer narrating the day. But I imagine tomorrow will be just another Saturday,
America, the UK, will continue to try and promote peace and equality without
religious or political ideologies that only divide and always conclude with
unrest, may God-Om-Allah bring us home once and for all. Maranatha.
A second cup of tea this late may upset a good sleep, a
couple of Nyquil horse pills I hope will get through the night without waking up two or three times and if I
could dream, something I haven’t done in such a long time, I pray a dream of
playing a game of basketball with the Prince of Peace. That would be a good way to end anything,
wouldn’t it?
And posting this blog now I see this is the 500th entry on 'How Green is your Valley'. I started this exercise in August of 2012 and I am glad to have kept it going, it's been a remarkable run. La'Chaim.
 |
| I don't know who these people are. |
No comments:
Post a Comment