Another day, another missed attempt at constructive blogging

I always remember that I have a blog about ten minutes before I am about to head off to dreamland. Now, I think about my blog about thirty times during the work day and plan on writing on the most fascinating of topics. But once I get off and start "living" my day all those plans just disappear. Apparently my life is now so full and interesting I no longer truly have time to blog....

So here I am. Thought I should write something tonight as I am starting to get comments on my apathetic attitude towards my blog as well as the blogs of others.

A Loss

If you've ever had a cat you know how they like to bring you little gifts and offerings. CoCo, one of my kittens brought me a gift right before bedtime tonight. From across the room I thought it must be another lizard, as I got closer I feared it was a mouse, in the end I wished it was either - it was a dead premature kitten in a most depressing state.

Babs, the "mommy" kitty didnt come eat this morning or evening, so we havent been able to determine if she is ok, or if the baby was even hers. InshaAllah she will be fine.

Our Amish Brothers and Sisters

As I am sure all of you know, a horrific tragedy befell the Amish community in Pennsylvania this week. A man invaded a quaint one-room school, held the students hostage and shot 10 young girls - 5 of whom died (they were planning on taking a 6th off lifesupport today). His original plan involved molesting and/or raping the girls as well - thank God he did not.

There is a lot that we can learn both from the attack and from the Amish response to it. From the attack we are reminded that no place is ever safe. If a rural schoolhouse in a religious pacifist community can be attacked, so can any place in this world. Security has to come from within - from our own connection and trust in God.

The other night on the news a teenage girl described their feelings and acceptance of what had happened. They trusted completely that this was God's will that these young girls should die. It was their ordained time. God calls on us to do the same: to trust His judgement, obey His command and accept His will. I had to ask myself: could I be so accepting of God's will? Would I not feel anger? rage? It was said that the wife of the murderer would be welcome at the funerals. How many of us could open our homes, our lives to the family of a man who committed such an act against us?

Indeed, the Amish are called to a greater pacificism than any Muslim is. I think this makes our commitment to the will of God even harder than it is for Amish brothers. Where the Amish are called to turn the other cheek and to instantly forgive, Muslims are called on to correct injustice. How do we reconcile those two commandments? How do we accept the Divine Will of God, and still constantly strive against those who act wrongly? I think the level of anger and hatred within the Muslim community shows that we are not mastering that balance.

May we always accept Gods will with obedient hearts and minds. May we always strive to encourage the good and forbid that which is wrong.

Two Things

My job consists of reading tons of newspapers and magazines. Here are my gems of the day :)

From Jewish Image magazine:

In the Talmud there is a story of Rabbi Akiva a well respected scholar and religious leader. He always taught his students "whatever G-d does is for the good." It came to pass that he and several of his students were on a journey. The rabbi always traveled a lamp by which to read scripture, a rooster to ensure he awoke early and a donkey to facilitate his journey. The rabbi and his students were turned away from a town and forced to set up camp in the desert. A swift wind came up and blew out the lamp. In the darkness a cat ate the rooster and a ravenous lion ate the donkey. In the middle of the night an army came and ransacked the town and took all the inhabitants captive. And Rabbi Akiva said you see "whatever G-d does is for the good". If the lamp would have been lit, the army would have seen their camp. If the rooster would have crowed or the donkey brayed, then the army would have heard their camp. "Whatever G-d does is for the good"

From Latin Mass Magazine

"Curiosity is the vice opposite to studiosity, and is the vice in which we seek useless and profane knowledge"

Aujourd'hui

Bonjour mes amies. Today I am taking a break from more serious reading and picked up 101 French Idioms. A few of my favs:

Coincer la bulle (to get the bubble stuck) - to take a nap
Etre une vraie giroutte (to be a true weathervane) - to change with the wind
Rotir le balai (to roast the broom) - to lead the high life
Pedaler dans la semoule (to pedal in the semolina) - to take leave of one's senses
Se fendre la peche (to split one's peach) - to laugh ones head off
Tomber dans les pommes (to fall into the apples) -to faint, pass out
Poser un lapin a quelqu'un (to lay a rabbit on someone) - to stand someone up
Avoir la cafard (to have the cockroach) - to be blue, have the blues
Se mettre le doigt dans l'oeil (to put ones finger into ones eye) - to be entirely mistaken

Stupid in America

I watched the update of John Stossel's Stupid in America on ABC last night. Had caught the second half of it before, and was glad to see it all this time around. I really enjoyed the program, but I suppose that is because I am an opponent of American public schools. While they played an important and necessary part in the educational development of this country, they are now totally outdated and no longer fulfill their mandate. (This is not to say that every individual school and teacher is not good).

Stossel contrasted the American school system with the Belgian one. In Belgium education money is tied to the student and schools compete for students. Students are able to choose what school best fits their needs and abilities, and the money follows them to that school. Students can choose to attend a state school, a private school, a catholic school or even a muslim school. Imagine free tuition to ACA, PMIS, or Phoenix Country Day even! The better a school is, the more students want to go there and the better the school does financially and academically. The result is that Belgian students routinely outperform American students and have an education that is more personally suited to each student. In the end everyone is happier (and better educated!).Unfortunately we cant have such happiness in America, because the system is entrenched and few people are gutsy enough to strive for genuine change.

It was genuinely sad to watch a Belgian student sit there and say that she felt sorry for American students, but that "I guess if youve never had choices, you dont know better"... Arent we supposed to be the land of opportunity and freedom?

How Sinful Am I?

Your Deadly Sins

Sloth: 60%

Greed: 40%

Envy: 0%

Gluttony: 0%

Lust: 0%

Pride: 0%

Wrath: 0%

Chance You'll Go to Hell: 14%

You will get bugs, because you're too lazy to shoo them off. And then you'll die.

How Sinful Are You?

Now you may ask, why on earth would she put up a chart of her sins??? Quite simply because it is not accurate. Sin is so passively accepted by society that it can be trivialized and teased down to a few questions. I suppose I should feel quite elated that I have only a 14% chance of going to hell, but then again Gods justice does not hinge on answering a quiz correctly. May Allah protect us all. May He be most merciful. And may each of us be granted jannah.

And I shall pray that I not be so consummed by laziness as to be eaten by bugs!

Progress

Comic strip of the Epic of Gilgamesh

Alhamdulillah finished The Epic of Gilgamesh today. As always, it is amazing to read something that has been a part of the human story for so long. A word of caution to my brothers and sisters out there: dont read this book if you dont have strong morals or if your morals are sooooooo strong that you cannot even imagine reading something which would now be considered immoral. There is stuff in that book that would probably make Hugh Hefner blush...

I was trying to figure out what to read next, I think its going to be Songs to Innana by Enheduanna. Enheduanna was the daughter of an Akkadian king who was a high-priestess to the goddes Innana. She is the first known author in the world, western world at least. Once again something I didnt learn in school: the first known author is a woman! The poems are estimated to date back to 2250 BC. This will be followed by the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1780 BC) and the Enuma Elish (c. 1700 BC).

Spent about an hour today trying to figure out if what Asian texts I should add to my reading list. Have added several Hindu works, still working on adding others.


On a side note: we were driving past kmart today and my mom decided to go in. Havent been there in years and years. Anyhow, I got two headscarves. Yep headscarves at kmart. How awesome is that. Super cheap too.

Here is a picture of the Masqah Gate in Nineveh. Nineveh gained prominence in 1800 BC as a place for the worship of the goddess Ishtar. The city reached its height in 700 BC, but had completely disappeared by 400 BC. It was readiscovered in 1847 by a British adventurer.Ishtar is a prominent character in the epic, but is portrayed as a adolescent full of greed and lust. The king Gilgamesh refuses to become her husband and so she destroys cities, kills hundreds of people and brings on a drought.







This is a picture of a stone tablet containing cuneiform writing from the Sumerian era (2600 BC).






One of the most noteworthy elements of the book is the transformation of Enkidu from a wild man to a great leader and "brother" of King Gilgamesh. When the reader is introduced to Enkidu he lives with the animals, eats and drinks like an animal and his bestial nature terrifies those who encounter him. Some nearby farmers wish to deal with him and so seek the consul of King Gilgamesh, who in turn provides them with a priestess from the temple who will tame Enkidu. She waits for him in the forest and essentially rapes him. Enkidu is immediately transformed into a "man" who the animals loathe and who is now capable of becoming truly civilized and a great leader (all learnt under the direction of the priestess).

Reading books like this always makes me grateful to live in the modern world and to be a Muslim.

My Project

Well some odd desire to revisit my high school days seems to have come over me. Alhamdulillah I had a great education, but two things have been gnawing at me. (1) While we read a lot of the "major" classics, there were a lot of great, ancient books that we skipped and (2) there is much to be gained by revisiting books you have read before. So I have decided to start as much as possible at the beginning and work my way forward.

The first book I am reading is the Danny Jackson translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh. This story dates to approx. 2600 BC (give or take a century). We read this in my 11th Grade ancient greek class - though I am not entirely sure why as it was not written in greek. The work was written in cuneiform script on clay/rock tablets and was found in the remains of Ninevah (near modern Mosul).

Tablet V: column iv
"Brother, if you made no noise, what sound woke me?
If you didnt jostle me, what shook my body?
There was no god nearby, so why am I so stunned?
Brother, I've had a third vision in sleep
and I am deeply frightened to recall it all.
Sky screamed. And Mother Earth moaned.
Sun went out of light and blackest night
enveloped the heavens.
Then came flashes of lightning, source of fire.
Storm clouds raced nearby and swept all life away
from out of the sky above our heads.
Brightness dissolved, light evaporated;
cinders turned to ash.
When we leave the mountain, this what we will remember."

The Fates Have Conspired

I worked a whopping 11 minutes today. We all got sent home and told not to come back until next Tuesday. This is after having yesterday, last Wednesday, and the Tuesday and Thursday of the week before off. All with pay - Alhamdulillah!

It is remarkable that my venture back into the world of blogs has coincided with this wealth of free time. Inshallah I will turn my attentions to more important matters, and limit my blogging time...

It also gives me tons more time to get started with my great project!