I subscribe to a travel newsletter, because I'm fond of traveling in Southeast Asia, from a company that specializes in that part of the world. Today's newsletter had this interesting perspective:
BURMA/MYANMAR UPDATE BURMA-MYANMAR. Several people are reluctant to travel to Burma because of its very oppressive government. I was one of those people. For many years we did not do groups to Burma at all. Then I met our guide in Rangoon, an articulate, delightful young man, whose father has been imprisoned for 15 years by this government. He said to me: "If groups like yours don't come, we will then be even more cut off from the world. Please don't boycott our whole country because of our government. That will isolate us even more." Ever since that conversation, we have been taking groups to Burma. The tragedy of Burma is now unfolding on the world's stage. This heinously oppressive government has kept these smiling, deeply religious, politically naive people down long enough. The monks who are revered, are on the march, by the thousands. The Burmese people are forming a human chain around them so that the military can't get to them, but there have been some fatalities already. Imagine, they are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect the monks and bring about change in that horrid government. The monks are determined to have peaceful demonstrations. How long the government will allow that will be interesting to watch. And in the wings, under house arrest for the last decades, is Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the pro-democracy movement, and the winner of the presidential elections way back when, before the military took over the country. She was never allowed to take office, but now the world is watching. Hopefully, matters will be resolved by December, when we have a group scheduled, over the holiday period. Hopefully, the voice of the people will be heard and they will win out, without too many fatalities. If it is peaceful, we need to support this amazing country, and these wonderful people. May I add: Americans talk all the time about how those who have served in the military have made sacrifices to allow us our freedom. What we forget is that we've always been able to do that on someone elses' soil. We don't know what it is like to leave home one morning and stand in front of armed militias, swallowing our fear, trying to end a despotic rule, and seeing others nearby shot dead in the street. We don't understand having to guard every word, because the person in the next booth over at the restaurant may be an informer. We don't grasp losing a spouse, parent or child because they just don't come home, ever again, and never knowing why or how or where they were 'disappeared' by the government. Everyone should have it so good.
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TechnoratiFrom a call to action issued by Amnesty International, these words about the current struggle in Burma resonate within me......please do anything you can to help.
"May we be free of torture, may there be peace in hearts and minds as our kindness spreads around the world."
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"May we be free of torture." This was the chant of pro-democracy protesters in Burma (Myanmar) this past week. Yesterday, security forces began a violent crackdown on the protests, led by 30,000 red-robed monks.
The military government's forces clubbed and tear-gassed protesters, fired shots into the air, and arrested dozens if not hundreds of monks. Several people were reportedly shot to death.
Toll on U.S. Marines in Iraq: 'dead checking'
Noble rationales can't mask brutalizing effects of situation
Sunday, September 16, 2007
To quote the philosopher Pascal, man is neither angel nor brute; the unfortunate thing is that he who would act the angel acts the brute. Nowhere is this more readily apparent than in Iraq, where U.S. soldiers were sent on the noble mission of ridding the nation of destructive weapons, ousting a tyrant, liberating a people and building a democratic model for the whole Middle East. War, however, has a way of brutalizing victim and victimizer. No matter how well-trained and well-intentioned U.S. troops are, in the combat zone they are capable of the same atrocities that have befallen all soldiers in all wars at all times. Accordingly, in the trial of U.S. Marines charged with shooting a 52-year-old Iraqi man to death in 2006, Cpl. Saul H. Lopezromo said that he considered the slaying "not as an execution" but "killing the enemy." Although Lopezromo was not part of the group accused, he went on to announce that Marines "were told to crank up the violence" and that they considered all Iraqi men the enemy. Not a bright prospect in a nation where the United States is trying to build a democracy. Lopezromo's most frightening statement, however, concerned "dead checking." Apparently, after Marines entered a house, they would check to make sure the Iraqis inside were dead. If they weren't, the Marines would shoot the wounded rather than seek medical aid. The corporal summed up the practice by noting, "If somebody is worth shooting once, they are worth shooting twice." link to entire article
Closing time grew near and the two men had been chatting over an appetizer and iced tea for nearly two hours. I approached to offer a drink refill, when one of them looked up and said, “What’s your backstory? Are you a poet?”
“Why? Am I too old to be working in a place like this?” I asked.
“No, it’s just that you have a gentle energy about you. What else do you do?”
I was caught off guard, how to define myself on short notice. “I was a firefighter for several years. I’ve worked for FEMA following hurricanes. I do taxes for HR Block. The last four years, I’ve spent a majority of my time overseas, in Thailand with my Thai wife, but that’s now over and I need money to pay her off. I live to help people, so this isn’t a bad job.”
“You project a real sense of inner peace.” And my response?
“I am very happy with my life today. Thanks for your kind words.”
It’s amazing how some people pay enough attention to see.
bad news for you, c90, you've been masturbating with a
dot-matrix printer.
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