Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Not much, just a chance

*I have been writing these entries at night but posting them the next morning, if anyone notices the time difference...
 
I spent the night before holed up in my room, journaling and listening to Pema Chodron. I feel better now, not because I worked all the problems out, but because I let myself sit with the fear. It eased it a bit.

I am going to dinner with friends this evening and I think it'll be a nice change of pace.
 
There is so much suffering here. So it's frustrating when petty politics, arrogance and power struggles get in the way of actually doing something positive. 
 
It's not hopeless yet but it's not hopeful either. We're close to falling off of the tightrope. It'll either be a positive fall into a safety net that allows us to bounce back. Or it'll be a free fall onto the hard, unpaved, cratered road.
 
I wish I could convey how important it is to help Afghanistan. Afghans are not asking for anything special. Just for some chances. A chance to brag about how smart his daughter is because she's first in her class. A chance to take the family out to eat, or maybe to a picnic. A chance to take a long walk, stop and chat with a neighbor, before hurrying home because Tulsi is coming on. Not much, just some chances.

Please.
 
 
 

2 comments:

sylvia/ticklethepear said...

I don't know if I could ever work in Afghanistan. My boss' husband just came back from two months there, and he returned with a couple of colleagues, who spent half the time trying to convince me to accept a posting there, and the other half trading war stories!

Anonymous said...

You can convey how important it is to help Afghanistan. In that simple, heartfelt post you said it, you conveyed it.

Thanks.