An Eye for an Eye – Does Revenge Change Anything?
I have been following my own post with interest. The truth is, there is a huge part of me that agrees with you, agrees with Ameneh, who wants her attacker to suffer as she has suffered, to pay for the life he has stolen from her.
I used to be a lot more idealistic than I am now. I can remember the two times in my life I came face-to-face with who I am, viscerally, in my gut.
The first time, I was living in Jordan, and I awoke in the middle of the night. I heard gunfire. My husband was out of town – that happened a lot. Things like cars breaking down, heaters going out in the dead of winter, ants attacking (don’t even ask), those things always waited for my husband to be out of town. Now gunfire.
I finally called my British neighbors, who called their Security office, who said it was probably just the police shooting packs of dogs who attacked the sheep at night.
I knew, though, that night, that if I had a gun in the house, I would shoot anyone who came through the front door to protect my son. I had never thought of myself that way. I had never considered myself a killer. And I knew I could kill, without a second thought, to protect my son.
We all have times when we find out who we are, what we are made of. Men who go off to war and kill for a living have to live with their actions for the rest of their lives. Many, many live with regrets.
People who lived through the Invasion of Kuwait endured and suffered unimaginable horrors. Many won’t even talk about the things they saw or had to do.
Here is my problem with revenge – you have to live with the consequences.
If I had shot an intruder, even thinking it was a criminal, I would have to live with that the rest of my life. Even NOT shooting an intruder, I have to live with the thought that I would have, that I was fully prepared to kill. It still haunts me, even though I didn’t do anything, even though I just thought about it.
I like what This Lady said. I want this man punished, but if we choose to inflict the same punishment on him, don’t we lower ourselves to his level? I think life imprisonment would be worse. On another blog, dealing with the same topic, one Iranian woman wrote that if this man is blinded, some female in his family will be chosen to take care of him for the rest of his life, feeding him, preparing his meals. She, too, will be sacrificed, lose her own life to the obligation of taking care of this blinded villain for the rest of his life. Wouldn’t we all be better off if he were locked away, never to be free again?
I published the photo with the original article because I was shocked and intrigued by it. In spite of her blindness and disfigurement, this woman is laughing, and her mother is hugging her. In many ways, her life is blessed. Because God works in amazing and wonderful ways, we know that he can use this terrible act to do great things in her life, bring her peace, bring her new understanding . . . we don’t know what he can do, but we can trust that her life is not over, that he can still use her to fulfill his purpose in this world.
Reading your comments, trying to find my own response has been a challenge. As I said – if it were me, if it were my sister, God forbid – I know I would want revenge. I know that fiery outrage lives in all our hearts; the desire to take an eye for an eye. I know that dragon in my own heart.
And yet . . . I am left with this very uneasy feeling that revenge and retribution are neither deterrent, nor satisfying. I trust that if this sentence is carried out, God can even do great things with this violent assailant, that he can work in his heart and give him a new way of seeing, he can bring him to repentance, he can do great works, even in the heart of this sinner.
My greatest, gravest concern is for Ameneh. She seems to be a very stable, courageous woman. I fear that revenge can act as a poison in her soul, that the punishment, if inflicted, will eat away at all the goodness of her life. I fear for any of us who become obsessed with revenge at the cost of who we were created to be.
You have been very forceful in your expression of belief that the sentence should be imposed. Don’t you harbor any misgivings about this, no matter how small?
New Doha Museum – International Herald Tribune
It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world, hearing from old friends, even old friends you have never met. Blogger Kinan is one of those dear friends – I always enjoyed his blog entries, and I miss him, as he enjoys his new life in Sweden, working towards his advanced degrees.
But oh what joy, getting a note this morning with encouragement to read an article he found on the New Doha Museum of Islamic Art in the International Herald Tribune. You can read it too, by clicking on the blue type. 🙂
Muslim Prisoners in France
One of the things that keeps me blogging is the input I get from my readers. Behind the scenes this morning, I was sent two fascinating articles. This first one, from blogger Facts and Doubts, is an article from The Washington Post on Muslim Prisoners in France – and Europe.
Here is just a short excerpt from an article you will want to read:
This prison is majority Muslim — as is virtually every house of incarceration in France. About 60 to 70 percent of all inmates in the country’s prison system are Muslim, according to Muslim leaders, sociologists and researchers, though Muslims make up only about 12 percent of the country’s population.
On a continent where immigrants and the children of immigrants are disproportionately represented in almost every prison system, the French figures are the most marked, according to researchers, criminologists and Muslim leaders.
“The high percentage of Muslims in prisons is a direct consequence of the failure of the integration of minorities in France,” said Moussa Khedimellah, a sociologist who has spent several years conducting research on Muslims in the French penal system.
In Britain, 11 percent of prisoners are Muslim in contrast to about 3 percent of all inhabitants, according to the Justice Ministry. Research by the Open Society Institute, an advocacy organization, shows that in the Netherlands 20 percent of adult prisoners and 26 percent of all juvenile offenders are Muslim; the country is about 5.5 percent Muslim. In Belgium, Muslims from Morocco and Turkey make up at least 16 percent of the prison population, compared with 2 percent of the general populace, the research found.
I had no idea. And my eyes were opened to food being a big issue in prison – but of course. (smacks head) Thank you, Facts and Doubts, for passing along this fascinating and enlightening article.
Anonymouse
While visiting another blog, I learned a new trick. I know most you you already know how to do these things, but some of us who were not born into these new technologies take a little longer to learn all the tricks you take for granted.
From my blogging friend in Damascus, Souvenirs and Scars, I learned about Anonymouse where you can go to access websites that may be blocked in the country where you live. Pretty cool, huh? I am betting that there are others I don’t know about – how on earth do any of these countries think they can block the free flow of information? That bell can’t be un-rung!
Q8Geek Sparkles
The Q8Geek sent me a photo to make me miss Kuwait – and oh WOW – I am a total sucker for SPARKLES and look at his SPARKLES!
AdventureMan and I are so COLD! Kuwait looks so nice and warm!
The Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Contest: Your Turn to Vote!
The deadline is here! The Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Contest is closed, and here are the entrants:
Check out their Sand and Surf photos, and then – you choose which photographer wins this round of the Great Kuwait Challenges.
GKS&S Challenge: You Can Do Better!
See, it’s my challenge, I make up the rules, and wow. I am so glad I did. The first challenge came because I truly could not find a decent sunset photo, and you showed me they exist, and you showed me they could be totally WOW.
The second challenge, Sand and Surf, is because I love Sand and Surf, and I am so glad I cannot compete (it’s my contest, remember? Like it would be dirty pool for me to compete, and how would you know if I won fair and square, or if I used wasta with myself?
So just to encourage you, I am going to show some of my favorite sand and surf photos, but now that I have seen yours, I know that these are not particularly good, I just like them. YOU can do better. It’s OK with me. 🙂
Here is sand and surf and everything I love on Mnemba Island, a CCAfrica camp, off the coast of Zanzibar:
Here is a scene I found here in Kuwait:
Here is another shot from Kuwait . . . well there is surf . . .
Here is a shot from another favorite place I visit, Oman, near Sur:
Here is a shot taken in Seattle:
And here is a shot from the Oregon beaches with a little bit of everything – sand, surf, sunset and even a dancing dog:
Have a great weekend, Kuwait.
You still have time to get your photos in. The contest will close this coming Saturday, and the poll will go up, insh’allah, the same day. (Are you thinking of ideas for the next one? I am! 🙂 )
LOL@Stats
What happened is that two years ago I wrote a post called Halloween Warning and it got a little attention, but this year, people would Google “halloween” and then they would come to this blog entry.
It’s like how can you get all wrapped up in statistics when what happens is so random and unpredictable? On Halloween day, I got 3,172 hits. I’m a very limited blogger, I don’t have the kind of blog that attracts huge numbers – and while that may look like a huge number, it is discouraging when I know that I may never see a figure like that again.
My top all time posts are led by a picture of a birthday cake. I admit, it is a gorgeous cake, I spent a lot of time looking for just the right cake, but . . . my all time high?
There is nothing like blogging to keep you humble, and from taking yourself too seriously. 
The Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge
OK, so here it is, the new photo challenge. You will have three weeks. All your photos must be in to me or posted on your blog and linked to me by Saturday, November 22. The poll will go up then, and voting will continue to November 29, when the polls will close and new winners will be announced.
Sand and Surf can be anything related to beach activities – tidal pools, boating . . . this contest is open to Kuwaitis, residents of Kuwait, and people who have an attachment to Kuwait. We don’t require that the scene be recognizably Kuwait, because well, sand is sand and surf is surf. The photos do not have to be Kuwait, but we want them to be entered by someone remotely Kuwait-related.
Ready on the right!
Ready on the left!
Photographers, take your target!
Fire!
Off topic but related – on the top floor of the Al Rayya Shopping Center (attached to the Marriott Hotel near Dasman Circle) is a really intriguing photo exhibit. It looks to me like all Kuwaiti, and some of the photos are purely spectacular. Some are very moving. I don’t want to give too much away, but if you enjoy photography, this exhibit is worth a visit.
WordPress Incoming Links
Something is weird with my Incoming Links – most of them aren’t blogs I recognize, and when I check them – they are not linked to me at all. Very weird. I have to guess that WordPress is doing some experimenting in the background, and that they don’t know the bugs unless we all tell them.
My Categories seem to be OK, now. I changed them back one more time, and this time it stuck, but . . . that was weird, too.
On the whole, almost every change WordPress makes, makes my blog run better / faster / smarter. The only thing I hate is when they come up with a new way to upload photos – it may work better, but the agony of having to learn a new process just when I have gotten really good at the current one bugs me! 🙂 I’m just not that flexible with technical things.
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