Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Maybe

I have a feeling that one of the reasons I've been dragging my feet about getting giddy regarding these two weeks off is because of the books I've reading:

"An essential part of the brothel business model is to break the spirit of girls, through humiliation, rape, threats and violence. We met a 15 year old Thai girl whose initiation consisted of being forced to eat dog waste so as to shatter her self esteem."

Nick, the reporter, at a border crossing between Nepal and India: "Are you keeping an eye out for trafficked girls? There must be alot."
Intelligence Officer: "Oh, a lot. We don't worry about them. There's nothing you can do about them."
Nick: Well, you could arrest the traffickers. Isn't trafficking girls as important as pirating DVD's?
Intelligence Officer: (Laughing) Prostitution is inevitable. There has always been prostitution in every country. And what's a young man to do from the time he turns 18 until he gets married at 30?
Nick: Well is the best solution really to kidnap Nepali girls and imprison them in Indian brothels?
Intelligence Officer: It's unfortunate. But these girls are sacrificed so that we can have harmony in society. So that good girls can be safe.
Nick: But many of the Nepali girls being trafficked are good too.
Intelligence Officer: Oh, yes. But those are peasant girls. They can't even read. They're from the countryside. The good Indian middle-class girls are safe.


When Greeta was twelve, her aunt dolled her up with a new hairstyle, gave her a skimpy dress and locked her in a room with an Arab customer. "I was terrified. I cried and fell to his feet, pleading. He pulled off my dress and raped me. The rapes went on for a month... he kept me naked and made me sleep beside him..."

Usha's friend went to the police to report that she had been gang raped by Akka Yadav and his thugs. The police responded by gang raping her themselves.

Surveys suggest that one third of all women worldwide face beatings in the home. Woman aged 15 - 44 are more likely to be maimed or die from male violence than from cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined. Twenty one percent of all South African women reported that they had been raped by the age of 15.

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Seriously. I'm only on page 67 and I am so burdened.
Clint and Drew wonder what my problem is.
Its summer. I'm on holidays. Why am I not smiling?

I can only handle a few pages a day.

I am also reading a biography about an Olympic runner who was in the Air Force during the second world war. (Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand) Louie Zamperini, Olympic track miler (Berlin 1936) and star USC runner, joins the Army Air Corps at the outbreak of WWII. After his plane plunges into the Pacific Ocean, he survives 47 days on a disintegrating raft, only to spend the rest of the war being starved and tortured in a series of Japanese POW camps. 

I'm at the part where Laura describes Japanese torture. "In 1937 there was a 6 week frenzy of killing.POW's were beheaded, machine-gunned, bayoneted, and burned alive. The Japanese turned on civilians, engaging in killing contests, raping tens of thousands of girls, mutilating and crucifying them and provoking dogs to maul them ...."


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Max Lucado's book is lightweight compared to those other two books I'm immersed in. Regardless, I'll keep plugging along.

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In order to lighten/brighten things up around here, Drew moved into Vancouver to hang with Clint this week and I'm heading up to Shuswap to sit in the sun with some friends who have summer places on the lake. Yes, yes, yes, I have access to a summer place on a lake right here, an hour away. But this is different. It's a holiday. And tonight, I bought something that I makes me excited for the 6 hour drive tomorrow.

THIS:






















In AUDIO format!
I'm going to listen and laugh all the way up the Coq. Oh yes I will.
Tina Fey and I are going on a road trip together. It'll be HER voice coming through my speakers.
And it will be MY voice saying, AMEN sister.

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Three things I'm thankful for:

1. There are people and organizations who are moved to action regarding the suffering in third world countries:

























(Click to enlarge.)
The details are here.
(Clint works for this organization as a summer intern.)

2. I am thankful that I could spend the afternoon at the beach. I love ocean breezes.

3. I am thankful, again and again and again, that I live in this country, during this time in history. Oh how lucky am I?

Shalom,

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