belonging

not too much to say tonight. been a tiring week, with a busy weekend coming up. honestly, i go to work to take a break from my weekends!

tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of the war in iraq. there's not anything deep and meaningful i can say about it that hasn't been said. all i want to say is "please stop now. go home". excellent interview with joseph stiglitz on radio nz this morning, about the financial costs of the war.

i hardly ever watch close up (or campbell live for that matter), mostly because it's dinner time or i'm otherwise busy with the kids. but i watched tonight, and was in tears watching the story of the little girl with cancer. and then found i had tears in my eyes again just watching the child cancer foundation ad later in the evening. it's amazing what some people have to go through, and i wish that family all the best for the future. guess it's a reminder for the rest of us to appreciate what we have.

finally, thought this was an interesting piece in the herald today, about muslims in the west struggling to find their place. although i don't believe the dichotomy is quite so simplistic as the author presents it. it's not just a simple choice between extremism and xenophobia. there are also cultural factors to be thrown in the mix. muslims come from such a wide range of countries, each with their own cultural practices and sometimes cultural interpretations of islam. it's also a process of shedding some of that cultural baggage, and learning what to take on and what to leave from western culture, while staying true to the values of our faith. it's certainly not an easy process.