Destruction

As much as I like thunderstorms they can be dangerous.  Storms and tornadoes have ravaged parts of the country leaving many people injured, without homes, or even killed. The destruction reminded me of Kabul in A Thousand Splendid Suns during the war. 
During the war in A Thousand Splendid Suns, Kabul was in chaos.  People were getting blown up, shot, or murdered by the airstrikes or invading army.  Laila's parents were killed in by a bomb and she was almost shot one day in her yard.  The uncertainty of whether a person was going to live or be a casualty in the war was very high. This level of uncertainty is about the same as if there is a tornado barreling towards a house.  The people inside could be well protected in a basement or they could be vulnerable. The chance of being killed by the tornado or a bomb in these situations is about the same.  Many things were destroyed by the war in Kabul.  The same goes for the tornado.  The level of destruction in some of the towns were the tornado hit look as though there could have been a war there because the town is so torn apart. 
Unfortunately for the people who were affected by the tornado it is not a situation they can easily escape.  In the novel people could leave Kabul and try to get to a safer place, possibly in the country of Pakistan.  The only thing the people affected by the tornado could do would be to move to a town that does not have history of many tornadoes.  Even that does not insure that they will be safe from this type of natural disaster.  Another unfortunate occurance for the people of the tornado towns is that the tornado was unexpected.  Tornadoes can not be accurately predicted where and when they will touch down.  At least with a war even if the war or first strike is unexpected, a person could always attempt to move away. 
Now through this whole post I am not saying that being in a war torn country is better than being in a town that had a tornado roll through.  Tornadoes never last long and always have a definative end.  Wars on the other hand can last a very long time and can still show repercussions even after a treaty is signed.  This was to showcase how destructive both natural and man-made disasters can be.  Both are terrible and can take awhile to recover from, but can be overcome. 

What's in a Name?

I came across an article about a study of someone trying to prove that a person's name affects their choices and how they behave.  This reminded me of Mersault's trail from The Stranger. The jury judged Mersault on what little facts they had about his emotions rather than his crime.  This seems to me to be the same as trying to judge a person from their name.  Unfortunately people try to form an opinion of others even when the only fact they have about a person could be their name, so judgements are made based on name. 
In The Stranger, Mersault did not express his emotions as everyone else in the novel did.  They looked down on him for this.  He was convicted of a crime for not crying at his mothers funeral, it seemed, not because he had killed a man.  Because Mersault was not like everyone else he was punished for it.  The people formed an opinion of him based little facts they were told.  They believed because Mersault had not cried at his mothers funeral and had then gone out with his girlfriend shortly after the funeral he was a terrible mother hater.  This was not the case; Mersault loved his mother.  So the reason why the jury convicted Mersault was only based on half of the facts. 

The jury basing their opinoin on these little facts is the same as trying to form a conclusion of someone knowing only their name.  If, for instance, a person knew a guy named George and he was a jerk then they would associate the name with negative feelings.  If a person has an unusual name it does not necessarily make them weird or an outcast. 

As a whole, we as human beings need to stop judging others without knowing all the facts.                 

Beauty Is Only Skin Deep

Today as a society we seem to stress the importance of beauty.  Beautiful people are everywhere, on TV, magazines, billboards, and even on some cereal boxes.  We put more emphasis on physical beauty than inner beauty.  This reminded me of the ideas put in Dorain Gray's head by Lord Henry in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

When Dorian meets Lord Henry he is impressionable and Henry takes full advantage of the situation.  He convinces Dorian that beauty is the most important thing.  Dorian takes to heart what Lord Henry says and becomes terribly frightened of becoming old and ugly.  That's when he asks to trade his soul for eternal beauty.  Dorian never ages, but a painting of him not only ages but shows just how wicked he has been.  Dorian becomes obssessed with other beautiful things and starts collecting them.  Although Dorian is only worried with his outside beauty, he does like to see how his actions affect the painting. 

The extreme way with which Dorian Gray attempts to preserve his beauty are just as extreme as the way people today try to stay ageless.  People today get botox, plastic surgery, and other procedures done do get rid of signs of aging.  Dorian preserves his body by giving up his soul.  People of today and Dorian Gray have social pressures to keep themselves physcially beautiful.  Today between all the movie stars and adds for this that and the other thing, there seems to be alot of pressure for people to be beautiful.  Dorian Gray had the influence of Lord Henry which led to the idea rooting and then taking over his mind. These pressures ended up being detrimental to everyones health.  Dorain went crazy and killed himself, while people today get addicted to these treatments.  

If only more emphasis was put on inner beauty.

"If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that - for that - I would give everything!"

The Day the Internet Died

As I sit here wishing for a snow day I come across and article on Egypt.  Although I probably should be more up to date on my current events than I am, I do know that Egypt is having some major governmental problems.  I read the article and it explains that all internet and telephone communications have been shut off.  What a bummer.  As I read on I discover that this use of an action used to try to control the people reminds me of that long list of laws the Taliban put in place when they took over Afghanistan in A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Throughout history different governments have tried many ways to control they people of their territory.  Some leaders have been tyranical while other have tried to be popular with the people.  Governments as a whole have been known to make unexpected and questionable moves.  Although some moves may have been beneficial to their society, others have sent the country back many years technologically and socially. 
In A Thousand Splendid Suns when the Taliban took over Afghanistan they put into effect many new laws that seemed to take the country back years.  The biggest examples of this were the laws against women's freedoms.  Women were no longer permitted to go out with out a man accompanying them, work, go to school, or hold any office.  This was a tribal existance in the city of Kabul where as before these laws women were allowed to do almost everything men were.  These laws brought the city of Kabul back to a time when men were superior.  To me this was just a terrible thought, the women being shut up in their houses and not being able to go anywhere without a man.  I think this would seem really crappy especially because women were at one point actually able to do things and be independent. 
Actions with the same stifiling power as the the laws in A Thousand Splendid Suns are still being activated today. In Egypt the president Hosni Mubarak has shut down telephone and internet access.  The purpose of this was to cut off dangerous political radials from using social networks and text messaging to gather followers.  This at first seems like a good political move, except the people in Egypt did not seem to like not being able to text their "bff" that Jerry just broke up with Cindy or Facebook that they got some cute shoes today while Barney was being the biggest jerk.  The people of Egypt have been forced to carry messages the old fashioned way, which is exactly that, carrying them.  Most communication is being done by carriers on foot or motorbike.  What is happening in Egypt is similiar to what happened in Kabul in A Thousand Splendid Suns in the fact that it has forced the population to revert back to old ways of living.  Messages are litteraly being spread by word of mouth.  Personally I think not being able to text or use the internent would REALLY STINK!
In all I am not a fan of these laws and actions portrayed above, they only bring the countries backwards. 

"This isn't some village. This is Kabul. Women here used to practice law and medicine; they held office in government..." Laila ~ A Thousand Splendid Suns