I don’t know what we can do to help, other than relentlessly pray for them. For now. And not forget them. (I doubt that anyone who ever interacts with them, can) I still search their blogs from time to time to see if there’s any news, but I never, ever forget them.
Some Muslims (women *and* men) want out from under that tyranny & some don’t. Make no mistake. Men suffer the same brutality that the women do. They are raped, tortured, imprisoned, & just executed the same way. It is unfathomable. Demonic.
It’s like the “saying”, a person has to want help. So far, the Persians & the Egyptians are the only ones who have made any effort toward their freedom. This Egyptian woman has done this at a time when she could. A Lebanese woman *might* be able to get away with it. I don’t want to think about the fate of any Persian or Palestinian woman who attempted 1/10th as much. Or Yemen, or any of the other Muslim countries, either. Some of the Asian countries seem like they could get pretty hairy.
One thing I gathered from my associations was that they (the Persians, at least) want to overthrow their “governments” themselves & that outside interference would cause them to coalesce around those governments. I don’t get this, but whatever. Regardless, I believe that they have earned their freedom & that they would do much more (short of becoming monsters, themselves- which they seem acutely aware of) if they could.
The Egyptians are well on the road to theirs. Godspeed.
I’m not going to change your mind about the nature of this woman’s actions & you’re not going to change mine. I find it outrageous & crazy “even” if it were a man doing it. (e.g. the “occupier” & the patrol car) My contempt for feminism aside.
On a side note, wrt to people- especially Christians, we *are* standing by- AGAIN, watching another holocaust take shape. Maybe it’s denial, I don’t know. Or self-centeredness. Or even “sheeping”. But we (again, not all of us) seem to have not learned a flippin’ thing. I don’t know what more could happen besides someone putting up a flashing neon sign that says “Get ready. We’re going to slaughter Jews. And Whites. And anyone who doesn’t go along with us”. Oh wait. They already have, multiple times & growing. Hello? Are we just waiting for the pogroms to start or what?
I don’t know what to do about it, either, but it’s worrying the crap out of me. One thing we could do is learn the history, get educated & HAVE the argument. Counter it. Not Morris Dees/ Mark Potok type bs, but for real. Shine a light on it.(Come to think of it, that method would be effective for Muslims as well. At least, it might stop the spread. That’s what’s dangerous.)
Catherine, thanks. Sometimes, emotion/ passion can get people a little wound up (myself).
There’s not much that you’ve said that I actually disagree with, and it sounds like you’ve got your heart in the right place with respect to the plight of the women - and men, as you say, and children too - who are trapped right now. Part of my reaction may be my own feeling of guilt at being outraged and then never really doing anything to help - over and over again. There’s got to be something we can do to help. I think about it all the time, worry about it, and tell myself I’m doing what I can. But I know at this point I’m really not helping these people except with my prayers. You know a lot more about the way the different groups deal with all this than I do, and I defer to you on that.
We have a saying in our family: “All sounds from the labor room are OK.” When a person is going through the fire they do whatever they have to do to get through it, and those who are not going through the fire can’t possibly understand and should no way sit in judgment. How do we know how we would react in war? Would we defy “conventions” when we see they are failing over and over again? I don’t know why this gal did what she did, but I’m really hesitant to judge her harshly, not having walked in her shoes.
What she did could be used to “smoke out” ISIS wherever they are hiding in free lands. It could be an effective strategy. But the nasty parts of war - including the propaganda war - are not for the queasy. I know that I would have qualms over what the military has to do in order to protect this country, and I’m thankful that they are not queasy about it. I’m one of the gentle people who sleep quietly in their beds at night because there are rough men willing to do violence on our behalf. I am NOT going to fault them because they are not in the same station in life as I am. There is a time for peace, but there’s also a time for war. And sometimes there’s a time to do whatever it takes even if it’s beyond what you would even dream of doing under normal circumstances.
I don’t know enough to make a sound judgment of what this woman did or why, so I leave it to the Lord. And I don’t think He’s done with her yet.
I appreciate your reasoned tone, and believe we are mostly on the same page.