Thank you Marianne for allowing a deeper more meaningful conversation- Cat Parenti , author of Afghanistan a Memoir from Brooklyn to Kabul, and her daughter Chandra Khan began AWE over two years ago- The Afghan Women’s Empowerment project- getting the work they can do - embroidery at home- so they can eat more than bread and water. The atrocities are real and we can face them with the wisdom of ages and a fierce commitment filled with true compassion. Www.grandmachandra.com or Cat.Parenti@gmail.com to give real assistance by purchasing these women’s work
Hay una frase que entiendo, puede aplicarse a este relato de Marianne: "Ser mujer en el primer mundo es difícil, pero serlo en el resto del mundo es heroico".
El texto publicado por Marianne nos invita a reflexionar seriamente respecto al "lugar" de las mujeres en todas las culturas, aunque en algunas, la invisibilidad es absoluta.
On an unrelated topic, there is A LOT of buzz on the Internet, from various sources, that we may have an opportunity to meeth our Inter-Galactic brothers and sisters within the next 5 years. IDK. Maybe. It would be great if they could help. If they do appear, I would choose you, and others like you, to represent humanity. You are the best of us.
The ignorance of … George W. Bush … Barak Obama … Donald Trump … and … Joe Biden … are beyond comprehension … but especially … George W. Bush … with his adventure into Iraq … He placed … Pride and Politics … above … Common Sense … Human Dignity … and … Human Life!
God bless us all. May the suffering cease. May a miracle occur.
Thanks, Marrianne, for your accurate description of what happened in Afghanistan and the suffering of women there. I, too, pray for a miracle that would end the terrible abuse of women there.
There are many issues that matter. No one has a monopoly on human suffering, and the fact that you’re talking about one thing doesn’t mean you don’t care about the other.https://marianne2024.com/israel-and-palestine/
Maybe the answer is to remove Israel from the world. It's such an annoying thorn in the side of the world. The Israeli government is unmanageable even to its citizens who have been trying to remove them for over 2 years. Much like we could not do anything about the white supremacists. The ultimate goal of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and others is to destroy Israel so maybe if Israel surrenders, many countries and peoples will be delighted.
That comment was made because I was in a despondent moment. My parents managed to relocate to Belgium from Poland before WW2 and endured the challenges of fleeing the Nazis including imprisonment in Spain. Unable to immigrate to the US because that's how it was for some Jews, they found refuge in South America. There they lived as stateless persons and there I was born. They lived in their fear and the sorrow that they could do nothing for their families, trapped and murdered in the Holocaust. They wanted me to be prepared to flee as we are despised as Jews. Their fear became my reality. My generation often felt guilty that we could do nothing for relatives sent to camps or executed in the forests of Eastern Europe. I tried to ignore their fear, but now as an older person, I feel very strongly that our survival is in peril. Governments are very badly behaved and their actions hurt many people. Mistakes are made by rulers and lives are lost. I wish I could go back to my younger years during which I could put any unpleasant thoughts in a different compartment. I'm named after my maternal grandmother who was shot in forest in Poland along with my aunt and my four year old cousin. It took all day to exterminate the 880 men, women and children. Last year we stood at the mass grave to honor them. It was a healing but also brought me closer to the reality of worldwide hatred of Jews. Israel is the place from which we cannot be expelled and we have a defense force. A symbol. Thousands of Israelíes are protesting in the streets condemning their own government but their cries go unheard. I'm a woman, an immigrant, a Jew and proud Lesbian. So many things to defend. I call on my humanity, my spiritual practices, my love of life and my occasional wisdom to keep me going. Thank you
Thank you so much for your long sincere heartfelt response. I'm so glad I answered you with restraint and a prayer because I knew there must be trauma underneath the words you shared on this blog.
You've been through so much. You are a wise and resilient woman. A beautiful soul.
I'm glad we met in this forum and I'm glad I sent you a hug, filled with love, from my ❤.
Everything we accomplished in Afghanistan could have been done in two weeks. Unfortunately our military industrial money laundering complex wanted a quagmire. Now we are broke and so is the world.
I don't think it could have been done in two weeks, but it's reasonable to suggest within five years. More importantly, we waged war but we did not wage peace...
We got distracted from our goal in Afghanistan because Dick Cheney was hungry to go after the oil in Iraq.
Our military leaders wanted to focus on Afghanistan until the job was done. Unfortunately, the United States and whatever allies they were able to pull together had a much more complicated problem in Afghanistan.
Corruption in that part of the world is so old and so rampant it was impossible to establish a government that could secure the peace with people who did not know how to govern, and had no experience with living in peace.
This is so heartbreaking. My brother was a soldier teaching the Afghanis how to eradicate land mines. He was killed by one. He saved lives, but could have done so much more good with his life if he had lived. And we lost him because Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted the oil in Iraq and GW wanted to wage a Christian crusade in Iraq.
Revised: "The sense of helplessness that comes from reading about what is happening there, like the suffering in Gaza and in the U.S., where half the population leans toward dictatorship, is tormenting." Just talking to a female activist ,who has energy like yours and mine, about convening a conversation to try to understand that for how that can guide us for what action to take.
Thank you Marianne for allowing a deeper more meaningful conversation- Cat Parenti , author of Afghanistan a Memoir from Brooklyn to Kabul, and her daughter Chandra Khan began AWE over two years ago- The Afghan Women’s Empowerment project- getting the work they can do - embroidery at home- so they can eat more than bread and water. The atrocities are real and we can face them with the wisdom of ages and a fierce commitment filled with true compassion. Www.grandmachandra.com or Cat.Parenti@gmail.com to give real assistance by purchasing these women’s work
Thanks for the information. I will follow up.
Hay una frase que entiendo, puede aplicarse a este relato de Marianne: "Ser mujer en el primer mundo es difícil, pero serlo en el resto del mundo es heroico".
El texto publicado por Marianne nos invita a reflexionar seriamente respecto al "lugar" de las mujeres en todas las culturas, aunque en algunas, la invisibilidad es absoluta.
Saludos respetuosos!
On an unrelated topic, there is A LOT of buzz on the Internet, from various sources, that we may have an opportunity to meeth our Inter-Galactic brothers and sisters within the next 5 years. IDK. Maybe. It would be great if they could help. If they do appear, I would choose you, and others like you, to represent humanity. You are the best of us.
The ignorance of … George W. Bush … Barak Obama … Donald Trump … and … Joe Biden … are beyond comprehension … but especially … George W. Bush … with his adventure into Iraq … He placed … Pride and Politics … above … Common Sense … Human Dignity … and … Human Life!
Dick Cheney.
Place the blame where it belongs.
If not for Trump we would be there forever.
God bless us all. May the suffering cease. May a miracle occur.
Thanks, Marrianne, for your accurate description of what happened in Afghanistan and the suffering of women there. I, too, pray for a miracle that would end the terrible abuse of women there.
God bless you now and forever.
I think we should stop Biden and Harris from blowing up women and children in Palestine before we worry about how someone else's Government is ruling.
Riiiight…🤔
There are many issues that matter. No one has a monopoly on human suffering, and the fact that you’re talking about one thing doesn’t mean you don’t care about the other.https://marianne2024.com/israel-and-palestine/
Maybe the answer is to remove Israel from the world. It's such an annoying thorn in the side of the world. The Israeli government is unmanageable even to its citizens who have been trying to remove them for over 2 years. Much like we could not do anything about the white supremacists. The ultimate goal of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and others is to destroy Israel so maybe if Israel surrenders, many countries and peoples will be delighted.
The answer is to remove an entire nation from the world. I'll just take a nice deep breath after reading this.
Then I will offer prayers that you think deeply about what you said and reconsider how you said it.
That comment was made because I was in a despondent moment. My parents managed to relocate to Belgium from Poland before WW2 and endured the challenges of fleeing the Nazis including imprisonment in Spain. Unable to immigrate to the US because that's how it was for some Jews, they found refuge in South America. There they lived as stateless persons and there I was born. They lived in their fear and the sorrow that they could do nothing for their families, trapped and murdered in the Holocaust. They wanted me to be prepared to flee as we are despised as Jews. Their fear became my reality. My generation often felt guilty that we could do nothing for relatives sent to camps or executed in the forests of Eastern Europe. I tried to ignore their fear, but now as an older person, I feel very strongly that our survival is in peril. Governments are very badly behaved and their actions hurt many people. Mistakes are made by rulers and lives are lost. I wish I could go back to my younger years during which I could put any unpleasant thoughts in a different compartment. I'm named after my maternal grandmother who was shot in forest in Poland along with my aunt and my four year old cousin. It took all day to exterminate the 880 men, women and children. Last year we stood at the mass grave to honor them. It was a healing but also brought me closer to the reality of worldwide hatred of Jews. Israel is the place from which we cannot be expelled and we have a defense force. A symbol. Thousands of Israelíes are protesting in the streets condemning their own government but their cries go unheard. I'm a woman, an immigrant, a Jew and proud Lesbian. So many things to defend. I call on my humanity, my spiritual practices, my love of life and my occasional wisdom to keep me going. Thank you
(((((Perla))))
Thank you so much for your long sincere heartfelt response. I'm so glad I answered you with restraint and a prayer because I knew there must be trauma underneath the words you shared on this blog.
You've been through so much. You are a wise and resilient woman. A beautiful soul.
I'm glad we met in this forum and I'm glad I sent you a hug, filled with love, from my ❤.
Thank you for understanding.
I do ❤
It is hard to love this.. It is painful to face what people do to other people when it is all of us doing it to ourselvs😑.
Everything we accomplished in Afghanistan could have been done in two weeks. Unfortunately our military industrial money laundering complex wanted a quagmire. Now we are broke and so is the world.
I don't think it could have been done in two weeks, but it's reasonable to suggest within five years. More importantly, we waged war but we did not wage peace...
We got distracted from our goal in Afghanistan because Dick Cheney was hungry to go after the oil in Iraq.
Our military leaders wanted to focus on Afghanistan until the job was done. Unfortunately, the United States and whatever allies they were able to pull together had a much more complicated problem in Afghanistan.
Corruption in that part of the world is so old and so rampant it was impossible to establish a government that could secure the peace with people who did not know how to govern, and had no experience with living in peace.
That's the real catastrophe.
...I believe the United States spent 2T, not 2B - and I want to say, "not that it matters", but it does, sadly.
Will you run again? Perhaps another 4 years of suffering might bring some new perspective - we can always hope.
Thank you for the article links.
My heart cries for my Afghan sisters. How unjust to be robbed of their sovereignty and autonomy. 💔
And be robbed of their voice. It is unacceptable! 😥
This is so heartbreaking. My brother was a soldier teaching the Afghanis how to eradicate land mines. He was killed by one. He saved lives, but could have done so much more good with his life if he had lived. And we lost him because Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted the oil in Iraq and GW wanted to wage a Christian crusade in Iraq.
I am so deeply sorry for your loss. Your brother sounds like a real hero.
Thanks, Amy, for liking my comment.
God bless you and all those you love now and forever.
Surely you, too, will pray for a miracle that would end the terrible abuse of women in Afghanistan.
Be still and be you.
Be still and know.
Troubling to say the least.
Revised: "The sense of helplessness that comes from reading about what is happening there, like the suffering in Gaza and in the U.S., where half the population leans toward dictatorship, is tormenting." Just talking to a female activist ,who has energy like yours and mine, about convening a conversation to try to understand that for how that can guide us for what action to take.
I appreciate the manner in which you referred to the 2001 event as "and then when 9/11 happened...."