Wednesday, January 09, 2013

RESOLUTIONS 2013 / 09



09: Today's offering appears to be very similar to yesterday's but it was actually rather different except that it is also an "inflatable" model. The difference arises from the two little feet underneath (and an other pair that are hidden underneath). They were rather difficult to fold, or maybe the instructions didn't make enough sense to me. I was sure I was making a mess, but to my surprise, the feet formed quite nicely in the end and, as you can see, the model sits up on its haunches. Nice. Sort of. I would have preferred more explicit final instructions at the feet-folding stage.

Today's Resolution is ... To Relax And Be Human Occasionally, By Breaking Some Of My Previous Resolutions! So I ate a slice of toast at breakfast along with an excellent spinach omelette. It was great and I felt unusually human by the end of it!

My link for the day is to a very good item in the New York Times, by Sohaila Abdulali. She writes
about surviving to live a happy and productive life, despite a brutal gang rape at the age of 17.

The author talks about the incident which -- had she been a very different person -- might have been described as the defining/scarring event of her life. I remember reading her account of the assault, many years ago, in MANUSHI, an Indian feminist magazine. The fact that she wrote it under her own name made it possible to connect that story with her update today, following accounts of the recent rape-murder incident in Delhi that has caught the attention of the world's media. At the time I read her earlier account, I was deeply impressed by her honest, uncluttered presentation of the incident. I always wondered what happened to her. It was very good to discover that she continues to be as she described herself in that article of 30-odd years ago, someone who refused to be defined by her encounter.

There can never be any prescriptions for how to respond to the derailments that occur in our personal lives, because each person's situation is unique. However, if choices are possible then, I think, Abdulali's experience shows that a supportive family, absolutely committed to helping the survivor rather than further punishing her with shame/guilt/fear, has to be the best possible approach.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Now, Dear, no news today until now (10.9.) - are you struck in some origami-folding? Not finding your way out? or ist the knot in your brain?

I would have a knotted brain the very first day of origami-folding, let alone the fingers...

To empty your brain (if this is an aim) I might suggest you do 1 month the same origami every day and surprise us with the variations which might occur nevertheless.

So much for today. Love - Biatti