Up and out

Well, it's probably a good thing, in some ways, that I haven't blogged for the last few days. Can I just state for the record (and supposedly this blog is a record) that they haven't been the easiest few days. Late nights, eating unhealthy snacks to stay awake, feelings of self-doubt and hopelessness....cheery cheery stuff.

I guess it comes down to the fact that I felt I had too much to do, so much more than I could actually achieve, and that I was - essentially - incapable of achieving it. Or to put it another way, I felt I was in a greasy pit, sinking, drowning, with no way out.

But then something happened!

I slept!

And now I feel better. The assignment for HST220 is done, and I feel so much better. Now I'm getting into an assignment for LCI21, but I feel like it is not beyond me. I feel like if things go pear shaped, I'll still be OK. I feel like I am relaxing a bit as well - sometimes having to force myself - which is also good. For example, Melia had a pet day at kinder yesterday. M is not so good with the cats, so if Melia were to be able to take one it was up to me to take her. My first reaction was, "I'm sorry, but I don't have the time". But I didn't. It wouldn't really take that much time, and couldn't I afford some time to make my daughter happy? So I took her and Milo. She was rapt, and Milo went well, so it was all good. And I felt better for it as well.

And then I got into the assignment and it just flowed.

I have to admit it was an interesting assignment. I was looking at the brutality of the French government during the Algerian conflict between 1956 and 1962. It sounds like it was pretty bad (although lets not forget the attrocities committed by the FLN!), and really brought home how dehumanising war is. How can we expect people confronted with attrocities to keep a clear and level head? Surely it is the role of the government to control the army? Anyway, the French government didn't; it just let its army go, and it went, and systematic torture and abuses of human rights were the results. (Read this article by Adam Shatz if you want to know more.)

What is the scary part? In the press recently (such as this article by John Barry, Michael Hirsh and Kichael Isikoff) we have had what I would call attrocities committed by a present-day army in a current area of conflict. And what is the ultimate reason? The government responsible has let the army go in response to 9/11.

It is the responsibility of government to control its army. Government has to set acceptable rules of behaviour, outline and define unacceptable behaviour, and remove people who cross the line. If they don't, if they remove the line, attrocities follow. So keep an eye on your governments, readers. They may not want these kind of things to happen, but they have to ensure that they don't.

Anyway, pleasant stuff. Interesting though.

Anyway, I'm up and out of the pit now and still have plenty to do, so I better keep at it.