Skip to main content

Splendid suns

i have to tell you about the book i'm reading, a thousand splendid suns, by khaled hosseini. it's amazing. has completely opened my eyes to what's been happening in afghanistan over the last 30 years.

i am feeling totally humbled, blessed, fortunate to have been born in this country -- for no other reason than dumb luck. and i am wondering if i would have the strength to endure what the women in that country have endured and endure every single moment of their lives.

i feel small and insignificant and spoiled rotten. i feel embarrassed by my tendency to dwell on petty inconveniences such as tight budgeting and out-of-style blouses.

and i feel really angry with myself for being so ignorant and naive about what has been happening in afghanistan while the world didn't really notice, and that i've been so trusting that just by watching the news every day, i'm in the know. (truth is, what appears on the news has already been happening for far too long to even be considered news anymore.)

read it. you'll be changed.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ottomania!

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about ottomans. A ridiculous amount of time, actually, given the number of other things I truly should focus my thoughts on. I find, though, that when the world outside gets scary (and scary is a truly relative term these days) I turn to online shopping for things I don't really need. Actually, it's more like online browsing; I rarely purchase. I spend hours searching for, oh, erasable colored gel pens or standing desks or all-natural curly-hair gel or the perfect black sweater. (Yes, these are things I've fixated on over this winter; I still haven't clicked "buy" nor settled on any of them.) This week, it's ottomans. By the way, my girl  Brené  Brown would call this behavior numbing . I'm okay with that. Because online browsing is way less detrimental (so far) than chain smoking, which is what I'd really like to do when the world is scary. It's a way to escape, to daydream, to focus on things tha
16 comments
Read more

What all parents should do

When accepting one of her Emmy awards a couple weeks ago, Tina Fey thanked her parents for "somehow raising me to have confidence that is disproportionate with my looks and abilities. Well done. That is what all parents should do." I couldn't agree more, Tina -- about the job of parents, not your looks or abilities. (For the record, I think Tina Fey is one of the most brilliant women out there, and lovely to boot.) I was also raised by parents who gave me confidence well beyond my looks and abilities -- even though they didn't have much confidence in their own looks or abilities -- and I am constantly grateful. In hindsight, I realize my mother struggled with terrible self-esteem, but she somehow projected all her hopes and dreams onto me. She told me every day that I was smart and beautiful and could do anything; she never missed an opportunity to tell me she was proud of me. (And the worst punishment in the world was to hear her say "I'm disappointed in you
1 comment
Read more