The Current State of Affairs
The UK is gripped in terrorist fever at the moment. I live in Lincolnshire, and apart from two people being arrested at Grantham train station today, we basically live in the middle of nowhere and nothing much happens to us. This is a problem.
I was out last Thursday in Lincoln, in a pub called the Falcon. It's a good place: they sell trebles for singles so we always end up rather drunk. I was out with friends from Lincoln, and some new found friends from Spain. The night was going well, and took an amazing upward turn when I started chatting with a very attractive girl from Lincoln. She was 18 years old (yes, a little young...) but lovely. Possibly slightly lacking in intelligence but we were chatting away nicely.
She asked where all my friends were from (I was with the Spaniards at the time), and I explained. She then asked me: 'why do they all want to be here when all the pakis are trying to blow us up?'. I was gobsmacked.
I was disappointed with what I did next, as I simply explained to her that I totally disagreed with her and that the conversation would end there. I walked away and went and chatted with some of my other friends. I say disappointed because I felt a responsibilty afterwards: a responsibility to try and educate her, to make her understand; to explain that the suicide bombers weren't Pakistani but British; to explain that her racist language offended me because I have best friend who is Indian (and I love her dearly); to explain that everyone in the world must be treated as an individual.
Now I'm scared. There was an interview on the television with a Pakistani lawyer (I think) working in London. Everyday he takes the bus/tube combination to work. Everyday he wears a backpack to keep his lunch in. Now people move away from him. They look at him with a suspicious eye. It's just horrible.
I read various blogs, and was amused (in an odd way) by the final lines in this particular entry: London Death Squad. Sad but true.
I hope with all my heart that we can fix this. It scares me to think that suicide bombs happen so often in Iraq. It must be horrible.
My heart goes out to everyone that is affected by this, especially to the people who really live in terror in the world.
I was out last Thursday in Lincoln, in a pub called the Falcon. It's a good place: they sell trebles for singles so we always end up rather drunk. I was out with friends from Lincoln, and some new found friends from Spain. The night was going well, and took an amazing upward turn when I started chatting with a very attractive girl from Lincoln. She was 18 years old (yes, a little young...) but lovely. Possibly slightly lacking in intelligence but we were chatting away nicely.
She asked where all my friends were from (I was with the Spaniards at the time), and I explained. She then asked me: 'why do they all want to be here when all the pakis are trying to blow us up?'. I was gobsmacked.
I was disappointed with what I did next, as I simply explained to her that I totally disagreed with her and that the conversation would end there. I walked away and went and chatted with some of my other friends. I say disappointed because I felt a responsibilty afterwards: a responsibility to try and educate her, to make her understand; to explain that the suicide bombers weren't Pakistani but British; to explain that her racist language offended me because I have best friend who is Indian (and I love her dearly); to explain that everyone in the world must be treated as an individual.
Now I'm scared. There was an interview on the television with a Pakistani lawyer (I think) working in London. Everyday he takes the bus/tube combination to work. Everyday he wears a backpack to keep his lunch in. Now people move away from him. They look at him with a suspicious eye. It's just horrible.
I read various blogs, and was amused (in an odd way) by the final lines in this particular entry: London Death Squad. Sad but true.
I hope with all my heart that we can fix this. It scares me to think that suicide bombs happen so often in Iraq. It must be horrible.
My heart goes out to everyone that is affected by this, especially to the people who really live in terror in the world.
posted by Anonymous at
2:37 pm
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