The remarks do not express correct understanding of Islam

I have carefully avoided any political discussion on this blog. It seems like plenty of people have plenty to say in the blogosphere on the subject. Which I suppose is only a good thing. I’m not quite as political as I ought to be, but there’s only so much one has time for....

I have been reading quite a few blogs recently. Well, more accurately, I have browsed through a lot of blogs recently. I have to admit I have enjoyed reading a few of them. However, the more I browse, the more I realise that many of them are mono-themed. There are angry blogs, there are adoption blogs, there are being misunderstood blogs, there are religious blogs, there are anti-religious blogs and there are an awful lot of quirky blogs.

Today, I talked about my desperate and somewhat pathetic need to distinguish myself from others. Whether driven by cultural rejection, or a thinly disguised sense of superiority, there is no doubt that my life would be very different today were it not for this tendency to define myself in such a reactionary manner.

I told my last girlfriend that there was a part of me that would be disappointed if I fell whole-heartedly in love with her, married her, had a few children and lived happily ever after. After all, can’t anyone do that? Oh dear, how easily the words flow. She didn’t like that. The irony. I don’t think I have many reinterpretations left.

I’ve mentioned this before but it really irritates me when people can’t understand that truth, and emotions for that matter, are not absolute. It’s not unusual for people to take a phrase uttered, smudge the context and eliminate any interpretations out of line with their emotional mindset.

The more I think about it, and think about it I must, the more I realise that how we interpret things is the key to self-understanding. It’s not quite the ground-breaking epiphany it seemed to be a moment ago, but how we react to interactions says as much about us as it does about the external source of the interaction. A lot of our daily speech is littered with references to other interactions.

I am pretty bored, in case any of you didn’t gather.

Communities have a tendency to externalise blame. I have long bemoaned that family friends and relatives are hasty to blame the infidels, the English, the West…. Just about anyone who isn’t from a poor, Muslim, semi-literate background.

There is a part of me that wants to be liked. There is even a part of me that wants to be popular. It’s not exactly as if I am unpopular – I hate being stuck in the middle.

I remember the first country I lived in after leaving England with a certain fondness, although at times I was lonely. This is largely down to one person who I felt understood me. That’s not to say that there weren’t other people who were incredibly patient and caring, people I am glad to consider as friends, but I can’t help but focus on the one relationship that bridged the divide.

That’s all it would take to make this country home. Well ok, home is a bit ambitious, I haven’t thought of anywhere as home since I left my parents.

Time to stop writing and start living. Well, ok I mean listening to music and dancing on my own. Still it’s a start…. Of sorts.