where do I start, where do I begin
Day 6: Whatever tickles your fancy I really should have read this list before committing to it. Um, we're on Season Nine of another rewatching of SG1, so Daniel and Vala are always good for making me feel fuzzy inside. Our kittens, Barry and Sam, who greet us at the door and sleep at the foot of our bed and enjoy just lounging around the house as much as we do. Lindt chocolate truffles. The rare beer or glass of wine, since I have neither a car nor an alcohol license. Shopping in Dubai. The cool weather right now that makes the city a little less oppressively stagnant and eases the reek of rotting garbage. The 'Smores Pop Tarts that come in my in-laws' care packages. My awesome purple rock star handbag bought at a total bargain at Debenham's. The Norlander bread from Spinneys, dense and earthy and perfect with butter. My "I walk the line" playlist that gets me to work every day. Successfully healing a hard fight in Warcraft. Brandon's bad puns.
Since moving to Abu Dhabi, I take more pleasure in small things, because the big ones are so far away. More than anything, living here has made me better at internalizing my happiness in accomplishments, rather than going out to seek it. Because besides being far from home, working at a newspaper can be incredibly depressing - people dying of exposure from India to the UK, food aid stopped to Somalia, 45,000 Americans dying prematurely because they don't have health insurance and can't afford treatment. And here, in a completely incomparable but still significant act, the security guards who patrol (and smoke in front of) our office all day didn't tell anyone about a box of four newborn kittens, so young their eyes weren't even open yet, abandoned in the front courtyard. It's been cold enough for a jacket, and they were meowing constantly when one of the designers found them on his way out. Why not say something? Call someone? Maybe the security people couldn't do anything, but all us expatriates inside known to take in strays sure could. In this case, the best thing we could do was take them to the British Veterinary Clinic, where they were put down - still a far more dignified end than dying of exposure or starvation.
Everywhere is another sign that people don't care about each other, the environment, the greater world. Granted, the overwhelming majority have pressing problems of their own, but is there no drive in the average person to at least look around themselves and see a way to help?
As with all generalizations, the above wasn't fair to all the aid organizations, volunteers and good samaritans who DO notice the need around them. But when my distraught colleague called to tell me the above story, I was almost not surprised - and I that's not the opinion I want to have of people. I never want to live in a world where mewling kittens are ignored. Newspapers do help with that, but I don't feel like I'm doing enough. Can career ennui set in this early?
Since moving to Abu Dhabi, I take more pleasure in small things, because the big ones are so far away. More than anything, living here has made me better at internalizing my happiness in accomplishments, rather than going out to seek it. Because besides being far from home, working at a newspaper can be incredibly depressing - people dying of exposure from India to the UK, food aid stopped to Somalia, 45,000 Americans dying prematurely because they don't have health insurance and can't afford treatment. And here, in a completely incomparable but still significant act, the security guards who patrol (and smoke in front of) our office all day didn't tell anyone about a box of four newborn kittens, so young their eyes weren't even open yet, abandoned in the front courtyard. It's been cold enough for a jacket, and they were meowing constantly when one of the designers found them on his way out. Why not say something? Call someone? Maybe the security people couldn't do anything, but all us expatriates inside known to take in strays sure could. In this case, the best thing we could do was take them to the British Veterinary Clinic, where they were put down - still a far more dignified end than dying of exposure or starvation.
Everywhere is another sign that people don't care about each other, the environment, the greater world. Granted, the overwhelming majority have pressing problems of their own, but is there no drive in the average person to at least look around themselves and see a way to help?
As with all generalizations, the above wasn't fair to all the aid organizations, volunteers and good samaritans who DO notice the need around them. But when my distraught colleague called to tell me the above story, I was almost not surprised - and I that's not the opinion I want to have of people. I never want to live in a world where mewling kittens are ignored. Newspapers do help with that, but I don't feel like I'm doing enough. Can career ennui set in this early?