Yak Attack

SS: Cake

Cake 

“You can’t have your cake and eat it, too”.

This proverb basically says that you can’t use something up and still have it to enjoy.  Or, another way to put it... you can’t have it both ways. 

One of the frustrations I have been facing in my host country the past few years deals with the internet.  I was raised in America -- the land of the free.  In my host country, I don’t mind that they block porn -- great!  However, we have been having more and more restrictions on us over the years, especially since 2008.  The news comes and goes.  If one news site is blocked, there are usually others to look at.  Then they started cracking down.  First it was the blocking of all blogs.  Then various other sites were blocked.  Some cities were totally shut down from accessing the internet after some political problems arose.  Then Facebook and other social network sites were blocked.  At one point, we used internet proxies.  These were great, but we often spent more time looking for a proxy that worked, than the actual time using it.   We then all got VPN’s so that we could freely access the internet.  Soon after, all of the free VPN’s were blocked.  Then, in the search for access to the internet, we all got paid VPN’s.  More expensive, but the freedom to access the internet was worth it.  Unfortunately, this Spring, they cut off access to most VPN’s.  My VPN company was severely hurt by this.  Fortunately for me (and many of my friends), my company was on the ball and quickly set up some new sites with a totally different system.  All this to say, because of my internet restrictions, I cannot always get on the internet to post blogs.

So, living abroad has many, many advantages -- and a few disadvantages...  It is sad to give up freedom to help others who are less fortunate.  I guess we can’t all have our cake and eat it too. 

Curious

"I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

In reference to the death of Osama bin Laden, I posted the above on my FB page.  [One caveat before I start:  I am NOT a political person.]  While I do not condone any of bin Laden's actions, I am curious as to why so many people gleefully rejoiced in his death.  If it had been up to me, I would rather have seen him caught.  I would like to have seen him stand trial for what he did and face a jury.  I would have liked to see democracy in action -- not violence.  I would have liked for countries without democracy see how a democratic country works.  I think that the integrity of the CIA and USA has suffered because of the actions which resulted in bin Laden's death -- we stooped to a lower standard.   Was bin Laden a bad man?  That I do not know -- I am not the One who will judge him.  Were his actions bad?  Yes.  They were bad.  I would just have liked to see him stand trial, know the charges against him...and think about it before suffering the consequences for his actions.