As they tear your hopes apart

To watch clicke here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

So I saw this incredible video today of Susan Boyle a participant in Britains Got Talent show. As a 48 year old lady , she comes on stage and is mocked by the audience for saying she wants to be a professional singer and also that there is something sexy to her beyond her age. She confesses she has never been kissed. The audience sneers. Judges mock her and it appears that she is just another side show to amuse the audience so that they can make fun of her dreams. And then she sings," I dream a dream." And no one laughs. Because her voice resounds loud and clear over all those sneers. And even the judges know they were wrong to dismiss her just because she was not that hot babe in a micro-skirt. The song is as beautiful as its lyrics are deep.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high,
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid
When dreams were made and used,
And wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung,
No wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
As they turn your dreams to shame.

And still I dream he'll come to me
And we will live our lives together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms
We cannot weather...

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seems
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.

I just love the song. She sung it so well that I actually shed tears, though mainly because her voice had that deep quality that stirs something deep within eachof us. No one cries for anyone else, we all cry for ourselves. :)

Enjoy the song and please watch the vi

NOT IN MY BLOODY NAME

I was about sleep when I saw this video which absoutely made my blood boil. Its the video of this teenage girl being flogged by the Taliban in the province where Sharia is now being implemented in Pakistan. While many people think Islam to be this atavistic homogeneous entity I have long argued to the contrary.

So this is a video where a girl is being flogged for having come out of the house with a male person who was neither her father or husband. So basically haraam according to a very narrow reading of the Shariah. The video is disturbing to put it mildly. Watch it if you dare at the end of the day only.

Anyway the video has been filmed by a mobile and distributed widely to act as a warning. I find it low and a debasing act.

Because its in my bloody name, I insist on taking the right away as a muslim .I never gave them the right but still I must lodge my protest.The taliban are as misguided fools as Dante.

Its funny how big demons we become when we think our repressions are justified. Islam is not harsh. It's gentle and merciful.

See the video here