Alone again...

Well, after a few short days, I have sent Nick and Sofia off to a new country. I guess we are going to get together on Friday (mostly a convenience get together so they wouldn't have to bring everything to Spain with them). We had a nice two days, went to the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank house yesterday. It was nice, though the weather couldn't have been much worse.

And now I am tired because, apparently, the microwave wakes me up even when my door is closed and the kitchen door is closed. So when people in my house decide to be up and going between 1 and 4 in the morning, I am unable to sleep. I was going to go and say something and then I didn't because I was tired and not sure if my reactions were rational and I didn't want to make a fuss if I was just being cranky... but running on three hours of non-consecutive sleep doesn't make for a whole lot of rational thought either... I can't be really upset about anything until I address it, though, so we will see once I sleep some more because right now, I am still just ridiculously tired (not really enough time to take a nap before class and I have a paper to write when I get home... all things I should have done before Nick and Sofia got her, but oh well.)

And I have been thinking lately, reflecting further about my own perspectives and how my privilege colors everything that I think. There was an interesting room in the Anne Frank house at the end, where a video presented a situation and then a statement, asking those watching to vote whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement. It was a fascinating experiment, as after the 30 seconds of voting time had passed, they showed the percentage of people who said yes or no from the group in the room, as well as the overall statistics of the experiment from all of the groups thus far. I found it difficult to make any sort of statement absolutely, though I did my best to vote anyway. The situations were about freedom, both within the public and the private sector and the statements were stated absolutely and sometimes vaguely - for example, there was a section about some of the Polish Catholic church's stance on homosexuality and then the statement was something like, "The Polish Catholic Church should not be able to have these opinions about homosexuality"... which leads to further questions - they can have these opinions and even state these opinions, as long as it does not culminate in physical abuse or attack, or they should not be able to express these beliefs in the public sector or what? It was just an interesting experiment. I realized that my personal beliefs of what I think is right and wrong are not necessarily harmonious with my beliefs about personal freedoms - as I believe that different standards exist within the private sphere and the public sphere. Which is why I think it is wrong to forbid Muslim women to veil at schools or public venues, but I question those who work as symbols of authority, such as police officers, putting their personal beliefs on display because, in some strange way, I feel that when you are wearing the uniform and being a symbol for a secular entity, you are not yourself, but a symbol. I don't know if that makes sense. All the same, fascinating experiment.

Ugh, I have to get ready for class. I hope that I can manage to participate well and just get through the next three hours so I can take a nap.

-B