One of those days

So today was one of those rare good days. Most everything seemed to go well. We had a good day at school - Sundays are a slow day without much to do so that is always good. It was a beautiful day weather-wise. Sunny, hot, no wind. It made walking into our freezing cold house nice. Rather than walking from the cold into the colder it was as if we were in a civilized land where the outdoor weather is hot and the indoor weather is... well... air conditioned. It was a nice trick for our senses.

Not only was the sun shining but we got to go to a small vegetable store where they have quality, fragrant and tasty vegetables. It is so nice to walk into a store with good vegetables rather than the garbage, the half rotten food we were able to buy at our local Kroger (I'll avoid the rant about obesity in the US especially among minorities due to grocery stores stocking expensive and poor quality produce). The smells and colours were inspiring to the senses.

We cooked some of said vegetables (peppers, potatoes, onion, squash, cauliflower and more) simply by putting some olive oil and spices on them and then throwing them in the oven. Very tasty. We paired it with our splurge of the day. We bough ready made breaded chicken. Prepared food yes, but easy and apparently fish. (Didn't I say something recently about how helpful it would be to actually be able to read Arabic - or in the case of this food Russian).

It was a good dinner. It was a good day. All good days must end.

This good day ends with the knowledge that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is cycling up yet again. It ends with the knowledge that Nablus was invaded yet again (early this morning - little did we know) and two young men were killed. (Terrorists? Perhaps. What makes a terrorist? Another rant for another day). It ends with the knowledge that a young woman was killed while peeking out her window. It ends with the knowledge that Hamas doesn't learn and will yet again meet blood with blood - because that will surely solve the problem. It ends with the knowledge that the checkpoints are closed yet again. It ends with the knowledge that while we sleep soundly in our beds tonight there will be people in fear somewhere in Palestine, there will be blood shed through war in the Middle East and Africa. As we sleep in comfort we know that 1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty, that women will continue to die needlessly in childbirth - often alone, that 40% of the worlds population do not have access to basic sanitation, and one billion people are forced to drink from unsafe water sources.

All good days come to an end. Perhaps tomorrow will be a good day for more of the world's population?