Brave souls in Iraq - nuun - ن - نون

I am touched by their determination to support the Christian communities in Iraq this December. See this article, in English, in Al-Shorfar.

The significance of the letter ن : it is pronounced nuun or noon and was marked on the doors of the houses IS were going to get next for having Christian families inside. Even the Financial Times had a leader column article explaining this a few months ago. So the families had to go, fast. 'n' stands for one of the words for Christian, originally from the word 'an-nasira', which means Nazareth.

There is at least one article a day on the Middle East in the Financial Times, so I am cutting them out. They are written in a cool-headed and de-escalatory style. Also compassionate, or I am I merely seeing what I want to see?

The news and that video

My second most hit upon post ever includes a link to an interview/film James Foley made with Matthew Van Dyke in Tripoli 2011: remember-locks-being-broken

I am appalled by this, but my younger son (16) was just starting to watch the video when I said hallo to him this morning. I said, no don't watch that, really don't, but left him to it. What can you do?

I asked him this evening if he was all right, now he'd seen it. He said yes, with the callousness of youth. He told me a bit about it, which I hadn't needed to hear, but then stopped. I wish he hadn't told me.

Everything like this hardens my tolerance level just that little bit, to cope, to find my new normal. If it can't become a new normal I wouldn't be able to function. Horrible thought. All these distancing and coping mechanisms kick in to protect my mind.

Yes, I really wish I hadn't heard what he told me. So we will need more talking tomorrow.