Re: Indonesia: Conflict in Acheh

br na'eem,

i understand, to some extent, the way br afdhere's comments struck you
deeply.  i know that you have told me privately that you have found
yourself up against a lot of opposition for some of your views on
palestine - which are ones i share.

and i know that you may feel br afdhere might be misconstruing things on
purpose.  but i don't think he is.  and i don't think his intent is to
agitate or to instigate. (that is correct, is it not br afdhere?)

from private communications i have had with br afdhere, it is clear to
me that he is a sincere person who would not willfully cause harm.  i
find that he tries hard to maintain his sense of humor, and to inject
lightheartedness into difficult dialogues, which is a style i tend to
share, and which i have been surprised to find annoys some people.

perhaps i find it easy to give him a great measure of benefit of the
doubt because his life (as my own has for me) affords him a lot of
insight into the very personal ways that our 'social class/cultural
reality' may test us greatly in living our political values in our very
real personal lives, especially with our own families, as opposed to our
social colleagues/cohorts/comrades.  this struggle in my own life also
requires of me a search for my best qualities and most jameel sabr and
asks of me to take a lot of hard looks at myself.

i know that we can't all know very much about each other in a format
such as this one, and that to some extent part of the task in such a
format is to learn to communicate well while communicating blindly.  and
maybe i am naive in the ways i deal with people's differences, but, i
find that what feels best to me is to always assume that everyone is
trying their best, and doing the best they can.  maybe they aren't
always, but i think if you view people as if they are, they will be more
encouraged to do so - if they aren't already - than they would be if
they get chastised or knocked down for their efforts.  to me it's kind
of about ignoring who we all are as personalities while not at all
ignoring who we are as people.

charmi