Most of us spent these past days enjoying the limitless benefits of living freely in a civilized country, shoot, that’s what we were supposed to do. It was Independence Day weekend after all. I know I had a wonderful couple of days with the people I love most. I’d say it was almost absurdly ideal. There was great weather, delicious food…relaxing by the pool during the day, fireworks by night.
At one point during the fireworks I turned to see two boys, most likely brothers, standing on top of their parent’s SUV, wide eyed and gawking at the beautiful colors in the sky before them. Behind them was old glory flying high above Home Depot (we were watching from the parking lot of the store) I was so moved by this image I almost took a picture, until Jamie reminded me that might be kind of weird, taking a picture of complete strangers. But I digress. I truly thought to myself “man this is what it’s all about.”
Then back at work on Monday I was quickly reminded that it really isn’t what it’s all about as I learned that an Iranian mother of two named Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani spent the weekend in a cell, knowing that at any moment she could be stoned to death.
Stoned to death, it’s a term I’ve heard before, sure. But I truly and ignorantly thought it was a practice reserved for true criminals in places like Iran. Also I thought it was something brutal along the lines of being tied to a wall while your victims hurl stones at you. Unfortunately I was dead wrong.
This woman did nothing more then confess to cheating on her husband. Why did she confess? Well, the sickening answer is because they lashed her 99 times. A human being was lashed, 99 damn times for nothing more then a one victim, crime of the heart such as adultery. That is enough to be considered inhumane, mindless, barbaric and downright awful.
But to Iranian authorities it’s not enough and at any moment she’s to be buried up to her chest in stones as men throw larger stones at her face and neck, stones and rocks just the right size to kill her slowly, cause her as much pain as possible before she dies.
How can something like this be happening in our world? I know there are terrible things taking place all over, some things can be stopped, and other things can’t. But this? This is happening right before our eyes. Fortunently there are some human rights activists out there trying to put together a worldwide movement to pressure the authorities into abolishing stoning and stopping this execution. But are we listening?
As I type this I’ve watched an hour of MSNBC out of the corner of my eye. A lot of mention of the oil spill, some on the AZ immigration law, a long segment on the “Palin effect” on midterm elections, and even a larger segment dedicated to Lindsey Lohan going to jail. Absolutely nothing on Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani.
Surely there’s more to know about Ashtiani then Lohan? No?
Shouldn’t we know that men sentenced to death by stoning are only buried to their waist to give them more of a chance to escape then women?
Or shouldn’t the news report on surveys that show that 83% of the population in Pakistan believe adulterers should be stoned, rather then what percentage of people prefer Twilight to True Blood?
How many of us know that in 2008 in Somalia, a 13 year girl was gang raped and then stoned to death in the middle of a football field in front of 1,000 people?
I didn’t know any of these things until I looked into them just now. I also know I will now keep them in my heart for all times, especially those I’m so thankful for.
Here's A link to the original CNN story if you want to know more...or just google her name or "stoning".
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/07/05/iran.stoning/index.html
