Act first, think later

Yesterday when I saw the list of names on Amina's blog and the comments that followed, about her impending doom for having had the courage to say what most Syrians want to say but are too afraid to say, I knew I had to copy the entry verbatim. 

It was a few hours later that I realized what the repercussions might be. Unlike anyone in Syria I'm pretty safe behind my computer. However should the Assad government continue to thrive for years to come, I will not be able to travel safely to Syria ever again. 

My hubby didn't want to spend much or any time in Syria when we travelled last fall but I insisted. We ended up spending 2 days in Syria, one visiting a bit of Homs, the church of the belt, the souk and the childhood home of my mother-in-law. The 2nd day was spent in Damascus, visiting the old souk, the Umayed Mosque and old Damascus.

It was nice. I wanted to go back and see more of Damascus. I also want to see Allepo and of course Palmyra. I'm sure I would enjoy another 3-4 days easily in Syria. Probably also dozens of places of worship to see or visit. :) 

Of course I'm hoping that Syria disposes it's despot and dozens of levels of security forces and becomes a democracy. Sadly it won't be today. 

There was call for a general strike today, shops closed, students staying home, but many business owners have too much to lose and are too afraid at this point to participate. 

As a last note, Dorothy Parvaz the AlJazeera journalist that disappeared 19 days ago on assignment to Syria has landed safely in Doha from Iran. We'll hear more of what happened in the following days.