It feels as if I just finished an exam but already I'm behind for studying for the next one. I'm not naive, I know this kind of thing never ends, but its still a bummer. On top of everything that is on my plate, the research I am conducting with one world renowned Supervisor is becoming a little hectic. I finished running 30 participants but it doesn't seem like I am getting anywhere. Instead of having to run only 30 more, I have to run 90, which I dont at all mind especially since I am getting paid, but I fear that I will not have all participants in my parent group done by April when final exams start to creep up. In any case, I'm sure she will be willing to continue this adventure into the summer months for those parent groups. I'm actually pretty excited to see what the results of everything turn out to be. For any lost souls who stumble upon this muted diary and are confused about what I'm referring to, my research is looking at how and why pet attachment essentially plummets when one becomes a parent. This particular research area remains in it infancy so it makes it all the more intriguing, even though it is not ideally what I'd like to be involved in.
Now I don't consider myself an overtly religious person, and in fact I have considered myself an atheist for he majority of my life. Although my parents both come from a long line of devout Christians, the events in Egypt have, to my parents dismay, made me more and more fascinated by what it is about the Koran that is so controversial. Not that I'd ever consider inscribing to any particular faith (other than Buddhism maybe), it still interests me. I have heard rumors and read certain wikipedia pages among others that have had particularly frightening things to say about what is exactly spoken in the Koran. So instead of believing all of this damaging propaganda, I'd like to read it for myself. This would seem easy enough for an English-reading and speaking person, but supposedly all of the translations of the Koran from Arabic to English have been purposely and strategically "washed" in order to prevent any Western readers from reading certain unnerving passages. Now I could just borrow the Arabic Koran from a library or somewhere else, and have my parents read it to me, but in all honesty, I dont really trust them to be completely objective in their translations. Luckily however, my sister does in fact read Arabic and she is the most objective, and religiously neutral person I know. I will keep this page updated on what I find, both good and bad.
My second worry comes from the fact that I have heard the Islam course taught at my school selectively screens those passages from being taught to the students taking that course. Before I make any assumptions, I am going to first read the text first and ask a student of what they are and are not taught in the course. And if I find that the school/professor is intentionally not teaching those areas of the Koran, I will take the issue to the Dean of the school. I will do this because I think it is vital to know the type of Religion/Faith you are banking on. For example, as I've said I do not consider myself an overtly religious person but I myself have read the Bible twice just in order to know what my parents believed in and to know how to argue for and against it. Further, I am all for freedom of Religion and speech, but I believe that education should never be filtered. These students (potentially neutral students looking into getting into the Islam faith) need to be completely knowledgeable about what they are getting into (if it is anything at all). These students are attending the most prestigious University in Canada, they are all well-educated adults, and so the school should trust that they will make the appropriate decisions on what to follow and what not to follow. But intentionally blocking information from people is never the answer. They're big boys and girls and they should be allowed to make their own decisions! Again I am not sure about what is exactly 100% stated in the Islam book of faith, but I will find out before I do any of these actions.
Anyway, my room is beyond freezing right now and it's getting exponentially hard to type and shiver at the same time. More soon.
Peace Freedom & Democracy for Egypt.
Todays Tea: Peach Yerbe Matte
Mandy
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