Its official. The French senate has voted with an overwhelming majority to pass the new law that bans an individual from wearing the Islamic full veil in public. Women that wear the veil and men that force a woman to wear the veil are subject to a fine. The law hopes to promote gender equality, women’s dignity, security and French cultural values. Now, all of those things are fine and dandy; I believe that measures should be taken to make modern society more egalitarian.  However, I can’t shake the feeling that this law not only infringes upon individuals’ rights but also is uncompassionate.

Yesterday I visited my great-grandfather in the assisted living home where he moved nine months ago. He’s 95, and was living on his own, despite macular degeneration and hearing loss, until he was in a car accident last summer. Now, even though he has recovered from his injuries sustained in the accident, life has gotten exponentially more difficult and his quality of life has dropped enormously. Just the act of getting from his wheelchair to a lying down position on his bed drains him almost entirely of energy; his mind is as sharp as ever though, he’s always telling us stories. But life has essentially become a waiting room. Before we left yesterday, after we said goodbye, he broke down, deploring why God was penalizing him making him live like this. He just wanted to go home and see his wife—she passed away five years ago. They were married for over 70 years.  Seeing him like that breaks my heart. 

In 2008 there were 441,855 robberies reported in the United States. I was one of that number.

While the majority of the United States was celebrating Independence Day Weekend, 1350 individuals gathered in Washington D.C. for the annual The Compassionate Friends (TCF) National Conference.

"I wish I knew what this means but I wish that about a lot of things, so mostly I enjoy not knowing."  

-Brian Andreas