Putting things in perspective

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- Class the second half of this week went well. I just finished my first full week actually, since some of my seminar courses did not begin until just today. But 2 weeks into the term I am enjoying everything... the professors are brilliant, the students are all very nice, and the city and social life are great.

In other parts of the world, however, things are not so great. I don't want to get into details here, but this week has been exceptionally rough and is a part of the reason I have updated less than I would otherwise have liked:

9/26 - 6 Bannu, 10 Peshawar

10/5 - 5 Islamabad

10/9 - 50 Peshawar

10/10-10/11 - 20 Rawalpindi

10/12 - 41 Swat

10/15 - 30 Lahore, 11 Kohat, 1 Peshawar

10/16 - 13 Peshawar

To think that those are just the people who have been killed, nevermind the hundreds more forever paralyzed, their lives destroyed. Violence seldom is the answer, but of course this begs the question by way of response: what to do?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8310117.stm