Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

I wake up earlier than planned and see a world that is shining brightly. Everything around me is bathed in shades of purple, orange, red and pink. High above, the clouds stand out in a sky that seems to be on fire. Far below my balcony the wet streets reflect the fire-like colours above. I wonder - Is the world celebrating? Is the Source of All showing off just a bit? Is the sky dressed up in anticipation of a celebration? Is today special somehow, unique or amazing? I ponder the possibilities as slowly reality sets in. Before going to bed I heard the news from Paris. Forty people dead. Perhaps a hundred held hostage. Panic and mayhem and men with guns on the streets. I stand on my balcony listening to the silence. The pit-pat of rain coming down on the near-empty streets. Birds soaring past greeting the dawn of another day. It is peaceful and quiet where I stand. And yet. Only hours away chaos and terror reign. Only hours ago, over a hundred people died. The news tells me the deat...

Today, the news is full of violence, death and destruction. At a Shiite mosque in Kuwait, at a factory in France , a coastal resort in Tunisia. In Israel, in Kobani in Kurdistan. People are dead or dying, people are wounded, people are crying, people are hurting. And why? Because some believe that they are more right than others? Because some believe that their truths are more valid than others? Because some believe their interpretation of religion or God's laws are more correct than another's? Because some believe that it is up to them to terrorise, kill and destroy? At least 27 28 are dead and 36 wounded in Tunisia . In Kobani in Kurdistan , 150 or more dead and many wounded. In Kuwait , last death toll I read mentioned 5 24 dead and 15 wounded. In Israel too, people have been attacked, people die. Not by the dozens usually, so the news doesn't speak about it. Or perhaps the news simply doesn't care as much about innocent Israelis as about innocent British or F...

What if it was you? Your mother, sister, niece, friend, aunt, wife? Assaulted, sold, gang-raped, beaten, tortured... https://t.co/OEZ6yDF28K — Nicole M. Verhaaf (@nimavenl) June 9, 2015 As ISIS brutalizes women, a pathetic feminist silence http://t.co/cftyoVewcO pic.twitter.com/iEMiXBqCRY — New York Post (@nypost) June 8, 2015

Two days ago, there was the horrible attack on the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Yesterday there were reports of another attack in France and a policewoman killed. Today I'm watching live images of a small village north of Paris on television, I understand I'm watching a possible hostage situation. New reports are now coming in that there's been a shooting, at least one injured, possibly as much as five or six people held hostage at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris, likely linked to the other attacks. Two hostage situations going on relatively close to each other in France. The latest reports indicate two hostages at the kosher supermarket may have died already. How many more will be killed today? Will there be another terrorist attack tomorrow and if so, where will it be? How many more lives will be disrupted and torn apart by terror?  "The goal of the attack on the office of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was not to frighten newspap...

I don't have the words to condemn attacks against people who express themselves peacefully. Whether one agrees or disagrees with another, to murder them for their opinion means murdering them for who they are. How many more need to die before we realise that violence and terror will not make the world a better place?  "Terrorism Turns My World Upside Down" "Because if you don't stand up for the stuff you don't like,  when they come for the stuff you do like, you've already lost.”  ~ Neil Gaiman

Vanmorgen is er in Parijs door meerdere daders een aanslag gepleegd op de redactie van satirisch weekblad Charlie Hebdo . De daders zijn nog steeds spoorloos. Er zijn meerdere gewonden en minstens twaalf doden. De aanslag is volgens ooggetuigen opgeëist door Al Qaida Jemen; de daders riepen 'Allah Akbar' en gaven aan de aanslag te plegen om de profeet Mohammed te wreken. Het satirisch weekblad publiceert spotprenten, onder andere over de islam. Charlie Hebdo is al vaker door moslimextremisten bedreigd, bijvoorbeeld in 2006, 2011 en 2012. De Volkskrant meldt: "De gedode journalisten zijn tekenaars Cabu, Charb, Tignous en Wolinski en econoom Bernard Maris, zei [openbaar aanklager van Parijs] Molins. Van de drie andere vermoorde journalisten zijn de namen nog niet bekend. De twee agenten zijn Franck D. en Ahmed Merabet. De laatste werd buiten het gebouw gedood. De gedode receptionist is Michel Renaud, de identiteit van de genodigde is niet bekend."   ~ Twaalf doden...

Worrying about what's going on in Sydney with regards to the #sydneysiege . My thoughts are with the hostages and all who know and love them. I have friends and family in Australia; really don't like how close to home this feels. Silver lining to this horrible situation must be the " I'll Ride With You " social media posts tagged #illridewithyou and the way Australians are coming together as one. It's good to see that the Australian people won't let terrorists scare them into being quiet, going into hiding or turning on each other.

Early Morning... Well, not so early any more by the time I added watermarks to the photos and decided what to write in this post! Still - it was dark when I got up, surely that counts as early! As it got lighter and I went to make a cup of tea, this amazing sight greeted me. O f C ourse I rushed to the balcony to take several photos to share! @Nimavenl We really do live in a very beautiful world!  I just wish we - humanity - could spend more time enjoying our world, loving each other and appreciating being alive to enjoy the beauty. Instead, we hate, we disagree, we dislike, we fight, we torture, we rape, we insult, we discriminate, we kill, we terrorise.  "Our lives begin to end the day we become  silent about the things that matter."         Martin Luther King, Jr @Nimavenl I refuse to let terror win - I believe in humanity. Peace   :)   Shalom   :)   Salaam

Unbelievable. As most Dutch people today were enjoying the sunshine and the warm weather, a gunman went on a rampage in a crowded shopping mall and killed several people before shooting himself. At work today, I got a text message about what had happened from a friend who wanted to know if I was okay. We headed straight to one of the computers in our break room to find out what was going on. And were totally shocked. Violence is definitely not unknown in The Netherlands. We're an outspoken bunch and tend to speak before we think our words through. We argue, we fight, we scuffle, however we aren't very prone to simply killing in cold blood. There is also a lot of tension between Dutch people and immigrants, however mostly that's contained to gossip, nasty comments and people simply refusing to take the time to learn to understand each other. Violence like this - a gunman on a rampage - is something I hear about happening in the US, Iraq or Afghanistan; not this close ...

Just logged on to Twitter, saw Jerusalem was (is) a trending topic. Decided to head straight to Ha'aretz to find the headline story to be: Bomb explodes in central Jerusalem. As tears flooded my eyes reading the article, I just wondered one thing. WHY??? Why do humans feel the need to kill and maim each other to get their point across? Why does violence seem to be the answer and the solution instead of the problem ? Why??? Bomb explodes in central Jerusalem Bomaanslag bij busstation Jeruzalem

Today it is exactly eight years ago that Pim Fortuijn (Fortuyn) was murdered. I wasn't in The Netherlands when it happened. I heard about it, read about it, was completely dumbfounded by it. The Netherlands is not usually a violent country (well, apart from when it comes to football, perhaps!), we are not usually a violent people. We are competitive, we are easily annoyed, we often grumble about anything from weather to sports to the economy - but we are not a people who assasinate politicians or our royal family or people we don't agree with. Or so I thought. The first time I came across Pim Fortuijn was when I saw him on TV, commenting on the happening of September 11th. I was 17 then, and really not interested in politics. This TV appearance was the first time I heard Pim Fortuyn's name, the first time I saw his face. The first time I can remember anyway. I didn't agree with what he had to say then - something along the lines of how Muslims are bad, Isl...

Watched the news earlier and saw the report on the bombings in the Moscow subway. Or well, bombings - suicide missions actually. Thirty-eight people killed and many wounded because two women felt the need to make a point. And what was the point about? It seems about the exact same thing so many bombings and attacks around the world have been about: terrorists trying to what, prove a point, scare the world, get support for their cause? The one thing I just really don't get here is WHY people, human beings just like you and I, feel the need to kill other human beings, innocent ones at that, to help further their cause. From what I've read on newspaper websites so far no-one has claimed responsibility for this latest attack yet, however apparently Russian authorities believe there is evidence that these attacks were commited by people from the North Caucasus region. According to CNN.com, "Our preliminary assessment is that this act of terror was committed by a terroris...