Now I've never personally been a big Madonna fan (and some of my friends would chastise me for this), but one of her first songs fits today well:
You can turn this world around
And bring back all of those happy days
Put your troubles down
It's time to celebrate
Let love shine
And we will find
A way to come together
And make things better
We need a holiday
I was surprised with an impromptu award today. I'd been working on a table display on the side with a group at my base planning the diversity celebration for Women's Equality Day, which commemorates the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 giving women the right to vote in the U.S.. The guest speaker was the soon to be Surgeon General of the Army, and at the end of her speech, she asked that all those who had contributed to this program to please come forward. She presented each of us with one of her command coins for excellence. It was nice to get a little recognition for putting together this diversity celebration.
Today also marks "Eid al-Fitr", the end of Ramadan. Ramadan is the Islamic holy month of fasting for Muslims, and since it's calculated on the lunar calendar, the exact dates move up every year. The first time I was deployed to the Middle East, Ramadan was in December, and while I was in Iraq, it was in October. During the this time, Muslims are not allowed to put anything into their mouths during daylight hours and must refrain from sex and other vices. (Not that sex is a vice...)
Typically referred to as just "Eid", the Arabic word means "festival", and "Eid al-Fitr" means the festival of breaking of the fast and can be celebrated for several days. According to Wikipedia, family elders will give money and gifts to children. It is also common practice to visit families and friends, which may be difficult to do at other times of the year. Doesn't sound too different from our Christmas celebrations.
This is the second deployment in which I will be away from home over Christmas. The first time I spent it away on deployment was in the 90's in Kuwait. Although our unit did have a Christmas dinner party catered, what I remember most was the people everywhere wishing us all Merry/Happy Christmas. Not only the locals and third country national workers on the base, but also all the Kuwaiti citizens off the base in Kuwait City seemed genuinely happy to wish us a heartfelt Christmas blessing. I felt it was probably my duty today to wish all the local Afghan workers on our camp yesterday and today a Happy Eid, or "Eid Mubarak" meaning Blessed Eid. It was nice to see them smile in appreciation and say thank you.
As I've talked about before, we as service members don't get weekends, days off, or holidays. We work every day to ensure that our job gets done. What we do is try to take time where we can and rejoice life's small blessings. We celebrate milestones in our own history and we celebrate important events, both religious and secular. Madonna was right, the world could use a holiday. If we all celebrate, there wouldn't be much reason to spread hate. Words to live by.
More to follow.
You can turn this world around
And bring back all of those happy days
Put your troubles down
It's time to celebrate
Let love shine
And we will find
A way to come together
And make things better
We need a holiday
I was surprised with an impromptu award today. I'd been working on a table display on the side with a group at my base planning the diversity celebration for Women's Equality Day, which commemorates the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 giving women the right to vote in the U.S.. The guest speaker was the soon to be Surgeon General of the Army, and at the end of her speech, she asked that all those who had contributed to this program to please come forward. She presented each of us with one of her command coins for excellence. It was nice to get a little recognition for putting together this diversity celebration.
Today also marks "Eid al-Fitr", the end of Ramadan. Ramadan is the Islamic holy month of fasting for Muslims, and since it's calculated on the lunar calendar, the exact dates move up every year. The first time I was deployed to the Middle East, Ramadan was in December, and while I was in Iraq, it was in October. During the this time, Muslims are not allowed to put anything into their mouths during daylight hours and must refrain from sex and other vices. (Not that sex is a vice...)
Typically referred to as just "Eid", the Arabic word means "festival", and "Eid al-Fitr" means the festival of breaking of the fast and can be celebrated for several days. According to Wikipedia, family elders will give money and gifts to children. It is also common practice to visit families and friends, which may be difficult to do at other times of the year. Doesn't sound too different from our Christmas celebrations.
This is the second deployment in which I will be away from home over Christmas. The first time I spent it away on deployment was in the 90's in Kuwait. Although our unit did have a Christmas dinner party catered, what I remember most was the people everywhere wishing us all Merry/Happy Christmas. Not only the locals and third country national workers on the base, but also all the Kuwaiti citizens off the base in Kuwait City seemed genuinely happy to wish us a heartfelt Christmas blessing. I felt it was probably my duty today to wish all the local Afghan workers on our camp yesterday and today a Happy Eid, or "Eid Mubarak" meaning Blessed Eid. It was nice to see them smile in appreciation and say thank you.
As I've talked about before, we as service members don't get weekends, days off, or holidays. We work every day to ensure that our job gets done. What we do is try to take time where we can and rejoice life's small blessings. We celebrate milestones in our own history and we celebrate important events, both religious and secular. Madonna was right, the world could use a holiday. If we all celebrate, there wouldn't be much reason to spread hate. Words to live by.
More to follow.
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