Last week! Oofdah, as we say in Minnesota. It means wow or great or my goodness or almost anything you’d like it to mean. What a wonderful few months we’ve had discussion Pillars here at Do Good Better, over Zoom, and through the many emails you’ve sent me. I hope you are blessed and encouraged and that you continue to have discussions around these topics in your daily lives.
Here is the link for our call which will be in TWO WEEKS: September 1 at 7:00 pm GMT+3 (that’s my time in Djibouti). I know this isn’t a great time for a lot of folks in the western hemisphere due to work and school schedules. For the next book club round, I will try to pick a weekend and see if that is better for people.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83807881348?pwd=YWFOYTFqWnYwOHBjQUw1eHV0eVVQQT09
Chapter 35 Back to the Breaking Place
In this chapter I go back to Somaliland, back to the place where I’d experienced so much fear all those years ago. Do you agree that it matters to go back to the places that broke us? Is that part of healing? I’m sure not for everyone, but for some.
Chapter 36 I Could Kill You
I do not believe “Muslims” are violent. But there is violence in my story and in my life. I wanted to reckon with this and to think about the Crusades and our complicated histories. This story of the woman who made a violent gesture at me encapsulated a lot of that complexity. How do you deal with the violence around you? Or in your history?
This scene with my son, Amaal, and baby God is one of the most precious experiences I’ve had here. It is hard to convey the feeling of watching our boys together, of seeing such a unique and profound scene play out with these people I loved so much. Do you have a precious moment like that? Something you guard and cherish? No need to share it, unless you’d like to, but I encourage you to cherish it.
Chapter 37 Home
Are you a foreigner? How has that changed your perspective of home? Do you think you can “go home” again? Or are you still searching for home? What does home mean to you? What is this all about, anyway?
What else struck you about these chapters or the book as a whole?
I remember a lot in chapter 35 hit home for me. I so want to go back for a visit! It's not possible for now, but maybe some day....