BLIND SPOT: Big time bullying

Have you been ganged up on when you were a school kid? “Between June 5 and 6, 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Yemen, Egypt, the Maldives, and Bahrain all separately announced that they were cutting diplomatic ties with Qatar. (Separately? Come on now. So, this is serendipity?) “Saudi Arabia and the UAE notified ports and shipping agents not to receive Qatari vessels or ships owned by Qatari companies or individuals. Saudi Arabia closed the border with Qatar. Saudi Arabia restricted its airspace to Qatar Airways. Instead, Qatar was forced to reroute flights to Africa and Europe through Iranian airspace. Saudi Arabia’s central bank advised banks not to trade with Qatari banks in Qatari riyals.” “All GCC countries involved in the announcement ordered their citizens out of Qatar. Three Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain) gave Qatari visitors and residents two weeks to leave their countries. The foreign ministries of Bahrain and Egypt gave Qatari diplomats 48 hours to leave their countries.” As of June 10, the governments of Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Eritrea, Maldives, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Somaliland, have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. (what’s the deal? What did Qatar do to you all?) What’s ridiculous is that “the Tobruk -based government of Libya claimed to have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar despite having no diplomatic representation in that country.” (So, this is like unfriending someone who’s not your friend in the first place.) Two days later, Chad, Djibouti, Jordan and Niger “have downgraded diplomatic ties with Qatar without fully cutting relations.” (Are you guys sure you really have an axe to grind with Qatar? Or are you just riding the bandwagon with bigwigs Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt?) Because of these, postal service to Qatar have been halted, 80% of Qatar’s food requirement is in peril; regular flight services are suspended; direct sailing of ships to Qatar have been banned; expressions of sympathy for Qatar have been declared illegal in UAE; and access to Qatari news agencies have been blocked. You all know what’s unbelievably unfair? It is the fact that despite all that is mentioned above and more, “Qatari natural gas continues to flow to the UAE through Abu Dhabi based pipeline.” (en.wikipedia.org) So, we have here an individual surrounded with pressure by big conspiring neighbors, and a bunch of supporting characters (for some reason, we don’t know what. Maybe, they’re just trying to gain favor or attention from the popular crowd.) I don’t know. Maybe Qatar is really harboring resident members of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, and is funding or supporting terrorist organizations; but do not these concerns have a proper forum and follow a proper process? What I see is, because Qatar is friends with Iran, let’s all gang up on Qatar because he’s friends with the unpopular kid on the block. Then, the less popular kids around the neighborhood decide to join in the fray so they could be friends with the popular kids, and may be somehow, they could be popular too. And while the popular crowd along with the less popular group have all together taken this kid’s lunch money, and giving him the silent treatment along with devious glances and stares, this kid continues to help his bullies directly and indirectly, by helping them with their homework. And even if the other neighbors (Germany, Turkey, United Kingdom) are yelling for them to stop; they would not listen, This is not so much about foreign diplomatic relations. This is about the sad and scary reality that such circumstances occur at different levels of social strata; at home, in play groups, in classrooms, in campuses, in offices, in every sort of work place, in corporations, in the bureaucracy, among ethnic communities, even among the religious, in businesses, among nations. “Bullies behave in a dominant manner and cast blame for the bad things in their lives upon others.” “some people are more predisposed to violence and aggression. However, not all people with these tendencies become bullies. Some are able to find ways to take out their aggression and anger in more manageable and healthy ways.” Bullies “are attention seekers. Though the attention they receive is negative they still crave it as often it is the only attention that they receive. The people in the bully’s life that also have an effect on their behavior. On one side, the bully may have a family who does not care about the bully’s behavior and may even encourage it because they are the same way towards people. On the other hand, the bully’s parents may also be fearful of the bully and feel afraid to stand up to them and show them how to change their behavior. If the parents are fearful of doling out discipline to the bully then the bully learns that they can get away with their behavior since their own parents cannot even stop their behavior.” (https://www.theravive.com) In any case, that role may not be played by a parent. In those shoes could be a tolerant teacher, a passive boss, an indifferent authority figure. And so, the abuse goes on. “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me.” Psalm 138:7