Protestation

My last post was dedicated to Ukraine, and this one is dedicated to the island I'm living on. We've had so much muck expose itself in the past two weeks that it's like we're punch-drunk, reeling from being hit with some new scandal or exposed lie every single day. So many pointing fingers, so much name-calling, so many promises rescinded on.
People who have stood tall for this or that important cause, and who have been lauded and even awarded for their efforts, are being labeled hypocrites, sometimes very rightly so. Slander suits are being waved about as threats from all angles, and 88% of over 1500 college teachers just voted to go on strike in two-week's time because of the current government's absolute unwillingness to match their salary levels with other government employees with comparable education and responsibilities (I should say our salary levels - I've been teaching English courses at a technical college for about 6 years now - but the college I teach at is a privately owned business and so we weren't involved in today's vote, which was for teachers employed by the state. We will vote next week...) It feels like we're so overwhelmed with indignation, disappointment, disillusionment and frustration that we might just explode. But who really has the energy left to do even that?

No, we're not in a dictatorship, we don't have guns pointing in our faces or stark, desperate food shortages. We're not being bombed or invaded, and we haven't even had any inclement weather to speak of for weeks. But because we're such a small population, and because we're basically all cousins, it always (as I've noted many times before in the past decade), always feels so much more personal when the dirtier side of politics, press and power are exposed. Shouldn't the 300,000 of us be able to manage living together on this lump of lava in some semblance of an ethical manner? We have such a great opportunity now to achieve great and lasting change in this country, to be a true model of cooperation and sustainability!

As always, I encourage you to go to Iceland Review and The Reykjavik Grapevine for more journalistic info on what's been going on here. And though we may not be on the top of the list of current dramatic world affairs, keep our little island in your prayers anyway, ok? Moving forward into a brighter future isn't always easy, and every good thought counts : )