If any sect has been privileged in the society by the ruling family,, it is the Shias and not the Sunnis. In addition to that, i would like to also clarify that not all Sunnis are from the elite, Sunnis also have a limited income in Bahrain and accept the steps taken by their King and do have the sense to say that the country has limited resources and financial corruption exists but the King will work on these issues. Most Shia Bahrainis on the other hand fail to acknowledge the reforms initiated by the King since his accession to the throne. It is simply sad to see such disregard for what King Hamad has done for Bahrain through an un-sectarian approach.

Regarding Yousef Mowali, Al-Jazeera have published a retraction of that story after being challenged by the Bahraini Government.

The article also talks extensively about martial law, presumably referring to the National Safety measures introduced February-March last year when civil order was on the point of collapse and then repealed less than three months later. All forms of extraordinary measures have now been repealed, with all prosecutions being transferred to the civilian justice sector.

In the writers attempts to portray Bahrain as the police state from hell, she deliberately omitted any serious reference to the very extensive reforms brought in on the back of the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, such as a total overhaul of the security and justice sectors, retraining of all security personnel, a new police code of conduct absolutely prohibiting torture and CCTV in all police centres so that any abuses can be addressed. We have also just seen a raft of constitutional amendments, reforming the parliament, to give elected MPs real teeth in questioning and dismissing Government Ministers.

It is all too easy to throw together an impressionistic collage of allegations, examples and hearsay to make things in Bahrain look incredibly black – when in actual fact things are far more complex. If you speak to many loyalists, Sunnis, moderates or professionals (all of these constituencies being studiously ignored by the writer) then they’re far more likely to complain that the real problem facing Bahrain are radicalised protesters who throw firebombs at police at the behest of their pro-Iran leaders and call for democracy but really seek supremacy of one sect over the other. Only a small minority are wedded to violent revolution in Bahrain, the rest of us would far rather give our King’s reforms a chance.

I tend to forget that life is a journey, a compulsary one.
The only choice we are given is whether we want to start this journey or not. Once it starts, it is all about choices, even the choice to end the journey.

I came across this blog post today and it reminded me of the eternal wisdom of life and how to approach life in general and I hope it brightens your day and softens some of your hardships on your journey.