Killed, I can't believe it.

I heard from Abeer today. I was so happy to hear her voice! I haven't spoken to her in quite some time, especially since I left Guayama and haven't had a car since.

Abeer is my first muslima friend here (really 'bout the only one), and when I first met her and her family, it was Ramadhan of 2003 (1460 for you exact people. I think.) and she had invited me to her house a week before Thanksgiving. There I met her 3 INQUISITIVE kids, her silent husband, and her uncle, who we called Tio being that we live in Portareeco.

Well, this morning, after she woke me up with a hilarious hatian-accented english joke (she's Palestinian), Abeer finally, softly asked me if I remembered Tio.

"Of course I do!", I exclaimed. " With his mustache and his spanish-arabic and his big baggy pants. He gave me money when I needed to visit my parents, remember?" She did. I was so lonely I charged a ticket to Tuskegee on my credit card, but still needed cash for the fare to San Juan. "And he hooked me up with that horrible guy when you told him to get me a husband!" (That guy was awful, but at least SOMEbody was hookin a sistah up. Abeer and I still drag his memory about when we get on the subject of the Nonexistent Good Muslims On This Island.)

"Pues...", Abeer starts slowly, "Esta muerto. Lo asaltaron como hace 40 dias."
He's dead, she told me, he was killed about 40 days ago.

I was speechless, which don't happen.

Apparently, Tio, this like 60 year old guy with a huge mustache and baggy, belted khakis, was accosted by 3 men in Yauco, where he stayed here on the island with Abeer's cousin Tajani and her husband Karim and their 2 kids. No apparent reason, since none of the merch he had with him, apparently, was stolen.
He was shot in the head. Just like my Uncle Walter. Wow. My hand creeps to cover my mouth even now, hours later.

Dead, just like that. I cannot believe it. I cried.

Ya Rabb! Grant Tio a place at your sight and rewards for his virtue. Ya Rabb! Comfort his wife and his young children and those of us who grieve needlessly in this dunya. Ya Rabb! We trust in Your will that the murderers will be brought for Your justice in this world and the next. Amin.

mourning,
TwennyTwo


EDITED TO ADD:

So I was surfing the 'net after writing that, and found this test, which is so off that I burst out laughing. I'm just barely right handed and strongly auditory (always a song in my head, can deal with noise, etc. etc.) You can find the test here. Wait, lost the link. Will put it up tomorrow.

p.e.a.c.e.


TwennyTwo, you are strongly left-hemisphere dominant and show somewhat of a preference for visual learning, a positive combination of styles.

Your left-hemisphere dominance implies that you are strongly organized, logical and detail-oriented. Visual preference indicates that you learn in an active, simultaneous multidimensional fashion.

With this pattern you would likely be good in fields such as engineering, architecture, drafting, computer graphics and the like. It is likely that you will find situations which demand auditory processing somewhat frustrating unless you can impose your own structures and categories while processing it.

Another possible barrier to using your talents to the fullest may be the excess attention that you can tend to give details in your day-to- day operations and learning. You can acknowledge the existence of "the bigger picture" but concentrate on the details and expect that the picture will emerge from the details themselves.

You strive towards goals and this, coupled with the active nature of your learning preference, creates a sense of you being "driven." Your tolerance of ambiguity is, at times, in conflict with your preference for the straight path and directness in everything. You tend to be as impatient with yourself as you are with others.

You have enough auditory learning capability to somewhat balance your more natural chaotic learning style. It is likely that you "slide into" the more sequential auditory learning mode when you get frustrated with the amount of input to be processed.

You are somewhat likely to be driven and distracted, but you have some capability for articulating and visualizing goals, which helps to reduce frustration. You can listen to others, but not without occasional agitation. There are times when your left hemisphere cannot categorize your learnings and place them in context, because that is the domain of the right hemisphere.