Letters From a Young Contrarian

by Christina Patterson, The Independent, May 7, 2011

How do these women sleep at night? How do they climb into bed with men who kill, and torture, and steal? How do they stand on platforms and talk about the rights of women and children, while their husbands are stifling, and cheating, and sometimes even killing, the women’s husbands and the children’s fathers? How do they convince themselves that it’s fine for them to have millions, while their people struggle to buy bread, and that, even with their millions, they need more?

The world isn’t teeming with eligible men. Sometimes, as my mother always said, you can’t afford to be too picky. But really.

Maybe you can excuse a 15-year-old Yemeni for marrying a middle-aged Saudi she barely knew. You can’t excuse a 25-year-old woman for staying with a man she knew to be a mass murderer. You can’t excuse a 54-year-old Tunisian for trying to steal money she must have known belonged to the people, or a 70-year-old Egyptian for trying to steal money that was clearly meant for the poor. And you can’t begin to excuse a bright, well-educated, Syrian Brit for colluding in her husband’s regime’s mass murder.