I love that word, huzzah. I'd never seriously say it, but I just love that bit in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl where Elizabeth's dad comes out of hiding when the pirates are beaten on his ship and he joins in the cries of 'huzzah'.
Moving on from that random outburst, I'm feeling much better! Thanks to everyone who left sweet comments, they really cheered me up. I've only got a bit of a cough now but as long as I keep a watch on my asthma I'll be fine. And although it doesn't look like I'll get a job at my mum's (thank God!), I applied for a summer job working at a kids camp a few weeks ago and apparently I'll find out whether I got it either tomorrow or Saturday. I really hope I do get it as it sounds like fun, but honestly, if you knew how bad I am with children, you'd probably think it best for their own well-being if I didn't!
Anyway, I was flicking through my
favourite newspaper this morning,
the Sun (ho ho) when I came across an
article about Prime Minister Gordon Brown - that still doesn't sound right! - and his campaign to get all public buildings to fly the Union flag to show all the nasty terrorists that they won't beat us and 'Our Brave Boys' in Iraq and Afghanistan. Okay, so I made that last bit up but they do usually chuck some reference to 'Our Boys' in any and all articles, so it's not completely out of the blue. I take issue with this campaign, surprise surprise. Don't get me wrong, I do not sympathise with terrorists or condone their actions. I think killing people in such a way (or any way, for that matter) is deplorable and shouldn't be tolerated. However, I can't help but feel this is a bad way to handle the situation. First of all, such an explicit reaction only shows that their actions have been noticed and have affected us in some way. Doesn't that just feed them? It's what they want: recognition.
Second, a display of 'Britishness' and extreme patriotism only leads the way to more extreme nationalism. I wrote a second semester essay on nationalism not long ago, and one thing I took away from it is how destructive a force it can be for international relations and even intra-national relations. Essentially we're saying that we're different to other nations because of our 'Britishness' , and thus those in Britain that are not British are not included. That may well be true, I don't know, but why should it be? Our world today is so fractured anyway without us waving flags and shouting about how "great" it is to be from the UK. Surely, in the interests of world harmony, a better approach would be to focus on our common humanity and membership of the human race? We're all people, and place of birth does not make one person inherently better or more worthy than another. I'm not saying we should be ashamed to be British or to have a national identity, but I do think a better approach would be to quietly acknowledge it whilst working to heal the rifts between nations that, at their very core, are really not that different anyway.
Finally, the cynic in me can't help but accuse Gordon Brown of taking advantage of the situation by trying to round up the masses and get them on his side at this eary point in his premiership. It's somewhat understandable, granted, but I'd find it much easier to take Brown seriously if he did this based on solid policies that change Britain for the better, rather than flag-waving and back-patting because we're British.
[/ rant]
Anyway, I got my haircut yesterday. I'm really up and down with it - sometimes I love it, other times I think it makes me look like a 12 year old boy with unnaturally large breasts. Does anyone have any styling tips for a cut just below the chin?!
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}