Exactly two weeks ago the Beloved and I left for our first child-free vacation holiday in 4 years, a 5/6-day trip to Hokkaido, Japan.  We (or rather I) snapped over a thousand pictures, and I’ll let the better ones do the talking in the next few posts.

(Breakfast at Narita Airport, before domestic flight to Sapporo)

"Idiotic and dangerous".  Those are the exact words used to describe the plan by a small church in Florida to burn 200 (or so) copies of the Koran to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks : read one article here.

I can’t agree more.  Whether or not the burning materialises, I don’t see what this achieves, other than notoriety for the small church.  And, as NATO Commander in Afghanistan General David Petraeus says, "endanger troops as well as endanger the overall effort" in Afghanistan.

I believe that the threat to burn the Koran, and the burning if it does materialise, is wrong.  It is not something I support as a Christian. 

At the same time, I am not sure if people have noticed the irony in condemning the radicalism of the small Florida church, because of the disproportionate radical response it will provoke from the offended parties.  It is almost as ridiculous as saying — "don’t eat the last cookie, because the child will get angry and burn the house down" or "don’t wet the neighbour’s yard while watering your garden, or the neighbour will get angry and puncture your car tires".

We are almost, in effect, encouraging bad behaviour, by suggesting that we would do what radical groups or countries like the Al Qaeda or Iran would like us to do (short of allowing Iran to build nuclear weaspons), if that would help us avoid their aggression.

In this connection, it is interesting to note Iran’s warning that the burning could "unleash an uncontrolled Muslim response".  Whether or not those were the words actually used by Iran, the association of the word "Muslim" with "unleash" and "uncontrolled" is unfortunate, and does not help paint a picture of moderation.

I think I would have liked to see a more balance response by critics of the burning (or planned burning), perhaps something along the lines of —

While we disagree with the plan to burn the Koran, and would do everything that is reasonably within our legal power to prevent this offense to Muslims, we would neither agree with nor tolerate the threats of and acts by radicals to harm our citizens, to destroy our property, or to harm or destroy Christians or churches, as a wholly disproportionate response to this offense.

The Beloved called me in office today.

"Can we have 30 children ?"

I thought the woman was losing it.  It was only last week when we were talking and said that we would not even want a third kid, let alone thirty.  Furthermore, I wasn’t sure if even a hamster could survive giving birth thirty times, and the Beloved doesn’t strike me as particularly hamster-like in bodily constitution.

"Huh …", was my stunned reply.

"Do you think we can have 30 children at Jed’s birthday party ?"