Warning: Gruesome Description of the Beheading

More drizzling rain today. The first class at 3 PM was pretty good, especially Sera. Next was fine, then at 5 they were clamoring for play and rest—they totally did not want to study. At 6 Tom and Billy were a little better than usual, but Nicole was absent so no one was there to explain the harder concepts. At 7 Paul continues to be so cute! Beth was absent and the other students weren't as good as normal. Could it be that her little 4th-grade wanting to learn attitude keeps the rest of them in check? At 8:30 they were rather quiet, but not studying and barely speaking any English at all. Glen was back after a month-long absence (to study for middle-school tests). He was clueless to answer even simple questions; Tom had to translate almost everything for him.

At home I went through all my nightly blog reading. I'm up to about 15 that I read regularly. One of them had a link to the beheading video, and my curiosity at what the media is keeping everyone from seeing made me click it. It wasn't at all like I imagined. When I hear "beheading," I think of the guillotine—quick and easy. I don't think of a dull knife sawing its way through flesh and bone and a spinal cord. I don't think of gushing blood and gasping for breath. I don't think of, even after all that sawing, the head having to be twisted back and forth until it finally comes loose. I don't think of what a real head looks like as it's held up for the camera; then the camera zooms in to show the neck and the blood continuing to flow onto the floor. As I watched it my stomach knotted. I still feel disgusted to think about it.

Do I regret seeing it? Am I glad I saw it? I don't know. We need to know that that kind of thing exists in the world, and the media descriptions don't do justice to just how horrible the video is. The media is making such a martyr out of the guy, but he was there to pursue business opportunities, or spy, or whatever he was doing, and had had plenty of opportunities (and warnings) to leave. What happened is horrible but so is the media's response. The video being so available on the internet is also questionable. Right to information, but the guy's family must feel horrible. Lots of tough calls on this issue.