Understanding

I haven't been blogging for a while, mainly because I always start thinking too much before writing and then never get around to it. This morning, I read a very sad story in the Danish newspaper, a story I've heard about before but not known the specifics of.

Apparently last year, Slagelse, a provinsial kind of town about an hour from Copenhagen, became the scene of a so-called 'honour killing'. A Danish-Pakistani girl was murdered by her brother because she fell in love with and eventually married the wrong man (who was also originally from Pakistan). How can someone kill their own little sister? As much as I try to advocate in my work and general doings that respect and understanding are the building blocks of co-existence of different (cultural) groups in society, I don't understand this - or rather, I really don't want to understand.

It is wrong to kill a person, it's so tragic when it's someone the perpetrator knows - but it is outright sickening and utterly hopeless to kill your own family whether your wife, lover, partner or children, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles. I really don't understand how someone can do such a thing. Like I don't understand how two children in Tønder, DK were 'rented out' by their parents - yes, you heard me, their PARENTS - to strange men in their 50s and 60s who had a tendency to enjoy certain carnal pleasures with children. Aaaarrgh, what in Gods name is wrong with these people??!

And now an interesting point that popped up in my head; the 'honour killing' of the Danish-Pakistani girl was used by different voices in the media to highlight the problems with integration and letting people be 'allowed' to practice their own cultural traditions. I dig. Doesn't make sense to allow people to kill their sisters because some tradition tells them so BUT apparently, Danish traditions tells us to prositute our children (if we are to follow the logic of generalising from one instance to entire cultures) so in actual fact, 'we' shouldn't even be allowed to sustain 'our own' culture in Denmark. You see what I mean?