The first thing I noticed were pictures of a little girl who looked like she was only a few years old. The second thing I saw was the Twitter bio, "has been abducted in Plaia da Luz, Portugal." I made "Madeleine" my friend and read her website where I learned that, as of today, she’s been missing 116 days after being stolen from her bed.

In learning more about Madeleine’s case and wondering what I would do to help find my child if he or she were missing, I saw the impressive efforts to keep attention and help collect information about the abduction –  the Bring Madeleine Home website, the Twitter site, a Live Spaces page, a MySpace page, many YouTube videos (as well as the YouTube channel Don’t You Forget About Me that aims to reunite children with their families), the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre’s Help Find Madeleine McCann page, electronic posters in multiple languages and desktop wallpapers, as well as an online store that helps raise funds to assist in her search.

While Madeleine’s father, Gerry McCann, implied that he is concerned about the case becoming too sensationalistic and may return home to the U.K. with the rest of his family, one hopes that the strong online attention will soon help lead to a break in the case.

Tags: social media, children,  law, abduction

This week I’m leaving to Europe for work and a conference, and will be making stops in Germany, the U.K. and France. And even though some aspects of the trip aren’t going to turn out the way I’d originally hoped (although it would’ve been nice to have been told directly when I asked, instead of having to figure it out on my own), I’m really excited about going.

With the exception of my French, which has pretty much been reduced to only remembering how to say bonjour, au revoir, s’il vous plait, merci and a handful of other words, fortunately communicating isn’t going to be a problem while I’m over there. And even then, on a previous visit to France, I found out that everyone was more than willing to help me when they saw I was making a sincere effort to talk in their native language. So, with that not an issue, I’ll be able to fully enjoy the sights. (The only problem I might have while I’m over there is the whopper headaches I get from all the smoke. Better remember to take extra pain meds.)

Aside from work and the conference, the other reason I’m excited about going is because it’ll give me a change of scenery. I’ll be out of my comfort zone, the usual day-in-and-day-out, and that, based on past experience, gives me an entirely new perspective on things. Not only will I be in a vastly different environment — I’m not one who wants to stay within the perceived safety of doing only touristy-type things, although, ok, I do plan on visiting the Eiffel Tower — but I tend to go to the local haunts and “do as the locals do.”

So, while I’m over there, I plan on taking lots of photographs, hopefully visiting an art gallery or two (yes, for work), and talking to as many people as possible so I can pick up some new ways of thinking about things, fresh insights, and if I’m really lucky, some gold nuggets that I can share with my clients back home.

Tags: travel, Europe, ideas, perspective

I received this e-mail today, seemingly first originating from LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN, 30th Naval Construction Regiment, OIC, Logistics Cell One in Al Taqqadum, Iraq.

With the holiday season starting next week, and Hanukkah and Christmas just around the corner, I thought it would be nice, regardless of one’s political affiliation or feelings about U.S. military presence in the Middle East, to remember the service men and women who are going their job so the rest of us don’t have to (thanks for the e-mail, Lori).

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night."

"It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ‘Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers."

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘Nam’,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right."
"But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Tags: poem, U.S. Servicemen and women

Read this and be ready to have your heart break. For parents Dan and Kim. For sister Maggie. For Elena, who passed away on February 22, 2006, just shy of her 7th birthday.

Read Dear Elena from the beginning and find out that true courage is facing what you thought you’d never have the strength to do, but do anyway because you have no choice.

I’m going to go upstairs now and gently stroke my two sleeping children.

(Thank you Susan for helping me find this.)

Nam Choke, an 8-year-old bull elephant (l), and Boonrawd, a 7-year-old cow elephant (r). Source: Daily Times

Fortunately there are dissenting voices, as these excerpts from around the world show.

From MSNBC:

Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Kabbani denounced the violence and appealed for calm, accusing infiltrators of sowing the dissent to “harm the stability of Lebanon.” Prime Minister Fuad Saniora also urged peaceful protests. “Those who are committing these acts have nothing to do with Islam or with Lebanon,” he said. “This is absolutely not the way we express our opinions.”

From Rantings of a Sandmonkey:

Fully knowing that it is retarded to punish a whole country and its products for what a Newspaper in that country did, I expected someone to start a movement to restore common sense our muslim brothers and demand a stop to the boycott, especially since the Danes have apologized over and over again. Then I figured, shit, why don’t I be that someone?…

So I guess I will start the official local campaign to boycott the boycott, and thanks to the efforts of Roba and Jameed, the campaign now has banners that you can get here, put on your website and show solidarity with Danish people…

From Sorry Norway Denmark (via History News Network’s Deja vu — Judith Apter Klinghoffer): 

In the middle of all the mayhem surrounding the Danish cartoons controversy, a group of Arab and Muslim youth have set up this website to express their honest opinion, as a small attempt to show the world that the images shown of Arab and Muslim anger around the world are not representative of the opinions of all Arabs.  We whole-heartedly apologize to the people of Denmark, Norway and all the European Union over the actions of a few, and we completely condemn all forms of vandalism and incitement to violence that the Arab and Muslim world have witnessed.  We hope that this sad episode will not tarnish the great friendship that our peoples have fostered over decades.

The problem with media representation of such issues tends to be that the media only picks up the loudest voices, ignoring the rational ones that do not generate as much noise.  Voices that seek tolerance, dialogue and understanding are always drowned out by the more sensationalist loud calls, giving viewers the impression that these views are representative of all the Arab public’s view.  This website is a modest attempt at redressing this wrong.  We would appreciate it if you could forward the word to as many of your friends as possible.

What long-term effects on free speech will this conflict have? We probably won’t know for quite some time. There is possibly a new Europen Union media code of conduct in the works (via EU Rota). And Lee Hopkins points out that, on a lower level, "the whole issue does… introduce fear and loathing in the workplace."

In the meantime, although there is already some "fight cartoon with cartoon" behavior, as evidenced by the Arab European League’s two cartoons, I’d speculate that for most media, Serge Cornelus’s prediction is right on. 

Many Muslims are offended because they find the cartoons disrespectful and blasphemous; others object because various hadiths prohibit any depiction of the Prophet, regardless of what the images contain (although Wikipedia notes that representations of the Prophet have existed in Islamic art for quite some time).

The Vatican had this to say about the cartoons:

"The freedom of thought and expression, confirmed in the Declaration of Human Rights, can not include the right to offend religious feelings of the faithful. That principle obviously applies to any religion…   

Any form of excessive criticism or derision of others denotes a lack of human sensitivity and can in some cases constitute an unacceptable provocation."

Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, part of the Vatican’s diplomatic service, was also critical:

"Freedom of satire that offends the sentiments of others becomes an abuse — and in this case it has affected the sentiments of entire populations in their highest symbols…

One can understand satire about a priest but not about God. With reference to Islam, we could understand satire on the uses and customs and behavior, but not about the Quran, Allah and the Prophet." 

See Wikipedia’s Jyllands-Posten Muhammed cartoons controversy for a chronology of events and international reaction. Make sure to also read the posts by Allan Jenkins and Neville Hobson, both of which offer an analysis from a communications perspective.

I predict that this explosive situation is only the beginning of other similar international incidents we’ll see in the coming months and years. I’d venture to guess that others (see, for example, Media Orchard’s post Newest Beer Pitchman: Jesus Christ) would agree. 

This has got to be a prime example of how not to garner favor.

Reports Guardian Unlimited:

"A row has broken out in Rome about whether the speeches and writings of Pope Benedict should be freely available to everyone or subject to copyright.

The dispute was prompted by revelations that a publishing house in Milan had to pay £10,000 to reprint 30 lines from the first speech by the Pope following his election in April, after the Vatican transferred copyright on papal texts to its own publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The Vatican also plans to charge rights on any papal texts of the past 50 years."

According to The Australian:

"Under the Vatican’s new copyright rules, publishers will have to negotiate a levy of between 3per cent and 5per cent of the cover price of any book or publication ‘containing the Pope’s words’.

Those who infringe the copyright face legal action and a higher levy of 15per cent….

A Vatican spokesman said the Holy See had to defend itself against ‘pirated editions’. The move is also aimed at ‘premature publication’. Journalists accredited to the Vatican are handed papal texts under embargo. The Vatican said that if embargos were broken in future not only would the journalist face sanctions but also their publication would face legal action….

Officials said newspapers would be free to publish extracts from papal documents without charge once they were officially released, but only by ‘prior agreement’. The rules cover not only encyclicals — the most authoritative papal pronouncements, issued in Latin — but also the Pope’s homilies at his weekly audiences on Wednesdays, and his addresses at Angelus prayers on Sundays."

Not surprisingly, there’s been some criticism about this newest pronouncement.

According to Vittorio Messori, who co-authored Crossing the Threshold of Hope with Pope John Paul II and Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church with Pope Benedict, then Cardinal Ratzinger:

"The Church is an organisation that exists to spread the word of God and levying a duty on those words, putting a smell of money on it, seems to me to be a very negative thing."

He also stated:

"This is wholly negative and absolutely disastrous for the Vatican’s image….[to] cash in, in this way, surrounds the clergy with the odour of money".

David Bollier of On the Commons has an interesting post about this topic here.

(Photo of Pope from CBC News, AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)