A VOTE AGAINST THE IRAQ WAR
If I had had a vote as to whether there should be an Iraq invasion or war, I would have voted against such a war. I have a number of reasons for this and these include my view that if a person truly practices their religion they experience a degree of freedom of thought. Further some of the most free people are people who live simply.

I HAD NO VOTE
The ordinary person was not given a vote in America, Britain and other allied countries to specifically have a say whether American and British troops should be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. If we had true freedom in these countries, then the people should have been permitted to vote on such actions, I think. No country should be able to wage war without the full support of the people and I know many British people who said No, No, No to such a war.

FREEDOM OF THOUGHT
Whatever you think of Saddam Hussein and what life was like under his regime, a Muslim, Christian or Jew who truly practices his religion reaches a level of freedom and does not need American soldiers to rescue them or liberate them. Liberation for what purpose? Then and now that is my feeling.

PRACTICING A RELIGION
The operative word is PRACTICE. Do you really know what the word PRACTICE means and what you should do if you really want to practice a religion?

THE HARDEST CHALLENGE KNOWN TO MAN
The English language has chosen the collocation practicing a religion. Collocations are words that go together, words that are used together. Why practice? Perhaps because practicing a religion perfectly is one of the hardest challenges known to man. Further it requires continuous action - and the moment you forget to do that you are actually not practicing.

THE MECHANICS OF PRACTICE
Before you can practice you also have to understand and to understand you really have to study. Study, understand, practice (do) and then study, understand and practice some more – on and on, over and over again.

DICTIONARY DEFINITION OF THE WORD PRACTICE
In its verb form, to practice means to perform or exercise repeatedly or regularly in order to acquire, improve or maintain proficiency in something. Thus if you are practicing a religion you should be seeking to improve your knowledge (study), understanding (reflecting upon the knowledge) and practicing (actually doing what the religion advocates).

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
Have you heard of Sir Thomas More? If not, I would like to introduce you to him.

LONG LIVE UTOPIA
First of all Sir Thomas More, a lawyer by profession, made a contribution to the English language by coining the word Utopia when he wrote the book of the same name. This is an ideal or good place. In fact, is that not what we all want to have – a Utopian existence? In More's Utopia there was religious tolerance and life was based on simple living. That was Utopia to him.THE LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE
At the peak of his career, Sir Thomas was the Lord Chancellor, one of the highest ranking officers in the Government during the reign of King Henry VIII. However, he refused to endorse the King’s divorce and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn.

SUPPORTER OF THE SYSTEM
Because Sir Thomas would not sign a document accepting the supremacy of the Crown (King) over papal authority (the Pope and head of the Catholic Church), he was tried for treason, found guilty and executed. His defense that he had never spoken against the law stating that the King was supreme was not accepted as a witness testified that he had, although Sir Thomas maintained he had not.

LOYAL THROUGHOUT TO THE SYSTEM
Even during this period, Sir Thomas showed his loyalty to the King in a number of ways. I mentioned Sir Thomas because he always tried to work within the system and did as much as possible to respect the system. I also mention him because of the book he wrote and the type of ideal society he envisaged.

WHAT DOES FREEDOM MEAN?
Unbridled freedom in any society is impossible and the reason for that is because we have to create a society that works for millions. In some countries there are more than a billion people (China and India) and a number of countries have hundreds of millions.

THE REALITY OF LIFE
For any society to function, there have to be laws and on top of that layers of social customs intended for the orderly operation of society. These put the brakes on unbridled freedom. In fact, freedom always has limits because of the need to balance the rights of different groups within society.

FREEDOM IS A STATE OF MIND
I have never lived in Egypt but I have a number of Facebook friends who I am in regular contact with and who I have known for a number of years. They seem to be regular people like me, have careers and we interact on a range of topics on our Facebook walls. I cannot begin to understand everything that is going on in Egypt but I think there is the freedom to study and to set up businesses and that to me are the fundamental aspirations and freedoms of people. There is opportunity to practice a religion too. I have taught Chinese Muslims and Muslims from former communist countries and according to them it was not easy to practice a religion during certain periods of history in communist countries.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF STREET PROTESTS?
Civilization is more important than street protests. In the countries where there have been street protests have changes as a result really been beneficial and lasting?

THE COSTS OF STREET PROTEST
Shouting mobs may violate the rights and freedoms of the majority of people.
In many situations street protests are anti-democratic because democratic channels have not been exhausted - ineffective and slow these sometimes seem to be. Prolonged street protests may lead to a breakdown in law and order and may be detrimental to the economy when businesses are affected and when important industries such as tourism are affected. This hurts ordinary people who are just trying to earn an honest living.

DEALING WITH FRUSTRATION CONSTRUCTIVELY
In some countries, no doubt there are frustrations and genuine frustrations. But how to deal with these constructively? Some of these suggestions may not be feasible in your country but one or more may be possible. Perhaps consider joining a political party that will work within the framework of the law peacefully. It may even be possible for you to stand for election or support someone who is standing.Another suggestion is to become as much as possible enlightened and wise. Then go on to act as an individual, or through an NGO to improve society in a constructive way.

BLUNT INSTRUMENT
Street protests create so many problems for society and the world. They are blunt instruments that do not take society forward in a constructive way usually. If you have ever been involved in politics you will know that it involves a lot of hard work and often baby steps. The impatient people of street protests are not going to be the leadership material that you need to manage a country and its economy in a long term sustainable way.

HOW TO DEAL WITH CORRUPTION ON A PERSONAL LEVEL
Usually, corruption is not automatically solved by changing a man (president). Corruption can only stop when people do not ask for and do not give a bribe. Don't just blame the politicians. Corruption starts with people and giving and accepting bribes - from peon to prince my students used to tell me about some countries in Asia - now is that true or not?

FROM THE BOTTOM UP
If you want better politicians start from the bottom up and if all the people start behaving in a better way then from that will come better politicians. This takes time but actually is a better way to build for the future. Corrupt people cannot produce incorruptible politicians.

BE MEASURED IN ALL YOU DO BLESSING

B: Be measured in all you do. Be a benefit to yourself, your family, your country and the world.

L: Life-long education is a necessary fact of life because there is just so much to learn. Liberation for what purpose, always ask yourself for what purpose?

E: Education is an interesting concept. Education is about acquiring knowledge by study, but then going further by attempting to understand this learning, going on to applying what you have acquired. Enlightenment and the exercising of wisdom should be the end-product of education. Educated, enlightened conduct is the end product, so are you always conducting yourself in an educated enlightened way?

S: Simplify your life and live as simply as you feel you are able to do. Simple living is often the freest ironically.

S: Support the system you live in but work to make it better and more inclusive of all people within your society.

Y: You are either part of the solution or part of the problem. Your choice and I hope you will choose the side of constructive solutions always.

O: One life can make a difference and ordinary people can make a difference if they go about their daily business humbly, honestly and wanting to help people as much as they are able.

U: Understanding is the entry point to bringing knowledge alive within you and turning it into usable skills.

Author's Bio: 

I am an English specialist with I CAN READ. I have worked for major British institutions – the British Council, the British High Commission, the British Railways Board and Linguaphone. I am a London-trained lawyer and have been the public affairs officer at the British High Commission, Singapore, as well as an editor in an international book publishing house and a national magazine. I am also co-author of two law books: English Legal System and Company Law, published by Blackstone, Oxford University Press. I am an Ambassador of Peace (Universal Peace Federation and Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace). Email susanmckenzie2003@yahoo.co.uk about I CAN READ. For more on English, self-improvement, blessings and business success: www.abetoday.com