A Lesson A Day

I believe in that life can teach us valuable lessons in everything that we do or happen to us. Sometimes it is hidden in things that annoyed you on that day, or in things that seem so insignificant. Yet no matter what I think it is wonderful when we look back and replay the events and this time see the lesson staring right at us. I learned to look for lessons from a man who was more than 50 years older than me, when he said to me that he is still learning till this day. It shook me to be honest with you.

Let me tell you that the man I have mentioned earlier is a very successful man that holds important positions in this country, but that is not necessary to learn from individuals. I have equally learned important lessons from people you don't seem to notice even if you accidentally rub shoulders with them in an alley. My point is not to praise my kindness or my ability to listen to everyone equally without discrimination. What I want to say is that actually I grew up as a very stubborn young man that once an idea takes hold in my head it is then nearly impossible for anyone to shake it off. And taking humbling lessons from people with experience was something I considered humiliating to my ego. Gradually though I have let go of those silly qualities and have turned them into a lesson not to be repeated whoever I feel my pride is hurt when someone corrects me.

I have been blessed to have the benefit to have learned so much in such an easy way throughout my life, as others learn the difficult way which can be profoundly traumatizing. Not to say that everything was smooth sailing, but that you can consider it bearable than others. Regardless of the way that lessons come in, they can have the power to shape up a life if given a chance. A life changed or adjusted every single day is a sure way of maintaining a parallel line to a path that is right. Just like in space where shuttles and rockets keep taking corrective maneuvers often enough to ensure that they exit and enter the atmosphere safely, lest they miss their mark or worse yet burn so brightly in the atmosphere.

Before I bore you any further with my endless thoughts on the matter, I would like to end this post by making a clear point in that mistakes are what I meant when talking about lessons, mistakes that we as humans do on a daily basis. If mistakes are hard to notice in your day then please check, for your sake, the wings at your back.

I See You Not

We all sometimes felt that we are invisible to those around us. Whether it be in a room full of people or within a crowd of people, or sometimes even if we are alone with a person in one room. This feeling is not exactly a warm fuzzy feeling as all it does is to grow an idea in your head that you as a person might be insignificant to notice. Maybe it is our fault that we seem invisible, but it hurts more if it is not our fault. I simply laugh when put in this situation as I notice how funny people look when they notice everything around me, beyond me, or about me, but never ME.

I once saw a horror sketch that shows you a man who screams so hard yet no one can hear or even see him and he is followed by someone who is about to kill him. That really spooked me, and I guess the director wanted to appeal to our sense of being noticed and reversed that to create a psychological thriller that subconsciously scared us on levels we did not know. I have seen people crying for help from others only to be ignored so unceremoniously, only for those crying to slip into depression and deep resentment for those that ignored them. I have also seen cries for attention by children to their parents, only to be ignored and growing up breaking things just to let people notice them, only in a very negative way. So you see, we sometimes inadvertently do talk to someone one on one, and yet not see them in front of us, or to focus in their background or their setting but never on the person we talk to. To us this person is there and will always be there in front of us, that is why we choose to not focus on their needs or their feelings. Now how does this person feel in this situation, I'm sure we would never want to to do that to anyone or better yet we never want it to be done to us. So please take into consideration the next time you speak to anyone to give them your attention and to actually listen to what they say not to what the voice behind them say or what the future or the past says. I can guarantee that this person will start to be more fascinating and interesting should you disregard all that is around and look at not through or beyond.

I once read somewhere that in order to be a better listener we have to listen for the sake of listening and not for the sake of replying. That means a lot to me as it improved my conversational skills ten folds just by trying to remember that little quote every time someone speaks to me. It even noticeably made people happier to talk to me, so I guess it works somehow. So the next conversation you have with anyone at home, at work, or on the phone, try to make it count by listening to this person, focus on their voice, zone out all that is around you, clear your mind of all ideas that creep up to your head, and take your time to reply after you have heard what they said. Finally I will end this with a most profound quote by Ralph Ellison from his Invisible Man.

“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves or figments of their imagination, indeed, everything and anything except me.” 
― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

What A Waste...

I’m sure many have noticed the front-page headline of today’s Akhbar Alkhaleej newspaper that talked about the amount of wasted food. The article spoke about how Bahrain alone produces 400 tons of wasted food on a daily basis. Can you imagine! On a daily basis. Now that is something that needs to be given much thought especially for a small island like ours.

Again, I aim not to preach or to give advices to readers when I probably do produce as much, if not more wasted foods everyday. But this article did make me stop and think about the use of all that food had it not been wasted, to those who do not have the means to provide for themselves or their loved ones regular meals. Or those that work all day in hard labor to come to the end of the day to a poorly made meal provided by cruel hearted employers.

I do have to admit that maybe hotels produce most of that number; restaurants and catering establishments, and that should have some light shed on it in the media and in social and political circles. Those private entities need to feel the responsibility toward the community and the people living in the community and not just as walking wallets that need to be fished. I admit that we did develop some means of social justice towards establishments that we think have wronged us in some way, so I hope that this can also be used to wake up those old fat businessmen and get them thinking again.

Coming back to the issue of waste, we are witnessing some efforts by young people who try to gather up waste from households to distribute to the needy and that is a very noble effort indeed, but better yet instead of giving people some leftovers which can be degrading. There should be a regular campaign to provide some education to not panic buy food whether it be in Ramadan or in other months of the year. That can be achieved by setting examples by community leaders and businesses rather than try to impose it on you and me without us being fully convinced that others are doing the same.

I did try to think of ideas and solutions to this problem, and we should all see it as a problem for us to be able to take steps in tackling it in the future. And I just wish that this article be repeated for a whole week and on the first page and in all newspapers, so that maybe people might rethink their hording and wasting of a commodity that future generations might not be able to have as much as we do today.

This might come in handy

Melancholic Beauty

Recently I have noticed that some of people have a knack for melancholy and all things gloomy and sad. I don’t really know if this is the fashion nowadays but it is kind of depressing to those around you. Maybe it is a cry for attention, or maybe a simple moment of sadness they live in. regardless; it is unnecessary to linger in such a mood for so long as to sow it in one’s life.

I know that sometimes it is depressing to notice so much evil being committed on a daily basis, or to endure the amount of flak people shoot at you every once in a while, but it is certainly not healthy to over think or to dwell on the negative parts of life and to forget and ignore the positivity that is happening around us in each and every moment. Some might even go on further than that in eliminating the fact that there are positives to be grateful for, while living in a very privileged lifestyle that not even 10% of the population of the earth can live. The world is not all gone yet, and beauty is in everything if you should chose to open your eyes and mind and accept the green of the leaf over the yellow of the rot. We still live in a place that many would give an arm or an eye to be able to live here and experience all the privileges that we have. So start shaking off those cobwebs off of your happy corners of your mind and be grateful to all that is around you now. Then widen your circle and keep widening your circle of thankfulness and gratefulness until you reach your own self.

I do not wish to preach or to even guide anyone, as I am in need of guidance myself. But all I wish is to remind people of that which they already know but disregard. It is really a shame when people pass so carelessly by the happy times and yet hold on so tightly to the sad times that they forget how to smile. I do hope that this post at least will bring a smile to someone reading it, or to remind them that there is hope and light in everything, should you chose to accept that fact.

Twitter > Instagram

I know that the title might say my preference, but still I think I have to write a few words about it. Just to satisfy my needs to reach out to all with my argument regarding those powerful social tools. Yes tools and not lifestyles like most people I know think they are. You will still be alive if for some reason they stop working or the internet ceases to exist. Alive but empty I'm afraid.

If you don't use either of those then please stop reading this post now because I am neither promoting social media nor am I ready to explain what they. Unless you want to follow me then by all means do sign up and follow me for a wonderful spin around the block for my pleasure. Now that this is out of the way I can actually begin with my argument.

If my memory serves me right it seems Twitter was the first to exist in the great internet galaxy, and then Instagram came to be. Regardless of who came first, Twitter was the first to be rocketed into a legendary status. At least here in Bahrain and maybe the region. Twitter really picked up the pace here when we had the so called Arab Spring come knocking on our door. People flocked by the thousands to Twitter for information and the latest juicy news about what is happening just a few kilometers away from you. Plus it was providing people with two major things. First the quick flow of information and news regarding any perceived danger, be it police patrols or protesters with fire in their eyes. Secondly it was giving us the news and information that no news agency was providing either through censorship or through biased propaganda. Simply put, it was people who were creating the news and spreading it through the phones of those looking any scrap of news to give reason to their panic.

Twitter gradually went out of the limelight when things started to be more docile here in the country and people became fed up or immune to all the molotov fires or tear gas canisters. Also it is worth mentioning that there was a systematic containment of twitter political celebrities for fear that those could be a powerful loos cannon that might be a threat to the establishment. Plus of course twitter did not improve much on its basic concept so that might also have become tedious to some. Again I mention that this is my view on the argument from the prospective of the region and specifically Bahrain, not a detailed review about those two social medias.

Enter the powerful picture in the mix. Instagram with its nice addition of simple photo editing tools have given people the chance to think that they are true photographers and no less amazing than the professional ones. Of course there is also the famous quote "One picture is worth a thousand words." It seems some really take it literally because they take a picture, post it on instagram and then stay silent as if to say that my picture says it all. Then we see the people who mostly benefited from it were those promoting their products or paddling for knickknacks. But they seem to insist on following us as well, for some reason they need to poke around our little worlds just as much as they need us to buy their stuff. So you see, instagram does not need reading which might be a source of great headache to some people around us it seems, and a greater source of gossip about each other than twitter can provide. Perfect tool for the regional mindset.

Now, my argument is that twitter at least still can provide information in a simple, quick way rather than flipping through endless drivel of advertisements and dishes of sweets and crying children before you might stumble upon a post that might peak your interest. Plus it seems we have developed the need to "like" all pictures of our friends and relatives even if the picture did not convey any meaning at all, or else we seek the wrath and frowns of people coming up to you and asking you why you won't like their pictures in front of all to see. Adding to that I only use it as a catalogue for interior design ideas and an album of calligraphy art that I am most interested in. Twitter on the other hand provides me with literature for when I cannot afford the time to spare, news about the latest events as it happens, and connection with like minded people who enrich my mind and soul rather than just seek to contain their social wrath. And that is simply why I am mostly on twitter and not as much on instagram.

So in the end I argue that if it is personal gossip then please count me out of it, for in here I seek motivation, knowledge, and a smile to get me by another rat race day.

Fear In The Flesh

Fear In The Flesh

"Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is." German Proverb

I shall speak of that which is the oldest of man's feelings. Of that which haunted the nights of our ancestors and of that which lingers in the corner of every mind. That which can assume different guises and absorbs every concept known to man. That which animals smell, and humans can exploit.

Fear has a certain odor that taints the clearest of atmospheres. It can be seen clearly on the faces of those struck by it. But one thing that is more horrible than seeing it on the face of a creature is to sense it taking over a whole nation. We have been living with this ominous sense of fear of the coming days for a long time now. You can see it clearly on the collective face of all of us, drawn on the outlines of our widened eyes. You can sometimes smell it coming from the very fabric of society, a stinking stench of a rotting generation holding on to the last vestiges of a by gone days. Should you have an acute sense of hearing then you can distinguish that creaking sound coming from the echoes of the mouths of so called elders who are both bewildered and are blind after being flashed so violently by the light of truth. How can nobody noticed it hanging over us so far is beyond my.

Fear's most dangerous quality is not in itself, rather it is in the ability to drive people to perform feats of extreme ignorance out of panic. People you would think are beacons of knowledge can devolve into Neanderthals howling to a dark sky looking for a light to ease their minds. People you would think illuminated politicians transforming into stunned wild rabbits ready to break free in a moment. People you would think are shining pious men resorting to create human shields around them thinking that they are the center of all light and without them we plunge into eternal darkness. These that we look up to in times of peace and prosperity should also be like our anchors and guiding lighthouses in times of difficulty, but alas what should and what is are two different matters.

Having said all of that I have to also say that there is hope. There is always hope. Only for those willing to gradually fill themselves with the light of hope and begin to take sure and confident steps into making a better future regardless of those hiding or running aimlessly. Hope that there is always a chance to make anew what is broken, to bring a laughter to where a scream was before. To show a light behind the curve of a dark tunnel. To smell the sweet prosperous earth where only fires and gas filled our nostrils. But it does not take leaders or elders or even captains to show us that. It only needs you and me to stand up and show fear that as long as we stand then we are not defeated, not by a long shot. And trust me when I say that anybody who promotes his leadership then he is a man filled with fear in need of fresh warm bodies to surround and protect him.

I do hope that I can shed some truth on the matter that we all know in the back of our minds but rarely talk about or even admit to ourselves. It involves the future of several generations that will condemn us if we should go silently in the dark. It involves unborn children who will point an accusing finger toward us when observing the deprivation around them. We must shake off the imaginary shackles of our minds and rise up like our ancestors rose up against all odds from simple disregarded people to be the substance which empires are made off. At the end of the day we all have the same amount of daylight that those better than us have had before.

I only hope. And with hope I rise.