Blurred Lines On A Foggy Night

There is something eerie when you are not blind yet cannot see, or cannot see clearly. Like in a dark room, or when the sun flashes suddenly in your eyes and you’re left blind for a few seconds until your eyes adjust. That feeling of helplessness. Feeling powerless to what is surrounding you. You end up freezing in your place, rubbing frantically at your eyes. Hoping to get your sight back. You panic for a moment with the instincts of a prey on a tree full of hawks. It is an instinct that we as humans are born with, and is instilled in our minds from our human heritage. This instinct does not only affect our eyes though. It affects our mind and spirit just as our eyes in the face of confusion and disorientation. Our instinct then kicks in and freezes us and our thoughts.

Imagine a person who stands under a heavy waterfall. How the force of water hammers at him endlessly until he is on his knees and is unable to stand. This is our personalities in the face of endless challenges and struggles with coping up with the chaotic times that we live in. we stand confused and paralyzed like lost children wondering where is the ceiling and the floor. The greatest of challenges facing us in these times must be the ever continuous questions about morality. It is the fact that we were always taught by our parents and our guardians which is right from wrong, yet we grow up and are forced to unlearn all that was taught to us in hopes of surviving within society. It is a great difficulty to go against all your beliefs and values and even more difficult to dismiss those beliefs and values as being wrong and replacing them with the exact opposite.

Just take a long hard look at the faces of those around you on the road, at work or anywhere among the crowds. You will see the lines of hardships covering the faces of those that pass you by. Lines that were drawn by facing those questions of societal survival on a daily basis. The empty looks of those who wonder in hopes of finding distractions or better yet, finding the answers to the chaos in their minds.

The lines of society are ever shifting and ever illusive. It is set by those who remain silent when they see the road leads to chaos. We as humans face questions bigger than ourselves, and if we wish to reach an answer then we must evolve to become just as big as or even bigger than those questions. In the meantime, we must bring up every ounce of strength we possess and endure the waterfall. Open our eyes as wide as we can, and look upon the lines that separate sanity from insanity.

Dancing Stars

Tonight I was sitting in a coffee shop alone, reading and every once in a while lifting my head to notice faces around me. Observing a gesture, or noticing a smile. Those who are alone are not really alone. They are in the middle of all that is going on around them. Tuned to all the sounds near and far. But that is not the reason I write tonight.

A few little girls were waiting for their drinks next to me and talking about things that I did not pay attention to. But she stood next to me and started demonstrating to the other girls how she would dance. I looked up when I noticed her beside me dancing. She suddenly stopped, blushed and said "I'm sorry for dancing." I smiled and replied to her "it's ok, go ahead." What I really wanted to say though was little sweet girl keep on dancing. Dance to the world, dance to the stars and let your dancing be your words. I wanted to tell her to never stop dancing, never let your feet stop moving, for when you stop you declare your surrender. You raise your white tattered flag. You admit the end of the reasons that bring you joy.

Sweet little girl, don't listen to those who would sit you down. Who would aspire to see you helpless. Rather be the everlasting shining star that shines to end darkness, that in the far distance guide those who lose their way. The star that brings good fortune for the unfortunate.

Dance little girl, and let the world see your dancing. Whirl around and stomp your feet in protest or stop and fade off into the encroaching emptiness of darkness. In the end, I wish your life be a wonderful dance.

Try Harder Or Walk Away

Throughout our lives we face choices, dilemmas and situations where we need to choose between two. That is what basically life is all about. Choosing between doing good or bad, happiness or sadness, or even if you have enough power, between life or death. But it seems that the most important choice we have to do on a daily basis these days is should we eat that beautiful piece of chocolate or should we resist the temptation.

Regardless of the choices you are presented with, there is a more important choice that I feel has the power to always change our lives, and that is when it comes down to humans and the relationship between humans. Be it man and woman or a group and another group. These choices are the most important for both ends. For us making the choice, and for the ones who are being chosen. I do not mean the dilemma or the situation where you choose between two men, or two women. What I mean is when you are presented with a choice between trying harder to reach out to another human or to walk away and give up on reaching an understanding with that human. That is always the most important choice anyone can make in life. To give someone a chance in your life is always a better option. To give life a chance is always the correct answer to any question. We naturally do not tolerate much from others, regardless of who the other is. It is only the level of that other person's importance to us or to our lives that dictates the level of patience that we need to apply in order to not take that dreadful decision to walk away. So how about we apply that same level of patience to all that we know or meet. Think about a very important person in how much you have tolerated from and compare that with another and try to see what your reaction will be in both situations. You will notice that there is a big difference between the two, and you might even give an excuse that the first person is very important in your life be it personal or work related or otherwise but still very important as to not lose. But why do we have to categorize the importance of humans? Are we not all important to ourselves and to some? Is that "not so important" person so low as to not be important to anyone else? Clearly that measure of categorization is flawed.

It is pride that dictates the level of patience. Pride in who to give our time of day. If that person is in our mind below us then we rarely tolerate anything from this person but if this person is in the opposite direction then we try so hard as to bend backwards to please. And I'm not only talking about higher and lower social positions; it can be applied to higher and lower in terms of love life as well. Do we have a right to raise and lower people? Do we have the divine authority to categorize who we accept and who we dismiss so easily? It is our pride that presents that power to us as the apple was presented to Adam before us, as a temptation. 

We think of ourselves as the superior, that is why we place people into mental levels like toys on a shelf. Yet we forget that the superior does not need levels to put people in, because all humans deserve respect and deserve chances regardless of who they are. The superior knows that all humans do mistakes and all humans regret mistakes, and that all humans learn and keep on learning until the day they fade away.

So the next time you have a choice between trying harder to reach out and walking away from a human always pick the first option and be the one who opens their palm in acceptance. Be the one who smiles to those who frown, for maybe they smile back.

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.