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.

Children For Sale

Everyone seems to be using instagram these days, and everyone is just snapping those pictures left right and center. Pictures of food, jokes, nice scenery, or just selfies, its all out there for your followers to check out. But as usual, we Arabs need to find a silly way to ruin everything, and I was shocked and bemused when I saw one of my friends posting a picture of his little boy and asking us to "like" it so that his son might win something or another. It drew me to that other page where I saw hundreds of pictures of little children being touted as trophies to "like". Now don't get me wrong but to me seems like an advertisement for lost children or worse an ad for children to be adopted.

Now apparently the child with the most votes will win a prize of some sort. But no matter the prize it still feels wrong to see that. On more thing is that they even add "say mashalla" to each picture as if this just made it safe and okay. That's exactly what I mean when we Arabs keep finding silly functions for amazing technology, and for sure it won't be the last time. Does anyone else feel the same way I do? Or is it just oversensitivity from my side? Well what matters is that worse things could evolve from this practice if it goes on unchecked. It could be abused by a pedophile or some sick minded person.

Now you do understand that the sites sting this kind of pageant is the real winners out of this scheme. They just attract thousands of followers to use as advertisement material for their pages. Oh and just to keep things all good and dandy they would post some religious pictures in the middle to fool people. Speaking of which, I used to follow a person on instagram that posted some nice furniture but the annoying thing was that each night he or she would post a chapter from the Qur'an so small that you can't really read, you can go ahead and guess as to how long it took me to unfollow that page. However you want to paint it, religious piety won't be achieved by posting pictures, it comes from your own actions towards your fellow man. That person did not believe in that obviously.

Don't you just hate it when people use religion to get popularity?! Especially when they know very little about their religion. At least look it up on Google or something. But that subject is for another day. What I do understand is the way people need to be popular, but it's the way you seek it that makes the difference. And the call for attention is one of the most basic instincts in today's human behavior. And let me be honest with you, it just annoys the hell out of me for some reason.

Well, finally I would like to add that being out of the writing scene did harm what little talent I had, so I do apologize for throwing this piece at you and I do love it that you guys are so supportive, so thank you so much for that.

I Am Who I Am Now, More Than I Were Before!

Things are about to change, and for the better my dear readers. This is a special occasion that in this post, and after such a long time of no writing, i come back to the world and gladly announce that I have found the gem where my soul resides. I have found my heavenly sent blessing. I have found at last my heart in the bottom of a crystal clear ocean.

I have been meaning to write this post a week or more ago, but I do apologize for the delay (I got my Princess to take care of). Regardless, I wish to declare my love to the one person whose birthday is tonight. But come to think of it, it's not her birthday, it's actually my life's birthday, since on this day and up until today God has weaved my life and hers to join up and meet in this beautiful place. So, yes, this is OUR birthday and I wish to celebrate it with all the world up in highest clouds where dreams meet reality and you cannot make out the difference. I guess you are just waiting to meet this one person in God's Earth that have made my eyes light up with a glow of happiness. Suffice it to say that this girl has enthralled me with her beauty, mesmerized me with her charm, spellbound me with her unending love, and most of all, made me realize just how blessed I am to have her.

On this day, this girl was born, and in my book i was meant to meet her and get my soul entwined with hers, so now that our life lines are joined up just like two roads meet and become a highway of dreams. Loving her was easy, being impressed by her came naturally to me, enjoying her quick wits reached me effortlessly, and so I am who I am more than I were when I'm around her. She was not the princess of my dreams, but she was much more than that, simply because I do not have such an imagination that can think of her before meeting her.

So now that you have read this litany of my love to her I can honestly tell you that I wish Shakespeare have come up with a thousand more words to add just to scratch the surface of my feelings towards her. Yet I believe my eyes tell of a hundred thousand happy dreams that have come to reality and out to the world. They say that someday love will find you, and I say to them it found me at last.

 I wish you princess the happiest of birthdays, for remember this is my birthday too... The birth of my heavenly dream!

To my fiance...

The Most Secret Smile

Heaven opened up through the corner
of her mouth. Holding back the smile that
would let loose all the angels. The sound of water
rushing down. The sound of her laughter, an amazing grace.

But still that smile could stop time, stop the water rushing,
and would make the music dissapear and be her. If her smile
can bs smelt, it would be the smell of a thousand roses.

Roses in black is what she is wearing with a crown of stars.
Stars would leap out of her smile, and burn the image in the eye
of my mind. I'm a captive, prisoner, nay slave to a look,
a single look. That bid me "fare thee well O dreamer O lunatic".

Smile O rose, and let the angels rush and pray for my lunatic soul.

Young Power

Recently I have realized that I wasn’t the only one here in Bahrain to have shifted jobs for three times. Actually it came to my attention that many young adults recently have been changing work for quite some time now. Maybe it was the environment I live in where almost 50% of people I interact with work in the BDF or the Ministry of Interior. Regardless, this fact is not a bad thing if you look at it from a certain angle, but it can be considered bad when people switch jobs because of unhealthy work environments. I am not prepared to talk about my experience in this post, but I will be talking more in general terms.

Unemployment in Bahrain is not a thing to joke about, regardless what the official figures show. I take this fact simply looking at the amount of people who have volunteered in schools and health services recently. It shows that many young people who already have their degrees are stuck at home jobless because there is a lack of opportunities that would fit their credentials or even come close to that matter. Of course I am a great believer in the power of the private sector’s potential to drive this country forward, but it seems that the private sector is lacking the drive that would eventually allow it to expand and compete with major regional powers like Dubai. Blaming the government is what you would normally hear from the other side of the argument, yet it seems that local business leaders have little interest in the Bahraini market or in developing it properly. So we see more efforts from the EDB in promoting Bahrain to foreign investment, and that in all honesty is like moving mountains, since it is useless to convince foreign investors to choose the unstable Bahrain to the more business friendly Dubai. This little opinion of mine regarding the economic environment here is basically going to affect the job market here and in turn will affect the average income of Bahrainis.

Coming back to my post’s theme, I am certain that many people who will read this will look back and think that they are not happy about their job or their work environment but that there is little or no choice other than sitting helplessly at home regretting a stable income. What would happen naturally is that all this energy that young people have will eventually be lost rather than be invested properly. It saddens me whenever I learn of a young Bahraini that moved to Dubai or Qatar to look for a job instead of settling here in Bahrain and benefitting from what this person’s energy can provide even in the short run, let alone those who give up altogether on the public sector and move to the old and stagnated public sector. This has many reasons to it in my humble opinion. I think that Bahrainis get along very well in work places regardless of their ethnic or heritage background, but it is a different matter when expatriates come into the equation. I do not wish to pinpoint expatriates as the main reason for putting down the Bahraini job seekers, but I think you would agree that some expatriates do look and act like mercenaries that are very territorial in regards to making money. Yet I have noticed a great many of them who have developed very patriotic love to this little island nation. Also there seems to be some lack of faith in the Bahraini worker that will force employers to look elsewhere for more productive workforce. This is a cultural norm here in Bahrain, because only a few generations ago did people actually realize that you would need to work hard to provide for your family. So a major campaign of awareness should be taken into consideration by both the government and the private sector in informing future job seekers that the time of economic socialism is over and taking it easy is no more a way of life.

There are other more economical and social reasons behind why people would move between jobs or seek them elsewhere and I could go on for volumes if I would want to research into it, but the fact remains that unless direct measures are taken then we would eventually see a lack of growth in a country that is desperate for it. Plus we would see more fertile ground for extreme ideals to take root in the minds of those who have the energy to act.