Tuesday, January 22, 2008

I AM LEGEND


"He had this idea. It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate... literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people's lives. When he was scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. When they asked him why - He said, "The people, who were trying to make this world worse... are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness."

[ Neville talking to Anna about Bob Marley]

Friday, January 18, 2008

!عصر الرومانسية انهزم يا مييييينننزززز

The following is a dialogue that took place on the messenger a few days ago between me and Balaha Sousou ... it's in anglo-arab and i prefered to keep it as it is to match reality ... You'd ask me "why on earth should anyone be intrested in a conversation between two strangers to me?", and i'd simply say "You shouldn't" ;)
If you'd decided to go on reading, as it appears since u've reached this current line, lemme tell you it all started by a simple question:

Why are we not a romantic generation?
we are
Nope, we are not
We are
We r NOT
howa not not ya3ni? 3afya heya! ya3ni kameli kalamek tayeb
Look, asl last night i was watching Audrey Hepburn story … then this morning i went into the taxi and there was this song playing 4 Fairuz ... "bektob esmak ya 7abeby" ... mesh 3arfa ... fee 7aga ghalat 7asalet ma ben el zaman da w zamana … fee akeed 7agat keteeeeeeeeer na2sa … mafeesh emotions … mafeesh true feeling of love
ya reit ma tekalemni 3al 7ob … w seeret el 7ob … w zolm el 7ob le kol as7abo
LOOOOOOOOOL … bas begad … mesh keda? walla byethaya2ly?
ya 7abibet albi i tried love … and i know what it is … it is every single word fairuz said … and om kalsum said … and abdel halim said
Ah ... neseet a2olek enny Khatamt el leila with "in love and war" beta3 Sandra Bullock ... ya3ny totally fel mood da!
But the issue is intelligence
Nope … the issue is e7sas … mafeesh e7sas!
fi nass bet7esss … sada2ini … but what's next?
Tell me meen fel zaman el menayel da bey7ess? maho law kan bey7ess makanetsh ba2et moshkela ... makansh fee kol el breakups wel divorces etc. elly shayfenha dee
3arfa eh el far2?
zaman, kan etnen bey7ebbo ba3d w yet7addo el 3alam kollo ... NOW, etnen bey7ebbo ba3d w byet7addo bardo ba3d!
mafeesh theka ... mafeesh "giving ur heart away" ... mafeesh belief en "love will set u free" ... kol da kalam seems so ridiculus today … FAHMANNNNNY??
Fahmaki … bass min et7adda el 3alam kolo la mo2akhza?? la mo2khza ya3ni? romeo w juliette? … kiss w laila?
Nope … mesh lazem … heya mesh fairy tales ya3ny
they love love love and then it comes marriage!
shoffy elly katab el kesas dee kan e7saso nafso eh?
kan 7abb wala talshi! eh ya3ni
delwa2ty love, take take take and then run away
tab3an … not coz of love … coz of cowards who fall in love
Apparently keda yeb2a da a cowards generation of men!
It’s true … and mesh kolohm men kaman
LOL … true!
Let’s define romance … what is romance?
For me? ... Being able to feel and express emotions of love and beauty
Generally speaking … romance … beta3 el 3asr el romancy
atlakoo haza el esm 3ala 3asr men 3osooor fi europa, wa le maza otlek, wa maza antag? otlek 7asiso ana gama3a men el nass discovered love and beauty, they had dreams and visions about a beautiful world … romanticism is dreaming and making dreams come true … so they dreamt about love,so created romance poetry and literature … dreamt about freedom … made revolutions … dreamt about loyalty, justice … all those ideas are romance … all those divine thoughts that are not applied on earth, if u made them true ,then u r a romantic person
el 3emara kaman fel zaman da kanet 7aga tania .. They did building, paintings kolo kolo with pure art kol 7aga asba7et to7fa faneya and they lived it practiced it … compare ba2a now... Who can practice romanticism? Is there any freedom? Any justice, any love any where?
It’s WE who create love, WE who create art, WE who create beauty … it comes from within … correction: It SHOULD come from within … bas fee 7aga ghalat … we DO NOT …We don't have taste anymore … taste for art, taste for beauty, taste for poetry, taste for literature
It’s not exactly Taste what's missing here … We’re not free … We miss freedom Free minds, free hearts, and free people … Commercials beyta7kem fi kolo … na7no 3abid AL MADDA … Still u can find ppl who can taste good stuff,,,,but very few coz of majority men na7ya ,coz of the need men na7ya,,i mean ,some ppl suffer to live their day to day love
WHO ARE WE to talk about suffering day to day … We live a luxurious life … We have almost everything we need, Yet we cannot feel free bardo, yet we look for smthg we cannot have
and because of this lausy pursuit of "smthg." we miss the beauty around

maaaaaaaaaaaaaashi 3andek 7a2 … netkalem 3an nafsena ba2a …i tried to dream and making my dream a reality and failed coz was partially dreaming alone
sa7 … 3ashan dreams SHOULD be ur own … and if u find smone to share ur dreams that would be the miracle
la2 … disagree … w can dream together … not a miracle
sa3b … nerga3 lel mawdo3 el awalany : COWARDS .... SLAVES TO BAD TASTE
estani bass … they are ready to share ur dream … but not ready to persist ,to create a reality ,to give & take ,to struggle … i won't make ur dream and u won't make mine,,,u have urs enjoy it and i have mine … does this makes any sense? la2 tab3an,,,,it is be kol basata that he cannot do any thing BUT dreaming … zaman ba2a kan masalan wa7ed ye7lam bel 7oreya, yekteb lel nass, nass te7lam bel 7oreya ma3ah, ye3melo 7aga tomasel a7lamhom, yet2abloo yena2shoo a7lamhom, ye7a2a2ooha, 7ata law et7arbo, 7ata law el 7oreya magatsh besor3a
laken geh mara 7ad w 2al ana 3ayez a7lam bel 7oreya lewa7di?? w gom nass yesharkoo ,sharekhom fel awel w ba3d keda 2al ana a2adar a72a2aha lewa7di mesh 3ayzkoo fi 7aga?? ah 7asal w sa3etha betnhar el afkar el romanceya
laken be sabab enohom ma 7a2a2oohash ,mesh enaha ghir yomken ta7kikha.
tab dah yeb2a ma3nah en el moshkela 3andena fel BELIEF .... having FAITH in wut we do and wut we dream of .... coz obviously, ppl now give up too soon
aiwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan … give up tooooooooooooo sooooon … toooooooooooooooooooo soooooooooon … kol wa7ed ro7o fi manakhiro ya okhtchi
bas this changes everything ... this changes even my view of life
this means en moshkeletna ab3ad mn moshkelet economy aw politics aw even akhla2 and deen!!!
e7na delwa2ty benetkalem fel falsafa ya 7ayati ... w akid el falsafa ab3ad men kol el 3elooom di
moshkelet sykologeyet geel faked el kodra 3ala el eman b 2ay shey2 ... w katar kher el donia enno believe in God in the 1st place!
i was reading new novel for P. Coelho last night
DO WE REALLY BELIEVE IN ALLAH?? !! i don't think so 7ata
Wait, mana gayalek aho … esmaha "The fifth mountain", it tells story of Elijah ... one of the prophets of Israel Before Christ … it takes place in Phoenicia (Lebanon now) at the time of etehad ... he was hiding with a Levant (wa7ed shami) lest they get killed and while hearing the screams of other prophets and God worshipers getting slaughtered if they don't obey the king and convert to worshipping Baal the Phoenician God ... they went on talking to keep themselves calm. First, each of them was thinking whether he should keep his faith and die on God's word, or convert and keep his life but lose his faith. Elijah began asking questions like "How come God is all powerful while he lets his followers be killed in such terrible ways"
he began to sound doubtful and the other man, who originally was thinking of converting, kept assuring him and strengthening his faith ... he made up his mind he's going to die on his faith
they took each others hand and decided to face their death instead of waiting for it, so they went out hand in hand and walked in the streets like any normal day.
i stopped reading here, but it made me wonder ... at time like this, when worshippers are prosecuted and hunt down round every rock ... would i keep my faith? would you? would ppl around me do? and i found the answer is: probably not … coz we don't really have enough FAITH … we don't even think about it enough
Very TRUE
If we think enough about Faith we we'd care more about the message than the messenger (not the prophet, but whoever delivers the message ... we'd deploy a critical thinking on wutever we hear whoever we hear it from)
If we think enough about Faith, we'd also care more about the message than the ppl we carry it to ... we'd care about keeping our own faith than judging that of others
al mo2men KAyesson Faten … w da lel mo2menin … keeep on tracking 7al el mo2men fel coran … totally diffeerent of ppl w see and know … read soret al mo2menon " belivers " … min doool?!!! fin doool? very few … Thollaton men al awalin … wa kalilon men al akherin!

- The End -

Sunday, January 06, 2008

فى الشارع

:مشهد واحد

سيارتين تقفان متواجهتان فى شارع جانبى ضيق باحد المناطق الراقية من مصر الجديدة ... السيارة الأولى تقودها فتاة فى النصف الثانى من العشرينات والثانية يقودها رجل تخطى الأربعين من عمره ... المشهد يبدو كمشهد ثابت حيث يرفض كلاهما التحرك لمدة لا تقل عن ثلاثة دقائق ... وبغض النظر عن العرف السائد والقانون الطبيعى والتفكير المنطقى الذى يقول ان للسيارة التى عبرت أكثر من منتصف طول الشارع الحق فى المرور طالما ان الشارع ذو اتجاهين – مما يجبر الرجل فى هذه الحالة على التراجع وافساح الطريق أمام الفتاة التى بالمناسبة كانت قد أعطته اشارات ضوئية متواصلات لحثه على الانتظار وعدم دخول الشارع من أساسه حتى تتمكن من المرور – الا ان منطق الرجل ذاته هو ما يثير العجب ... فهو يريدها ان تتراجع لانه ببساطة يريد ان يقوم بركن السيارة أمام منزله – وهى فيللا بالمناسبة - المتواجد بنفس الشارع – وكانت الفتاة قد تخطته من البداية ورغم ذلك فهو يتوقع ان من حقه الطبيعى ان تتراجع هى حتى يركن هو ثم تمر هى كما تشاء

:المشهد الثانى

سيارة نقل تقطع الطريق بالعرض أمام مينى باص معترضة تماماً شارع أحمد فخرى ومانعة مرور أى سيارة تماماً لمدة تزيد عن عشر دقائق هى المدة التى قضاها سائق النقل فى الشجار مع سائق المينى باص ... ولا يهم هنا ما سبب المشكلة أو من المخطىء ... كما لا يهم من ينتظر ومن تأخر عن عمله ومن يريد الدخول الى المستشفى التى تقع على بعد أمتار ومدخلها مسدود تماماً بسبب السيارات المتوقفة أو من كان حظه العاثر ان احتاج الى سيارة إسعاف حالاً ... فالمهم هو "حقى وحقك" – ده بالنسبة للسائقين الاثنين طبعا وليس حق أى مواطن آخر

الملاحظ من المشهدين انه على ما يبدو هناك مرض مستشرى فى المجتمع المصرى بغض النظر عن طبقاته – لاحظ ان المشهد الأول بطله أحد موسرى مصر الجديدة والثانى بطليه سائقى سيارات نقل ... هذا المرض اسمه "المركزية الذاتية" * وهى ان لا يرى الانسان سوى نفسه بكل ما تمثلها من رغبات واحتياجات فقط لا غير ... فمجال رؤيته لا يتعدى عينيه نفسها ... الأول لم ير سوى رغبته فى الركن أمام منزله رغم انه لو انتظر ثانية واحدة لكان وصل الى منزله دون ان يسبب اى متاعب لنفسه ولا للآخرين
والثانى لم يرى سوى رغبته فى الانتقام من الأخر ايا كان ما سببه هذا الآخر وهو فى ذلك اعتبر نفسه المتحكم الأول والأخير فى هذا الشارع بل وفى مصائر جميع السائرين فيه ... فلا أحد يمكنه العبور الا اذا تفضل هو وسمح له بالعبور!

* self centricity

Friday, January 04, 2008

INDIA - MOTHER OF ALL WONDERS