things you learn, people you meet

They say you learn something new everyday, today i learnt about the Bahá'í Faith

According to Bahá'í teachings, religious history has unfolded through a series of God's messengers who brought teachings suited for the capacity of the people at their time, and whose fundamental purpose is the same. Bahá'u'lláh is regarded as the most recent, but not final, in a line of messengers that includes Abraham, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and others. Three core principles of Bahá'í teachings are often referred to simply as follows: the unity of God, the unity of religion, and the unity of mankind. Many Bahá'í beliefs and practices are rooted in these priorities; but taken alone these would be an over-simplification of Bahá'í teachings.

They continue to be persecuted for their believes, for instance Egyptian Bahá'ís are unable to obtain government documents, including ID cards, birth, death, marriage or divorce certificates, or passports, all of which require a person's religion to be listed. They also cannot be employed, educated, treated in hospitals or vote, among other things.

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion; opinion and expression; and association
Articles 18, 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

an end to political correctness!

when you are in a completely foreign land you realise your standards are not so anymore
a middle terms needs to be found at all times between your standards and those of others, it's about humanity, respect and sharing time and space with people

standards are culturally specific, dependant on the economic, social, religious context of individuals and societies
standards include what is rude or polite at the table, at a social gathering, how you are dressed, how to greet.....the lot

you of course adapt, to the best of your skills, abilities and will to the situation; make space for things, allow others.... in much the same way others do it for you, the joys of coexistence

it comes a point however, where regardless of empathetic good intentions, political correctness and coexistence needs, you feel like putting your foot down and telling very clearly to some people that what they do it's RUDE, RUDE, RUDE, regardless!

reflections of one self

on a spiralling down moment i found myself reflecting upon my moves, past, present and future
much to my surprise i found myself realising that a set of circumstances, voluntary and involuntary choices, had made me loose a key life companion and attitude

somewhere down the line i must have dropped it....
i remember having it, i remember using it, i remember.....
i remember a house where it wasn't welcome, maybe i left it on the doorstep!

on a spiralling up moment i found myself promising to get it back, like i had it in the past, like i'm practising in the present, like i will in the future
i shall get it back! my initiative that is

beautiful penetrating eyes

a woman meets a man of penetrating eyes. she feels something inside her, a poweful force that tells her to follow him and his penetrating eyes
she comes from a place where if you set your mind to it, you do it, period, no questions asked, and so she follows her instinct in search of those beautiful penetrating eyes
she travels for many days and asks many questions before one night she sees the penetrating eyes again, staring right at her
she follows them, like a light in the night. she already loves them. she already loves him.
he is a powerful warrior from a proud tribe. he is a proud man with beautiful penetrating eyes.

she leaves everything to live with him, eventually leaves him to write a book about it and then someone makes a movie about it. it's called the white masai.

volcanos

it's a life time effort and a life time skill, putting a lid to the volcano like eruptions

the list in your head

you make a list in your head, you write it down from time to time, in different pieces of paper and then, one day, you find several pieces of paper with lists of names, many of which coincide from paper to paper, except they might be in different order
you make a mental note to make sure you set time aside to actually, eventually, finally, sit down and write to these names, which belong to a bunch of lovely people that happen to be your friends and family
you make the effort, find the time, sit down, write down, communicate and when you go to your address book to find their contacts, a cold shiver runs down your spine, as you realise that the names in all those list you wrote down were only a third of the bunch of lovely people you really want to be communicating with
you make yourself the promise to make the effort more often, until you realise you are doing it for the n time
you make yourself the promise to find the time more often, until you realise that it's virtually impossible to have a job, a relationship, a family, a life and be in contact with the huge bunch of lovely people you encounter, no matter how much you miss them, no matter how much you want to stay in touch
is it just me???!!!

telephones lines

my life feels like a serie of telephone-lines-dependant relationships

his oyster

he was young, curious, open minded, intelligent, kind hearted and very good looking
he wanted to be an engineer but there was no such a course in his hometown
he had no money or access to it to be able to go to another country to do the studies of his choice
he lived in a place where his government did not and could not provide a studies' grant
he didn't have a passport or enough connections in the right places to get one
he decided to study what was available as a mean to help his extended family
he just needed an opportunity to make of the world his oyster

in fact he still does

let's talk about sexual politics

even just a month in, if i shared 'notes' with other women around, our lists would probably coincide down to the comma
a clear list with names and surnames for the octopuses, the vampires, the sharks, or the bees of this cosy colony

passive resistance

someone told me once that in chinese the word no doesn't exist, that whatever you ask for, the answer will be yes
just think about it for a second, think business contracts, political agreements: everything you say, you propose, you suggest is met with a yes
in theory it sounds fantastic, it would make you, anyone feel great and clever, except.....you might become suspicious, as you know for a fact that you have limitations and by plain logic you cannot be right all the time

round here they also answer yes to everything: proposals, comments, projects, opinions.....at least, like it happens with the chinese (as far as my limited knowledge goes), in appearance
you have to pay careful attention to the intonation and not just to the yes or, you will find yourself thinking that you have successfully put your point across, only to find out later that actually your message not only didn't get across, but was even resisted

i understand the logic of passive resistance, we all practice it to a certain extent and most definitely at some point in our lives
what escapes me is the logic of hiring someone to give professional advice and passively resist any advice given