Sunday, January 25, 2009

Is it really too much?! - 2 -

And I imagine vividly, punishing the unworthy cowards, for my mental exhaustion, and for wasting my time. The sadism of my mind is not subtle - it is explicit, and my mind seems to crave unleashing this angst on those who deserve it. Who deserves it? Usually the ones that were part of my mirage, and especially the ones who claim to be of strength (and of worthiness), but, who after having their minds picked, turn out to be utterly pathetic. I imagine directing this anger and punishment towards them as my adrenaline rises, and I hear their pathetic meanderings, pleads, etc. I imagine exposing them to themselves, for the little sissies that they are. After all, their ridiculousness was obvious to me, but it takes time for them to realize this. Stripping away every facade, until I bring them back to their pure essence.

Why are they so ungrateful?

I will be the mirror of your soul, alright, but don't expect to be pleased with the image I reflect.

Is it really too much?! - 1 -

Is it really to much to find someone that does not sicken me once I delve into their psyche?
To find someone that matches my intellectual curiosity, even halfway?
For someone to be truly moved by art, regardless of the form?

To understand that I am a princess, and that I expect more from someone else than I ever intend on giving? For someone to respect that kind of honesty? To be strong enough to handle me in all of my moods, and moreso, to enjoy it?

Is this a tad to much to ask, or is it just that the individuals I have met so far cannot rise to the challenge?

At times, I am so bored that I try to create a mirage for myself, and construct them as stronger than they are, so that I can at least be momentarily amused, and be lifted from the emptiness of my own life. But that mirage soon dies, everytime, and I am faced again by those that will never be enough for me.

Is it too much to ask, that someone brings me to my own limits, and lifts me out of the framework of my own mind? That I can find someone to trust enough to do this, but firstly, someone who is worthy of even my consideration?

I cannot even live my true nature until I find this person. I cannot explore. All I can do is look out of myself, as through a window, at what is out there. It is a kind of torture, the torture of the mundance, the banal. And it just makes me dislike the shallow cowards that I have come across even more. Because instead of my exploration or growth, they benefit from the ideas and the exploration I give them (exactly the opposite of what I need - and very exhausting, indeed). But in the end, what have I gained? Even worse, most cowards cannot even comprehend the goodness of their experiences, they are just so narrow and limited that even opening them up becomes boring to me.

What I wouldn't give to find someone that releases me. No mirage, no illusion, pure and undeniable connections that are what I need. The ability to find someone so worthy that I will never need to doubt or question, so trust can grow, so I can really live out my essence. My dominant, and ever beautiful and intelligent alpha male...

Is that really too much to ask for?

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Human Nature

Lyrics, Madonna


Express yourself, don't repress yourself (repeat 5 times)

Chorus:

And I'm not sorry [I'm not sorry]
It's human nature [it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry [I'm not sorry]
Im not your bitch don't hang your shit on me[ Its human nature]


You wouldn't let me say the words I longed to say
You didn't want to see life through my eyes
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]
You tried to shove me back inside your narrow room
And silence me with bitterness and lies
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]

Did I say something wrong?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex
[I musta been crazy]
Did I stay too long?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't speak my mind
[What was I thinking]

(chorus)

You punished me for telling you my fantasies
I'm breakin' all the rules I didn't make
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]
You took my words and made a trap for silly fools
You held me down and tried to make me break
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]

Bridge:

Did I say something true?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex
[I musta been crazy]
Did I have a point of view?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about you
[What was I thinking]

(chorus)

Express yourself, don't repress yourself (repeat twice)
Express yourself, don't repress yourself (repeat twice)

(bridge)
(chorus)

(chorus, with the following spoken substitutions)
[I'm not apologizing]
[Would it sound better if I were a man?]
[You're the one with the problem]
[Why don't you just deal with it]

(chorus, with the following spoken substitutions)
[Would you like me better if I was?]
[We all feel the same way]
[I have no regrets]
[Just look in the mirror]

(chorus, with the following spoken substitutions)
[I don't have to justify anything]
[I'm just like you]
[Why should I be?]
[Deal with it]

Sunday, January 18, 2009

You

You are vulnerable, and I wonder who has taken care of you these past few years.

The family failed you, the system didn't do its best.

And here you are; weilded into a person who struggles to be. Your very being is a defense against the outside world pushing itself in. All of these years, with a voice that many chose not to hear.

The look in your eyes when you recognized my father, your brother was a standstill of hope; it was a glistening of light as we stoood in the dingy hallway of your apartment. Both of us had never witnessed eyes transform like that. Such hope can only stem from great despair.


I am seeing the world through a lens of surreal expressionism that holds me in a fiery of emotions..
And I am always meeting situations that froth out my core from underneath -
The only difference now, is that I don't fear the exposure, and I will not censor, edit or change to appear more pragmatic or rational.

For Cecelia, My Aunt

I found Celinka.

After 17 years, I have found an aunt, with a mental/developmental disability, who has been living alone, forgotten by my family. I was a small child the last time I had seen her at a family gathering. It is a wonder she knows who I am, a wonder she remembers us. And a miracle, a miracle, alhamdulilah that I found her.

"There is a story in here somewhere", my father tells me. "A story worthy of a book, a book written by yours hands." And maybe, maybe someday I will be brave enough, and apt enough with my words to do justice to our story. Words are a beautiful construction, my most cherished thing in this life.

I wish I could live 1000 times over in this feeling. In my father's joy and sorrow at our discovery, in Cecile's pleasure about our re-surfacing. In the lifting of so much pain. In forgetting the fear to look pain at its face, and at its core, and to say, I will fight you, I will overcome you and our lives will brim with so much good, and so much light.


Time has a different meaning in contexts like these. 17 years are conquered by a moment not held within the limits of any standard measure of time.

At a time when I needed perspective more than anything, God hath handed me a platter of rich learning, and a lesson like no other. What do money worries, and saving accounts mean when you are filling up the grocery basket of one who has an empty fridge? Money then turns into a soft hand, a gentle touch, a nurturing voice, and an embracing hug.

My family has known pain and abuse for generations, and our roots are not yet un-tangled.


M: Did you eat all of your candy, or just a little bit?

C: All of it, I couldn't help it!

C: I am sleeping with Elmo and Sylvestor.

M (thinks): There couldn't have been a better use for my tickle-me-elmo, and stuffed sylvestor than to go to one who will enjoy them more than I did as a child. Giving this gift, and giving and receiving this love is unconditional good.

Thank you God, and thank you Cecelia, for trusting us and for letting us back after all of this time. I want nothing more than what is best for you, khair.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Greece Objects Arms Shipment to Israel

http://http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/01/13/Official_Greece_objected_to_arms_shipment/UPI-18501231904167/


Official: Greece objected to arms shipment


WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. military says it canceled the shipment of ammunition from the Greek port of Astakos to a U.S. stockpile in Israel after Greek officials voiced concern.

Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, said the 325-container arms transport was canceled at the request of the Greek government. Israel can ask for permission to access to the stockpile.

"I think the Greek government has some issue with the offloading of some of that shipment in their country and we are finding alternative means of getting that entire shipment to its proper destination in Israel," Morrell said.

He added that the decision to replenish the weapons cache was made before the Gaza conflict erupted.

"I don't know if they had a security problem or a political problem or some other kind of problem. But for whatever reason, there was an objection raised at some level and so we will find an alternative means of flowing those munitions into Israel and to our U.S. stockpile that exists there, and has for decades now," Morrell said.


Wednesday, January 14, 2009

In Someone Else's Words:

All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.
- Aristotle



Jobs, by definition pay us to do things we wouldn't do for free. Jobs are almost always a means to an end. Be that end money, "work experience", work references, prestige, or honour, none of them are complete ends in and of themselves.

If we take the common example of working for money, we find that just as the job is the means to the end (of money), the money is a means to an end as well(usually tangible goods) such as food, clothing, shelter, leisure activities, etc. Once these things are obtained, what sort of end is reached, and, is this end a final end, or merely another means?

If acquiring and having stuff and stability were truly the end, and thus the ultimate meaning of life, we would be a pretty sad species, wouldn't we? To merely collect, and to claim ownership over things, only to put up our feet and rest, marvelling over each of our own tiny kingdoms. (which really end up looking so dreadfully similar, it is a hilarity that western culture admires itself as severely individualistic).

But what of the time whenst the mind will wonder, and will wonder "why?" That inherent search to go beyond the material/tangible accomplishments is some type of nagging proof that this is not enough, this is not an end.

It's like the example where working couples save their money all year to go away on a vacation, then whilst on the vacation, the tourists are unable to clear their minds and really relax. That the leisure of consuming, and ultimately becoming a state of being (call-it-luxury), is really not leisure at all, infact it may very well be nothing at all. It is nothing more than a slow awakening to the unanswered and ignored questions about life, that will re-surface in the gaps away from work.

Rather than take seriously these questions, such as searching for the ultimate end, and learning to live a life where people seek the ultimate end (or meaning), people unequiovcally redirect their attention back to narratives they have been told and have had culturally engrained in them, such as the "work ethic." It's good to work hard, because it's rewarding, and you reap what you sew. Working hard builds "character." This type of attitude, this type of easily reproduced statement cuts off so much thinking and reflection right at the root. Anything that cuts off the ability of the human mind to think is abhorrent.

The type of work that should be done, and is critical in this age, at this time of such simultaneous growth and loss is of the up-rooting sort. First, to find the courage and the time, and then the will, to uproot all of our assumptions, and all of the things we have been made to believe are true, and function to our benefit. We need to locate these assumptions, these narratives, at their very roots, and begin the gentle tug that it takes to lift them from their place in the earth. Next, a careful examination needs to be done, to see which plants will get thrown out, and which face the possibility of being re-planted.

Another equally as damaging solution to this dilemma is for people to say, "fuck it, life is so meaningless and complicated, that I won't care to put in any effort, I will only care for myself." Giving up without an active search, without pursuit is death of the human mind, and the of the human spirit in the same way that living off of cultural cliches and narratives is. Instead of uprooting the garden, this option drenches the entire field in damaging chemicals, inhibiting the growth of all things, positive or negative.

The type of work that needs to be done is the not the type where one is paid. It is not the type where one uses something as a means to something else. It is the type of work where the means is an end to itself. The pursuit of knowledge is this example, and I have witnessed so many of my generation either re-tell themselves the same stories, or just give up. It's time we wake up. No more distractions, no more superficiality, no more jumping from issue to issue because it gives us a nice illusion of ourselves.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Because





Some fantasies never die..

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Divine Breath



If heaven could touch me on earth,
I would swear to you that I felt it.

In the inhalation of the sweetest breath that I ever did breathe,
I had felt as though I had taken divinity within me

To be lifted to the highest of heights,
Above my own emotions,
I did stop and sympathize with them,
Thanking them for their honesty and releasing their binds on me

I conversed with my rationality, the machine-hood of my being,
I asked it to relinquish itself to its proper place,
And it lowered itself to the capacity of earthly decisions

I couldn't speak to my soul and ask of its being,
It was all of me, and I felt it thrive, covered in the cool, divine breath.

If heaven could touch me on earth,
I would swear to you that I felt it.

Yes, These Shoes



Yes these shoes, daddy. They are my princess shoes. Are you watching?? Watch me dance! Look, look, I am clicking my shoes together. I am the King of the Castle, you are my dirty rascle! Daddy..

Yes, this slide. Catch me as I wiggle my way down this slide.

I will dance, yell, jump and leap, only because I know you will catch me.

Yes, this hill, let us roll down this hill!

I will tumble and grass will tangle itself in my hair.

Yes, this voice, it will shreek with joy, as long as you are there to hear me, to absorb me.

I will look for you forever daddy, in all things, in all places. And when I realize that half of you is behind my own eyes, I will realize it will not be a long search.

Yes, these eyes, daddy! These eyes that God made for me.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Contradictions 2

It is 2009. I am 23. I have a bachelor's degree. Big whoop, right? Mostly.

Delving once more into my self-proclaimed contradictions.

I want children, lots of children. My natural, wild woman of the desert instinct is to be able to birth, and raise 6 children. To use the pain of child birth to naturally push my babies into this world, without the aid of pain medications, without the aid of cutting any body parts, in the position I choose, with the hospital staff that I choose.

Did I also mention that I not only want to get a master's degree, but eventually a PhD? In my dreamworld I would love to walk the corridors of Oxford or the Sorbonne and call either of them academic home. I want to read every book that is worth reading, and be as cultivated and sophisticated as possible. I want my husband to look at me in the highest of esteem, and I want us to have a home in Europe, Canada, and the Gulf.

Reality threatens me daily, amongst other things. How do I close the ever widening gap between what I have, and what I want? More importantly, how do I get the things I truly want? Will some doses of reality surprise me in a pleasant way? Will I have one child and become over joyed with motherhood and calm down my senses? Will I learn to love those that love me, rather than pushing them aside because I want more?

A hand is being offered to me. It is a steady hand, an appreciative hand. A hand that seeks to pull me up higher. But it is not my ideal hand, it is not the hand attached to the person that called "check mate" and made me yearn for them even more in their absence. It is not the hand of the person that can make my mind explode with the type of happiness I thought only existed in heaven. But it is a hand, the only question is, am I willing to grasp it? And if I don't, what really, am I waiting for?

In Film

I am all French Extremity; I am all transgressive. I cannot get enough of the deep prodding into the darkest places of the human psyche. I cannot tell myself, "okay, you have learned enough, time to watch a cozy movie now." No, instead, wide eyed, I stare at the screen, analyzing characters, their thoughts and their functionality with the enthusiasm of a student keen on getting all A's. There doesn't seem to be a boundary that I have, I seem to have no limits. Anything and everything, no matter how extreme, because hey, if you can find the edge, at least you know one exists. So far, I haven't found the edge.

I would be a genteels worst nightmare. I am the lack of social tact at a party or gathering. I am the friend who asks uncomfortable questions, and then asks, "but why?" Even worse is that I shock people, because I come across as beautiful and well put together, so I really end up spinning heads when I act like myself.

Sometimes I will eat with my hands, (this is always the case if I'm eating middle eastern or african dishes) and then ask people, "What, do I look like a savage? Oh, I had forgot that people in the postmodern era even thought of humans as savages, that is extremely English of you. I thought that ended with the colonial era."

In this way, the French Extremity forces off the guise of living, the masks of the everyday and pushes people to wake up to what is lurking underneath. The savage of the human is explored through the lens of a fragmented society, and the provocation is often not without purpose.

Torture

What does it mean when one seeks their own torture? Is it a maze of self-destruction? Or is it the surfacing of a deep craving, that arises now and then.And from where is this craving born? What is this craving and why?

We see it in the way some followers of catholic sects drop to their knees, and drag their thin flesh across jagged rocks. Through bleeding, and wounding, they feel, they release, they experience some type of salvation.

The Sh'ia who whip themselves bloodied, in commemoration of Hussein. Despite the pain, it's the adrenaline, or something else that propels them forward.


Does this mean in a sense that they are going beyond their tangible selves? Or is it that the physical self is the most important in providing the sensation they seek?

And how does this all translate into understanding for those of us that seemingly torture ourselves in a non-physical way? Either by denying to ourselves our true natures, impulses and essences, or through surrounding ourselves with people that we know might have a tendency to reject us, or cause outpourings of strong emotional reactions.

I abhor banality and boredom, and I constantly seem to summon their opposites - etremities of excitement, drama and tragedy. I am as fragile as fragile gets, yet I seem to dare others to crack me, or I go around those that will inevitably, eventually crack me. Am I addicted to pain? Was it the only stable norm in my life for so long that I now hug it the way an infant hugs its security blanket?

Check mate

And what did my nature attract, but a dominant, and compelling man, who refused to hide his own hypocrisy? I wanted to live in reverence, and be inside my own awestruck glory, turning myself inside out whenever you were near. I wanted my life to be an exposure, and you to be my healer, to lift me to a world beyond myself. I wanted to tremble with a delightful fear, at the mere mention of your name, at the sound of your voice I could faint to my knees. I imagined all the elements in nature would stop at your command. Surely, the animals ran to you in the wild, seeking your direction? My madness, under your framework, surely it was justified.

And my Utopia? What of my utopia now, Mr. high regard? Do you see it? Did it fall out of your vision at a whim?

And you? What did you do but forget me when your location changed? You, who let proximity become this stranglehold on my heart. You who said, "oh, you shouldn't have." You who told me to be strong when I was so weak. You who said my elegance, and my nature could not be matched. Why now, is all that I can hear your voice echoing, saying "Check mate"?

I am a contradiction

Split down to the root, infused in my core, I am a contradiction. I reach out in 2 directions at once, yearning for both left and right, and am unable to reconcile my choices.

I often ponder the meaning of personal freedom, but have not come to any conclusions. I have met people in my life, who have literally shaded together the starkness of black and white, to put it by way of a cliche, they have left me in a grey world, where relativity lurks behind every quandry.Amidst the absolute nature of my beliefs, there are layers aching within me to be known. But I repress, repress, repress. And what does that respression bring? Gone is the moral high handedness of my youth, gone are the appraisals from the self-righteous religious people I used to find myself around.The weight from within me wants to explode. What makes me human and what words do I speak?