Dead woman walking

Prosecutor: Your honor, the facts of the case seem to be as follows. Six years ago, the accused met the victim on some stairs. They fell in love. A year ago, the accused met with the victim on other stairs. Then, without a notice, she grabbed his heart, squeezed it till the last drop of blood. Taken by surprise, the victim did not defend himself. The accused then threw the heart on the floor, stepped on it and started jumping. Still no defense from the victim. The victim still had his dreams and his faith; he believed these could get his heart pumping again. The accused, insisting, reached out for his dreams. She took a bucket of black paint and poured it on the dreams. The dreams got disfigured by the black paint. The victim still had his faith; he struggled, using his faith to resuscitate his dreams. The accused, ruthless, used all of her machiavelic strength to find the victim's faith. When she did, she grabbed it with her two hands, ran with it to the nearest gaz station. Poured gazoil on it, lit it with fire. The victim, helpless, saw his faith go on fire, reduced to ashes.

An autopsy of the victim revealed a soul with no dreams and no faith in humans, relationships, or love. The heart is still pumping but aches terribly.

In previous cases seen by this court of law, when an accused took a victim's life, the accused was condemned to the death penalty. We see many similarities between this case and a murder case. What is the difference, your honor, between taking another person's life and taking away his dreams, his faith, and his heart? What is a person's life without these anyways? As such, we consider that the death penalty is well justified for the horrible crime that the accused had perpetuated on the victim.

Judge: the jury unanimously found the accused eligible for death penalty. The accused is now nothing but a dead woman walking towards her salvation.

Blogging Egypt

I have recently come across very interesting blogs by Egyptian citizens. Each blog tackles a different subject, yet, all of them radiate the same impressions: boredom and rebelliousness. Boredom from the socio-economic situation in Egypt, boredom from the tantalizing state, boredom from the lack of freedom. And a rebelliousness against the omnipresent state security service.

I have lived in Cairo for almost a year and learnt to secretly hate and despise Moubarak's regime. A regime that lets its citizens fall into an overwhelming poverty, a regime that controls the media, a regime that despises inclusion. A regime that lives in outrageous luxury while citizens are starving. Citizens are so busy gaining their livelihood that any other consideration, such as freedom, critical thinking, principles, etc, is considered a luxury, a non-essential feature of human life. I have thus frequently wondered about the state of comfortable numbness of the Egyptian people.

This is why I was pleased to discover a set of interesting Egyptian blogs, having the ambition to bypass state control of the media and self-censorship. Many are pro-reform, others coordinate demonstrations and other forms of civil action. Many have become important sources of alternative information for domestic and foreign journalists.

I so wish that the power of the blogosphere could lead to political reform, that some mechanisms will emerge whereby online discontent is translated into real political change. But, realising the influence of these blogs, the regime is increasingly controlling the cyberspace. Last summer Internet café owners were told to start collecting the identity cards of all users. In March this year the government began prosecuting bloggers for the content of their blogs.

I do believe though that blogs and Internet journalism have the potential to galvanize, inspire and organize. I hope this potential will be seized before its too late.

I *heart* Susan Boyle

Because she's got an angel's voice
Because her voice takes me back to childhood
Because she's got a dream
Because she pursued her dream
Because she triggered a debate on the importance of appearance
Because she reminded us that inner beauty is not an obsolete concept

Check her out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to emotionally connect with people, to understand and sympathize with other persons' emotional state of mind. It is the ability to know how another feels. This ability comes into play in a vast array of life arenas, from jobs with management position, to parenting, relationships, romance, etc.

In several psychological tests of thousands of people, the benefits of being able to read feelings in others included more popular, outgoing and sensitive persons. Concurrently, the lack of empathy, the failure to register another's feelings is a tragic failing in what it means to be human.

Yet, isn't too much empathy a handicap? Isn't being hyper alert to the emotions of those around us a curse rather than a blessing? Too much empathy does get in the way of emotional stability and decision making; Can you feel empathy with a person that is too empathic?!?

Jouzour el Amar

Cosa Sia, by Maalesh

Un vieux bijou donné...

"Dans les paniers d'osier de la salle des ventes
Une gloire déchue des folles années trente
Avait mis aux enchères, parmi quelques brocantes
Un vieux bijou donné par quel amour d'antan

Elle était là, figée, superbe et déchirante
Ses mains qui se nouaient, se dénouaient tremblantes
Des mains belles encore, déformées, les doigts nus
Comme sont nus, parfois, les arbres en Novembre

Comme tous les matins, dans la salle des ventes
Bourdonnait une foule, fiévreuse et impatiente
Ceux qui, pour quelques sous, rachètent pour les vendre
Les trésors fabuleux d'un passé qui n'est plus

Dans ce vieux lit cassé, en bois de palissandre
Que d'ombres enlacées, ont rêvé à s'attendre
Les choses ont leurs secrets, les choses ont leurs légendes
Mais les choses nous parlent si nous savons entendre

Près des paniers d'osier, dans la salle des ventes
Une femme pleurait ses folles années trente
Et revoyait soudain défiler son passé
Défiler son passé, défiler son passé

Car venait de surgir, du fond de sa mémoire
Du fond de sa mémoire, un visage oublié
Une image chérie, du fond de sa mémoire
Son seul amour de femme, son seul amour de femme

..."

Poetry and Soul

Isnt he great?!?