Mama, the birds are knocking, a view from the E.R .......by Jamil Shawwa

He is preparing for his Friday visit, as he does every Friday, but this Friday is not as any other Friday. It is bringing memories of his Father's birthday that happened to be on Tuesday of this week and bringing memories of that day in that place with that doctor when they spread the news that his father had an incurable form of cancer. This deadly unbeatable terrorist decided to visit this family again, after the father, it is the mother's turn. The thoughts are mixed with tears coming from his eyes, with all those visits and all these places that he used to take his mother to, spend few hours and take her back. All she wanted he guessed- late as usual, as any parent is to spend time with her sons and daughters, it did not matter where and it did not matter how long as long as it was with her son, on a Friday; his day off during the week. The thoughts continues as he drives, she used to live in another building with his sister and she used to stand by the window in that highrise knowing in advance when her son would arrive just to get ready; she hated to dress up before he arrives, and she did not like his tricky ways of calling her from far enough so when he arrives, she would be waiting for him and he would not have to wait by the entrance staring at the glassy door waiting for her to arrive so he would jump and open the door for her. She used to look forward to those visits from that son. He is getting closer to her new house, she just bought a new apartment with his sister, moved in, and started to have a new life and she is looking forward to new things, she wanted to visit Niagara falls, who knows, maybe she still could. His father passed about thirteen years ago couple of months from now, it was October, and when he passed she cried her lungs out, he was her companion, maybe their life was not all honey and milk but he was her companion. She looked in that night at him and said that the one who loved him has died, and he replied that God bless you, you are here. Now, it is her turn but who knows, God bless her, she is with him, it does not mater how long, it is so irrelevant with a disease like cancer, it is a minute by minute, moment by moment, smile by smile, touch by touch. No looking forward here, really, it is just looking and capturing this moment and the rest to be dealt with when it comes. He arrived, with heavy steps, called in, his sister opened, went to his mother who looked with weak eyes, and talked with heavy voice, she was in her new bed, enjoying the views of the outside, he can see her birds knocking at her windows, she loved to feed the birds, she would even in the nicest restaurants insist in taking the soft heart of the bread, crumble it, put it in a tissue, put it in her bag so she can feed her birds. Those same birds probably were the ones that have been knocking on his windows trying to send him a message that he got, as usual, late. They, the birds, for the past two weeks have been coming, same time that terrorist has started to attack this innocent creature that never in her life has been happier than when she used to see other people happy. He has always been amazed at this mother, her happiness in giving others what she has, what she owns. His father God bless his soul was the same. They both were like that; they were happy helping people even when they did not have much. All they wanted, just that really, was appreciation or good treatment. Nothing more. They were very generous but they both would revolt if they were treated badly. He kissed her hands as he usually does and her cheeks. He told her you look fantastic, it is time for lunch. She looked, smiled, and said that she cannot, maybe next week; she said that with a smile, not as clear as the first one. He insisted as he usually does, maybe he is selfish, he wanted to have his lunch in his regular time, but not this time, he was not selfish, he really wanted to treat his mother to an exclusive lunch at his exclusive place, but it did not meant to be. His sister broke the news, the hospital called and she was to be admitted to do further examinations, so instead of the Friday lunch at that place, it was the Friday at the Emergency Room; Cancer is prevailing again, he is again hitting the pure and the innocent. He is again sending the same message as the rest of the terrorists all over the world, which he, Cancer, will hit hard, and will strike bad. He is telling us to add him to the list of his peers, the terrorists, to the list that we have, we have to add actually all the names of this one terrorist, and he has many names and many faces. The bag is prepared, but this time not to deliver a baby as she did when she delivered her sons and the daughters, the bag is prepared today to take it with her to the E.R. They drove in two cars, got into the E.R, into the Triage Room, and then admitted inside the E.R. From there, the journey began, the routine started, doves of nurses coming and going, few doctors appearing and disappearing, tons of questions asked and tons of answers delivered. After that ordeal, she was admitted to her regular room, her room for the coming few days. She got situated, turned the TV on to her favorite channel, went for another exam, C-Scan and came back. In all this, she did not forget her son, the demanding one, the spoiled one with his routine that was broken today; he did not care, he is enjoying every moment with his mother. She ordered him and his sister to get some lunch, actually, it was an early dinner, and she requested some, a consume, chicken. He ate and they ate, the atmosphere is somber, but not depressed, the doctors had to be frank with her and told her the expectations and the diagnosis; strangely, she felt wonderful after that, as if a burden has been lifted off her tired shoulders, she was quiet, normal, smiling, she is happy, no more torture, no more wondering, no more speculating. She looked back, I remember, and up and down and all of a sudden, the bird that she used to feed, came knocking again, she looked at him, and to his astonishment and amazement, she pointed to her bag, and she got an old tissue, handed to him, asked him to go out and spread the bread crumbs. She said do not worry, the birds are following me, they are as he is, have a routine, and they expect their meal on time so go and feed them. She looked again, and said that she read what he wrote yesterday and raised her head and smiled and told him, hey listen to me, we are going to beat this terrorist this time, go and feed the birds, smoke a cigarette as you usually do and come back, we have work to do.

The Deadly, the unbeatable Terrorist…by Jamil Shawwa

None can beat him, it is just unbeatable, billions spent to catch him, but no use; he is invisible. He exists everywhere, in every country in every town, in every society, everyone knows his name, how he looks but no one still can catch him, no one can beat him.

It does not know the rich or the poor, it does not know the Muslim, The Christian, the Jewish, the Hindu, the Buddhist; to him they are all the same and they all hate him and he hates himself.

He does not give early warnings, though sometimes it knocks hard, it uses all kinds of weapons to alert, to indicate that something terrible is coming, the lucky might escape him, to the majority, it just strikes once and that is it. It might give you some time, but usually not long.

Horrible, horrible thing, you cannot negotiate with him, you cannot talk to him, you cannot even try. He does not talk, he strikes. If he disappears in one part, he appears in the other. You eliminate him here, and it appears there, or maybe he has relatives everywhere, or maybe while in the process of striking, he just creates smaller killers that come from him and through him to attack the different parts, those that are vital and those that are not, See, to him the attack which counts, and not who and where.

None believed and believes that it could be them; people are arrogant, lazy, ignorant or just too laid back that they keep saying impossible, it cannot be me; I did not do anything to hurt him, it is impossible to attack me. They do not know that the most pacifists might be and in millions those that are attacked first.

A monster that branches out mercilessly, a blind attacker, a terrorist, a pit-bull with no cure. It attacks the good and the evil, those that pray and those that do not believe in anything. When it attacks, it does not ask for an identity card, it does not ask for a passport. When it travels, it does not need a permission or Visa to arrive or to land, no one can stop him, no one can detect him and if detected, it cannot be eliminated. Once it hits, it is usually deadly. It is the worst killer since the beginning of humankind and humanity.

He knows that every human being hates him but he does not care, he knows that it hates himself, but to him, it is a badge of honor, no one ever scared humanity as he does.

I will reveal his name, but I do not have any advice to beat him, nor does anyone have any advice to eliminate him, if they tell you they have, then they are just disillusioned. Cancer is the name and horror is the game! Enough said.

The Iraqi Donkeys Association…….by Jamil Shawwa

Four stories- all are real and that is the beauty of it- in the news last week inspired me to write this one. 

It started few days ago, as I was browsing the newspapers, I came across a very exciting piece of news about my favorite animal, the Jackass. The news stated that in Kurdistan Iraq- see, Iraq now in actuality is divided between the Shiite, the Sunni and the Kurds- where the rich soil of oil exists and still new fields to be discovered- a political party by the name of the Iraqi Donkeys Association was licensed, was recognized and granted permission to operate by the regional Kurd government. 

I did not hear anything about taking the opinion of the central government in Baghdad, but anyway, no matter what is the opinion there, we all know that it is irrelevant, the Kurds run their affairs either Baghdad likes it or not. The president of Iraq is a Kurd now, a symbolic position as the actual power resides in the prime minister -Shiite- but still symbols matter in a country that has been suppressed under the former Baath party and other dictators since the bloody coup of 1958 that toppled and killed the royal Hashemite family, cousins of the current royal family in Jordan. 

Back to the donkey association; this political party elected a board of governors and gave the members titles range from mule- the result of a relation between a horse and a donkey- for the big ones, and donkey fort regular members or the rest. Their radio station brays and hee-haw all the time and the headquarter of the party is in a stable, that is a donkey’s stable. 

The second story came from Newark, New Jersey where the Mayor of that city decided as part of his brainstorming or his braying to eliminate the toilette papers from the restrooms of the government offices, imagine, even a real donkey would be embraced to do such thing. 

The third story came, where else, the former capital of the proletarians, Russia, where a group of Nouveau Riche business people decided to parachute a donkey for advertisement purposes. 

The fourth and last so far, you know, it is still open for more members to join- I can add as we speak or write or bray- came from the father and the symbol of the human Jackals, Kim Jung IL of North Korea who threatened to declare war against the United States of America. 

Anyway, as soon as the Iraqi Donkey Association heard of the other three related story, they issued a declaration announcing the beginning of regionalizing and globalizing the donkey association to be a power in the world today, I mean you have the EU, you have the UN, The Arab League, the African Union, and other unions, so why not the donkeys. 

Anyway, the Kurds of Iraq who established the association sent the invitations, and the delegates started to arrive in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan in Iraq. The first to arrive was the big one and the inspiration, Kim Jung IL, then after that the Russian delegation headed by Vladdmir then came the Mayor of Newark. 

But all of a sudden while all the delegates were in the airport, two new planes asked for permission to land, oh, my God, screamed the head of the Iraqi donkeys association, we do not have enough hay to feed all these unexpected guests but wait a minute the uninvited guests were given permission to land: The first was Muammar Al-Gaddafi of Libya, the second plane had the Iranian Revolutionary guard symbol on it’s tale or bottom, it depends on how you look at things and how you look at Iran mullahs, and it carried Ahmadinejad the president of Iran accompanying him Hassan Nasrala (Rasputin Lebanon) of Hezbolla in Lebanon-another donkey and worst. 

The Iraqi said ok, no problem, the more the merrier. The delegates assembled in the big stable of the donkeys’ world headquarter and the first line of business was to elect the board of governors of the world donkey association.




 Here are the results:

Kim Jung IL: Chairman (son Kim Jong-un took over)

The Russians- Vladimir qualifies after the Russian olympics drugs usage elimination: Vice Chairman

And:

Gaddafi: Treasurer, you know. the oil money of Libya can buy all the hay the association needs. Gaddafi killed during the 'Arab Spring'

The Mayor of Newark-New Jersey: Chief Executive office- after his success to eliminate the toilet papers from the city offices; who can compete with that.

Hassan Nasrala-aka Rasputin: Chief Operating Officer- Do you blame them, he, in 2006, had Beirut burned run for its life

The host country head of the Iraqi donkeys association was elected director of recruitment; after all, he assembled all these geniuses.

Ahmadinejad: director of propaganda, who can beat him in this (no longer president, Hasan Rouhani replaced him both here and in Iran)

And the story continues; this is just the first chapter….

PS: I should not have announced this article on Facebook before actually publishing it, I got an email while writing from the Iraqi Donkeys Association chairman inviting me to cover the event or be on a video conference, and it seems that they appreciate my efforts to spread the hee-haw all over the world. I responded and I said how could I address such dignitaries, I am just a commoner. He responded back and said what about an honorary membership, I said thanks; I appreciate the gesture!

Updates 08/08/2010:

New board members:

1-Chavez: president of Venezuela...ongoing stupidity regarding attacking the US, nationalizing foreign investments, making his oil rich country an outlaw country, fighting with neighbors specially Colombia for n reason. (Chavez died and was replaced by worse-Maduro who is one of the top donkeys in the world of politics today.

2-Zardari: President of Pakistan: on an international Tour while his country is drowning under floods. (no longer president)

3-Abed Atwan, owner of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, an Arabic London based newspaper. Ongoing articles about the Middle East that show demagoguery beyond belief, expert in twisting the news and put a spin on everything that defies reality.

4-Dr. Laura Schlessinger, a famed psychiatrist turned a Jenny. Kept using the N-word, a degrading racial slur, on a radio show while talking to an African-American listener. She did it in a way that only a 'Jenny' would do.

5- Osama Saraya, The Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Ahram, editor in chief, who altered the picture of President Mubarak to make him look walking in the front, in the White House gathering of the Middle Eastern leaders prior to the resumption of the negotiations, rather than in the back as the actual picture showed. He admits and says that he did it as an Expressive picture to show Egypt's leading role in the resumption of the negotiations in The Middle East. (no more editor)

6- Sarah Palin, a US presidential wanna be, a loser as vice president nominee in the 2008 elections with the republican nominee John McCain. Used terms that are controversial to describe her critics, last but not least was her usage of “Blood Libel” to describe her critics who accused her that he political rhetoric has incited criminals like that one who did the random shooting in Arizona, which killed and injured many people including a congresswoman Giffords.

7- Donald Trump: For repeating efforts to make a jackass of himself. He has been relentless in pushing to join the group, and finally he got it. Trump earned the "honorific" for keep questioning President Obama credentials as a an American citizen. (Trump was elected President of the United States in November 2017)

Chapter II:

1- All the selected members must be alive, the board cannot make fun of the dead, and it would be disrespectful. Yes, the Iraqi Donkeys Association can behave better than some humans can sometimes.

2- Terrorists and killers are not included-while Nasrala qualifies as a killer her but he is a part of a game of politics in the Middle East. The Donkeys Association cannot have under its name, low life killers.

3-The board applies only to those who hold public office or public figures; regular, private citizens, friends, family, Facebook members and no social participants will ever be subject to such thing.

(Edited and updated as much as possible) 

*Lebanon Summer 2010... by Jamil Shawwa

Lebanon since its creation and independence has had a shadowy government; a militia on the side that sometimes was more powerful than the state itself.

In the 50s, it was the Syrian National Party, in the late 60s and 70s it was the PLO, in the 80s and until now the Shiite’s Iranian backed and creation Hezbolla,

The situation throughout these decades has been very fragile and always resulted in clashes and the worst started in 1975 and ended formally in 1990 with Al-Taef agreement in Saudi Arabia. The problem in that agreement is that it recognized a special status for this Hezbolla as a resistance power and to whom; you guessed it, to the usual excuse- the Arabs use, for all their deficiencies- Israel.

While Israel withdrew from Lebanon, Hezbolla is still there, not only that but in 2006, Hezbollah triggered a war when its operatives abducted two Israeli soldiers on the border in South Lebanon. The situation now cannot be sustainable, I mean, it is just not normal, and it has been not normal in Lebanon for almost, as I mentioned earlier, sixty years.

The reason for this update is the calls in Lebanon right now to evaluate the destructive role of Hezbollah and turning  it into a regular political party rather than a mafia that terrorize the Lebanese people on a daily basis.

We also have the special international court that is investigating the assassination of the late former Lebanese prime minister Rafik El-Hariri in 2005 and the father of the current prime minister Saad El-Hariri expected decision to indict individuals that belong to Syrian intelligence, Lebanese internal security and Hezbollah in that assassination.

Hezbolla threatened that in the case of such indictment that they might move militarily against their own country. What next, anything, we could see another civil war, or we could see the end of Hezbolla or the end of both; Lebanon as we know it and Hezbolla as we do not want to know and want to erase from our memories as the rest of these groups that their job was and is to just distract and destruct.

Concepts and Cultures IV: Buddha for Business and Buddha for Worship….by Jamil Shawwa

The Vietnamese waitress caught me staring at a statue for Buddha on the floor with candles and platter of fresh mangos in front of it so she volunteered to say before I opened my mouth that this food is for the gods. She said that knowing you all this time, I knew that you would not leave this thing alone without your usual curiosity. She continued to say that she has been counting how many days until I would say something. She did not give me a chance to respond and kept going as if she was on a mission to explain, she was doing it with pride, and her eyes had a sparkle in them as she was talking. She said that it is ok to put that one on the floor as it is Buddha for the business, to bring good luck to the business and then she pointed out to another Buddha- it looked more dignified- on top of a shelf and she said that one stays up as it is for worship. I showed my admiration to the education. I asked her about the fruits in front of the statue and who is going to eat them and she said that they will eat the fruits, of course! She said that when they bring new fruits, they eat the old ones, so they keep placing the food and taking it from Buddha’s front. She got warmed up on her religious beliefs and said that the Vietnamese burn fake money when their beloved ones pass as they might need this money to buy things in the other life that they are going to, my waitress believes that you need money wherever you go. Again, I expressed my gratitude to this information that I found very interesting. When she asked me about what I think, I politely thanked her and told her that I do not have any comments. It is not my place to express opinions on others beliefs; my place is just to learn, appreciate and be thankful that someone took the time to explain and teach.

The Midnight Love Express, part II by Jamil Shawwa

He stirred emotions in her that she thought that she suppressed,


She started to feel her feminine side that she forgot,


She started to feel her body that she neglected,


She is noticing parts that she thought no longer exist,


She is in love but she will never tell,


She is so proud, so stubborn, so engraved in her ways that she will never give up,

She is so used to her comfort zone that she well never admit.

The Obama Midterm Review...by Jamil Shawwa

Congress passed the Wall Street/Financial Reform bill that the president will sign into law. It is a comprehensive financial package which main purpose is to prevent the sharp fluctuations that lead to the collapse of markets in the past three years; the collapse- in fact- started in the summer of 2007. Previously, Congress passed and the president signed into law the economic recovery package and the health reform bill that ensures coverage for all Americans. Obama is also handling BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Internationally, the president is managing the North Korean nuclear issues, and Iran nuclear threat. He is moving towards stabilizing the situation in both Iraq and Afghanistan; just appointed a new commander for Afghanistan operations and his replacement for the Middle East. As for the Israeli/Palestinian question, Obama is handling as his predecessors did –carefully- the establishment of a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, side by side the State of Israel. Having said the above as a summary of what Obama has been doing in the past first two years of his presidency, the picture on the ground is different, Every political expert, pundits, every report, even the White House spokesman is pointing out to a big defeat, at least on the House side of Congress, for the president party, the Democrats, in the upcoming midterm election for Congress in November. I am not an expert, but I am shocked as an American at Team Obama, the White House staff, the experts that helped engineering Obama’s historic victory in 2008. Why the polls are showing low rating for the president, why are we not feeling his success and his achievements in such a short time. Historically, the democrats have been put into tests more than the republicans and historically the American people though electing democratic presidents did not really fell in love with them, so Obama here is not an exception, but the president has another burden that no other president ever had to “endure”, he is an African American so it is double jeopardy for him. Any time we elect a democrat president we tell this president, we elect you, now do miracles, fix everything and then once it is fixed we go back to our republicans who will spoil things financially and then we start over again by electing a democrat to fix. As for the republicans, we, it seems, do not expect much from them, we elect them whenever we need to reduce taxes, that the democrats invoked on us or when we feel that we need a hawk in the White House to take care of evil all over the world. We trust the democrats internally and we trust the republicans externally, outside the United States. In 2008, the American people were very excited to see Obama but in the same time the country was in deep financial troubles, housing markets collapsed, unemployment rising, and the Credit markets disappearing, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were not really moving in the right direction, the Middle East stalling, but mainly the internal front and not outside the US that was relevant I might say in the election of Obama. In few words, the picture was bleak. We have been excited about his arrival to the presidency more than we have been in generations and we looked at him as the great savior, imagine, what a burden. Therefore, the bottom line here is that we are very hopeful to have Obama as our president but in the same time, we are telling the president, your burden of proof is higher; the bar is higher for you. Yes, we elected you, but you have to prove yourself everyday that you are up to the responsibility. If we look objectively at the competition, you can very well see that no one so far stands out as a real Competitor to Barack Obama on either side of the Aisle, Democrats or Republicans. Let us for a moment examine the evidence here; on the republican side the only stars, if I can use this term, is Sara Palin, the Tea Party group and some extreme radio and TV commentators, in other words, pinheads, enough said, No brainer, no doubt about it. No program, no traction with the real issues. Obama is confronting serious problems, he is digging deep into America's soil, and in the process of cleaning and reforming, he is getting much dirt thrown at him, and he just needs to keep going; President Obama has no choice but to keep going forward, if he gets angry, they will point and say, look, it is because of who he is, if he keeps blaming Bush for the economy, they will say, look he is not up to the job. If he ever looks in the mirror and say, wow, I'm an African American and I'm the first president and I made history and people for that fact have to elect me again or have to forgive me or have to say let us give him another chance, if he ever does any of the those things I mentioned, then the president will not be reelected in 2012. Obama needs to do one thing, look forward, go back to the tone of 2008 that elected him as president, continue to motivate and inspire the American people. So far, the choice is clear, to me at least, but he must go out, he must campaign relentlessly from now, and he must show how he is succeeding. As the president of the United States, he must be the master salesman of all.

*FIFA South Africa........... by Jamil Shawwa

The first time I watched- rather comprehended what was going on-  was the world cup in 1974 and it was both Germany and Holland-The Netherlands- that captured the lights and the attention- It is amazing how certain things stick in mind, like the first game you watch, or the first book you read or the first girl you love or think you love until the next one comes along or until the girl you really love comes along, It seems that love has to present itself in every conversation- It was also the temporary end of Brazil’s rein over the cup during Pele, Brazil legendary player.

Brazil won the 1970 cup, Pele retired after that game, and Brazil played in 1974 and lost. The final game was between Holland lead by Johan Cruyff and West Germany- as it used to be called at the time- lead by Franz Beckenbauer. West Germany won after an exciting game.

This year we had Spain and The Netherlands- Holland- competing over the most important sports title on earth and Spain won. It was historic for couple of reasons, it was the first time that both finalists’ teams have never won it before and it was played and organized by an African country, South Africa. The organization was fantastic, and the host country was so gracious and luckily, it took place while South Africa historic leader Nelson Mandela is alive.

In reviewing the winners and the losers, the criteria was based on patterns and performance. For example, Argentina to me was one of the biggest if not the biggest loser for a simple reason, when you go on a winning streak and all of a sudden, you lose 4-1 as they did to Germany in the Semi final, then there must be something structurally wrong. Brazil on the other hand was not a big loser per say although it did lose and did not continue beyond the 16th round but it's performance was mediocre all along, so no surprises.

The US continued its pattern of reaching the second round and leave so it is not a loser. As for Germany -the contender always to win the cup- it had a predictable and normal pattern of performance, won most games, lost to Serbia in the first round, and again to Spain but continued and got the third place. Spain and The Netherlands had also a predictable pattern although no one including all the experts expected them to reach the final game.

People watched and put politics aside-maybe- and just enjoyed the sportsmanship of the game, the clean competition- some were not but still- and the winner Spain who in this year also won the Cup of Europe and its teams Real Madrid and Barcelona have been among of the best in the world for generations. Nevertheless, Spain never won a world cup until this year.

Netherlands is the same although it had other opportunities to reach the final game and stopped short from winning. Yesterday, The Netherlands did not need to give us any excuse for not winning nor did it have our sympathy; Spain had exceptional performance in both sportsmanship and delivery. Spain was the better team in the final game all along; they deserved it fair and square. Netherlands needs to lick its wounds, review itself, and reform its behavior. You do not have to be very aggressive to win. But you always have to be very skilful to win.

That was the story of the Netherlands today and the story of Spain the winner of the South Africa 2010 world cup. Football as all competitive sports is about manners and sportsmanship but it is also about winning. Africa right now is on the map as maybe every country that played in the finals and maybe every country on earth, Technology more than ever made it possible for every human being on earth – if they choose to- to watch the game, hear about it or be part of the celebration. People through different social engines on the internet were connected in a way that has never existed before with live conversations around the globe about the final game and every game.

We  were experts as usual, we all had opinions, and we all posted and talked about it. What a celebration of human connectivity it was.



*Trademark of: Fédération Internationale de Football Association

The International Federation of Football.

*Divorce Socrates Wife, Part II: Husband and Wife... by Jamil Shawwa

Wife: I had the best vacation since we got married


Husband: I am glad that you did, I wish I were there with you.


Wife: question asked, question answered.


Husband: I see; vacation was nice because I was not part of it


Wife: well, you have a very demanding life style, a routine, and a system, who can handle such things.


Husband: a loving wife, maybe. If love was there, anything could be handled


Wife: you do not need a wife; you need a robot, someone with no feelings


Husband: I disagree; I need a woman that can understand, a woman that has grace, a woman that can appreciate


Wife: appreciate what? Not sure what to appreciate. But let us pass on that last note, and go back to your statement, of I need, what about me, I need all the above and do not have them in you


Husband: I agree, it is mutual, and I meant it that way, the things I mentioned should be mutual and should be demanded by the husband and wife.


Wife: there is no meeting of the minds, and there is no meeting of the hearts


Husband: I said that before in many writings, the meeting of the mind, the thought must be in first before the hearts and the bodies can meet.


Wife: what are you looking for, a new wife, go ahead, be my guest, I can find one for you if you like.


Husband: no thanks, I appreciate your gesture and you kindness, but there is no way that I would repeat the same mistake twice, first, marrying you and now asking you to find me a new wife; it would be as if I will be marrying you all over, again.






*Disclaimer: any resemblance with any real life experience is just a coincidence; for entertainment purposes only.

America and Rania 07/04/2010.... By Jamil Shawwa

Today, 07/04/2010, Rania turns eight years old, and America turns two hundred and thirty four years young, what do they have in common,

You both are young in age and in spirit

You both are looking to the future

You both are strong and stubborn

You both are resolved and resilient

You both are kind and generous

You both like to be treated well

You do not tolerate injustice, the way you both see it

You like to play fair, though sometimes you like to make sure that you are well heard and listened to

America at two hundred and thirty four years young is looking forward, America does not look back, America still likes to learn; It prefers humility with strength over pride with weakness.

America knows that peace cannot be protected with well wishes only, it knows that to spread peace, you need to make sure that you are watching your surroundings as a hawk, as it's symbol, the bald eagle.

America is for all and it consists of all, so there is no way for anyone or anybody or any creed or religion to claim exclusivity over America; it does not exist.

Some call America the melting pot and some call it the salad ball, different stuff, colors, shapes in one ball, area, or country. I just call it the good old USA.

In protecting itself, America protects the world, and in what might seems and looks as selfishness to its people or over protecting its people, is actually the ultimate generosity, America does not discriminate between domestic and foreign, a peaceful Japan, or Korea, or Nigeria, or Israel or Palestine, or England is a peaceful United States.

America invented the modern business practices, it reinvented the modern diplomacy and it created new meanings to the word empire or the sole superpower on earth. America does not colonize, it does not occupy, and America wants the people of other countries to run their affairs. America believes truly in win- win situations in business and politics, it does not believe in win- lose, because America knows that it's ultimate interest is to have winners around it, to be surrounded with prosperous nations and countries. See the genius, if you are prosper, then I am prosper, if you are rich, then you will enrich me; it is the supreme rule that will continue to carry America through future generations and generations as the sole super power.

Happy birthday America, today is your day and tomorrow too...