11.26.07
Watch and Learn!
One of the interesting things about work is getting to know new people… But when I use the word “know” here, I somehow tend to mean observe people’s behaviors… I know that this might sound weird to you, but it’s actually one of the things that I do every now and then… I sometimes even sit in a café or walk in the street all alone monitoring people’s attitude and behavior… I don’t criticize… I just… watch… and learn…
Though it’s been only two years since I started my professional life, yet – unfortunately – I moved more than once to more than one company, and although this is not very healthy from the perspective of building a career, nonetheless I can assure you that on a personal basis it added a lot to me, specially that by default my position involves dealing with new people everyday internally within the company or externally with clients (I bet you know how harsh, stubborn, and unsatisfied most clients are usually – both internally and externally!)… And dealing with angry people usually reveals a lot about their personalities… I mean… people can fake their communication skills when they are calm and cool, but usually the real thing shows up as soon as anger find its way to them…
The thing is that somehow I’m starting to be convinced that any working environment is – by the end of the day – a theatre with all types of actors performing their roles. My words don’t necessarily mean that people are double faced (although many are indeed!)… It’s just that I somehow tend to see any workplace as a petite representation of life itself where you encounter almost all kinds of people…
At first I thought this was related to my previous work place, because our relations with each others were very tight and I had the opportunity to know many of them close enough to see things clear… I even witnessed many incidences and complicated relations that I thought it – back then – impossible to happen in one place within this limited number of people…
But, as I move forward in life, I realize that it wasn’t related to that place only… it’s everywhere… I met, meet, and will meet all kinds of people in any place I have worked in or will move to… Generous ones, kind ones, know-it-all ones, creative ones, hard worker ones, spiteful ones, lazy ones, stubborn ones… smiling faces, and frowning ones… supportive characters, and frustrating ones… born leaders, and followers ones… Whichever case it was, I’m somehow convinced that the “raison d’être” that drew them together is merely the fact that they happened to work at the same place in the exact period of time… Just like “Life”… The truth is that the one thing that relates all these people together is – beyond doubt – the fact that they happened to be alive at this specific period of time…
……… and as my colleague said his everyday phrases of complaining, I smiled remembering another colleague in another company who used to say the exact same phrase daily…
Didn’t I tell you… I watch… learn… smile… live… and never criticize… because who knows… may be somebody out there had encountered the copy of me somewhere before… somewhere in time…
Have a lovely day…
Rou…
11.25.07
Who knows what the tide could bring…?
Yesterday I watched “Cast Away” movie on mbc 2 channel… I know that many consider it the copy of “Robinson Crusoe” novel – I haven’t seen its movie by the way – But, I can’t deny that Cast Away touches me much more…
I have always admired the way Tom Hanks managed the role, starting with the physical appearance changes and ending with the outstanding facial expressions… Have always stood still in front of the change that happened to a man who considered time to be everything and his life used to be planned minute by minute, to a man who had to learn to let go of the idea of time in general… learned it the hard way though…
I have always been touched by that scene where he loses “Wilson” – the volleyball – his only “friend” … I can’t but imagine myself in his place… I mean… I’m one of those who get emotionally involved with places and objects in my life… in addition to people… and I feel bad with the loss of any intimate – inanimate – object… how does it feel like then when it’s the only intimate “thing” he had…
Every time I watch the movie I stop at the scene where he uses the lighter at the end of the movie… to produce fire… something that he had worked on for days and days to be able to “create fire”… I stop and think of how ironic it is… Likewise, I noticed yesterday a sentence that I haven’t seem to pay attention to before… Just before he left the car heading to his flight, he told his girlfriend – Helen Hunt – “I’ll be right back”… How sarcastic this sound to you!! We always assume that things will just move the way we want it to… it took him 4 years to “be right back”… and he came back not even the same man who left that car… Did it ever cross his mind while uttering these words before he left that the “be right back” will be equal to “four years of isolation”?
I have seen this movie dozens of times, and every time I watch it I seem to be getting a very harsh slap on my face all over again… it always triggers these thoughts of not taking things for granted… for me this movie is far beyond someone surviving on an isolated island… For me, it is about setting your priorities and preferences… about not taking things for granted… about appreciating the moment while living it… and not after it is gone… It is about keeping the faith that even in the worse situations, tomorrow will come… and tomorrow might be good for something…
Below is a very touching conversation that took place between “Chuck Noland” – Tom Hanks – with his friend “Stan” at the end of the movie…
Keep the faith,
Rou… – Who knows what the tide could bring…?
“We both had done the math…
Kelly added it all up and… knew she had to let me go…
I added it up, and knew that I had… lost her… ‘cos I was never gonna get off that island… I was gonna die there, totally alone… I was gonna get sick, or get injured or something… The only choice I had, the only thing I could control was when, and how, and where it was going to happen… So… I made a rope and I went up to the summit, to hang myself… I had to test it, you know? Of course. You know me… And the weight of the log, snapped the limb of the tree, so I- I – , I couldn’t even kill myself the way I wanted to… I had power over *nothing*…
And that’s when this feeling came over me like a warm blanket… I knew, somehow, that I had to stay alive… Somehow… I had to keep breathing… Even though there was no reason to hope… And all my logic said that I would never see this place again…
So that’s what I did… I stayed alive… I kept breathing… And one day my logic was proven all wrong because the tide came in, and gave me a sail…
And now, here I am… I’m back… In Memphis, talking to you… I have ice in my glass…
And I’ve lost her all over again…
I’m so sad that I don’t have Kelly… But I’m so grateful that she was with me on that island…
And I know what I have to do now… I gotta keep breathing…
Because tomorrow the sun will rise…
Who knows what the tide could bring…?”
11.22.07
In reply to “Would You Divorce a Non-virgin?”
You are questioning culture here ya Camel… culture of men that has been built throughout the years… Even with the fact that many are quite open minded, but beyeego 3and dee we yo2afo! Giving every right for themselves and taking the same rights from women… just because they are women… although ya3ny it’s “7aram” on both genders aslan!
I guess the answer will mostly be a YES even if it’s not publicly said… I assume 98% will divorce their wives if they found out they were not virgins… however, the reason might be a bit different… almost 90% maslan of the 98% will divorce their wives because their “pride” does not accept the idea that “his woman” had been with someone else before him - even if she was indeed with another man before him but had the miraculous famous operation getting her “virgin” again….! The 8% left out of the 98% will divorce their wives too, but not because of the fact that they were not virgins… it’s more because they have been lied to… they were not told the truth about this before marriage… he has the right to know, the right to accept or refuse… following the take it or leave it concept…
I don’t believe that more than 2% will retain their marriage… may be 1% of them kaman 7ayeb2o bass following the concept of not causing a woman a scandal… and only 1% will be convinced that 3ady ya3ny mana kaman 3amlt keda kteeeer….
I’m not defending any or talking against any… I’m only stating my assumption regarding your question and considering the culture of the community we are raised in…..
However, my personal point of view is that… everybody knows what is right and what is wrong… If a girl chose to lose her virginity to someone, then married someone else, it is absolutely his right to know this fact before marriage and decide whether to go for it or not….
Finally, I read the “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” novel… and it’s one of Marquez’s best writings ever!
Have a nice day all,
Rou…
11.20.07
Contemplation…
Inspired by a friend…
I’m sort of an insomniac creature; sleepless most of the time… though it’s very exhausting, yet sometimes it becomes very inspiring to stay all night staring at the shining stars up there in the dark skies, trying to draw strange figures in the space while my thoughts find their way in the splendor of the night as my drained soul rests for a while… I simply freeze… freeze in a “thinkingless” status… lie on my back on the cold floorboards of the balcony in stillness and taste the beauty of nature…
Tonight was one of those spiritual nights… I was busy sketching my imaginations out in the air, when that thought crossed my mind while staring at a shiny star… the contemplation that there might be someone just like me in a far far away planet who is staring at this very star at this very moment and thinking “there might be someone just like me in a far far away planet who is staring at this very star at this very moment and thinking …………..”
Rou…
On November the 20th, 2007, 4:30 am
11.18.07
The “touchless” touch…
You touched me… A touch that drove me crazy…
You touched my heart and mind… in a way that never was, never is, and never will be again…
You touched me… With a word…
A word that connected you… and me… connected us…
For ever and for always this touch shall remain in my heart…
Wherever I go, wherever you’ll be… this touch will subsist…
Please touch me again… With that touch that no other touch can give…
Touch me with that touchless touch of your words… so that I can stay alive…
Rou…
November 18, 2007
11.17.07
The Internet Dilemma
I’ve always been fond of that old TV program on channel 1 “7adatha fee methl hatha el yawm” and its English version “This day in history”, and may be the nostalgic feeling that invaded me for some time – and still – is the main reason I started to go through the events that occurred in any specific day throughout history and post those I find interesting…
And since the most accessible and wide searching area known now is the internet, so I mainly depend on it in my searches… the steps I do normally are searching for all events in a certain day, pick up the most interesting ones of them, then search widely for further details on the selected events until I get a readable and convincing pieces of info, then post it… However, I noticed more than once that some info that are widely spread on the cyber space are not really that accurate…
Today for example I came across an interesting piece of info that says that November the 15th 1492 is considered the first recorded reference to tobacco noted by Christopher Columbus in his journal… when I started the usual search for further info through other links on the internet, almost 99% of the citations I investigated stated this info in some way or another but without further details, until I reached one or two sites that stated the info with evidences including parts from Columbus notes with dates, BUT the surprise was that this specific event actually happened on October the 15th 1492 and not November the 15th as widely spread on the internet………
I find this seriously dangerous actually… because I know many and many people who mainly depend on the internet in gaining their knowledge… well… Today’s example is not a big deal… but this can happen with a much more vital info… we are simply starting to believe every single word written on the internet… without double checking it or even inspecting its origins…
The internet is the easiest and the most accessible place to search nowadays… and as always… we prefer to take the easy way out… *they* can convince *us* with whatever they want… they can change history, and we will accept it with a smile… and even teach it for the coming generations…
Just to be more clear… I’m not saying that *everything* we come across on the internet is wrong… I’m just saying that we shouldn’t take anything we read on the cyber space for granted… I’m not sure though how can we avoid such a dilemma… But, we can start by trying to get back to books… at least they are more reliable and the sources are always known… what do you think…?
And, as for myself, I think I will keep using the internet as usual, but will simply make sure the info I keep in my mind or pass to anyone is a correct one…
Rou… On Nov 15, 2007
11.07.07
وجهي العملة
لطالما ساءلت نفسي لماذا سارت الأمور بيننا بهذه الطريقة الساخرة… لماذا كنت أنت بهذا الصمت… و كنت أنا بهذا الرفض… و عندما أتت لحظة الفراق، توقفت لوهلة و تساءلت… و لكنك لم تجبني أبداً…
عندما أتيت أنا… رحلت أنت… كأن الأمور مقسمة بيننا… عندما ألين أنا… تقسو أنت… وجهان لا يتقابلان أبداً… و كأننا رمز للعناد و البعاد…
أذكر أننا في لمحة من لمحات الماضي كنا يوما روحاً واحدة… لم أعرف أبداً من فيك أنا… و أين مني أنت…
متى بدأنا الخطى… و كيف إنتهينا… و لماذا تبادلنا الإتهامات و انطلقت أصابعنا و ألسنتنا في لوم و عتاب على أشياء كنا معاً شركاء في حدوثها… كيف هكذا حطمتنا التجربة…؟
تذهب أفكار و تأتي غيرها… و لا أجد إجابات لتساؤلاتي أبدا… و أظل أفكر…
ماذا لو…؟ و ماذا بعد…؟ و من تكون أنا…؟ و من أكون أنت…؟
و أصل بعد عناء طويل إلى يقين بأننا كوجهي العملة الواحدة… قد نتبادل الوجوه أحياناً كي نستطيع المضي قدماً في رحلة الحياة… و لكننا… أبداً… لا نلتقي…
رحاب رجائي
7 نوفمبر 2007
11.05.07
Master of the Gate… Short Story
Though it is a very insignificant matter, yet it insisted on disturbing me every morning… Some ridiculous thoughts concerning the gatekeeper of the company I work for…
Am I a nervous overweening person with a darkened soul as those losers everywhere keep on saying about me…? Or is he just another disrespectful and spiteful man…?
It’s this grudge that such low standard people hold in minds towards higher social classes… I’m sure he can’t stand the look of my luxurious car with its murky windows and its loud horn… I bet he comes to the company every day clinging to a pipe in an overcrowded bus that blinds his eyes with its awful smoke… Or, even worse, he might be coming everyday walking the long way from where he lives, and as his sweat comes together with the dust everywhere it must turn into an unbearable malodorous… Do you think after all this he wouldn’t be feeling malice towards me…?
How does he feel while standing in the burning sun and seeing the drops of vapor condensed on the lower part of my car windows – resulting from the chilliness that the air conditioning system of the car provides…?
How does he feel when he faces my arrogant inspecting look at him each morning and sees his own poor reflection on the surface of my dark costly sunglasses…? He is trying to imitate even this… and he wears an apparently cheap sunglasses when encountering me at the company’s gate every morning… a very dark one…
Gosh! That silly smile again… He is trying to provoke me… and he does it intentionally…But he would never be able to achieve anything with all these trials… For, I’m simply in a very higher social standard than his…This dimmed glass windows of my precious car will always separate me from his dusty venomous environment…
It’s only one minute or less every morning, and as I see him slowing down in pushing the button to open up the gate, the noisy horn of my car gets louder as my anger gets higher… Ah… It’s this envy again!
He’s newly hired; just a week ago they say …
It’s all because of that idiot who owns the company… He thinks that by hiring such people he will be entitled Mr. Kindhearted! Complete Nonsense!
I can simply raise a complain and fire him immediately… But… who the hell is he to let everybody know that such an insignificant person bothers me!
I can’t really understand… It doesn’t need to be smart to press that silly button… we never needed a gatekeeper in the first place… I can’t find any logical reason to hire such an old man standing on the edge of demise, and holding such a spiteful soul…
How come he doesn’t stand to salute me when I arrive in the morning…? May be then I would open my car window and kindly get into his surroundings for a few seconds as I give him a tip … I may even smile at him then…
How did it cross his sick mind that by holding this place beside the gate button he would become equal to me and that such position will permit him not stand immediately at my arrival…?
This envy he holds inside his soul has blinded him it seems!
We will never be equal… He will stay in his smudged environment and I will always be behind my luxurious car with its gloomy windows…
***
A week has passed… And I can’t but keep thinking about this matter every morning… I don’t know why I’m giving it that space in my mind…? I’m not supposed to be thinking of such inferior issues that much…
Nevertheless, I’m quite certain that just my presence ruins the peacefulness of his life… Or else why would he be envying me that much…?
Does he think that this uniform he wears will provide him with the needed prestige to fill into the huge social gap between the two of us, or even balance the feeling of deficiency he feels deep inside…? Just like the little child who begs his parents to buy him a policeman uniform with a plastic pistol… to live into the illusion of having a power for a few hours…
Does he think that just sitting beside the gate for a few hours daily, makes him its Master…?
We are NOT equal… and I will no longer stay silent about it…
I will go early in the morning to give him a lesson he won’t forget… and open up his eyes on the reality he fails to see… that me and him… will never be equal!
I won’t step off my car, but would talk through a very small opening in the window… an opening that won’t exceed the space that someone like him should take off my mind…
Here I am approaching the gate…
He never looks at me… The noisy loud horn of the car is a must for him to turn his face towards me…
“Hey you… Gatekeeper… Come over here…”
I aggressively called him through a very small opening in my car window; this is all the space I can allow to communicate with such category of people…
He opens up the door of the small wooden kiosk he stays in, and moves towards me… leaning on a stick… and his slow movement really gets on my nerves…
“Yes Sir”
So, you know that I am the master here… Yes I am the one with the upper hand here and you are not the master of the gate…
I raised my voice with the arrival of the rest of the employees… “Do you know who I am, you spiteful old man…?”
And without leaving him a chance to reply and with a very loud voice I started degrading and humiliating him in every way with my sharp mortifying words… and the affect went far beyond my expectations with the presence of this small crowd of employees that started to gather around to understand to whom I was shouting and for what reason…
I kept on this for another few minutes… and it was when the old man started to weep… that somebody murmured in my ears… “Sir, he is war-wounded old man… and he is blind……………”
Rehab Ragaee
November 5, 2007
11.03.07
تترمسلسل ليالى الحلمية … كلمات سيد حجاب
ومنين بييجى الشجن … من إختلاف الزمن
ومنين بييجى الهوى … من إئتلاف الهوى
ومنين بييجى السواد … من الدموع والعناد
ومنين بييجى الرضا … من الإيمان بالقضا
من إنكسار الروح فى دوح الوطن … ييجى إحتضار الشوق فى سجن البدن
من إختمار الحلم ييجى النهار … يعود غريب الدار لأهل و سكن
ليه يا زمان مسبتناش أبرياء … وواخدنا ليه فى طريق ممنوش رجوع
أقسى همومنا يفجر السخرية … وأصفى ضحكة تتوه فى بحر الدموع
ولفين ياخدنا الأنين … لليالى ملهاش عينين
ولفين ياخدنا الحنين … لواحة الحيرانين
متسرسبيش يا سنينا من بين إيدينا … و لا تنتهيش ده إحنا يادوب إبتدينا
واللى له أول بكرة ح يبانله آخر … وبكرة تفرج مهما ضاقت علينا
