Have you ever thought of doing something, something fantastic or even mundane? Did you roll the thought through your head twisting it this way and that before dismissing it roundly from your mind? I am impetuous by nature, impulsive to a fault (on most things anyway), but I have done the same, we all have. Accepting an invite to a party for example, has thrown me into serious internal debate, do I? Don't I? I have work to do sooo... I won't go - well maybe for an hour...
Taking a chance, whether small or great, can bestow the best of life's gifts. The best thing that ever happened to me, happened at a gathering I wasn't planning to attend. Seems like an inconsequential chance to take but in taking that chance, my life was upended and has never been the same.
Because I took that chance (wait for it - it's a love story) I met the love of my life. For this man, this love, I have conquered both internal and external summits, have surprised myself with what I am able to do. I have also been surprised by the love I have received; it is the stuff of chick flicks - but better.
It has made me look at life very differently, how things happen to align in such a way that the path we had originally set upon becomes entirely different as we travel along. I never believed in fate, destiny, not to the extent as I have witnessed it. I had believed that destiny was a quaint scapegoat for the pitfalls of life and to act as a salve to explain away why someone else has the life you want. I don't recognize my life now, after the first chance meeting from a chance decision, I have taken bigger and bigger chances in life some so large that I have shocked myself.
The moral of this story, dear friends, is that if you have an inkling to pursue something (or someone), give pause to the fact that the inkling came from somewhere, somewhere that may have a better idea than your conscious mind does. Believe it or not even the smallest chance can be overlooked; you may be embarking on the biggest adventure of your life!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Too many things to think about this week...
Since a recent injury has rendered me all but totally useless, my daily consumption of books, magazines, hell, the ingredients list on a jar of cheese dip (its not really cheese in case you were wondering), has exponentially increased. A recent issue of Macleans provided enough fodder to boil my blood as too did the recent issues of Vanity Fair and Marie Clare (of all things).
So, to provide the top articles topics that boiled my blood - nay - incinerated it, are the following:
1) Honor Killings in the USA
2) G20 and G8 Summits
3) Saudi Arabian Vacation feat. Maureen Dowd (love her - Saudi not so much)
4) BP oil spill (I don't have the strength to go there tonight)
I will start with the honor killings. I'm sure unless you live in a yurt somewhere in northern Canada and are deaf, you heard about the killing of Mississauga, ON teen Aqsa Parvez in December 2007 by her father and brother for failing to wear a hijab, a head scarf commonly worn by Muslims to supposedly adhere to the edict from the Prophet (PBUH - so I don't get my head cut off...) to dress modestly (ahem). I'll start off by questioning the wisdom of travelling to one of the most liberal countries in the world and expect to adhere to the edicts from 'back home'. I know plenty of Muslim women who dress modestly without wandering around looking like they have a perpetual head injury - I'm sorry if this is inflammatory however to my mind in this country at least, it only serves to bring greater attention to these women. They stick out. My head swerves when I see a woman dressed in a floor length tweed coat and black hijab in the middle of July in 90 degree weather versus a scantily clad woman - which one would you like to sit closer to on a crowded bus? I agree with French president Nicolas Sarkozy - this is a country where we don't dress like this. If I were to travel to, say, Riyadh what are the chances I could move about in shorts and a tank top without being arrested or harassed? Slim or none? Hijabs are donned when an aircraft enters Saudi airspace, never mind waiting until getting to your hotel! So why is it then that people come here and are not expected to conform to our society? 'Religious freedom!' they all scream. Yes, very true. But if I were to gouge the eye out of the man who poked me in the eye whilst riding the bus and said to the judge 'but your honor, it says so in the Bible! An eye for an eye', I would surely be escorted to the nearest jail cell to carry out a short term for assault.
An honor killing (not just carried out by Iranian and Iraqi Muslims) is the elimination of a family member - 99.9% of the time a woman - who has in some way, to varying degrees "disgraced the family". This can range from a mild flirtation with an unrelated male, to sex before marriage or (gasp) a rumor that she has a boyfriend! These accusations, whether real or imagined, whip the family into a frenzy that can drive them to desperate measures, namely the murder of the female to "preserve the family honor". This translates to how the 'community' views the family's integrity. Well, I have some sad news for the over zealous and over proud families out there concerned about their 'honour' - listen closely now - here in North America WE-DON'T-GIVE-A-SHIT! We are all too busy trying to make money to feed our kids so that they have enough energy to play soccer then go to bed early so mum and dad can have some languid sex before passing out and doing it all over the next day. What you and your family does, doesn't concern me or mine in the least. To drive my point home, your daughter can shoot up on your driveway then hump her boyfriend for hours and I won't bat an eyelid; so long as its not on my lawn I don't care!
And a final word here on the blatant misogyny of this whole issue is this; these "Muslim" men who are so concerned with having their daughters and wives' adhere to the Koran and the Prophet are the same men that ogle white women on the street with their tight jeans and flowing hair, who gamble in the casinos (definitely clearly delineated as again Islam), have mortgages (again a no-no its called usury) and entertain themselves in the local whorehouse (conveniently the Koran is a bit vague on this one).
'Gentlemen' (for lack of a synonym - used extremely loosely), before you can fix someone else's shit, best make sure yours is still standing - just saying.
I don't have the energy to address my other grievances therefore, until next time...
So, to provide the top articles topics that boiled my blood - nay - incinerated it, are the following:
1) Honor Killings in the USA
2) G20 and G8 Summits
3) Saudi Arabian Vacation feat. Maureen Dowd (love her - Saudi not so much)
4) BP oil spill (I don't have the strength to go there tonight)
I will start with the honor killings. I'm sure unless you live in a yurt somewhere in northern Canada and are deaf, you heard about the killing of Mississauga, ON teen Aqsa Parvez in December 2007 by her father and brother for failing to wear a hijab, a head scarf commonly worn by Muslims to supposedly adhere to the edict from the Prophet (PBUH - so I don't get my head cut off...) to dress modestly (ahem). I'll start off by questioning the wisdom of travelling to one of the most liberal countries in the world and expect to adhere to the edicts from 'back home'. I know plenty of Muslim women who dress modestly without wandering around looking like they have a perpetual head injury - I'm sorry if this is inflammatory however to my mind in this country at least, it only serves to bring greater attention to these women. They stick out. My head swerves when I see a woman dressed in a floor length tweed coat and black hijab in the middle of July in 90 degree weather versus a scantily clad woman - which one would you like to sit closer to on a crowded bus? I agree with French president Nicolas Sarkozy - this is a country where we don't dress like this. If I were to travel to, say, Riyadh what are the chances I could move about in shorts and a tank top without being arrested or harassed? Slim or none? Hijabs are donned when an aircraft enters Saudi airspace, never mind waiting until getting to your hotel! So why is it then that people come here and are not expected to conform to our society? 'Religious freedom!' they all scream. Yes, very true. But if I were to gouge the eye out of the man who poked me in the eye whilst riding the bus and said to the judge 'but your honor, it says so in the Bible! An eye for an eye', I would surely be escorted to the nearest jail cell to carry out a short term for assault.
An honor killing (not just carried out by Iranian and Iraqi Muslims) is the elimination of a family member - 99.9% of the time a woman - who has in some way, to varying degrees "disgraced the family". This can range from a mild flirtation with an unrelated male, to sex before marriage or (gasp) a rumor that she has a boyfriend! These accusations, whether real or imagined, whip the family into a frenzy that can drive them to desperate measures, namely the murder of the female to "preserve the family honor". This translates to how the 'community' views the family's integrity. Well, I have some sad news for the over zealous and over proud families out there concerned about their 'honour' - listen closely now - here in North America WE-DON'T-GIVE-A-SHIT! We are all too busy trying to make money to feed our kids so that they have enough energy to play soccer then go to bed early so mum and dad can have some languid sex before passing out and doing it all over the next day. What you and your family does, doesn't concern me or mine in the least. To drive my point home, your daughter can shoot up on your driveway then hump her boyfriend for hours and I won't bat an eyelid; so long as its not on my lawn I don't care!
And a final word here on the blatant misogyny of this whole issue is this; these "Muslim" men who are so concerned with having their daughters and wives' adhere to the Koran and the Prophet are the same men that ogle white women on the street with their tight jeans and flowing hair, who gamble in the casinos (definitely clearly delineated as again Islam), have mortgages (again a no-no its called usury) and entertain themselves in the local whorehouse (conveniently the Koran is a bit vague on this one).
'Gentlemen' (for lack of a synonym - used extremely loosely), before you can fix someone else's shit, best make sure yours is still standing - just saying.
I don't have the energy to address my other grievances therefore, until next time...
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