You grant him life and he complains of death. You assure him of an eternity – he says he’d rather enjoy the moment. You give him death, he whines about folly of life. You tell him how it is and how its supposed to – but he’s far more concerned with what he wants it to be. You warn him of himself – he warns you. It’s for your own good you say, but he’s more convinced of his supposedly far-reaching foresight. You tell him there is a time and season for everything, a time for perfection and peace but sadly none is hastier then him, determined to find it here and now. He struggles, sweats and bleeds. He cannot find it and the emptiness begins to consume him. He feels hopeless and dejected, raises his fist to the heavens and scorns you!
Why have you forsaken me he says! You assure him of your unwavering love, of the nature of this world – that man’s quasi-divinity comes at hefty price! “You are a traveller” you tell him, but he says he’d like to stay and reside. “Plant your seeds” you tell him, but he says he is happier consuming. You remind him that you and you alone gave him life, but sadly he takes it for granted, as if he inherently has the right to live. In his most dire frustration, he demands knowing why you’ve brought him into existence—that he’d be better off in naught. He wonders why you didn’t ask ‘him’ first? Lest he enjoys non-existence and finds it far more comfortable and promising… You remind him of his dependence, of his ‘borrowed’ volition, of his pseudo-identity—but alas he just won’t listen, so intoxicated in the wine of life, the cup he was forbidden from drinking; the vinous fruit he should have never ate.
How do you teach a man what he does not wish to learn? Oh man… Oh God.
Let life teach you, For it’s teeming with instruction, Etched into every facet of its being, Seething through all its dimensions Amid the apparent decay and destruction A lesson, present, for those seeing Life is pleading; deliverance For what you desire is before you If only you’d seize it, You are drifting between your destiny, And your fate You plea, that if only the two would meet Forever merging, as they should, resonating with the Grandeur, the Splendour, the infinite lyrics Written into the heart of matter Sung by the soul of man This, the Fallen Angel understood, But failed to see, that in Adam’s weakness, lay his strength In his struggle, In his choice, A chance at eternity, a taste of divinity, a lasting serenity! Know ye of anything more honoured? Of anything more frail? It is before you oh Children of God Oh Sons of Adam, Perchance you’d seize it, Perchance you’d seize it, Before it seizes you, D e s t i n y
 Me and mah boy Aaron (harun) -- its gonna be the cover of our soon to be released gospel-jazz-hop cd -- entitled ''Smoke Sheesha or Die Trying" -- its to encourage the youth, at least the ones who listen to our unique gospel-jazz-hop, to smoke and reach enlightenment :P ehee heheh okay well no.. twisted humour? yes, it happens eheh  - Some snapshots of Lady Zaineb (pbuh)'s shrine  - Some more snapshots of Lady Zaineb (pbuh)'s shrine area  Inside the Ummayyad mosque...ancient isnt it? so much Roman influence in its architecture...  Pictures at a different hammam (public baths), called Malik al-Thaher, arguably one of the oldest in damascus, at least a melenium -- with Ibrahim and Aaron  really beautiful, honestly...nothing could be more relaxing! it was nice way to end the bday :) you really feel like your in a different era hahah, you start speaking classical arabic like you mean it heheheh --- gotta love the hammam experience...you gotta try it :P eheh it sunnah too :P the Imams used to go as well (well, anyway..its more complicated than that isn't it) ...they have a day for women as well...  Some of Ibrahim's boys -- really cool fellas  more pics of the Ummayyad mosque..pics are pretty dark though...  Ibrahim and i blazing it up :P --- okay...just so you don't get any far-streatched ideas, the sheesha thing only rarely happens, maybe once a month or something lol -- after much deliberation its not something to get used to or do on a regular basis...you should listen to our soon to be released cd..  some more pics...Good Sheesha and Zuhorat (flower-tea) -- ah reminds me of the sheesha controversy in Iran, lol ahah more...........okay you've had enough lol there are plenty more but these are the more settled ones :P  Old city in Damascus, Hamediya  Aaron ibn Farouqiyo and Ibrahim al-Afghani from the tribes of bani mansour :P  yup....  Old hammam pic....  Our good ol'pal Salah-ed-Din, well not so good really, a great conqueror but then he has a lot of blood on his hands, he didn't have a problem slaughtering shia' dissidents (among others), humm and he's certainly not alone in that today – some things never change?  Souq al-Hamediya - well at least its ceiling  Mr. Salah-e-dins many castles...  more pics of the old city...  ahem..  yup this is syria :) hope you enjoyed em
Behind me the widow sits at the corner-stall, her family awash in the sea of fate, their memories ebbing with her sighs…their solemn silhouettes caressing her grief-stricken heart, but to what avail? Do not recount their names before her, for they but bring a wicked sorrow that would but gash away at a heart whose numbered beats have become faint and senile. Watch as her parched tears etch the arid sands below her -- carving her anguish -- jagged letters of agony... Let the torrent of her tears cascade and the soil imbibe her sorrow, let the letters become words, for perhaps now the heavens would lend their catholic ears and listen. She says nothing, but of course she needn't say -- everything around her has so gravely spoken. The maroon blood stains blotch her noticeably tattered clothes; it’s a sight no less grim then the ravaged streets that surround around her. No less dire than the innominate children across from her, scavenging through carrion waste, sullying their once innocent hearts. Another sigh escapes the grip of her crippling grief, consoling briefly her heart with an ever so distant hope, reminding her that ‘His’ vital spirit still surges within her. That it is not death that encircles her but the verve of life coiled in the pangs of her suffering. Trying her—painfully chiseling the breadth of her vision; shattering the shackles of this noxious love. Like a mother disciplining her insolent child, that perhaps beyond the tears and grief, she might listen. That she might learn. I wipe her tears with my fleeting thoughts, still damp from life’s somber lessons. For if she has yet to learn, she has at least taught me a lesson.
Just some words…to those of you who haven’t found out personally, alhamdulillah, Damascus University accepted me into their program and i’m really enjoying the studies – its such a diverse environment, its really cool, i’ve got a class with about four Korean girls who don’t cease to amaze me with their advanced arabic, especially when they throw a specific word my way, that I have no idea about in arabic…and that happens quite often actually.. and we’ve got a really cool American (I know it’s rarity, but nothings impossible in this world :P) whose arabic is impeccable. It’s really interesting, we have all sorts of interesting discussions of course all in classical arabic (which I completely suck at) about terrorism (all eyes on me, nah just kidding :P, but can’t help but feel people are always trying to gauge if you’re the terr0rist muslim or not so soo as they hear/see you are muslim but, can’t blame em can i?) the only terror coming out of my mouth is when i try to speak in classical arabic and butcher it with lengthy stutters and stammers ... but all in all, i am improving alhamdulillah.. ah and go figure, the marriage topic doesn’t seem to want to leave me in this university! lol, first someone asked if I was married because I was wearing a religious ring :P muhahah to which I answered with a very inviting, no :P and then we had an entire lesson where we discussed the topic, …of men and women today, nature of relationships, promiscuity and of course marriage… Anyway whats important is, Fursa sa’eeeda to you all aahah the crib here is really cool too alhamdulillah, very clean, somewhat spacious, and very hommy (that’s right homie), all in all, its all going pretty well, with exception to some really painful, possible food-poisoning episodes (couldn’t say I wasn’t warned about it though) …it’s all good alhamdulillah. I’m back to my training routine as well, haha, its sooo built into me, I feel something is lacking unless I’m throwing punches and kicks and picking up metal :P i’ve added swimming to the tab as well … but that all depends on how much of the much desired time i’ll have left to do all this. But man, things run so differently here hahah, but lol, I’ll leave that for another post… As much as I hate –me me me- posts, i thought id let yall know how its all coming.. Peace
Today’s my third day in Damascus, one of the few archaic cities still inhabited by the treacherous, all-consuming race of homosapiens. As some of you may have known earlier, the lovely, gracious Syrian Government (haha, can anyone smell taqiyya, or at least a dash of sarcasm :P), God protect and lengthen their freedom loving (copyright bush?) country. Anyway, i now officially have TWO of the three axis of evil countries on my passport, and in all likelihood, and as logical induction would suggest, North Korea is the next stop :P Haha gotta love bush’s star-wars speeches, and they say t.v. doesn’t fry your minds!
Ooo, I need all your prayers right now. So far things, after seemingly funnelling down a hopeless streak of failed and unexpected series of events, like the rejection of my groups student visas by Syria –which now that we’re here we’re being told was as a result of certain terrorist incidents that occurred by a certain Turkish (saif, you around?) student who was studying as a foreign student so apparently there was a lot of hesitation on the governments parts to admit any foreign students, particularly those of some Islamic affiliation! But alas, like many countries they don’t distinguish between the myriad of Islamic strands of thoughts and instead, when a so called ‘Muslim’ does something horrific it seems to stain and taint the integrity of every ACTUAL Muslim irrespectively. Shame… R>Anyway, so far so good, but I could still use your prayers. Whether or not we wish to acknowledge it, prayers do have a viable sway in the grandeur hierarchy of causes and destinies; this we have been repeatedly assured by scripture, and as some would adduce, by sheer experience. Certainly, what will be will be, but a prayer might certainly steer the direction of even the seemingly inevitable, perhaps not always in an exceptional, miraculous type of way, but many a times through casual means. That said, please pray for me, especially the prayer of the pure-hearted and the believers (who are supposed to be pure-hearted anyway :P) toward whom God is especially attentive.
Status: Damascus University seems to have accepted my application, they are waiting for one more document which should be ready tomorrow from the Canadian embassy :) other than that all is great alhamduillah. Next obstacle is getting my visa status changed from tourist to student, haha, we were rejected before i pray that that won’t happen again. Damascus Uni seems to really have a thorough, intensive Arabic program. I hope it works out. They have interesting requirements too, lol, like an AIDS test for forigen students (which i tested positive for! Well positive, here means negative lol thank God they had brackets explaining what they ment—i.e. positive for not having Aids). Haha at the placement test (where they decided which level they should PLACE me in) which took several hours, it got really interesting, the last part of the test was a live interview with one of the teachers and they would access your ability to communicate in fushah (traditional arabic). I’m sloppy at my colloquial Arabic let alone my traditional Arabic, anyway, the lady that was examining me seemed to really have a go at me with the best of questions! Could it get any better than this?(in Arabic of course, interviewer in plain text, thoughts delineated by asterisks) Are you married?
Err noo I am not married.
Why aren’t you married?
Humm, *looks for quick excuse* the time isn’t suitable for me yet *as if it will ever be*.
Why would anyone want to get married anyway?
*hunh? Is she serious! Drop the freaking topic lol!* oh well, *again looks for a quick excuse after a long pause and a perhaps an invisible blush* for love, for… *as she cuts me off, oo good I hope she’s leaving the topic* …
What do you think of the events in Iraq and across the arab world in the name of Islam?
*ooo, interesting topic, but sadly, I can barely speak in such terms in Arabic… and begins another struggle* :P
 This is lady Ruqiyya's shrine at the Umayyad mosque..ah, this please is so laden of unspeakable sadness...what to say, to a five year old martyr who died seeing her fathers beheaded head before her.!  Lady Ruqiyya's shrine from distance  This is the grave of Prophet Yahya (john the baptist), ah, it was so beautiful to be in his midst, alhamduillah! It really felt like something around his tomb! err despite the fact that he's sadly in the heart of the Ummayyad mosque, where the tyrant yazid would issue his oppressive edicts, the worst of which was to murder the grandson of the Prophets and his family! aww how can such beauty as Yahya's grave stands poised besides such nefarious filth!  This is the podium, awwh man the anger that surges through the heart knowing what evil used to sit on that podium and wreak oppression in the name of natures religion! err..sigh our history is sadly so dark.  leave the most important pictures for last of course :P lol in case ya'll forgotten me already haha, mind the sleepy eyes haha, its Ramadhan tooo, and God err, crazy dogs wouldn't stop barking last night!! so annoying they seem to mysteriously decide to bark just as i'm going to sleep haha, those of u know who know me well enough, know that i'm a poooor sleeper, i'd do good as a security guard of some sort, you can count on my not sleeping on the job... anyway... nuff rambling... peace to yall, and Blessed month of Ramadhan to all the believers!
A friend of mine forwarded this video to me...Its one of those few video's that really move you and break your heart as well as your tears; its extremely saddening and it takes a direct look into daily Palestinian life as well as aggressions committed by the so-called State of isFake against peaceful protesters from around the globe (such as the International Solidarity Movement). It delves right into the middle of it all and lets you see and judge for yourself... Disturbingly real and extremely deplorable, but a reality that we must nonetheless recognize, at least that's the first step. A caution however, some of the video scenes are quite graphic--but that said, sometimes you need to see something to fully appreciate its magnitude. Here is its description on google-videos: British report on Israeli violence in Gaza against not only Palestinian civilians, but international aid volunteers and foreign reporters as well.
Estranged in its toils and miseries, you are a stranger wandering its jagged, soiled streets, longing for a home you’ve yet to reside and a peace you’ve yet to encounter. The cold winter night clothes you with its harrowing comfort—sheltering you from the sun’s searing heat. Alas, it is the sun you truly seek, or so your heart assuredly whispers, but much to your dismay, your body can only take so much of the sun’s heat. You realise you are weak. After further deliberation you recognize there are untapped reserves of inner strength, dormant, lurking behind your simple, and yet most difficult of choices. That said, you realise in whose merciful hands you subsist, and in whose eyes your penitence will be readily valued—suddenly, the prospect of self-revolution dawns on you, for there is no alternative. No alternative but to stop the lie and stop trusting the illusion. Is it your indecisiveness that torments you? Could change be so simple? Choice. Could there really be solace in the cold? If anything, you’ve been in the cold, perhaps far too long—you’ve felt its callous touch, stared deep into its deafening eyes, and swallowed its riddled promises. You can’t take it any longer, how can you? As you watch yourself butcher the few meagre remnants of your humanity—the spiritual guillotine you’ve submissively offered your neck to. Others too, weren’t as foreseeing, they too readily forwent their souls, sparing it of life’s most prized choices, as though infants suckling the illusion, embracing the wretched mother that has no mercy over her child. You are surrounded by such gruelling martyrs—they clutter its streets—theirs stories all so similar, of far-flung expectations and mundane dreams. They are strangers too, their eyes laden with regret as they mourn their failures. If you listen closely you can hear their faint, brittle cries, echoing past the ruptured chambers of their now hollow hearts. Peer then, into their furrowed desolate eyes, for past the dreary void you will find the root of their desperation, the least of which is a looming fate, a fate ever so crimson. They chose to be strangers, not to this world, but the other. Choice; a liability ardently sought by those who lack it, a gruelling burden to those who exploit and abuse it, and a lasting tribute to those who honour its temperament. Now choose.
Rest between mine heart and soul Oh whose love I keenly desire Tis my divining, through love, you stole and lit the niche of my heavenly fire Engulf me in your flames of Lord And purge, that love, from that heart thither. For only through Your Love it soared And through that Love, dissolve and wither The fire within one, burns, within all For the potter, of the same clay created Oh Son of Adam, let your self fall! For in falling, it is truly elevated What ailleth man? So arrogant and tall For yesterday he was meagre clot, Tomorrow, as if passing in naught and yet today, he imagines he is all Let your self fall, oh Son of Eve, For the fate of all things await you, Set it free, you must, before you leave, Oh Son of Adam and Eve Set it free and let ‘His’ love engulf you
This is a video a friend forwarded to me, i've watched it, and although it is not really new knowledge as per the gist of it--it still struck me. Slavery as much as we have been assured otherwise, has NOT magically disappeared as some would have us believe, rather it has taken a new tone. It's saddening really, how far these multinational businesses and organizations are willing to go to exploit other human beings, profiting from their misfortune and cheap slave-labour. This video will likely kindle if not a flicker of the conscience many of us have inured to evil and intensify our compunctions for what ever designer clothing we've purchased in the past and dissuade us from purchasing any in the future--so long as the situation remains as foul as it is. I just wish we can make an immediate change, and sadly that's not the case, but the first step towards any problem is first identifying it to begin with... so its a start in the right direction. May the Merciful help us end this suffering.
I was having a really interesting convo with my dad on msn, and yes, I CHAT with my dad on msn, we are several thousand miles away from each other and after all it’s the 21st century innit (spoken with a makeshift Canadio-British™ accent)? Anyway, it was quite an interesting confabulation (muhahaha had to use this con-fabulous word!, okay sorry enough cheese); we spoke about many things, first about a life-long friend he’d just reunited with and with whom he shared nearly everything—literally, carbon copies of each other, the poetry, the art, the same blood type… errmm things which I also have completely in common with my dad, …err hate to say it, but its nearly like father like son in many cases. And as my high-school teacher Mr. Laggis used to say, more often then some of his students liked … “I digress”. The colloquy (ooo another one, muhahah) took its pace as we ventured into the morbid realms of death and old age…both of which we agreed weren’t always passages of life the children of Adam wanted to pass through…And why should we long to pass through them, even amid the worst of quagmires, we love life. We really do, and we love it with a sort of insatiable passion. We savour it and eagerly hanker for more of it, through money, power, pleasure; what ever strokes and seemingly intensifies our existence. As for those of us who’ve contemplated the abominable; suicidally ‘taking’ our lives—cowering and relinquishing our life in an inner crescendo of frustration. To be sure, many of us have been there, some more critically than others and as wrong as it is, it’s never committed because we truly loath the prospect of life. No. Rather, we do it because we love life so much that we cannot bear to see it deficient and seemingly absent of all that of which we deeply desire of life, be it love, power, worldly success; the desires are apparently many, but they are really one. We desire life, in the richest of its forms; a life of lasting peace and of contentment. That’s what rabidly resonates in our soul—the money, the power, the pleasure are no more then transient tastes of what we truly desire. A few dollars might lend a few moments of fleeting peace but just as those dollars are spent so too are those few moments of peace—lasting far less then what we truly desire. Despite the daunting spectre of death and old age, are they not passages toward that greater life—the one we so fervently desire? For our desires are clearly ‘not of this world’ since this world defiantly betrays our desires time and time again—as it banters our unquenchable thirst for life. So if our scales are fair why not long for that eternal abode? And if they are weighty what else is there but to seek redemption and turn in penitence. A kind of tender irony, as God further directs us toward that which we desire; since death becomes an inescapable misfortune, life an endless pit of self-ruin and penitence the only retreat from our misery. And of old-age what more of an invitation to repentance can one ask for? “What is the life of this world but amusement and play? but verily the abode of the Hereafter,- that is life indeed, if they but knew.” The Quran (29:64)
If you havn't seen it you have to see this video! ahah, i watched it a dozen times lol, the man is a riot! lol, it baffles me how he is an MP :P lol he's awesome (at least when he is championing the truth). Its refershing to see British MP speaking so passionately for the right reasons. check it out...
okay, enough... stop watchin Lost or whatever t.v. series you folks are addicted to (okay, fine, im the one addicted to it :P) and watch something beneficial (not that Lost is time lost, hah, but ..err anyway) yah, this is really good, exposes a lot of the misrepresentation of the facts we continually see our media engaging in... Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle ... East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported. Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one. The documentary also explores the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.
Eve lives in theory, i know her only by name, she is a mirage, a possibility, a distant claim i’ve heard of her appeal, of how her beauty is real a whiff of divinity a source of serenity her descriptions are plenty, and the words always seem to fail for many have searched painstakingly, but Eve leaves no trail she is as Adam’s Holy Grail lurking only in his fancy, a visage of all that is perfection leaving men to and fro folly to their own deception for Eve lives only in theory they will soon come to know
She lives a crooked lie,
Covering her perception
Till her demise,
Since her inception
Offering excuses,
Backing her desperation
Into his eyes, peering
Yearning, for inspiration
But he is not as she sees,
And she is not as she seems,
To God she prays and pleas,
To foster her reality
To colour her dreams,
But ‘He’ is more aware
Of what is, and ought be,
She lives a crooked lie,
That’s true,
I just wish she could see
I just wish he could see
She lives a crooked lie
but, so does he.
You know, heh, i empathize more and more with the Mal’akhim as they exclaimed their astonishment at the Lord’s will not long ago; their astonishment goes without saying. Really, one needn’t even look; you can very well hear the corruption and bloodshed the Angels knew would so easily ensue as the children of Adam began their reign on earth. It makes a man wonder, and it makes a wonder of a man; what destiny underlies his anguish? What purpose did the Heavens have in mind as they let Adam loose and what have they now, as they watch the dreadful turmoil unfold? I wonder still, and empathize even more…and yet i am realising, quite simply, that in a grandeur sense, what is, is what must be. This is in some sense how the Merciful responded to the innocent bewilderment of the Angels, assuring them that, beyond all, there is more to man then what meets the eye. There lies a purpose and destiny that even a high arch-Angel Azazeel turned Shaytan, could not stomach with ease, and in many senses, neither can i. Man’s ultimate purpose and destiny will remain, in much in the same way as it began, contentious and difficult to grasp. The difference however, is where Satan turned away in rebellion, masking his ignorance with denial; the Angels harkened in submission, accepting their ignorance in the face of what Providence ultimately had in store. This too, is required of Adam’s children, as they wonder over their plight—for they are expected to wonder, but lest their wonder turn to frustration with the Divine, and worse yet, lest their frustration turn into denial. What is clear is that the Lord is incomprehensible and evidently how can the musings of a limited and obtuse creation ever encompass the unparalleled ‘thoughts’ and ‘intentions’ of his creator? Never mind his ability to encompass ‘him’; he can barely articulate his thoughts of him, for what combination of letters can describe his sublimity and what imageries can capture his majesty? How then does he seriously expect to fathom the Lords intentions for bani-Adam and the ultimate purpose and destiny that underlie his creation; one that supersedes and overbears the clearly inexcusable corruption and bloodshed we see everyday? This may very well fall on deaf ears, considering we live in a world where man’s ability to discern is seriously overrated—he naively feels he can understand anything, and anything that can’t be understood is better off deemed as non-existent, at least that would somehow afford him some comfort (or so he thinks).Ultimately though, it is God and God alone, who can divulge perhaps a morsel, a meagre fragment of such purpose to our feeble minds—and even that would be a bargain. So when i open the shaitan-box and bustle (noo not busal, whoever you are you must be Arab and hungry) to see the news, and all that’s seen is suffering, I empathize with the Angels and wonder what is to become of man in this epic we call life.
"When your Lord said to the Angels, 'Ineed I am going to set a viceroy on the earth,' they said, 'Will You set in it someone who will cause corruption in it, and shed blood?! while we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your sanctity?' He said, 'Indeed I know what you do not know'." Quran 2:30
life goes on, its tragic melody still ringing in my ears, the pretensions, the impasses', the fears-- the roses are no longer as red, their scent no longer fragrant, it’s only a matter of time, never wanted the wealth, the fame or the riches opulence is in the soul, in your aroma your thoughts, your aspirations the deepest of your dreams it’s in your foresight in your vibe, in what you strive, what you would sweat for and die, what touches you at the core, beyond the mere lure, the pain or the pleasure, it’s what defines you, what strips you of that letter, i, it’s that breath before the next, the one that you live for it’s what you wake up to it’s what wakes you what inspires and takes you it’s purpose ------------ Sadly so many live lives without purpose, if at all living--purposelessly, letting life live them, and so it does, and it goes on...and they don't. Help us keep sight of our purpose, Lord, and let us live life with it in mind, and thereby die with purpose. For such as it began with purpose so too should it end ...Let it be the true purpose, for as it is, is as you say. All is in your hands, Amen.
this is some raw poetry from an artist i revere and hold with much esteem--unlike a lot of what i come across, these words aren't regurgitated thoughts and feelings being spewed unto a page...its not poetry for the sake of poetry, letters for words, or words for sentences...its more than that, it speaks what all letters n words should, and that’s truth--the type of truth that resonates in your ear when you hear it and continues to do so, it doesn't wear out or grow old, an invigorating fragrance that neither wanes or diminishes in time! By: Amir Sulaiman (http://www.amirsulaiman.com)
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For a dirty old man he was rather composed he turned towards me and casually walked into my personal space so close I could feel his breath on my face all the things in me telling me to back away were not as strong as my desire to hear what he had to say then he spoke and said... I heard a woman sing a song today. You’ll never guess what she said. That woman told me that the best things in life are free. She must use the word “free” only as monetarily not free like it didn’t cost anything and anyways who is she to sing about the best things in life? ya know? what are the best things in life... is it love is it happiness is it a good husband a good wife is it fame and fortune is it seeing your name in lights is it honor is it freedom is it knowledge and wisdom is it charity is it mercy, peace is it loyalty is it appreciation is it salvation is it satisfaction is it self realization Now, I want you to tell me which one of these things you gonna get for free It may not cost you a dime but it may cost you a lifetime With these old eyes I’ve seen a grown man hold his head and cry pursuing the best things in life a leader looks in the eyes of his followers and lies pursuing the best things in life an 18 year old boy is shot and dies pursuing the best things in life a motherless child sucks poison out of a pipe pursuing the best things in life a young girl sells her body to the camera and lights pursuing the best things in life And she has the nerve to tell me the best thing in life are free? Hey youngblood, what are you willing to pay for the best things in life? Are you willing to kill or die for the best thing in life? Or are you gonna live a lie for the best things in life? I didn’t answer. I couldn’t answer. My thoughts returned to my ever approaching demise and I realized... ...I have more to do than I thought.
It is interesting how subtle the partition between good and evil is—yet how far removed they are from each other. Strange that, good is so easily committed, and how evil even easier. Let time have it as it may, one is easily inured to the questionable, much less the reprehensible. In truth the very sequel to one’s evil actions, since at times being so seemingly inconsequential, leads the foolish in to further volitional intoxication—construing the lack of immediate consequence as a license for further evil. For if one does not immediately chide a child for his insolence, in time, he only persists in the act—failing to see the wrong in what was done. How then is our plight? For no longer are we children, gracing this world in utter naivety—no, no longer—rather as time would have it, our intellects have been chiselled and honed, and our moral faculties no less. Why then are we like children, though indeed far more deplorable—we are imprudent in our actions and feelings, inured to their foul muck, naïve to their consequences, lacking even the most cursory of foresight. The gift of life is not in the least without an inestimable price, of which we are all vested to pay, lest we fool ourselves in to thinking otherwise—we are causally reminded of this, albeit intermittently.
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