Now is Good ~

« New year .. New me » is a phrase I come across every day on the internet, when the year starts crawling to its end ; People annually indulge in false optimism and publically manifest their will to improve themselves .. just as soon as the new year begins, not now. “Now” is not “good” like the movie suggests, now is messy , now is wicked, now is their minds in too late.

Inactivity is a very active state of mind, a decision that we live with every day, it lives through us, out of us , and thrives at our expense. Do we really want this ? No, we rather exhaust ourselves with loathsome obligations than go ahead and do something that makes our hearts pound, and our souls flourish and sing.

 What about our ambitions and aspirations ? No, we are a preoccupied race, we are busier than bees; we have duties, fully-scheduled weeks, pre-designed lives that suck the life out of us. We rather wake up “bright and early for [our] daily races, going nowhere ..” as go the lyrics of the song “Mad World”.

We are mad not to live now, “live immediately” like Seneca advises. But no, We leave the things that we love till after exams, after graduation, after marriage .. till time becomes untimely and our dreams undone ..

“Now is Good”, do not wait for the next year to create the new you. Now, be brave and say that long-awaited I love you, that reluctant I am sorry .. burst out, without thinking, and I say the things that have long been heaping upon your chest ..

Start that diet already ! .. Finish that wickedly inaccessible book .. Write that beautifully abstract short story that was long spinning melodiously in your head .. Make that damn delicious looking cake you saw on the internet with the secret ingredient .. Think of ways to concretize that dream project of yours for dreams do not exist in notebooks .. Start practicing your passion on a daily basis, you’re never too old to learn a new language or pick up a new instrument or embark on a new dream  ..  

The new You is up to you to make .. Time does not make you, it just pours down quietly like a stream, in one direction , you mould it to your liking .. You choose to live or just exist .. Now is Good ..              

AIESEC Tunisia _ Get Ready 2014 ~

Paulo Coelho once said : “ If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it’s lethal. “

We are Tunisian students. We are young, painfully young and dreamy. Our souls encapsulate tremendous energy and potential. We want to step out of our shell, we want to delve into the unknown, the beautifully enigmatic. We long to take risks, to plunge into the wide and rich realm of opportunities. We long to experience something new, because routine means death .. Routine means tastelessness but we are young .. fearlessly young ! And we want to breathe, we want to dream, we want to live.

We are Tunisian students. But our educational system cuts off our wings. We go through courses, exams and presentations on a daily basis. We sit through lectures , silent and inactive, receiving knowledge without participating in creating it and memorizing information without asking why, without having the right to speak our minds.

We are Tunisian students and we do not want this anymore. We demand that our opinions be voiced. We want our voices to reach and fly though the entire globe. We do not want monotony and routine. We do not want to be forced into silence and passivity. We want to act .. And act sustainably!

This is what AIESEC has taught us for the past month and especially for the last three days. It was a weekend of wonders, of laughters, of fulfilling experiences, of new friendships, of bitter-sweet sensations; we were tired but excited, we lacked sleep but there was an incredible amount of energy dormant within us. We unleashed it, we enjoyed participation to the fullest ! We worked as much as we danced. We engaged ourselves in fruitful conversations, we let our voices be heared, we discovered the beautiful Other, we authentically lived diversity.

We are Tunisian students. And we found in AIESEC, a wholesome space and a rich platform to forget the monotonous academic lives we lead, to rebel against a system that has long silenced us. Thanks to AIESEC , we were able to transmit our ideas to more than 700 delegates, we were given the chance to genuinely activate Leadership through the different workshops we participated in. We operated within numerous groups and competed amiably between each other. Each group strived for excellence; all you see is people running around tirelessly , all you see is faces marked with determination and enthusiasm to make their project work and thrive. At the end of the day, we were exhausted, but we were satisfied.

Once upon a hot Sunday, toward the end of this amazing journey, an inspiring man called Nadhem Bardaa, infused within us overflowing streams of zeal and dedication through his wise, funny and stimulating words. He implemented  inside us Hope and eagerness to carry on as such; with the same passion and hard work to create a positive impact in our communities and leave a meaningful heritage behind us.

We went home exhausted but our hearts were filled with new loves and new hopes. We will never forget this weekend as long as we breathe. We heartily thank you AIESEC .. :’) 

Bach .. Thy Middle Name is Magic ~

Air - Johann Sebastian Bach ~

The first rays of sunshine tickled her eyes,

 Bach’s Air was furtively heared, beautiful notes from under her pillow

Never was she delighted in being  so still, with her head tilted towards the Earth as if rejoicing in a subtle Heavenly music ..

As if Bach’s Air is enticing her to feel her way past the senses to capture the loud unplayed notes ,

For strings unleash their melodious cries and leave an everlasting echo of a second’s pause .. to catch a breath, to halt a motion, to release a sigh, to undo a frown ..

The pleasant soundless void is music to the soul ..

The faint dying remnants of a note .. Empathy in a silence never silenced .

It dwells in the heart of every note and reigns in a moment, unbridled

Ever so aching to tell a story .. Ever so craving to touch a heart ..

For a Genuine Understanding of Eid Al-Idh’ha in Islam ~

At midnight, here in Tunisia, it suddenly struck me how alienated people are from the truth, the real , normally crystal-clear meanings of things ..

Tomorrow is Eid AL Adh’ha in the Muslim Ummah.  It is a yearly celebration in which people sacrifice to get closer to Allah sub’anahu wa taala.

 Yes, they are meant to sacrifice ! Not only the perishable meat of the lamb .. They should sacrifice their inner evils, their hidden mischievous intentions, their unnecessary arrogances, their selfish desires, their greed, their indifference, their heartlessness ..

In these blessed ten days of Thu-AlHajja, the Month of Al Hajj, I see people bying startingly expensive sheeps, leaving themselves in debt for the rest of the year, if not the year after.

I see people walking their sheeps boastingly across the neighborhood just to show to the public eye their ability to buy a sheep in these miserable days. They spend their afternoons bragging about how fat their sheeps are, entirely indifferent to the fact that poor people are deprived to indulge in this holy celebration.

I see women chattering in street corners, in markets, in hair-dressing saloons about poor women with empty bags in the souks, bying insignificant amounts of meat to feed the children on the Idh’ha day. They relish in their misery, they mock their sheep-less houses and their meat-less stomacks instead of extending a helping hand. This is what this holy ceremony is about.

Yes, it is holy. People are supposed to show humility, kindness and piety in these blessed days. They should linger on prayer carpets extending their hands in Du’aa to Allah. They should read and meditate on the Quran and design a life in harmony to its teachings.

I pray to Allah to humble their souls and endow their hearts with generosity and kindness.

Eid Idh’ha Mubarak to our dear Muslim Ummah. J

What Makes Your Heart Sing ? ~

Passenger - Scare Away The Dark ~

"We should run through the forest
We should swim in the streams
We should laugh, we should cry,
We should love, we should dream
We should stare at the stars and not just the screens
You should hear what I'm saying and know what it means .."

 Buildings  with guards .. houses with doors ..

Doors with doorknobs, doorknobs with keys ..

Rooms with windows .. windows with shutters ..

 Selves inside shells .. Souls inside stones

 Modernity or pleasant conformity ..

No, existential mediocrity

Life-long voluntary confinement in grayish sameness

Wallowing in tastelessness

I want abandoned valleys  

Worn out wooden houses

Random herbs growing on its doors

Not grayish, not gray, ever so green ..

I want roofless cottages

Beds made of Earth, scented mud ,

Flowers unknown, releasing their fragrance into the breeze ..

Let it brush your skin, penetrate your soul, look at the stars ..

No roof, no walls, no ceiling  ..

Then, let your lids embrace,  it is so precious a feeling

Who said the sky is the limit ? The sky is the destination

 The sky is our real Home ..

Like Gaza There Is No Place ~

Strength is when you look at Pain right in the face

When you search among wreckage for the seeds of Rebirth

When childish laughters defeat the sounds of Death

When you colour fresh wounds with drops of Mirth

Like Gaza there is no place

Smiles, yet tired, revive its Earth

Souls bent with worship yet filled with Grace

Hearts tinged with power since their birth

Their fierce eyes speak Resistance

Infused in their blood

Carved in their skin

Besmeared on their face

They walk through rain and mud

They go through thick and thin

Fed by Life and Hope

They march to their noble end

For Freedom is there to be wrenched

And Dreams are there to be embraced  

Truly, like Gaza there is no place ..

For Gaza : To Resist is To Win ~

To resist is to win

You are wounded to the bone

Tired is your body, scarred is your skin

But to resist is to win

The wrath inside you should not burn out

The warrior within you must not give in

For to resist is to win

Your will is power

Be angry, rise and shout

Don’t lower your chin

By God, to resist is to win

You stand lonely yet proud

You are victorious, you are to win

Fight hard, speak loud

For the dreamer that once been

For the child within

But never give in

For giving up is a sin

And to resist is to win ..