One of my (Impossibilities)

In a previous post, on my blog, I discussed the idea of having (impossibilities) in our lives, and how we should question those (impossibilities), because they might turn to be (possible), although we think they are impossible, I called us to investigate our paradigms of how we see the impossible in our lives, implying that many of them are not at all (impossible), but in our minds, as we all live slaves by them and to them.

I think it’s a good introduction to begin talking about that, as this post is about mentioning one of my once thought (impossibility), and I think for most of the Jordanians, back in the school when we were still kids we used to keep by heart a poem by Iliya Abu Madi it goes like this:
He said the sky is depressed, then he frowned,
I said, please smile, its enough frowning, and complaining.

قال السماء كئيبة، و تجهما، قلت إبتسم يكفي التجهم في السما

Excuse me for my poor translation, the poem is about a pessimistic person, who sees everything around as depressed as he is, so the poet gives him an advice, to stop frowning, and whining, and to see the bright side of everything, really a great poem, but I think should be read in Arabic, especially if its to be translated by me.

But what has this to do with of the impossible thing I'm going to talk about? Simply because it's about smiling, my mom used to tell people that I don't smile even to a hot loaf, which is an Arabic expression used to describe a person who never smiles, that’s really funny! I really used to wear that frown all the time, I was proud of it, but why do I use the "past tense"? May be I still wear that mask from time to time, and I see it in some others' eyes; want to ask "don't you smile ever?", despite believing in our Prophet Mohammad Peace be upon him: "smiling to others is a charity", it was impossible for me to smile.

Once upon a time, my boss called me; he was in another department, he told me that he needed me, I went there as quickly as I could, when I was there, he told me that one of my female colleagues had a problem with her computer, they were watching me, I fixed the problem on the fly, it didn't take me minutes, then I told him that I did it, and asked if he needed something else, he asked me to wait for a minute before I leave to my sacred department and office, that’s really funny! I stood there waiting for what he was up to, he asked me to look at my female colleague, and asked me "isn't she beautiful?" "Yes! She is" I answered, "doesn't she deserve a minute of your time?" he asked diplomatically, I frowned, then I followed it with another frown, and a third frown, oh God! What was happening to me? How I was thinking? Simply it was one of my (impossibilities), later I knew that he was trying to teach me that a smile is worth more than any thing.

I hear many talk about how Jordanians don't smile, and it's because of the hardships we face, and the hard economic conditions, I believed in that for a long time, but not any more, why because I meet many Egyptians who work in Jordan, who always keep a smile on their faces, and I think that they all have their own hardships, something else here, now I put a smile on my face more often than ever, although its difficult, I think its not a Jordanian problem, in my opinion its attitude problem, its how we see life, and hardships we face, when we frown, its implying that we have problems in our lives, and we can't be happy about, it implies that we will keep whining about them, but at the same time we forget that frowning isn't the solution for our problems, and hardships, the solution has nothing to do with whether we smile or not, so we have to make a paradigm shift, that smiling may help in the relaxation process needed to solve our problems, and frowning doesn’t bring any benefit.

So the first step I took to solve this problem was two to three years ago, that I kept a piece of paper in my pocket, and I used to read it every morning, there was written on it a line which read "smile, please smile, even if u don't want to smile" and as soon as I read that line I order the muscles on my face to smile, and that’s how I began to meet people with a smile on my face.

But later, may be one year ago, I began another way, which is to change my attitude and try to look at things differently, from another perspective, may be more optimistic, the problem with this way is that the new attitude is not yet rooted in, so sometimes I get to what I used to be, I'm working on this once thought (impossible), it was (impossible) only in my mind, no where else.

So do you have your own (impossibilities)? And do you still think that they are (impossible)? Please try to do something, try to check them; they might turn to be something of the past, change your attitude toward things.

Bloggers I need help (against…)

Wasta, what a word! Has no equivalent word in any other language, English, French, or Chinese, I told my American friend about it, it was the first time he heard of it, then I tried to explain its meaning to him, he was trying hard to figure what it really was, like it was came from an alien from the outer space, there was a strange expression on his face.

Wasta is our Jordan flavor for doing things, without it nothing works, it’s a form of ways to get a permission, or to be able to do things ,which without u can't do, in some countries they use bribes, in others power, the power of money, etc., but in Jordan we are more civilized! We just use Wasta, even the sound of this word is nice, and it keeps resonating like a soft music, wasta, ta ta ta.

But what does Wasta mean? For those who doesn't know Arabic, or may be non-Jordanian, we should define the word so it would be clear for them how much we are lucky to have such a word, this great word means that a person has to know someone else with high ranks, or authority, to be able to have a job, or do things, e.g. to be able to have a job in x company, u should know someone to call a manager in that company to help you get the job, even if you are unqualified, so its great to have a Wasta, isn't it?!!!!

Many argue that Wasta became a reality, and we have to accept it as a way of living, and have our Wasta to be able to get a good job, ok let us take that logic aside, and think of some other way to deal with this great phenomenon, lets accept that it’s a reality, and sometimes may be we can't do things without Wasta, but on the other hand do we do anything to change that reality? I don't think so, most of us accept it and say its impossible to change, one of the Jordanian impossibilities, I believe we can do something against it.

Some people think that Wasta is a she, and others think it’s a he, and I think it’s a shehe, the benefits of it works for both females and males, so it has no gender, we can neither say Miss /Mrs. Wasta, nor Mr. Wasta, but why do we care if she is or he is? We should be proud we have it.

Others say Wasta exists in other counties; it's not a Jordanian mark, what is that logic, which justifies it? Do we have to accept this bitter-sweet reality, or try to do something? I'm one who will try to do something, even if its considered to others nothing, I would be happy with this nothing, instead of standing and watching.

I tried to contact some of my friends who are graphic designers, and asked them to make a banner or logo against Wasta, so bloggers could easily use it, and put it on their blogs, declaring that we are not happy with this thing, but as those designers are lazy, and didn't believe in the idea, I really need help regarding making the banner, or whatsoever called, to publish and send it to bloggers, to be the first to do something against it.

Would any one help me in this task? Let's do something, bloggers I need your help.

Killed his Three Daughters (True Story)

He woke them up early in the morning, hurry up we have a lot of work today, he told them, the three of them wanted to sleep more, one of them told her sisters that she was dreaming of her wedding day, and that it would be soon, they laughed, when their father interrupted them, come on we have work to do.

It was still dark, the sun was beginning to rise shyly, the father was the first, walking quickly, he usually walked slowly, the youngest daughter asked him, father why are you in a hurry today? He didn't answer, until they reached their farm, he told them that they have to dig a big hole to be used as a well, one of them told him that they had one, the father replied that the well would be only used for special events.

They all worked from sun rise, to sun set, for several days, 7 meters deep, their father was happy with them, he told them that many times, his daughters were happy too, it was the first time he asked them a hand.

The day of the party finally came, they couldn't wait more, they finished the work, and now it was celebrating time, the father told them he wanted to hug them, and kiss them, he did it, quickly he stabbed his first daughter in the back, the second, then the third as quickly as he could, cold-bloodedly, he looked at them, his daughter who was first killed had still a smile on her face, the smile was declaring their innocence, he wiped his knife, and threatened his son to tell anyone of his crime.

This crime took place in Irbid, twelve years ago, Jordanian Daily newspaper Al Rai reported.