tøom extra: Toom Extra Season 1

tøom extra: Toom Extra Season 1: يسرّ أعضاء فريق توم إكسترا دعوتكم إلى حفل توقيع كتابهم الأوّل: توم إكسترا الموسم الأوّل وذلك نهار الخميس 1 كانون الأوّل 2011 إبتداءً من...

You Cannot

 "Niaak" |  © Samah El Hakim 2011

You cannot remain indifferent & be irresponsible facing all the atrocities that happen in our world daily:

1. You cannot throw half of your 20$-worth-platter when millions are starving and specifically someone in your neighborhood.
2. You cannot throw a can/paper/trash bag and leave it on the ground because you are in a hurry and missed the trash bin.
3. You cannot open the water tap for 5mns while brushing your teeth while millions have no access to drinking water / or have no teeth left for that matter.
4. You cannot buy more than you need, spend more than you earn or throw more than you give.
5. You cannot retreat to your safety bubble and think it will last forever, because it surely won't my friend.

I say "cannot" knowing that we are doing all of the above and more.
I surely am a long way from being the illuminated & the ultimate savior of the planet, I just write, am conscious of what is happening around me on all sides and feel responsible while trying to act no matter how insignificant any action I do might seem relatively to the vastness of the world.

What if, just imagine with me, every one of us does insignificant actions on a daily basis?
I say it will all build-up into something significant following this simple example:

(1 insignificant 10 kg monthly plastic collection

 + taken to the recycling plant)
x
100 households (as insignificant as my action)
=
1000Kg of plastic waste going to recycling

-------

It doesn't cost to be involved, to engage, to act, to live, to feel the wind on your face and the people around you, to have compassion, to be responsible and to be conscious.

It would be sad to have another species write one day: "... and due to their indifference and lack of responsibility, the humans got extinct."

The Earth is ours, the solution is us and the worse is yet to come.

Drink water... while it lasts.

A Thought About Pain

No matter how short our lives can be, pain is always there.

It's not a negative-vibe-post I am trying to conceive here, it's a projection of what's inside my head right now: an infuriating pain of knowing that I am most of the time helpless facing all the pain I see around, whether it inflicts me or not.

There's the physical pain, the moral pain, the psychological pain, the plain pain, the sexy pain, the made-up pain, etc...

You think the ultimate pain is hitting your left thumb with a hammer only to discover that breaking it is much more painful.

You think breaking-up with "the one" is painful only to find that losing a loved one in a silly accident a million times harder.

Then you think that witnessing the death of millions of people for food shortage is painful and makes you feel helpless, until you know that thousands of tons of food are being destroyed in order to maintain a proper market price...

-------

It's been a while now I've been observing people around me:
we've become a self-centered-ego-maniac-driven humanity.

What Hesperides said might be true:
"No pains, no gains.
If little labor, little are our gains:
Man's fortunes are according to his pains."

However, my dear Hesperides, if you were living in our world today, I can only imagine what you might have said about gain & pain...

What future awaits us, I do not know, what I know is that the worst pain is inflicted by humans -to any other living creature- when they lose their humanity, no matter how insignificant they think the act/word/thought/idea is.

Drink water.

"Rage" |  © Samah El Hakim 2011

An Advice

"An Advice"
© Samah El Hakim 2011
Please feel free to download & share.

Mother Earth

Last Saturday I planted a tree.
A pine tree it was, around 12 years old.
As I was preparing the piece where it would be planted,
I felt a strong connection with Mother Earth.

This small act of 20 minutes while thinking about how this tree would grow in its new place and finally "breathe", when it's been imprisoned for 12 years in a small flowerpot, gave me so much satisfaction.

Once finished, images of destruction came to my mind.

-------

Nature is a beast sometimes, it's true,
but Man is even more savage:

How easy it is to cut down an 80-year-old tree
"because its falling leaves are littering our backyard".

How simple it is to raid a forest using a bulldozer
"to clear the view".

How fast we can pollute a nearby river
"to keep our house/factory clean".

How can we ever regain what we destroyed?
We can't...

All the beautiful mountains that we transformed into ugly buildings.
All the water that we polluted.
All the forests "evaporated".
All the extinct species.
Then...
All of us.


This is far from being an alarm, it's more of a cry
during my "semi-mourning" for our dear Mother Earth.

We are slowly dying with Her.
For any possible resurrection, believing is not enough.
Start acting.

"Forgive Us"
© Samah El Hakim 2011
Please feel free to download & share.

Goodness On The Spot

I was coming back home the other day by car.

On one of bridges that I took, stood an old man with some bags, waving to the passerby, wishing someone would give him a lift.

He seemed really helpless.

Although I saw him from afar,

it took me 3 seconds to realize that I wanted to give him a lift,

but it was too late, since I was in the fast lane.

I decided to make a u-turn and pick him up.

While doing this action (that took nearly 30 seconds),

I thought of how I might have missed my chance in doing a good deed

and that I will arrive only to see that the man disappeared.

I wasn't wrong.

I arrived just in time to see another guy picking the old man up.

It felt as if we were racing for doing the good deed, it made me smile.

-------
Never think a good action twice.

If you feel it, do it on the spot or else you will lose your chance.

إلك يا بيّي

فيّي قول إنّو حظّي حلو خلقت من/ولأهل فنّانين وحسّاسين، مع إنّو العيشة بس يربى الواحد بهيك بيئة بتصير أصعب مع بقيّة الناس بحكم إختلاف النظر للأشياء،
صغيرة كانت أو كبيرة وللحياة كلّها بشكل عام. الليلة في أشخاص حكيو عن مارون الفنان، أنا بدّي إحكيلكن شوّي عن مارون بيّي.

بلّش بيّي  يحبّبني بالتأليف واللّون والشكل قبل ما إخلق، بيقلّي كان يحلم فيّي كيف رح كون وبما إنّي كنت الأوّل،
غنّجني يمكن زيادة عن اللّزوم واليوم، وقت يلّي سماجتي وتقل دمّي بيزيدو بيقلّي: "الحقّ عليّي خلّفتك!".

بتذكّر كيف من زغرتي دايماً الألوان موجودة، باللوحات، بالتماثيل، عالحيطان، بفضل إيدينا إخواتي وأنا أكيد، وبتذكّر كمان البابا بعدّة حالات عم يشتغل:
بالصالون قدّام الشومينيه عم يرسم مناظر كلّا نور وفرح وحلم بالرغم من تلبّد الغيوم بسما لبناننا على مرّ السنين،
أو عم ينحت بأوّل الربيع بالخشب أو الحجر ومبسوط قدّ الدني،
أو عم بحضّر لشي مشروع كبير بيبدا من رسمة ليصير مجسّم لآخر شي يصير تمثال ما بدّو إلّا يحكي.

أكتر شي كان وبعدو بعجّبني عندك يا بيّي هوّي كيف بتنفح حياة بهالشقفة الصخر أو الخشب،
بعلمكن بتكون ملقوحة بهالأرض لكن من بعد فترة بتصير قطعة فنيّة مميّزة عن كلّ شي بهالدني.

بفوق لمّا كنت إنزل لعندك وصير إلعب بهالغبرة المجمّعة على الأرض أو آخد المطرقة والزميل
وصير أعمل حالي إنّي عم بنحت، ولو شو كانو تقال...

بفوق كمان على الكزدورة اللّي كنت تاخدنا نعملها بالمزدا بالشتي.
ياي شو تكون حلوة هالكزدورة اللّي نروح نشقّ فيها على عمتو ماري
أو حدا من القرايب مع إنّو إنت تكون مشتوي من التعب.

"الله يرضى عليك ما إلي جلادة العالم وتقل دمّن وسخافتن...
تركوني بهالأتولييه أنا مبسوط وإنتو شو بدّكن عملو، ما هودي كلّن إلكن..."
هالجملة صرت إسمعها أكتر وأكتر أنا وعم بكبر وشوف إدّيش تعذّبت وضحيت لتوصل ليلّي إنت اليوم،
وصرت إفهم أكتر إدّيش التعامل مع الناس صعب ومتعب. صرت إفهم كيف "هودي كلّن إلنا"
وهلّق بعد ما عطيتني شرف كون "مدير أعمالك" بلّشت إشتغل لوصّل شغلك المتنوّع والمتجدّد والغزير لكلّ العالم،
مش لأنّك بيّي بل لأنّ هيك أعمال حرام ما تطلع عالنور وتوصل لأكبر عدد من الجمهور اللّبناني أوّلاً والعالمي في ما بعد.

بشكرك على كلّ هاللّيالي اللّي غمرتني فيا وتمشي فيّي بالبيت تنام.
بشكرك على "العنزوقة" اللّي نصبتلّي ياها بالأوضة لإغفى أحسن.
بشكرك عالقلام اللّي عطيتني ياها وتركتني إنزع فيها حيطان البيت.
بشكرك على حفلات الأعياد اللّي كانت أشبه بكرنفالات على الرغم من الحرب والضيقة.
بشكرك على كلّ الصّبر اللّي كان عندك نحنا وعم نكبر.
بشكرك على كلّ الفلومة والصور اللّي مصوّرنا ياها شو ما كنّا نعمل.
بشكرك على النّكات اللّي دايماً بتبلّش من آخرها وبتكون جديدة و"أوّل مرّة بسمعها".
بشكرك لأنّك كنت تخلّيني إسقي الجنينة وما زعلت منّي لما كبرت وما عاد إلي جلادة إسقيها.
بشكرك على خوفك علينا اللّي لو أوقات بيزعجنا بعرف إنّو بيجي تلقائيّاً مع حجم الحبّ اللّي بتحملو إلنا.
بشكرك على صحن الفواكه اللّي بيحضر فجأة وقت كون بالبيت وغاطس بالشغل.
وآخر شي بدّي إشكرك يا بيّي على حنيّتك وحبّك اللّي هلّق صرت شوفن، إفهمن وقدّرهن أكتر.

انشالله بيجي نهار بصير متلك بيّ مثالي وبتصير إنت جدّو مثالي أكتر: بينزعلي ولادي،
لأنّو متل ما بتقول: "انتزعو بالبيت لتكونو أوادم ومهذبين برّات البيت."
شكلها ظبتت معك يا بابا، بحبّك.

Questions Of The Heart

The following is a series of questions
noted during a discussion with a well-known heart:


* Why is it that some people totally are insensitive
to this energy that I diffuse?


* Why do some people think a zillion times before saying or doing
something that might hurt someone while others
would stomp over anyone to get something done or heard?


* What's that thin line between delicate senses and savage actions?


* Why are some people cursed with the heightened delicate senses?


* Why am I an illiterate?


* How can I find that part I lost at Life's beach so so long ago?


* What if I stopped beating?


* Why am I so complex while engineered to do the most basic task?

* When can I have a break?

Then, this heart stopped asking questions.
It was nighttime.
I never heard him speak ever again since...

And now?

I always have this recurring thought:

Whatever you do, say, hear, buy, eat, see, smell, try, smoke,
want, kill, build, learn, throw, destroy, share, play, etc...

Whoever you love, kill, help, do, destroy, hear, miss,
want, meet, forgive, forget, hurt, adore, etc...

You end up dying.
No, no wait, I'm not that pessimist, read on please.

But then another thought takes form:

Anything's worth doing, saying, hearing, buying, eating, seeing, trying, smoking, wanting, killing, building, throwing, destroying, sharing, playing, et cetering...
&
Anyone's worth loving, killing, helping, doing, destroying, hearing, missing, wanting, meeting, forgiving, forgetting, hurting, adoring, et cetering...


It is all intricately linked to the present, the moment you are in and ready to take any of the above. That fragment of eternity will never be again, while in it, take whatever action, now.

This surely needs exercise, trials, experiences, but you'll end up "and-nowing" pretty well :)

"And then?" is not the question, "and now?" is the new question to be asked.

So no matter what happens, instead of letting the first thought win you over... keep on reading.

Relation Ships & The "Red Ocean"

Is it possible that the word relationship is a metaphor to an actual ship?

Of course it is.

--

In the ocean that is life we sail upon infinite relation ships.
Some ships are well equipped, some are too crappy, others might look awesome on the outside but stink once in them, others require special equipment in order to be allowed on board, etc..

Imagine your every day encounters that might end you up in a ship with someone sailing from any of the following docks: friendship, business, casual, likeness, love, drunkenness, etc...

Each ship taken from any dock you might start with is a new adventure, a hope for a new horizon to be discovered.
Sadly, very few get far beyond the dock they sail from
and fail eternally to view that special horizon linked to them.

I guess life's beauty is this infinite choice of ships that we choose to take and the things we learn from each one's experience:

1. The long swim back to the dock after the ships wreckage.

2. The "near-death experience" after you get trapped in a sinking ship that took off from the love-dock, swim back the very long distance back to the dock, where you spend several months/years to rehabilitate and make your "lungs" work properly again.

3. The collision of two ships that you tried to be the captain of at the same time.

4. The high-speed boat experience; that rarely gets you anywhere due to fuel-shortage.

5. The pirate-ship adventure.

And so on...

One thing is essential in all this:
one learns to swim the hard way once he/she is in that ocean,
because very few are the ones who sink in it,
since it's basically a "Red Ocean".