Aleppo, I am very sorry we failed you!

Yet, sorry is not enough for how much we failed you, Aleppo and all Syrians, whose lives were, and are devastated by this war. Sorry is so hollow of an apology in a world full of apathy.  We all watched as Aleppo was torn to pieces like a gazelle by vicious hyenas, but we did nothing. There is no humanity in the humans of this world. Aleppo has fallen.

The UN said it was “a corner of hell”, and that it was “a meltdown of humanity”, but those descriptions are so weak, feeble and pathetic compared to reality. There is no one atrocity greater than another that has been perpetuated in the last 6 years, yet complacency by the world ranks high up there. It is all madness! Yet, the world just watched it happen. Why?! My very soul aches for each person that has lived through this, or died, knowing that the world just watched.

I am reminded of Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed to death in 1964, in front of her New York City apartment, while 38 of her neighbors witnessed it. She screamed for help! Not one tried to stop the man who murdered and raped her because they feared getting involved.  Only as she lay dying did one woman come out of her apartment to hold her as she bled to death. This is what the world did while Aleppo was dying. We watched the murderers and rapists and did not try to stop them. We watched Aleppo bleed to death. When will the world get involved where people are being tortured, raped and murdered?

I know some of you may be saying, “it is a civil war” or it’s their religion, but I tell you it is not! It is about people wanting freedom from a dictatorial government, and a government that would rather see the country in ruins than to give freedom to the people. The truth is the government hates it’s own people so much that it would allow Hezbollah (Lebanon), Iranian and Russian troops to bolster the government regime in order to crush, punish and destroy the native people. Add to that, other outsiders saw an opportunity at the beginning to squeeze into the country, to take what they can amidst the chaos – rebels, fanatics and other governments. Anyone not on Assad’s side, or in those “rebel” groups, have been the victims of all sides – genocide.

On the final day, as the government forces with their allies were closing in on the last corner of Aleppo, the east side, fathers were asking their religious leaders if it was permissible to kill their wives, sisters and daughters to spare them rape and torture at the hands of the government and pro-government fighters. Some young women planned to commit suicide to keep their honor. The foreign reporters were giving what they thought would be their last reports via phone, and local people were saying, “Goodbye” to the world via social media because they were certain it was their last.

As one human to another, we should find our fallen humanity and reach out to these people who have lost everything. Their government will not kindly accept those that left the country because they wanted freedom from tyranny. So, where else can they go? Stop looking at them as being different, and look at them like the humans they are. If you are a religion person, then see them as your brothers and sisters in God. Prayer is great. Empathy, sympathy and compassion are what the people of Syria need now that they have no hope of their country being like it once was. Have mercy. Help where you can. It is better than just watching as freedom seeking refugees get washed away by their own governments, the Turkish government, Europe and everywhere else. I have witnessed this myself. Put yourself in the place of the Syrian refugees, of the people in Aleppo, and think what help you might need in that situation.

I am not including any photos, or videos, in this commentary because anyone can search for “before and after” photos of Aleppo, or the atrocities against the people in the city. The government troops almost always use their phones to record what they are doing to the people that defied them by wanting freedom. You can view those things, too, on Youtube or various news outlets.

Syria, Aleppo, I am sorry we all let you down. I am sorry we failed you and watched as you were murdered and raped. Forgive us. 

Turkey…it’s not what you may think.

I know, I know, Catphi, long time no see. I have an answer for that. I have been living on the other side of the world for the last four years. Over here, internet is not something one can take for granted, as it comes and goes due to weather problems, government decisions, and so on. I have been busy, but I am taking a few minutes to make this post about the country Turkey. I rarely feel strongly enough to speak out against an entire country, but I do now.

Some people may go to Turkey and have a fabulous time. For others, it is not so great, and for the curious, I am in that latter group. Don’t get me wrong, the countryside is lovely. They have mountains, lakes, archaeology (much of which they don’t take care of properly), and trees. I missed trees while living in Iraq. To begin with, I found out the hard way that there are two laws in this country, one set of laws for those born in Turkey, and one set for all foreigners. Not only that, but it is my opinion that even the most average citizen in Turkey is looking to take advantage of anyone too trusting! I am not kidding….beware of taxi drivers in Istanbul! I will give you a few examples of my stay in Turkey.

Within a few days of arriving, I found an apartment. It was nice, but it was in an incomplete building. That means the company was still working on some of the apartments and putting in pipes to those unfinished parts of the building. There were other people in the 16-floor building. It was part of a set of four buildings owned by one company. In Turkey, people are allowed to rent or buy apartments, so I rented from the owner of that apartment, not from the company building the apartments, which would have been better. The owner wanted me to pay for 3 months ahead of time, plus pay for a damage fee and a finder’s fee. I heard this was normal for foreigners, so I paid.

I thought everything was going to be good, but sadly things started to go from bad to worse. The first problem was that the owner showed me the wrong apartment, and I didn’t discover this out until after I had signed the contract. In the apartment I was shown, there was a parquet floor, but in my apartment, there was only concrete. Next, there was a lack of electricity, and since it was during winter, I were very cold! At the same time, there was no water. I bought water, and was able to bring up water to use for cooking/heating on a gas burner. I asked every day when the electricity would be turned on, and when would there be water. This went on more than a month without either water or electricity. Then I found out that the man I had made a contract with was not the real owner, but simply his business partner. The Supervisor of the building company was very angry at that man, and they told him either he make a proper contract or I had to leave. He said he would make a new, correct contract. But, he asked for I pay for 6 months of rent and he kept the other money even though it had not been 3 months. He would come 2 or 3 times a week to bring different people in his family to see our apartment because I had bought a few pieces of furniture and cleaned the place as best I could in spite of the concrete being so dusty. Still, there was no water, and no electricity. I kept pestering until finally, the building company sent an electrician to give me electricity. A few weeks later, again asking each day, I had cold water on tap, but no hot. Unfortunately, the water would go off for many hours a day and sometimes it would be off for weeks at a time. I never had hot water and never knew if I would have water from one day to the next. Every day, I listened to the workers building the other parts of the building. Hammering, pipes dropping, electric saws whining loudly and every imaginable noise from construction could be heard. But, things were about to change for the worst.

I had to travel to another city to be with a friend in the hospital. I told the owner I would be gone a few days.I rode the bus 9 hours to get to the other city. It was a tiring time there. After a few days, the owner of the apartment called and told me he wanted to go into the apartment, but I reminded him I was away, but would return soon. I left that night on the bus and got home very early in the morning. I was so tired that I went to sleep immediately. I woke up once and heard what sounded like the construction people working, so I went back to sleep. It wasn’t the construction people, but I didn’t know that until the bedroom door opened and the owner said, “You are home?!”  He left after breaking and entering my apartment! I went to the police. At first, they said they would not help, but I insisted they bring the man in and talk to him. Finally, they called him and he came. He acted like he knew nothing until I reminded him. He was really angry and said he would sell the apartment and that I had to leave. The police told me it was our own fault for not telling the owner I was home that morning. When I asked if they would press charges against him, they laughed and said they would not help any more. While I was there, I asked an officer to translate the conversations into English. He said he didn’t want to. This is the first time I have ever heard of a policeman not doing his job just because he didn’t want to do it.

In the mean time, I was looking for a new place, and trying to get back the 6-months of rent money from the owner. Every time I called, he kept saying, “Tomorrow, or give me a few days to get it together”. After a month, I went to a lawyer and it was there that he told me there are 2 sets of laws in Turkey. The lawyer told me that although I was in the right and deserved to have my money back, that it would depend on how the judge felt and what the court decided. He said if the court decided against me, that I would have to pay for him, and for the other lawyer and all court costs. I couldn’t do that because I didn’t have enough money. I kept calling that man for another month until he blocked my number. There were two other people that were supposed to help me, but they also took a lot of money and didn’t do what they said they would.

In the new house, there is no heat, only one wood stove. To buy wood is expensive and it is not logs like people use in the US. They give the scrapes from the lumber yard floor, including the trash, like plastic bags and food wrappers. There is no hot water coming out of the tap or shower. There are cracks in the floor that air blows through. I bought plastic to cover the floor and put down a carpet to hold it. Only two rooms have carpet, the sitting room and bedroom. The rest of the house has been very cold. I boil water to wash dishes. There is a little mechanism that heats water for the shower (like a tiny water heater), but the water only comes out in small amounts. But, I won’t be here very long, as I am leaving soon. Live and learn, right?!

I don’t know what you hear about the situation here, but for the Syrians, it is very bad. The Turks hate Syrians more than you could ever imagine!  In some of the businesses Turks ask Syrian men if they know any Syrian women willing to be prostitutes. My friend, her brother, and I were waiting for a bus when four big men came over and asked if we were Arabs? I told them, we are Americans, and what did they want. They left after that. Her brother has been robbed of two bicycles by Turks at different times. Just yesterday, a Turkish man came into the shop where my friend works and told them he wanted to burn all the Syrians in the world. The shop owner, who is Turkish, told that man that he would burn twice then, once here on earth and once when God judges the world. Another example, before my friend got the shop job, he interviewed for a very good electric technician job. The company was impressed with his knowledge, and his ability to speak three languages fluently. They began filling out the paper to allow him to work for their company and asked for his Turkish ID, but he only has the ID that the government gives Syrians. When the company people saw that, they said, “You are a Syrian?!” He told them, yes. They apologized, and told him the government would not allow them to hire him. It isn’t just about jobs either. Last week, a 17 year old boy was beaten to death by a Turk for less than $20 U.S. dollars, which happened to be his entire salary for the month, and no that is not a regular wage! Every day some small child gets beaten by adult Turks for selling tissues along the streets. The nine year old neighbor child of my friend was beaten, beheaded and had his organs removed by a drunken Turk. The man then took the organs to the nearest hospital where he attempted to sell them! Far from being the humanitarian country they pretend to be, they are pushing the Syrians down and hope they will all leave, not only Turkey, but Syrian, as well. The Turkish government is very ambitious, as it wants to reclaim part of Syria that they stole in the past. They try to rewrite their history every day to make themselves look like good people, and good Muslims. They pretend to be Muslim, but they have their weekly holy day on Sunday, they drink, smoke, have films that are more pornographic than any rated-R movie in the US, they ogle women, and drug use is rampant in Turkey!

In summary, go to Turkey to visit the countryside, seaside, or mountains, but don’t live there.

Thanks for visiting.

 

 

Give these guys a chance with Kickstarter.

I never heard of Omar Regan, but have watched all the Baba Ali videos because what he has to say is cross-cultural, and he is funny. Here is a link to their Kickstarter site for “American Sharia”. Don’t let the title scare you, it states it will be a humorous film.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/americansharia/american-sharia

It doesn’t hurt to give other people a venue to express themselves sometimes in a world where in other countries one can be shot for expressing themselves. I like the idea that they are promising to provide something family friendly, funny and from a slightly different cultural view.

They only have less than a day to reach their goal, and need less than $9,000. If you ever wanted to back something on Kickstarter, here is your opportunity.

Thanks for stopping by.

It’s been a while….

    …and I have been quit busy. I haven’t forgotten about this site, and though about six months have passed since I last posted, the world remains largely in the same miasma. To that point, I am posting, or rather, re-posting some editorial comics I saw. Forgive me for not translating them, but I can not do that correctly. I maintain that visuals comics, editorial or otherwise, usually need no translation. I can’t say enjoy these, as they are not for fun. They are meant to be thought provoking.

 

 

 

 

 

     Finally, I would like to bid farewell to a game I had the pleasure of beta testing since last year – Glitch. Soon, it will be closing forever because it was too ambitious for a flash game. I can’t say I enjoyed all aspects of it, but I did like some of the game concepts and the art was odd enough to keep my interest, as was the various odd music bytes. If you are interested in seeing it before it is gone (closing December 8th, 2012), go to www.glitch.com. Go to their download page and listen to some of the music, as it is unique. http://www.glitch.com/downloads/  My personal favorite is “Winter Holiday”.  Here is a pictorial montage to the game using some of my favorite characters and items. 

 

Thanks for visiting this site. 

Links for Fibonacci/math interests…

… http://mathworld.wolfram.com/FibonacciPrime.html

http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibtable.html

I couldn’t have said it better.

Lovely graphical expression of the Fibonacci sequence by Cristobal Vila.

Your Turn

What is Freedom without Happiness?

I have read several posts and articles that ask whether a person would choose Freedom or Happiness?  Why must we choose, unless of course, we are talking about the book by Yevgeny Zamyatin entitled “We”, where the characters in Paradise were given a choice, “Happiness without Freedom, or Freedom without Happiness”, and there was no third choice! But, in real life, why do we have to choose one or the other? What is Freedom? What is Happiness? Are they always subjective? And, why can’t we have both?

Ancient Greek historian and author, Thucydides, says, “The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage”. But, he also states, “The strong do what they have to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.” Aren’t those really the same thing? Doing what you have to and accepting what you have to, are the same thing. I see strength as synonymous to courage. So, is the secret to happiness just doing what you have to do in life? That would not make me happy, nor would I feel free since that is what I have done all my life, so far.

I am pondering these things because my life is changing, mostly for the better. Though, I confess, I had very little freedom or happiness in my life and soon will have more freedom than I have ever had. To give you an example, I wasn’t allowed to choose my own clothing until I was an adult, and when I did go to buy a piece of clothing for the first time, I didn’t know what size I wore since I never had a reason to look. That may seem odd or humorous, but that is how I was raised. I was also told when and what I could eat. I don’t know what to do with my personal freedom? I already speak my mind, eat mostly what I choose/afford, dress as I want, so is just being able to continue those things freedom? And, happiness? Few things make me happy and for the most part, those things are fleeting. There is only one thing that truly makes me happy and that is unattainable. So, are the fleeting pieces of happiness all there is to happiness? Is being able to risk my life doing some thrill-seeking sports activity happiness? Is being able to drive very fast on a road freedom or happiness? Is going to a museum or hiking a mountain path happiness? I know material things don’t make one happy. And, I have heard people say that happiness is waking up to a new day and knowing they are alive and can walk and so on, but isn’t that really just gratitude?

I read that having freedom allows one to do good deeds. That if someone is forced to do good deeds then their motivation is merely self preservation, or that being forced to choose between freedom and the greater good is a false choice. I think that is true. But, is doing good deeds happiness? It only made me happy briefly, but not always.

I am at a crossroads in life, and I know very well that all people go through one or many, as I have in the past. But, this is a very new path and I am not confident about what happiness is or how to have it on more than a fleeting basis. Philosophers are no help because they don’t agree and they all have “cutesy” ideas of what happiness is, like “the ability to solve ones own problems”, yes, well, that is just part of life, it is not happiness. Religion isn’t helpful either, as it tells me that my happiness is selfish and I should be trying to make other people happy. I have been down that road and know there is no way to please everyone all the time!

I suppose only time will tell whether I will ever feel free or happy in this world.

Last Poem…

….as it says.

Questions….

If you live long enough, are even remotely intelligent, and can briefly pull yourself away from selfish endeavors, you will have more questions about life than you have answers. I question everything, and I’m fairly certain my last breath will be in the form of a question, no, not as to why I am dying, of that I think I will know. It is the answers to all these questions that I have tried to find throughout my life. I still don’t have many answers for the big question, and my faith is tenuous at best, but without it, I have no reason to keep from going “Postal” on the whole world. Most people realize at some point in their life, (whether they do so intellectually or sublimely), that they are not immortal, the world is a bad place, the best we can do is usually unappreciated, that the only person you can depend on is yourself, and that faith is called faith for a reason. What people do with that knowledge is what makes a difference. Most people try to drown that knowledge out with drugs, sex, alcohol, endless social engagements, escapism in books, films and games (video games and real sports), spending money, “keeping up with the Joneses”, business ventures, thrill seeking, abusing others, power grabbing, and the list goes on and on. There is a means of “escaping” reality for every person. Did you ever wonder why? I know why, but I’m not telling. I spend a lot of time alone. I play video games, too, and I read, but I don’t read fiction since it is more productive to read non-fiction. When I play video games, I am observing the interactions between the players, and I have really learned a lot about humans. Some things I have observed, and this is a generalization, besides people being incredibly selfish, they have low self esteem, yet have big egos; they will always demand more from you than they are willing to give of themselves; they will do despicable evil to the unwary or gullible; they will do the most ridiculous things to get attention, even negative attention, and they are inherently lazy. And, that is just a little bit I learned from what I’ve seen of video game players, now let me tell you something else. That video game world is a tiny microcosm of the real world. In the real world, people will use you until you have nothing left to give. They will walk on you like a rug, if you let them because for some inexplicable reason, and this is something I have been trying to understand my whole life (without an appropriate answer); when people perceive you are kind and willing to do more than your share of the work, etcetera, they think you are the “Golden Goose” and they will take advantage of you and treat you badly. (Goose, by the way, is a slang term for someone who is gullible). Pay attention, observe more and change your ways and I mean in life, not stupid video games!

Next, I would like to share some quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, born 1844 and died 1900. Short life. I really don’t like Nietzsche, he was pompous, rude, had an ego big enough to float the Titanic, was misogynistic, and thought more of himself than he should have. But, he was an observer of human activities and some of his observations are interesting and worth repeating. Which just goes to show, even a bad person sometimes has something decent to offer humanity.