Fireworks by the River

Time:  7 am, Place: some hotel in Budapest, Date: 20^th of August. I woke up; still in bed I grabbed my mobile phone, checked the time with one closed eye. I wondered what should be done today in the city. I typed on google: “St. Stephen's Basilica”. A place which was on my to go list. As Google always gets you the newest information first, I noticed there are a couple of links talking about some preparations that were being made there because of Hungary National Day. This day matches the 20^th of August. I checked my calendar and it is actually 20th of August. I thought oh well what should I expect on a country’s national holiday? Celebrations or closed shops? I hoped the day would turn out fine.

I read on the internet that there would be fireworks by the danube river at 8 pm that night. I thought it would be like a 2 minutes quick celebration, nothing fancy but I was keen on watching it anyway so at 7:50 pm that night, I was in one of the side streets with my friend trying to get to the main road by the river. As soon as we reached it, I was shocked by the number of people. There were hundreds of people standing along the river side. You could see people in the Far East, the far west and on the other side of the river. That scene reminded me of the demonstration days in Egypt, except it wasn’t a demonstration; it was just people gathering for the fireworks.

We couldn’t stand in the crowd. We noticed a railway track that is closer to the river and less crowded so I placed myself with my friend on it for a better view and fortunately it wasn’t working at the time.

It is time, 8 PM, Soft music started; you can hear them wherever you were. On each street light pole there was a sound speaker attached to it. It felt like the whole city is in one harmony, one synched beautiful piece of music. It was magic.

It was dark until The Sky lit up with colorful fireworks. You could hear the sound of music, the sound of fireworks’ banging, people cheering. You could see the fireworks along with Cameras’ flashing lights that are capturing every moment of this celebration.
The Fireworks movements are perfectly synced with the music. A low pitch is a short bang. A high pitch is a longer more colorful bang. Fireworks were dancing on the bridge. They were coming out of the river water and they were up high in the sky. They were everywhere around me. I thought this must be magic. This cannot be real. The celebration lasted for a whole of 30 minutes and I could truly say this was one of the happiest 30 minutes in my life.

Here are 2 photos that I had taken back then.

A Peaceful Encounter

Here I am on one of my local vacations, resting on a beautiful beach of the Aqaba gulf. On my side is the city of Taba in Egypt, on the other side you can see the lights of Both Cities of Aqaba in Jordon and Haql in Saudi Arabia. I’m lying on the golden sand alone at 6 AM. It’s a hot summer day yet the early cool air is still wandering about from last night.  The beach is very calm and you can only hear the sounds of birds humming and the sea tides hitting the still rocks. The tide comes in touching my toes and goes back into the sea.

 I take a deep breath of the sea breeze and breathe out all of my thoughts. My mind is blank and I look around to explore the beauty of nature. That is when I find another company sitting 10 feet away. It was just a little different. It was a Camel. This Camel sits calmly on the sand looking peacefully to the blue horizon ahead. He was wearing a colorful mat that is full of Arabic ornament. I wondered where his owner is. I guess this camel is just like me, escaped to the sea.

 I’m not alone after all and there is a camel who I thought it would be nice if I introduced myself to. I hesitated. I was afraid of approaching him. I have never in my life seen a camel before. I took a few steps towards him, I stopped for a while, I watched him carefully and then I came nearer and nearer until I was standing just next to him.

He was still sitting on his knees, he didn’t move a muscle since I started getting closer. I patted his head gently and was that a smile on his face?! I swear I just saw it. It felt like a love from the first smile or first pat you name it. What is important is that I fell in love with that Camel. I took that smile as a yes for our friendship and I took courage to board him. The placed mat was stuffed and comfortable. As soon as I boarded, he began standing up in a slow motion by leaning back a little and then leaning to the extreme front to raise his back legs followed by his front. I almost fell off despite my strong grip of him. We both kept silent and started our journey walking by the shore. We walked for a mile or so.

Suddenly I heard a voice far away calling for us. The man approached us running; he had a dark sparkling skin and wore a white Jellabiya. He told me I should pay money for that ride. I went down to the ground; I paid him and asked if he would be here tomorrow, he said he wouldn’t. I hugged the camel and walked away crying from inside.

تغيير

انا كذلك..لا استطيع التعبير عن شعوري .. فيجد شعوري طريقة للتعبير عن نفسه في صورة الام بجسدي او كلمات بقلمي

نحن كذلك .. نحب المغامرة و التغيير مع أننا على علمِ تام بأن ذلك التغيير سيؤلمنا  و لكننا نزعم القدرة على هزم الآلام و هي في الحقيقة من تهزمنا


لكن و ما الحياة دون تغيير ..هل سمعت يوما للسكون صوت ؟ أو للعتمة درجات و ضوء؟

ما لا يتحرك بميت ونحن مازلنا أحياء فلندعوا التغيير و نستقبله بإبتسامة زائفة و ندّعي هزيمته لعل ادّعائنا يَصدق في يوم من الأيام . 

و لم الخوف من ايامك القادمة ؟ ألأنها لن تشبه ايامك الماضية؟
يا عاقل و متى تشابهت الأيام ببعضها! ..
فقط توكل على الله و كفى

#خواطر
#My_Thoughts

كيف أعيش في المدينة

اتسائل احياناً كيف أعيش في المدينة حيث اقضي في الطريق لعملي كثيرا ليطول بي  الطريق حتى أظن اني قطعة منه , سيارة من سياراته , عمود نور من أعمدته حتى اصل لوجهتي فأنسى كيف كنت أترك الطريق للذهاب اليها.

 كيف أعيش في المدينة و انا اجول بنظري بحثاً عن لون اخضر ينقذني  لكن ليس هناك سوى لون البنايات الباهت حتى ظننت ان عيناي لم تعد بإستطاعتهما التعرف على الألوان

 كيف أعيش في المدينة و انا اعدو في كل مكان اتلفت يمناً و
يساراً بحثاً عن ذرة هواء نقي فأعود حسرة بصدر مليء بالغبار

كيف أعيش في المدينة و صوت محركات العربات كطنين نحل
يجوب في عقلي و صياح السائقين كنهيق الحمار

كيف أعيش في المدينة ووجوة البشر البائسة تشع سلبيةً تزيد المكان ظلاماً على ظلام

اتراني إن ابتعدت عن المدينة سأشفى أم ستظل بداخلي كاَثار حرب!

اتساءل كيف ازال صامداً في وسط ضوضاء المدينة, غبار المدينة, تعاسة المدينة ؟!  فلا أجد جواب إلا اني مثل باقي الناس ....و الناس صامدون

Different nationalities, Same Inhumanity

I'm an Iraqian and because i live in Iraq i witness political conflicts and terrorism
Every day i wake up feeling insecure, asking myself if i'll be the next victim of a meaningless sectarian conflict terrorism.


I'm North Korean and because i live in North Korea, i cannot express my self freely, i have to read and watch what the government wants me to or else i'll be punished.
I have no access to the global internet, i have no access to what's really happening in the world beyond the country's borders.


I'm palestinean, and because i live in palestine, my house was demolished by israel to build new settlements for its citizens. i became homeless. My brother was arrested and put at an israelian prison although he is just a child! and my parents were killed by an attack


I'm from Saudi Arabia and being a woman born there means that i have no right to drive a car, why? The only reason is that I'm a woman i guess.

I'm Syrian and because i live in Syria , i had to see my city being destroyed in front of my eyes. children,women and men are killed in the most inhuman way.
I don't have the money to travel, i didn't go to a refugee either, i'm still in my demolished city , attacks happen everyday and i'm afraid.


I'm a  Nigerian student and because  i live in Nigeria i'm afraid to go to school, i have nightmares about the school being attacked by terrorists and people being killed like before,however, i still go in order to learn and hope to fight terrorism with my education.


I'm a human being, All i ask for is peace, is that really impossible to ask for?!
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(This is a minor sample of what's really happening)

A Photo

I held a photo in my hands and stared at it for a while, it was a photo of a seven year old kid  with dark hair and light brown skin. He was shirtless but looking Happy and filled with hope!, He seemed very poor and skinny in the middle of what it seems like a dirty slum.
There was a tiny writing at the bottom of the photo saying "Photograph by J.D "
I remember the time when this photo was taken, because that little dark skinned boy was me!
Now, I'm 20 years old man.
I do not care who took this photo of me , i  do not care how many people admired the simple happiness that photo held.
Because What had this photo brought me?  my human rights? my dignity ?
I'm the same person and again with a similar dirty t-shirt,  same poverty and same Hunger  but with a sad broken look and a broken soul that realized the cruelty and unfairness of this life.

Time to change!

Time to change

Once upon a time, there was a man called Ben. Ben had been living a regular life.
between college , friends and family his life was defined.
He was good at his studies. he had fun with his buddies but he felt his life was missing something but he ignored that feeling.

New year starts tomorrow but he is having an exam so instead of celebrating he stuck to the studying plan.
he had a look on his facebook and all what he found is his friends writing statuses like "New year, New me" that sounds horrible. some were wondering what are they doing with their lives, some were so optimistic others were pessimistic and many are posting photos celebrating!

He closed his facebook laughing sarcastically on how people exaggerate everything, how they are so irrational and let's say ...ridiculous?
He entered his room , locked it , looked through the window up at the Moon, and he asked himself the same horrible sounding question ..."what am i doing with my life"? Oh no, was that really happening?, he was asking himself the very same question!
He grabbed a paper and a pencil and started writing what changed his life

"Dear Ben, it's me your inner soul talking to you, you must realize something! a new year is beginning and you are acting as if you don't care but guess what i do care but you are too busy studying like a robot that you forgot to listen to yourself  i know this new year/new me sounds lame to you well... Although most people who say i wish to do this or that this year, don't really do anything,there's a good chance you can do what you wish for this year you know why? because nothing is achieved without a will and a good plan to achieve it.
you know that wishlist you hide in your desk? go get it and start working to achieve every item on it because if you don't, it will keep haunting you till you are 90 years old.and if you feel it's impossible to do everything on the wishlist in just a year i tell you  achieve at least one instead of none!

It's time, it's time not to care about little annoying things, time to work on yourself and know what you really want to do from your heart , time to stop caring about people who don't care back, when you are tired, relax. when you have energy, use it positively, never lie to yourself, just do what you are capable of doing and i know you will do great. it's time to change".





image source: addicted2success.com