thisihumblyspeak

I truly believe everyone in her or his lifetime comes face to face with a bit of magic. It’s the kind of magic that reminds you of a simple act that can easily be forgotten – sharing with gratitude.

Every so often I take a morning walk through the residential streets of the city where I live. Our street is lined with olive trees that were planted there by the city in 1964 when the area was first being developed. There is grace and antiquity among these trees with their twisted trunks and boughs that spread out as well as up. They remind me of the olive trees that surrounded the area of my high school in the suburbs of Beirut.  Except, here in the suburbs of Los Angeles,  some of these trees have been “shaved”, “manicured”, trimmed and cut to resemble ornamental trees sculpted like French poodle heads and tails. I pass by these trees with a quick pace lowering my head as though to apologize to them for man’s lack of appreciation for their natural beauty. They have become ornamental, decorative pieces of earth born sculptures bearing witness to man’s changes in taste, technology, and industry.

That morning, I took a turn onto a street which led up the hill to open fields where most of the homeowners are prairie farmers with small orchards and groves. These were lemon groves. The lemons were ripe and ready for harvest with hundreds of fruit fallen from their branches and scattered around the field. I could not resist the temptation and bent down to take four lemons from the earth (two in each hand). Within minutes of having done so, a police car drove up and stopped me and asked that I return the lemons back to the grove. Taken aback, I argued that I had not picked the lemons from the trees but had taken the ones fallen onto the earth. Regardless, because I had taken more than one, it was considered stealing from the owner’s livelihood. I returned all four.

As a child in Lebanon, I was privileged to spend summers in the mountains where afternoon walks on hillside roads and trails became common everyday pleasure. Sometimes, we walked the usual paths through pine “forests” collecting sundried pine cones with pine nuts just waiting to be cracked open. Often times our feet carried us to trails that led to a lonely walnut tree, with fruit just ripe for the picking. At times, we came across an apple or pear tree where we’d pick one or two to snack on as we continued our merry way.  We’d spot a cluster of thorny wild berry bushes. The ripest black berries were usually the hardest to reach, in the center of the bush, underneath a maze of prickly thorns. I always returned home with tell-tell signs of having triumphantly feasted on berries with stains on my fingers, lips and tongue, (not to mention my clothing), and deep scratches on my arms. However, my fondest memories of childhood were in the village of Anjar where my great uncle tended to an apple orchard by the creek. The orchard was surrounded by a wire fence that marked the boundaries of his land. Outside the fence, near the entry to the orchard was a single tree. As a child I noticed that villagers and visitors, children, adults, young and old would often pick a few apples from that tree. I asked my great uncle why he had that tree out in the open. He said that those within the boundary were God’s gift to him and his livelihood, and the tree outside was for sharing God’s gifts with his world. I recall a few years later, another tree had been added outside the boundary. To this he explained that the village was growing and accordingly, God’s gifts needed to be shared. In his own village and in his own way, my great uncle was contributing his share of gratitude into the treasury of humanity.

I walked another residential street in my city. Hanging over the sidewalk from above a fenced front yard of a home full of fruit trees was the most beautiful pomegranate tree with fruits of deep red that had split the skin to reveal beads of luscious ripe sweetness. Remembering the incidence with the police, I stood there for a moment, contemplating, when the lady of the house came out with a small bag for me to fill with pomegranates. “Take,” she said. “The tree’s been good to me. Share.”

A simple act…a bit of magic…sharing with gratitude.

(As published in The Armenian Observer, October 8, 2014)

I sit in front of the glare of a computer screen with my hands on a keyboard trying to sort through a maze of thoughts that run through my assumed three pounds of brain mass, which sometimes weighs me down. Thoughts run wild in the midst of the chattering background of the television tuned to a news channel. There is too much going on in the world for me to ignore. There are news reports and footage of ISIS/ISIL, their devilish ways, and the excitement over the growth of a coalition to destroy it. Whoopee, we will fight evil. In March of 2003, we invaded Iraq to get rid of evil, or what we thought was the worst of evils. Today, ISIS tops the chart that defines evil. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s definition of evil “The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being, and who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”  gives me food for thought. It appears I must thicken or broaden that fine line that divides the good and evil in me and in all of us. Abdu’l-Baha’s definition puts me a little more at ease. “…all the qualities and admirable perfections of man, are purely good, and exist. Evil is simply their nonexistence.” That’s wonderful, I think to myself, I cannot be evil because somewhere inside me exist qualities stemming from good thoughts to be admired. Then I read Buddha who defines evil as, “Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil: envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil; all these things are evil.” This one makes me think a little deeper. I know that I have lied at some point in my life (who hasn’t?); and gossip? Much as I shy away from it, I am surrounded by it.  “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing,” said Albert Einstein. In his words and by his definition, the Coalition of countries cannot be evil if they are doing something about the current, depraved rancor, heinous, poisonous contagion of ISIL.

For the most part, my personal belief on this, or any subject, is not of particular importance to society. But I do believe it is important to the values that make me accountable to the principles that govern us. I have to believe in the rule of law. I have to believe that good abides by rules and laws, and that these laws are the treasury that govern us, safeguard our values and ultimately crown a victory over evil.

My thoughts are interrupted as my eye catches the split screen on my computer alerting me to an email that comes in. It is from my friends in Armenia. “Rally in Yerevan: Domestic Violence Awareness,” reads the headline. My friends from Datev Outreach, and the Women’s Support Center are working with the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Women to bring about a change in legislation that recognizes violence toward women (and men) as unacceptable. I am pleased. Changes are being made, albeit slow. Public awareness is increasing. Young women and men are going against the tide of what was acceptable by challenging the status quo, and by refusing to take as an answer “that’s just how things are.” The truth is that domestic violence has neither geographic borders, nor social hierarchy. It touches us all. We hear of it in the news on a daily basis, and very possibly, we each know of a friend, sister, daughter, mother or colleague who’s experienced or is experiencing abuse. This violence has long been considered a “family” problem, private, behind closed doors, shielded and hidden. Protected by silence – everyone’s silence—it only intensifies. However, with all the recent abuse and violent behavior situations surfacing in the social media, it has become identified as a social problem, and public awareness is beginning to demand a better explanation than “that’s just how things are.”

I believe in standing up and accepting nothing less than changing legislations that protect under the rule of laws. I believe in a unified front, a coalition that does not stand alone against “those who make this world a dangerous place.” I believe in the rule of law meant to guard and keep our values safe.  I believe in the words of Edmund Burke:  “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”