من امثالنا الشعبية...

الصاحب اللي ما تلقاه وقت الشدة قوله خير من بعيد تسده ...

Libyans & FB!

I don't understand how Libyans use Facebook... (warning, this is one of my 'see more' posts)

Here is a great space for people to connect, keep in touch, be as real as cyber space would permit, but I more often than not find more fake names than real ones, find people showering their so called 'friends' with fake pleasantries and a lottaaa love Bob Marley wouldn't have been able to handle!

Then the other fun aspect about the Libyan 'Face', as it is so popularly shortened, why oh why do they love impersonating other people's profiles? Starting from the name to the picture!

Did your 'friends' finally figure out that Booboo Kookoo Moomoo Libya with Beyoncé as a profile picture is not real?! Oh MY! The horror!

But that's not just it...although identity theft is not a matter to be taken lightly (Melissa McCarthy definitely did make sure to take it to the next level), this is not the only thing that is putting me off Facebook lately... no, uh uh... it starts from here, but it avalanches to much more...

The news, the Facebook pages, the groups, the silly adds on the side bar, the applications, Oui, all of it!

Let's take Libyan news pages for instance; have you noticed how they always manage to have gasoline ready to light one hell of a fire? Here I am, a regular Libyan citizen, browsing through some pages, and suddenly, I see عــــاجل, in big bright red large font!

Initial reaction, yalaaahwee, shinu fee tawa! then friends start sharing بعجالة, as well, and in the span of a few hours, your newsfeed gets spammed with a piece of news that not only is it fictitious, but also silly!

My new reaction to عــــاجل is 'Hide Post' or is it 'I do not want to see this' now?!

Joking aside though, I am deeply troubled at said news sharing phenomena.

This powerful tool, that so many news experts and analysts attribute the spark of the Arab spring to, is now erupting chaos, spreading rumors and lies, defaming good people’s reputation, and the list goes on…

I am sick of saying ‘we need to do something about it’ because if anything those past couple of years have taught us, very little can be done (and no, I am not a pessimist, I am a realist), but it still won’t hurt to blurb into cyber space…who knows, maybe one of my status will catch fire one of those days and a ripple effect will be created… who knows…one can only hope, that’s still for free!

لك الله يا ليبيا ...

من سنتين كانت الناس تردد سرا وقت الاحداث بعبارات جميلة، ترد الروح لاي شخص مشكك في الثورة او في اسباب 'اندلاعها' ، منها:

 ' قولوا لمعمر و عيالاه، ليبيا فيه رجالة'

كانت الناس تتسابق بدون اجندات على حفظ نشيد 'يا بلادي' دافعا منها لزيادة شعلة الثورة ولتعزيز روح الاخوة فيما بيننا...

لليوم، لا زال المقطع التالي من النشيد هو الذي يلخص شعوري نحو بلدي الذي لم يهنىء بعد من ايام تخلوا منها سفك دماء الاحرار...

 'واسلمي، واسلمي، واسلمي'

 لك الله يا ليبيا...



Hahaha

So much depth behind this picture! LOL and a whole lot of "hahahaha's"!

 

Facebook Rehab?

Facebook is so addictive. I find myself wanting to share very private thoughts, but stopping last minute to realize that FB is not marbu3et 7ushna (living room).

I often wonder whether our need to update our circle of friends, which is mixed with the close, the distant and the undefined, stems for our need for attention?

How many of us get excited for the mere fact of getting a double digit # of comments on a status update telling everyone we know 'whats on our mind' or on something we shared?

What is the hunger that FB satisfies in us?
 

Cycle Ride for Charity Donations

Dear all,

My friends' daughters are undertaking a lengthy cycle ride for three charities that have personal significance for them. Their target is to raise GBP 1,000 each - GBP 3,000 overall.

Any donation would be sincerely appreciated - see link and information on charities below.

Also, please feel free to share amongst your friends and family!





• Moorfields Eye Charity - supports one of the World's leading eye hospitals which undertakes much work in Africa restoring sight for thousands.

• The Alzheimer's Society  - which supports suffers and carers, as well as research into this debilitating illness.

• War Child  - which supports all children impacted by wars around the globe.

http://www.justgiving.com/teams/kent-girls

Dissapointment, hello, we meet again...

So much to let out... But where do I begin? Where do I start?

28 years and still learning lessons, I want to graduate or simply flunk out of life's horrible sessions...

Sometimes you wonder, will you ever 'know it all', will you ever be 'wise' and maybe detect a lie before it manifests into a yet, another failed lesson?

What happens when you no longer fail or wail over your mishappens?

Do you isolate yourself or keep a straight face in front of those ugly reminders that will never hear a confession?

So much will remain untold, but sometimes silence can be one of life's best potions...

The evil of a woman...

Nothing makes me see red or taste vile in my mouth like the idea of a woman bringing another woman down!

Unless you are a rapist or murderer, I can't see the logic behind it!

Jealous? Because you can't find valid excuses to cover up your failures?

Or don't have the courage to swim against the tide so you 'drop your anchor' and join forces with the 'others'?

If you think I'm wrong and we can't see eye to eye, fair enough, but why not look the other way instead of making me blind?

They say empty pots makes louder noise! And boy do you know how to gather a crowd!

If YOU are bringing me down tonight, who do you think tomorrow will be pulling YOU out?

*Note: above words are not a reflection of a personally related event.

من امثالنا الشعبية...

اللى واخد على طعامك وين يشبحك يجوع

Hope? Where have you gone?

You know that moment that when you have so much to say but no words to describe them...

Im speechless...

Do I blame the government? That only governs how much money we're worth today?

Or do I blame the people? Who put a price tag to be displayed?

Or do I forget the blame, the pain and all the anger that my body can no longer contain?

And yet, after digging those words from deep within, I feel helpless and remain speechless...and somewhat hopeless...

ان لله و ان اليه راجعون    

من امثالنا الشعبية...

قليل الأصل ما تنفع معاه المليحة ،، لو كان اتديرله في قلب السماء درجيحة...

(3) From my Archive...

Why share all the graphic images of Gaza's casualties?

Do we need to see a picture of an injured baby boy sitting next to his mom's body that he's waiting to wake up to feel their misery?

Or do we need to see a picture of blood and the shattered pieces of what was once a body to cry and sympathize with the daily massacre Gaza is going through?

Do we need to see this kind of proof of murder in order to invoke a reaction in us?

Has it come to this? We have to see images of dead mutilated bodies captioned with heart breaking comments so we feel sorry for them and blackmail our emotions to get off our behinds and supposedly do something? Not because it is the right thing to do but because we are guilt ridden?

Gaza does not need our fake sympathy, Gaza does not need us to share their bloody pictures of their struggle.

Nothing will stop Israel if the big guns do not intervene. Nothing except Allah SWT.

If our sympathy can get countries liberated, Syria would've been raising its independence flag by now.

Let it out, write articles, share photos, raise money, go on demonstrations, but don't fool yourself and think those actions will ever make the decision makers budge until they decide to do so.

Libyans: the experts on EVERYTHING!

Why does everyone talk about the Isolation Law as though 99% of the Libyan population are political experts?

Last time I checked the only glimpse of politics that was dictated to us was in the form of Wa3i Siyasi aka The Green Book aka Politics thru the Eyes of Gaddafi.

Fa ya tara ya fat7al inta o hiya, min ween il political analysis skills hadi kulha jit?

I understand that we have a lot of educated, well-read individuals who can be considered a minority in Libya. But that also does not mean that said individuals have any expertise in politics nor is it the right time to dabble in it and explore ur hidden talents or practice ur hobbies.

So to sum my humble opinion up very simply, i'll share one of my favourite quotes:
"اعطي خبرك للخباز لو أكل نصه".

يا مفتينا يا مفتينا،،،

يا مفتينا يا مفتينا، تي غير خيرك مهووس فينا؟

 يا مفتينا يا مفتينا، البلاد مقلوبة و مخنوبة و مزال عندك وقت تفكر فينا؟

 يا مفتينا يا مفتينا، تقيم في اليل كل علينا؟

 يا مفتينا يا مفتينا، توا الحرام، العورة، الشهوة، الفحشاء كله طلع فينا؟

 يا مفتينا يا مفتينا، غير لو تحط هل الجهد فيكم مش بس فينا!

 يا مفتينا، ربي يهديكم ياللي كل جهدكم ضايع في كيف تقدروا تستمتعوا فينا!

A picture IS worth a thousand words!

Ya Sheikhna...

Do you know ya 'Sheikhna' why so many Libyan women no longer want to marry Libyan men?

Simple: they want to be seen as women, not a goat to be led, dressed or hair to be covered...
Not have to endure harrasement and feel like they're being undressed...
Not to be seen as the next sin to be commited...

Do you know something ya 'Sheikhna', if you were a Libyan woman, living in the country of Libyan men, you would stop the teaching and the preaching, and maybe start seeing what it takes to be a Libyan woman, in this country of Libyan so called men.

Celebrating non-exsistent glory...

Why does it feel like we are celebrating September 1 all over again! Oh wait, am I going to get shot in the head for making that comparison?

What exactly are we celebrating? Seriously?
Chaos maybe?
I do not know, let's see, lack of law and order?
Or perhaps new instilled terror and not being able to leave our houses after Margreb prayers?
Profound hatred for anyone publicly holding a gun?
Or better yet, the new norm of seeing guns in broad daylight?

hmmm I struggle at finding things to add to this list....

Are you so joyful that you killed Gaddafi? BRAVO! Round of applause, loud music, fluttering flags, breaking even Libyan driving rules should do it.

Question: When are we going to kill the one living in 90% of the Libyan population so we can truly feel liberated? I've said it once, and I will say it again, we've killed Gaddafi, but we sure as hell did not kill his spirit!!!

Once that is accomplished, I will join you and applaud you and who knows, maybe you'll be luck and I'll probably even attempt a za3'roota for you.

Until then, I am in mourning for all the lives lost, for all the limbs that have been amputated, for all the dreams that have been raped for the NEW Libya!

Until then, for me at least, the 17th of February is nothing but a sad reminder of what we were hoping to be, not what really is.

(2) From my archive...

My dear Egyptian friends and my friends who have Egyptian roots, or consider Egypt to be their home, my condolences on the recent football events.

If anything, it makes my heart weep to see how cheap a human life is and how politics is a filthy game that uses OUR lives as part of it's agenda...

ان لله و ان اليه راجعون
الله يرحمهم و يجعل مثواهم الجنة

Those people who were brutally killed, didn't die cheering for Port Said or Al Ahly as they want people to believe...their death will tell a story of how they died to make Egypt a better place for generations to come... Inshalla their blood, and all our Martyr's blood, be it in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Syria or Yemen, never goes to waste, and the reason why their life was taken away or given away voluntarily, will always be a reminder of what they paid for us to be here, breathing and alive.

My condolences,
Haneen

Prayer

'God, give me the strength to accept the things that I can not change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.'

Simply put, lakin haat illi yafham!

Quote..

'Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.'
Einstein.

One of life's social myths...

Nothing is worse than fooling yourself into believing that 'treating people the way you want to be treated' makes any difference to how you eventually get treated.

That's why there are a handful of people who understand and love you unconditionally. The rest are only there to make you appreciate those handful even more.

And the Gaddafi legacy continues...

Even after his death, some people are reviving him through their abuse of this country and its people.

Not only did he successfully doom Libya and Libyans for 42 years, but through his evil genius, managed to continue cursing us from under the ground up to this day.

Gaddafi's effect is like that of nuclear radiation from a detonated atomic bomb. It lasts and it lasts and it lasts. It seeps through earth and water and ends up decaying  and poisining everyone and everything around it.

He left this country with soulless citizens and left its people with a crumbling country with no infrastructure.

Bravo Gadaffi, you certainly managed to stay alive after your death.

Practise what you preach!




If only people practise what they preach and stop using religion as a tool...

 

(1) From my archive...

I remember talking to my friend Amal Salah Delawi, on the 13th or 14th of Feb, 2011, where she was telling me that something big is going to happen on the 17th, a thing that will follow in the footsteps of both Egypt and Tunis... and I still remember, 12 months later, that my response to those words were a scoff and a laugh!

Little did I know that my scoffing and laughing would soon be replaced with a cocktail of emotions, to include tears of saddness and joy; fear for not my life, but for that of my loved ones; immense love for my Libyan brothers and sisters that could not be contained in that tiny organ called heart; and most important of all, a new found pride, of being Libyan.

I am sad to say that, today, on the anniversary of 17 of February, I feel somewhat indifferent.

Some are celebrating our freedom with antiaircarft artiliary and K45.

Some force people to buy Independece flags and mount them on their cars; if you don't oblige, you are a 'ta7looba kbeera'.

Some are exploiting their 'kateeba' cars to cut through traffic and never stop in a red light.

Some use 'Allahu Akbar' to chat up women.

Some now think they can judge you from the simple question of 'which city are you from?'

And note that I say 'some', because now I am more realistic to what 17 of February gave birth to, and it is Hope. The Hope for a new fresh Libya, free of the Gaddafi stigma and filled with tolerance and love.

{إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ}

Enough disrespect!

Why are many Libyans so disrespectful?

Not only in the day to day discourse of life, but even when stating their opinions!

They can not disagree or argue without cussing, cursing and using demeaning metaphors more than the Arabic language can bear!

Words are an external portal to your self, to your being, to your personality!

Uttering derogatory statements only lowers your level of intelligence and your image in front of others and most importantly, the level of respect that you not only hold for the listener or receiver, but for yourself!

If only people can learn the concept of agreeing to disagree. Would save us a lot of verbal diarrhea!

All that pride...

I never got the concept of

'Libyan and Proud'
'X city and Proud'
'Muslim and Proud'

What exactly are u proud of?

U did not accomplish any of those statements, U were born with them.

U should be proud with what u personally accomplish, not for something that was handed to u by the act of birth.

Its what u do with ur life, by being Muslim and Libyan, what should make u claim that pride.

Be a good Libyan, a good Muslim, then u can be proud.

Actions, not meaningless words scribbled on a piece of paper that mark u in this world.

Taking credit for something u didn't do, strikes me as plain shallow.

Mr. Libyan Man...

Mr. Libyan man, I do not exist just for you.

Mr. Libyan man, my hair, my make-up, my dresses, aren't for u.

Mr. Libyan man, I do not live in the hope that maybe, Oh God, i can't believe it, but u may choose me too?

Mr. Libyan man, I have feelings and a brain too.

Mr. Libyan man, guess what? I didn't learn to cook just to feed u.

Mr. Libyan man, hear the sound of my voice, whispering slowly in your ear: i do not exist just for u.

A national of a 3rd world country! Yaay the fun!

It is not fun to be a national of a 3rd world country!

Embassies scrutinize you as if you're the next Bin Laden!

Why can't I get a Schengen visa in 1 day? Why do I need to wait 2 weeks to enter an EU country when someone holding a Blue or a Red passport can simply walk in like they would enter a restaurant without a reservation?

Actually better yet, when are we, the poor children of 3rd world countries, going to see the day when flashing our passports is all we need to step to the other side?
(minus the screening, the questioning, the searching that is, lol)

A verse from a poem

My dad recited this beautiful verse from a poem as a response to an incident that happened... for some reason it has been on my mind these days:

ثلاث لا وجود لهما الغول والعنقاء والخل الودود

A Gaddafi state of mind



This is what I call a Gaddafi State of Mind!
They got rid of him, but will never be able to rid themselves from his spirit.



خير الكلام ما قل ودل...