Zarf

 In my crossword puzzle game of today I had to guess a four letter word meaning: “the cardboard sleeve around a coffee cup”.

I had enough letters to attempt using “zarf” as an answer and, lo and behold, it was the right guess!

I suspected that this word was taken from Arabic as it is commonly used to describe an envelope and here’s what I found in Wikipedia:

“A zarf is something that helps you hold a hot cup without burning your fingers. Don't leave the coffee shop without your zarf! Zarf is a peculiar looking word that is a loaner from Arabic and originally denoted a metal holder for a drinking glass — which would be unwieldy to handle if it contained a hot beverage.”

To my Egyptian friends and family: I’m intrigued to know if you use this term if and when you ask for a sleeve for your coffee cup?

Hani Badawi 

February 18, 2023

What Next?

The world again is at the mercy of leaders who are conducting events that may vey well lead to an undesirable outcome and potentially to a third world war!

The escalation of the “runaway” events in Ukraine over the past year leaves no room for winners to emerge at the end of this quagmire. It’s, alas, a lose-lose situation and there will be no victors if and when this nightmare is over!

Like many human beings, leaders often belong to the segment of individuals whom, to put it mildly, we can describe as: “individuals with poor qualities.”

I recently finished reading the book titled: “The Winter of our Discontent” by John Steinbeck and the following paragraph resonated well with my thoughts regarding the “good” and “bad” qualities of individuals:

“There is a strange duality in the human which makes for an ethical paradox. We have definitions of good qualities and of bad; not changing things, but generally considered good and bad throughout the ages and throughout the species. Of the good, we think always of wisdom, tolerance, kindliness, generosity, humility; and the qualities of cruelty, greed, self-interest, graspingness, and rapacity are universally considered undesirable. And yet in our structure of society, the so-called and considered good qualities are invariable concomitants of failure, while the bad ones are the cornerstones of success. . . . Perhaps no other animal is so torn between alternatives. Man might be described fairly adequately, if simply, as a two-legged paradox.”

As time and time again we have witnessed leaders and their minions spreading distorted and often false slogans in the guise of ideals that lead to polarization within their nations and ultimately over the world at large. 

I’m sure that many of us believe that history repeats itself and, alas, because we’re powerless we’re all anxious to know: What Next?

Hani Badawi

February 22, 2023

2024 US Presidential Election!

With the disgraceful and shameful performance of Trump in his controversial one term presidency of the USA, is it not surprising that some believe that he will likely run again for the presidency in four years time?

Assuming he will survive the lawsuits that are lined up against him, if not incarceration, he will be older than what he called “the old man” Biden!  

In the coming four years, Biden has a tall order to undo the damage that Trump and his cronies inflicted on the nation and he would hopefully do that by appointing an experienced (not “yes men/women”) team to attend to the needs of the country rather than the personal benefits that his predecessor was mired in.

In the past four years the world watched a president who made a fool of himself and his nation, survived an impeachment and neglected to support the necessary measures to contain the escalating pandemic in his country.  

If history will be kind to Trump he would be labeled as the Nero of the 21st century, but, with all his misdeeds, I would not be surprised if historians use many more fitting labels to describe his “too long” one term!

Let’s pray and hope that the future, not only the next four years, for the USA and the rest of the world will be more bearable and sustainable for all its inhabitants.

Hani Badawi

January 7, 2021

Disruptive Technologies and Events

I think it is safe to say that disruptive technologies that have unfolded in the past 7 decades (a little less than my lifespan to date) exceeds those that have emerged in many past centuries.

This note is not intended to list the disruptive technologies of the past as these can be found in numerous articles that can easily be searched online. Instead, I will share my thoughts about the effect of disruptive events in our lives and their effect on creating a cascade of changes in our lives, be it personal, national or global.

On the personal/individual level, every time we encounter some disruption to the flow of our lives, be it driven by social, professional, health or wealth factors, we make adjustments to the way we conduct our lives and only time is the judge of whether these adjustments serve us well or not.

On the national level, by browsing the historic events for each nation it is fair to say that the evolution (rise or fall) of a nation’s health in the form of wealth, power, governance and harmony differ greatly from one nation to the next depending on the specific parameters, natural or man made) that pertain to each nation.  Like the personal level, many adjustments are made and only time is the best judge of whether these adjustments serve well the particular nation or not.  Needless to say, the changes on the national level cannot be decoupled from the changes that occur on the personal level for the citizens of each nation that they belong to.

Now comes the global level and it gets more complicated!  If we cast our minds to the disruptions that occurred in the last century (as a snapshot in history), one will observe that by linking the aforementioned personal and national disruptions (in their many complex forms and aspects) we can begin to understand what are the likely reasons for the global changes (especially man made) that have occurred and those that are still unfolding.  Once again, for the global disruptions, only time will be the judge whether or not the changes (ecologic, economic, strategic, scientific, technologic, etc.) will serve well the globe that we all share!

In all events, disruptions are the seeds of some good and some bad outcomes such as new ideas, innovations, honest and dishonest rivalries, good and bad revolutions, proxy wars, religious wars, and, in the extreme, world wars.

A myriad of movies, plays, TV documentaries, newspaper articles, poems, songs, etc. addressing all of the disruptive events and the the resulting changes that occurred over our recorded history were generated, some accurate but, unfortunately, some with bias, prejudice and often misinformation.  

In summary, disruptive events on all levels have occurred and will continue to occur over time and it is evident that the present speed of the resulting changes in our lives is mind-boggling! As individual, national and global conscience is but a manifestation of all the complex changes that have occurred over the millennia I wonder by what mechanism, if any at all, will a new disruptive event/events will this world converge to a happy ending!!

At this time we can only hope that the present disruptive Coronavirus pandemic will vanish from our lives and will serve as a lesson that we, as humans, are very vulnerable and that our hope for salvation can only lie in a form of good use of any further disruptions that will occur in our lives!

“Hope is a waking dream.” Aristotle.

Hani Badawi

August 6, 2020

Virtual Realiy

Over the past few years Virtual Reality took center stage in the worlds of education, entertainment, medicine and in a host of other fields.

In this note, however, I wish to touch on some softer aspects of the Virtual Reality term, namely how we perceive reality and how our minds occasionally drift into a world that is bordering on fantasy, be it for something we wish for or, on the other extreme, something we fear.

Needless to say, our level of fantasy is determined, amongst many other things, by the fertility of our minds.

Like a naturally fertile soil in which seeds when sufficiently irrigated and nourished will yield a healthy plant, fertile minds when supported by a depth of experience and imagination will yield good ideas that may include theories or fantasies.

Different nature of soils, e.g. acidic or alkaline, are needed for growing different plants. Likewise, if we think about fertile minds, their ability to produce a theory or a fantasy will depend on the nature of the individual mind. Some will yield theories and some will yield fiction and on a few occasions they may yield both!

Returning to the thought about perception and Virtual Reality, I believe that a novel written by a person with a fertile mind, whether it be romantic, historic fiction, science fiction, etc. or any combination of these, will take you into a virtual reality world which may in turn, depending on the fertility of your mind, help you in perceiving thoughts and ideas and perhaps allowing you to create new ones too!

Hani Badawi
November 9, 2019

Thinking Aloud

A few decades ago when I was embarking on a career in technical research I was unaware of the needed methodology for conducting and expressing my thoughts. Admittedly, I was also fearful of relaying my early thoughts lest they be incorrect or inaccurate.

At that time, the process of “Thinking Aloud” was brought to my attention by my Ph.D. Supervisor (Dr. Krante Anand) who went on to describe the importance of that process in as far as verbalizing one’s technical thoughts with the intent of honing and ultimately refining one’s research skills.

As time progressed, I realized that this was only the first step in him preparing me to enter the world of research. Soon thereafter he proceeded to guide and encourage me to continuously document my research results, to periodically submit my findings to technical journals and to present them at relevant international conferences.

Learning the above process was a lesson that had a profound impact on the evolution of my thoughts over the years and my ability to express them in writing and sharing them with others.

Of course there are other forms of thinking that I learned and used since the formative days of my career. These included amongst others: strategic thinking, critical thinking, lateral thinking and creative thinking. In the process of learning all these diverse forms of thinking, I certainly relied on my previously acquired skill of “thinking aloud”.

Many of the things we do in life are rooted in an experience we were exposed to along our life path and I’m sure that each of you must have had a similar explicit experience or multiple experiences like the one I shared here. Think about it and perhaps you may find that “thinking aloud” is useful!

Note: I owe a debt of gratitude to the late Dr. Krante Anand for his mentoring role and also our friendship that was cut short by his early departure many years ago. May his soul rest in eternal peace.


Hani Badawi
January 23, 2019

Look Inside Yourself

From time to time it is not unusual for us to spit-out critical comments, criticisms and condemnations in view of behavioral patterns and/or policies within our own society/country. I note that these feelings may be expressed with an even higher zeal and a more elevated frequency when we describe what we deem unacceptable behavioral patterns and/or policies related to other societies/countries.

What makes us do that?

The motives differ widely and are not always obvious because they depend on many factors, namely:

1- socio-cultural: (personality, attitude, lifestyle, education, health, religion, wealth, media etc.),

2- political (government, regulations, economy, treaties, constitution, etc.)

3- geographic (resources, terrain, climate, etc.)

It is noteworthy that the above stated three factors with all their sub-factors (and unnamed etceteras) are intertwined in many ways making it virtually impossible for us to reach a definitive conclusion as to what glasses we use to see and perceive the defects within any given society or country.

The more I think about the above, the more I believe that it is a bottomless-pit, because the more thought I invest in trying to understand the motives for these thought declarations, the less conclusions I’m likely to reach!

So, what should we do:

Depending on our individual core values/feelings and common sense inclinations, it would be better to direct our thoughts towards toning down the egotistic feelings and elevating our own values to better serve ourselves, our families and our societies.

Remember that, regardless of which age/social/ethnic/creed/etc. group that we belong to, our leanings, biases, convictions and other feelings may possibly have changed over time. So much so, it is somewhat hypocritical to pass judgment on behavioral patterns that we may have once adopted!

Start with positive, constructive self-criticism, work on self-improvement and back-out of general criticism.

After all, as the saying goes: Charity begins at home!

Hani Badawi
January 6, 2019

Day Dreaming!

Remember those days when we were young and carefree, when our thoughts spontaneously carried us into a future of our own making, when thoughts of feelings, places and things that we imagined transported us into a world that only existed in our mind?

That was the time in our life when our imagination was allowed to wonder freely without the physical boundaries and barriers, in there many shapes and forms, that we were to later encounter!

A very few of us may have had a fertile imagination and whose early dreams may have partially or fully been realized whereas many of us move on beyond our youthful thoughts never to go back for even a short visit of our imaginary world!  In either case, however, our life is inevitably conditioned by many factors which would have been impossible to fathom or foresee at our younger years.

What our minds may do to us at a later phase of our lives is to travel back into an imaginary world where we would conjure up making changes to our lives to effect a different course than the one we ended up charting.  

Whatever our age may be, our day dreaming may serve as a source of self entertainment. The trick is to not let that entertainment lead to disappointment or regret!

Hani Badawi

May 4, 2018

A Proud Moment

I was recently caught by surprise when I was asked by a friend to come up with a story about a time in my career when I experienced a Proud Moment. At first I had a momentary brain freeze and felt like a deer in the headlights! Luckily my memory at this stage of my life remains reasonably vivid, so, upon taking a deep breath I was able to recall one such event and I commenced to narrate my story!

The one that came to my mind took place many years ago when I had just started working for a highly innovative company where my job description entailed supervising a team of brilliant scientists most of whom had just earned their doctoral degrees from very reputable US schools.

I was thrilled by the challenge that the job promised and was amused by what my boss at that time told me. He said “I am relying on you to herd the wild cats in your group”!

Actually, when I had the chance to get to know each member of the group, it turned out that each and every one had a strong opinion about their research ideas and projections albeit some of these converged and others diverged from the vision of the company. In summary, I realized that, whereas they predominantly had fresh innovative ideas, they needed guidance on how to go about managing their ideas and time and aligning these with the company vision and mission too. A tall challenge for them as, in their graduate studies, they did not have to conform to any equivalent limitations and disciplines.

Adding to my challenge, amongst the group members, who were mostly in their mid to late 20’s, there was an older scientist in his late 30’s. Although academically adept, he was described to me by the company management as “stubborn and a poor team-player”! I will refer to him as Dr. Oldman!

At the time I took on the responsibility of managing the group, Dr. Oldman was on probation for not only the above mentioned shortcomings, but also for what was deemed to be a “below average technical performance”! At that point I realized that my job will have challenges beyond my initial impression of what to expect and how to go about it! Furthermore, based on the above shortcomings I was guided by management that I have three months to work with him on a performance recovery plan that, should he not show the expected improvements, he will be asked to look for an other job elsewhere!

At the time I joined the company I had many years of managerial experience under my belt and believed that I had the necessary skills to deal with the Dr. Oldman issue but I still feared that this was going to be a daunting challenge! Remember, this issue was only going to be a part of a bigger picture that entailed managing a group of fifteen young scientists that I needed to coach in addition to the fact that I had to learn and digest the technical details of the company’s business model and associated roadmap!

After a few sleepless nights I decided that I’m determined to devise what’s needed to make this a successful mission.

Fortunately, with the benefit of my previous experience, I was able to balance my time equitably between all of the above job requirements. Amongst many other meetings, I had weekly one-on-one meetings with each member of my group and we jointly set clear goals and tasks with clear timelines for each individual and for the team as a whole. Of course, as you can imagine, my approach for harnessing the best out of each group member needed to be aligned with their specific skill-sets and aptitudes and I’m sure you can imagine that an extra effort needed to be assigned to Dr. Oldman and, indeed, that’s exactly what I did!

Dr. Oldman initially put up some resistance to my prescribed regimen of goal-setting, ratings, etc. but he finally started being respondent by the end of the first month.

Two more months passed and Dr. Oldman continued tirelessly to work with me to prove to himself, to me and to the whole company that he is worthy of retaining his job. So much so, that at the end of his probation period he was able to demonstrate a tremendous comeback and he attained, with flying colors, all his goal targets! Needless to say, at that point I finally breathed a sigh of relief! This however was not the Proud Moment!

The Proud Moment occurred nine months later when, to my heart’s content (and teary eyes!), he received the quarterly award of “Company’s Best Innovator”.

Hani Badawi
April 17, 2018

Our Legacy

Have you ever wondered as to what your legacy will be after you’ve departed from your physical being?

Is it important to leave a legacy behind?

How far in time will one’s legacy live?

How is one’s legacy remembered and by whom?

These are deep and personal questions and I’m raising them here with the intent of stimulating my mind and hopefully yours to ponder further on this subject.

Unlike what historians or biographers do in capturing the legacies of famous, notorious, influential or criminal mortals, as individuals we don’t seem to have the same motivation to document the legacies of our departed family members or friends and the same argument holds true about others doing that for us.

Luckily a very few individuals will keep a diary throughout all or part of their lives and some will even write an autobiography, but these are even fewer and far between.

I suppose we all have memories of our departed family members and friends and, in some way, by reviewing those memories in our own mind and/or by discussing them with others we are somehow generating a verbal and mental image of their legacy. Alas, it is less common that we formulate a written version of our thoughts and we often find ourselves regretting that we did not keep good records of the sayings and doings of our departed ones.

By the same token, memories of our lives as seen by others will follow the same trajectory as the above described one.

I will deviate a little from the topic here to briefly address a physical phenomenon known as radioactive element decay time. All radioactive elements continue to lose their radioactivity over time and the metric that scientist most commonly use is known as decay constant (or half-life). Radiation emitted from the isotopes of the different radioactive elements will decay with different time constants and I won’t take a deeper dive into the physics of this matter any further, but please hold that decay notion!

Bearing all of the above in mind, it is fair to say that the chances of having one’s legacy survive within a fairly narrow circle of friends and family will likely follow a memory decay process analogous to what happens to radioactive matter with differing decay times depending on what continues to be remembered and what was documented during one’s lifetime and/or after one passes on!

Hani Badawi
February 27, 2018

Fresh Air: Experience, Feelings and Thoughts

As yesterday was a very bright and sunny day in Evanston, IL, I was propelled to take a long walk by the Lake with the intention of getting some “fresh air” and breaking loose from the indoor confinement that is often dictated upon me by the usually unfriendly winter weather in this otherwise beautiful and scenic part of the world!

In addition to the reward of breathing in and filling up my lungs with fresh air, my visual senses and appreciation of nature were rejuvenated and my brisk walk reinvigorated my physical functions.

Clarity of the sky and the relatively warmer weather combined with a superb surrounding nature and architecture, all worked together in harmony to create a magical experience prompting me to keep taking photos all along the way!

Photos, lamentably, do not capture the feeling of fresh air!

Begs the question: Is Fresh Air only a physical sensation?

Here’s a thought: We may have a positive encounter or experience in the course of our lives that we may declare as “a breath of fresh air”. I wonder if it’s truly a sensation of fresh air or is it “like” breathing fresh air?

Perhaps the exhilaration derived from the foregoing situations allows us to imagine the feeling that we normally experience when physically breathing clean and otherwise unadulterated fresh air! On the other hand, that exhilaration may simply lead us to take a deeper and more relaxed breath which by some mental magic is truly “fresh air”!

Hani Badawi
February 27, 2018

Memories and Recollections

There are memories that lie dormant in our minds only to be stirred up and refreshed when:

1- We meet friends that we hadn’t seen in a long time, and
2- We physically go back to places that we once lived in or had visited in the past, and
3- A situation and/or a discussion takes our thoughts back to the old times.

Our minds are capable of archiving events in the form of memories but these memories need to be refreshed from time to time otherwise they may fade away!

Hani Badawi
February 16, 2018

Am I Ticked Off!

Tick! What an intriguing word!

On my daily “To Do List” I feel good when I proudly put a check or tick mark by a completed task. I do so while listening to the clock ticking with the familiar tick-tock sound!

Beware of ticks! Some of these insects are infected with bacteria and can transmit several diseases, worst of which is Lyme disease.

In economics lingo, A tick is a minimum change in the price of a security. Also known as a downtick, a minus tick occurs when a security sells at a price less than the preceding sale. A minus tick is the opposite of an uptick.

Some of my friends urge me to write a book and they often ask me if my book is ticking along nicely! I wish it were for I would have responded “I shan’t be a tick”!

Alas, I’m ticked off by some unbecoming and irresponsible behavior and actions of some politicians (and you know who I mean 😉) and pray that they will eventually go down the dustbin of history!

Rest assured, the time is Ticking!

Hani Badawi
February 16, 2018

Days of past, present and future

The 1967 musical album “Days of Future Passed” by the Moody Blues was and remains to this day amongst some of my all time favorite albums.

It is not only the lyrics and composition that render a special liking to a song/album but I think it is the memory of the times surrounding the initial exposure to it that colors it in an unforgettable and endearing way.

In the past few weeks here on my visit to Egypt, where I’m thoroughly enjoying the company and endless hospitality of my dear family and friends, I’ve been very lucky to relive some of my past through touring of both previously visited and unvisited areas of the country as well as meeting new extensions of my family and friends.

In this, as in many previous sojourns in Egypt, invariably I find myself humming tunes from the above mentioned album as if I’m trying to hold on to past memories and at the same time enjoying the present while wondering about the future!

Hani Badawi
January 23, 2018

Perception, induction, rejection and conviction

At the early phase of our lives, many of our notions and beliefs, rightly or wrongly, are seeded in our perception of things. We may, amongst other things, because of our limited exposure to details of the otherwise complex world, perceive that the world revolves around our family, home, school etc. Over time, our perception of things evolves and we start observing many exceptions to the rules and notions that were previously imprinted in our minds and corrections ensue. Effectively, in modern parlance, our perception goes through revisions in a very similar way as software or hardware do over time as a function of evolution of the sophistication in these respective areas of technology.

Adjustments and fine tuning of our perceptions occur via a multitude of mechanisms, some of these are unique and others common or shared, depending on our individual circumstances. Induction through education and media, rejection via our ability to reason out facts and conviction via numerous complex paths, are amongst many variable processes that we encounter at different stages of our lives, all of which constitute the forces that color and continuously recolor our perception of facts.

The notion of “Perception is Reality” is therefore predicated on the foregoing diverse factors and consequently it is impossible to claim that our perception (or reality) is identical to that of anyone else’s.

Conclusion (open for debate): Imposing our perception and/or reality has been and will continue to be a source of angst amongst individuals and nations too!

Hani Badawi
January 17, 2018

Pride and Prejudice in Our Lives

Many moons ago, in my senior year at high school, the English Literature class syllabus entailed reading/studying Jane Austen’s novel “Pride and Prejudice”.

As it happens, even though at that time I was gravitating towards and ended up choosing a natural sciences education and career, I continued over the years to retain my memories and admiration of the power of literature and it’s influence in formulating and polishing my thoughts with “Pride” and perhaps a little “Prejudice” too!!

Jane Austen’s theme was one that laid out the two aspects in the title of her novel over many pages of twists and turns in the lives of the Bennet family and, particularly that of the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet.

In the novel, much like what happens in true life for you and me, the travails from the ridiculous to the sublime and vice versa are encountered at different chapters of the book in very much the same way as what we experience over the span or chapters of our lives!

In our formative years, as we transition from childhood to maturity, we are influenced by many expressed thoughts, mental and physical postures and behavior of those whom we observe amongst our family, teachers and friends. That influence may morph into bias or prejudice that often times is not that easy to break out of as we grow older.

The extent by which the acquired bias and prejudice is tempered will vary amongst individuals including between siblings depending on the different shades of personal experience, environment and circumstances that each is exposed to.

Prejudices and/or tainting of thoughts and ideals may spread like an epidemic and, without the necessary antidote, namely education, may well extend over national, religious, gender, class, rank, etc..... aspects of any society.

Needless to say, ill-founded pride and the presence or absence of envy, ambition, aspiration, bigotry, passion and jealousy, amongst other things, are important ingredients in the recipe that determines anyone’s personality. Sweet, tasteless or sour personalities are thus shaped depending on the doses and/or combinations of those ingredients!

Hani Badawi
December 29, 2017

Balancing Our Lives

If we examine many aspects of life we will find that a balanced approach is necessary.

In all fields of science one must use checks and balances for verifying and proving theories.

In diverse fields of finance checks and balances are used for balancing budgets.

In medicine, a balanced diet is recommended for leading a healthy life.

All religions call for a balance between wordly and worship/divine matters.

A successful school curriculum relies on a balance between, humanities, social science and natural science subjects.

And there are many more examples of how balancing things in our lives is important.

On the other hand, there are many examples of unbalanced behavior that we observe on a daily basis by politicians and, from time to time, by world leaders! For that, we may fine-tune our thoughts to strike a balance in our lives by adopting a path for reform via casting our votes or joining an opposition campaign. We may also, instead, choose to tune out the cacophony of the crazy ideas that we hear via the media!

Temptation often steers us away from an otherwise balanced state of affairs, however, corrective action is possible if one reacts in time before the balance tips over one way or the other!

Hani Badawi
December 8, 2017

Humans and Electric Circuits - Are they Analogous?

In this short essay (composed 6 years ago) I attempt, relying on my lifelong engineering and research career, to draw some analogies between a few human traits and behaviors to the components and behavior of electric circuits!

So, should you have no interest in delving further into my world of science, you can skip reading what follows!

We are all wired up in a very similar way as a "passive" electric circuit. The complexity of any given human circuit is directly related to many factors that constitute our individual lives. However, unlike electric circuits, no two humans are wired in exactly the same way.

If you agree so far, continue to the next paragraph. If I lost you, please feel free to skip the rest of this analysis.

OK, you are still reading, so you must be still interested! Now, let me draw the following analogies and see if you agree (or disagree):

Some circuits are more resistive in nature. The resistive human nature could be, in one extreme, indicative of close-minded individuals who resist change, or, on the other extreme, individuals that resist indoctrination by the society or other external sources.

Some circuits are more reactive (either inductive or capacitive). They remind me of different degrees of emotional intelligence. If inductive, some will induce ideas from others and some will induce ideas to others. If capacitive, some would charge up others and some will be charged up by others. If the capacitor is leaky then it will not hold the charge and that reminds of people who cannot hold a secret and some are more leaky than others!

The simple circuits comprising the above 3 "passive" elements, namely: resistors, inductors and capacitors is the simplest form of circuit. This type of circuit will also consist of a battery or a power source (for which the human equivalent is the brain) and a switch for turning the current on or off (does that remind you of the state of consciousness - awake or asleep?).

If perchance a short circuit occurs, then this would herald the demise of a circuit. Doesn't that remind you of what happens at the end of a life!

On a happier note, passive circuits are not the only circuits that have advanced our technology of today. There happens to be a host of "active" elements known as diodes and transistors and they are forever evolving, very much in the same way as the growth of our knowledge in our lifetime and also the evolution of our future generations. For these "active" elements analogies one must remember to cherish and nurture their growth.

A final thought: Keep your batteries charged and don't let anyone rewire you!

Hani Badawi
December 6, 2011

Perspectives and Appreciation Note

In all my notes/blogs I only aim to provide a perspective of my thoughts in a similar way as what an artist would in rendering her/his feelings using the material and subjects of their choice.

I do not claim or profess to be an expert at what I write. I only reflect what’s transpiring at the moment that I conceive a thought or an idea and lay it open for comments, criticism or support, all of which truly fuel my mental engine to keep it running!

Needless to say, in addition to appreciating your comments, I note that many of your comments reflect a deeper understanding of some of my perspectives and prompt me to delve deeper into facts about the subject matter or my inner thoughts.

Your perspectives on my perspectives are important and highly appreciated!

Hani Badawi
December 2, 2017

Do We Grow Up or Grow Old? A Perspective

I’m sure that at some time or another you heard people say: grow up, act your age or stop being childish!

What does that mean?

I guess, like many things in life, the answer to that question is: It depends!

Depending on life circumstances, individuals may have been conditioned and/or have chosen to lead a life of limited resources. By that I mean that they may have had external factors dictating behavioral patterns on them but, on the other hand, they could also have chosen to lead a life where human interactions were minimal or avoided for some reason or another.

Whatever the reasons are, onlookers who have led a gregarious and socially active life will look upon the limited resources group as dull, uninteresting or culturally inept. They may even label them as infantile or childish.

Conversely, the limited resources group may hold a similar view of the socially active group and apply similar labels to them like “not acting their age”, etc.

The common denominator, nevertheless, is that the two groups (and other various groups not addressed here) continue to grow older.

So growing old is inevitable. Determination of whether growing up or acting one’s age, however, will always be in the eye of the beholder!

Hani Badawi
December 1, 2017