With Hilary Or Donald Life Will Go On!

If we believe in the power of free elections then we must heed what Plato, the Greek Philosopher (c. 428-348 BCE) intimated many centuries ago: “This City is what it is because our citizens are what they are.”

Even though Plato’s words ring true today, one must reflect on the past and ponder whether “free elections” ever lived-up to its meaning and/or promise!

Fast forward from the days of Plato to the Roman Philosopher Cicero (106-43 BCE) who, in addition to being a philosopher, was a, lawyer, orator and politician. Cicero had a seemingly different view from the one held by Plato about citizens, when he professed: “Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system.”

In actuality, the two great philosophers were not in conflict in their thoughts, they only reflected upon what they observed in their respective eras. Needless to say, they were prophetic in their thoughts too.

One thing we can say, apart from the passing of time, nothing much has changed!

Hani Badawi

Sptember 1, 2016

Smoke and Mirrors

Events around the world, as portrayed in the news on TV or any other communication media, seem to indicate an alarming escalation in social and economic chaos, factional strife and general unrest.

I was initially inclined to start my previous paragraph with the word “recently” but upon further deliberation I realized that it would be inappropriate to do so in light of the fact that the preceding phenomena and symptoms have been going on for a very long time. The main difference is that our immediate awareness has been considerably heightened by the diverse communication media channels that have become easily accessible to us during the past decade or two.

Talking about communication, and specifically about the tools of today versus those of yesteryear, some of you may remember some of the Old Western (previously referred to as Cowboy and Indian) movies depicting the olden tools used by Native Americans for communication, namely “Smoke and Mirrors”. These were predominantly used for sending signals of some impending danger and certainly not whimsical tidbits!

Oddly enough, our modern usage of the term “Smoke and Mirrors” has a very different connotation from that which was used by some Native American tribes! As defined in the Cambridge Dictionary: “Something that is described as Smoke and Mirrors is intended to make you believe that something is being done or is true, when it is not”!

Perhaps a live example of today’s “Smoke and Mirrors” can be gleaned anytime we read for or watch speeches delivered by some politicians!

Hani Badawi
August 4, 2016

The time in between

As we grow older time seems to fly faster and that can be partially attributed to the law of ratios. At the age of 10, one additional year represents 10% of one's life whereas at the age of 50, one additional year represents 2% of the years previously lived and that percentage dwindles as one gets older.

Many other factors contribute to the apparently faster speed of time and, I hasten to add, these factors are not explainable by Einstein's Special Relativity Theory!

This note, however, is not meant to address the reasons behind the previously mentioned apparent faster speed of time but rather what happens to the time in between the years especially in as far as human contact is concerned.

As time elapses our contact with those who may have been very close to us like our parents, siblings, relatives, school friends, etc., with whom once upon a time we may have had daily contact, starts to diminish with time to the point that sometimes we lose contact with some of them!

It is often the case that we may only once in a long while see or talk to those who were once very close to us. It is interesting that, in some of these cases, in our mind, the time in between seems to have been in suspended animation such that when we reunite we can almost continue old conversations without any hesitation as if the time had never elapsed! This is in sharp contrast to the "flying time" concept!

Fortunately our ability to stitch the ending of a period of contact to the beginning of the next period of encounter (in other words the time in between) with a close person buffers us from some of the realities that otherwise we would have to process, digest and contend with. Imagine, as time passes, and with our expanding circle of contacts, if we had to stay in touch with all the old and new friends on a daily basis how much time we would have left for dealing with our lives! Needless to say what repercussions this would have on our anxiety level!

Social networks are now offering us a medium for shortening the afore mentioned "time in between", however, if not managed properly, it can lead us to suffer from elevated anxiety.

I like to conclude this note with the following words by Aesop (620-560 BCE): "A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety."

Hani Badawi
July 17, 2016

Thoughts on Human Communication

In this modern era where communication is enabled through various channels and means, it is almost impossible not to find people with whom you had previously lost contact.

I, for one, derive a tremendous pleasure from re-linking with friends and family with whom contact was dormant for years!

It is mind boggling how quickly time flies and I quote here W. Somerset Maugham's words from his short story "The Bum":
"Time, because it is so fleeting, time, because it is beyond recall, is the most precious of human goods, and to squander it is the most delicate form of dissipation in which man can indulge".

Needless to say, I feel very fortunate for having made so many new friends through the same channels and means that re-linked me to my long lost friends!

You make my life worth living and I love you all 😀.
Hani Badawi
June 17, 2016

Sunny and Cloudy Days

Today I woke up to a fairly cloudy morning following an overnight heavy rainfall here in Beijing.  Rain is always welcome as it clears the air and the pollution typically drops to manageable levels to make breathing safe again!

Thinking to myself, a cloudy day in the wake of a heavy rainfall night heralds more rain, definitely good news!

Prompts me to think again, how often do we welcome cloudy days?

Do we ever have songs or poems about cloudy days?

On the contrary, in our minds we associate cloudy days with gloomy feelings.  Cloudy implies somber, overcast, dismal, dull, mucky, etc. all having negative connotations.

My mind races again and prompts me to think: Apart from my feeling that I and other Beijingers may be happy to wake up to a cloudy day, where else would praiseworthy thoughts be aired about cloudy days? I am sure that under drought conditions and desert living, cloudy days will bring renewed hope of rain and better days ahead.

Let’s balance the above against the impact of waking up to a Sunny day!  Perhaps it is a universally agreed upon notion that Sunny implies fine, brilliant, pleasant, radiant, etc. and Sunday is that day off where we are expected to have a “Sunny” day!

In all languages the Sun and Sunny days are praised in many refrains and the examples are too many to list here.

Upon researching clouds and cloudy days in as far as songs and poems of praise are concerned, I found out, as expected, that there are only a few and far between worthy of mention.  

Clouds are upset and are sending us the following message:
 “How can you say that you are on “cloud nine” when you’re happy, develop advanced computing and call it “cloud computing” and yet continue to associate us with gloom and doom?”!!!!

Remember, every cloud has a silver lining after all!

Hani Badawi,
June 30, 2016

What is more important, Democracy or Good Governance?

There is evidently some ambiguity in both terms, and there are no clear cut metrics that would enable us to unequivocally answer that question.

What we do have are results of different aspects of life in different nations whether they define themselves as "democratic", "socialist" or "communist" and under diverse forms of rules such as "republics" or "monarchies". I have intentionally used parentheses for the above definitions to reflect that within each there are wide ranges of variables which are too large to cover in this note.  Quoting Aristotle (384 - 322 BCE): "The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal".

Yesterday (or today depending on where you are in the world), July 1 commemorated the 95th Anniversary of the formation of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and also the 149th birthday of Canada. Congratulations are in order to those 2 nations whose progress over the years is phenomenal in spite of the difference in their ideologies and forms of rule!

Hani Badawi
July 1, 2016

Ducks, Geese and Terrorism

 If it looks like a duck, moves and swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, it must be a duck and, I add, certainly not a goose!

By the same token, if any group, by whatever name it chooses to label itself, behaves like a terrorist group (TG) and acts like a TG, then it must be a TG and not an organization!

We, and any media resources, instead of referring to any TG as the "so and so group" should refer to it as the TG that calls itself the "so and so group"!

In my opinion, if we refer to any group by the "so and so group" name that it has labeled itself, then we are endorsing its legitimacy!!

The world is in a dire need of a true and unified eradication of terrorists by all the names that any have chosen to brand themselves.

Eradication of these groups is a tall order and can only be achieved if and only if the eradicators pluck courage and accept that there is a cost of achieving their goal. Slogans and condemnation are simply postures and are not effective in achieving the world peace that the vast majority of people would like to enjoy.

Religion has been used as a crutch over the centuries and has ultimately led to many reforms to eliminate many misconceptions and misinterpretation of the supreme words and/or teachings.

Reforms must continue to evolve otherwise the world will go to hell in a hand basket and our goose will be cooked!!!

Hani Badawi
July 6, 2016