October 22, 2007 – 12:27 pm
In Ukraine, the concept of central heating takes on a very different meaning than what I am used to. Getting the heating turned on once the weather becomes nippy is not a simple matter of heading towards the thermostat or radiator switch. Apparently, the decision to turn on the heating is controlled by some (quite possibly vodka-swilling) jerk sitting in a Soviet-era dungeon; it’s the jerk that gets to decide when you are cold enough to need heating.
Well, perhaps not exactly so, but nevertheless, that’s the picture I got when I realized that virtually all heating is centralized and controlled by a special government commission. I am told this is an old Soviet system that would be disastrously expensive to replace (and if there’s anything Ukraine lacks, besides decent public toilets, it’s money).
The capital, Kiev (some spell it Kyiv – which reflects he Ukrainian pronunciation, but I’ll use the Russian spelling, because I feel like it) is a charming place. The city vistas are littered with beautiful Orthodox churches which closely resemble lightly frosted tea cakes. Walking down Kiev’s centre, one comes across the most exquisite Byzantine architecture, topped by extravagant cupolas in bright colours such as blue, green and gold. Do step back for a moment and put the scene in context, however. The churches, chapels and cathedrals, are more often than not located in the midst of the most squalid of environments.
The breathtaking beauty of the soft arches and seemingly billowing domes contrasts sharply with the bleak horror of the Khrushchev-era apartment buildings. The monstrosities in question stretch on for miles, proud and defiant monuments to an era that, in many ways, refuses to die. Read More »
September 25, 2007 – 12:21 pm
(This article was originally published in Jordan’s Living Well magazine)
“So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people. Greedy, barbarous, and cruel…”
The first time I heard the above quote by Peter O’ Toole, playing T. E. Lawrence in the epic film by David Lean, I was outraged at the racist tone in this sweeping denunciation of my people – filmed on my turf, in Wadi Rum, no less. How arrogant, I fumed. You see, I always believed that any generalization of whatever nature is by definition prone to mistake, the larger the subjects under judgment, the less accurate the statement is likely to be.
Indeed, any sentence that begins with “ The Arabs are this…” or “The Africans are that…” is at the outset condemned to fallacy. To think in such terms, although very tempting as a simplification of complex phenomena, is nothing short of a foolish dive into the abyss of falsehood. Not only because these pronouncements of opinion are manifestly racist in nature, and we are not supposed to be racist in this epoch of political correctness, but more so because these opinions are most likely to be plain wrong. To lump a vast group of individuals, with different characters, upbringings, abilities, tastes, minds, environments, etc., and treat them as one unit by affording them uniform descriptions and predicting for them common destinies is an invitation for error. Racism is bad not just because it is immoral, but chiefly because it is based upon gross intellectual dishonesty. Read More »
August 4, 2007 – 11:59 am
(This article was first published in Jordan’s Living Well magazine)
Mmmkkkhhh! Hhhaaaakkhht! Thfoouu! No, these are not horrendous typos you are seeing. This is my best attempt to emulate and reproduce some of the charming sights and sounds we still encounter in some of the streets of Amman. Excuse me for turning your stomachs, but I almost slipped on one of these stray missiles the other day while navigating my way in downtown Spitville.
I went there to buy a famous book of Hadeeth, or the alleged sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. You see, I had written a mini-study in Arabic some years ago, which emphatically proves that most of these sayings could never have been uttered by the most intelligent, the most compassionate and the most civilized man to have enlightened Arabia fourteen centuries ago because they directly contradict with the clear text of the Quran. I still maintain that they were falsely attributed to the prophet in a concerted effort to tarnish the great religion of Islam. Read More »
August 9, 2006 – 12:01 pm
(This article was originally published in Jordan’s Living Well magazine)
Forgive me, Ernesto, for helping myself to this undeserved title of which I am grossly unworthy. I ask permission not only because I’m so unlike you in that I cannot believe in a single earthly dogma for the salvation of mankind so as to dedicate my whole existence to fight and die for it.
This noble, but often blinding, human trait is only part of the abyss that demarcates your fearless soul from mine. What really sets us apart here is that my inconsequential motorcycle expeditions will not leave these pages, whereas your celebrated treks are already grand history. And so are you. From t-shirts to boxer shorts, your portrait is a cult image more recognizable than most Hollywood celebrities. Alas, the only portrait you’re likely to find of this author is a Swiss police mug-shot for some serious traffic violations, but we won’t get into that. So Comandante, you still rock! Read More »
“There are no gay Arabs,” a Saudi friend of mine once said to me over lunch, causing Pepsi to shoot out of my nose.
Now, before I write anything else, I’d have to stress that I like to think myself aware of certain cultural differences that lead to misunderstandings. For example, if any of my high school friends from sunny Charlotte , North Carolina , saw two men from Amman kissing each other on the cheek in greeting, they might instantly decide that some sort of homosexual innuendo has just taken place. Obviously, the Ammanites would have an entirely different view of the situation.
Affectionate behavior between people of the same gender is viewed differently by different eyes. A careful observer needs to have a variety of “eyes” for a variety of occasions. Read More »
November 16, 2004 – 11:37 am
(This article will be published in the December issue of Living Well magazine in Jordan)
I’m going to be very frank. Self-delusion and fear of the truth had eventually cost us too many beautiful lives on that grim Wednesday night. But unless we face the distressing facts, we should expect more terrible surprises. My patient editor always advises me that readers of Living Well magazine generally don’t expect to read about religion or politics – and to her dismay, I have since found it almost impossible to write anything not related to either facets of our lives. I think this escapist Jordanian phenomenon is symptomatic of our dangerous head-in-the-sand attitude. Very few people are actually willing to acknowledge that religion and politics are, whether we like it or not, deeply intermingled in dominating every single breath we take in every second of our existence in this plagued part of the world. Even fewer are those ready to confront the lethal outcome of mixing the two by illiterate dropouts who believe they hold, and can bestow upon others, the keys to paradise. Until our 11/9, that is. Read More »
November 16, 2004 – 4:27 am
“In the airports we were born. We know the story,
but … we will not die in the harbors”
Samih Al Qasem
My dear diary, what if my father were to read this? And what if my mother were to read this as I disrobe letter by letter before their very eyes? Would they discover my secret or would they believe this to be fiction not related to reality in any way? I’m afraid it may sadden them to discover how lost I am, how afraid I am of my present, of my future, of a heritage I inherited not by choice, within an existence where I ask myself everyday: when will my life begin? Read More »
September 18, 2003 – 11:46 am
What’s the point of writing yet another political article seeking to change the world, I would say to friends who ask me, when the world has proven to be such an unchangeable place.
But I guess I’ve had it with the status quo. I’m fed up with the things that don’t make sense in this world. Things like using Latin expressions left right and centre, such as ‘status quo’. Why do people borrow words from a language only a few people understand and no nation in the world speaks? Is Latin to language and academia what French is to etiquette and food; thrown about to sound fancy and ‘sophistiquée’ – where ‘sophisticated’ would have sufficed nicely and delivered the same meaning? I say, ipso facto, that this bona fide habit when abused ad infinitum is prima facie a non sequitur act per se. How does that sound if not pretentious and downright silly? Read More »
