I
‘ve reached the sobering conclusion that it’s better to think with your head than with your heart, for when you let your heart take control, it often runs amok, leaving your head, your sanity and possibly your credibility in a ditch somewhere. When you let your heart take control – or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that when you allow your mind to cede control, you do stupid things that you never imagined you were capable of doing. And of course, you don’t necessarily realize what you’ve done until you have that lightning bolt moment of clarity, where you suddenly wake up on the far side of a nightmare and can’t quite believe you allowed yourself – even if only briefly – to behave that way, to completely lose control and turn into something that truly disappoints and mortifies you. By then, it’s usually too late because the damage is done. This damage is, quite possibly, irrevocable, as I think it’s much harder – if not impossible – to change someone’s impression of you once you’ve made a mess of things than to shape that important initial impression.
It haunts you, because you can’t comprehend how you unwittingly allowed yourself to turn into that person; you don’t understand how you couldn’t see at the time that you were hurtling down such a destructive path. You feel embarrassed as you suddenly realize how others must have seen you, and you are ashamed. You wonder which of these people is the real you, and it scares you to consider the possibility that it’s the disappointing you, the one who sunk below your usual self-defined personal standards. More than anything, you want to banish that part of you and prove you aren’t that person. The question is, can you? Should you try? Can the other you repair the damage?
Tags: heart, mind, self-reflection
Category Odds and Ends, Self-Reflection |
Close your eyes and try to see
Try to imagine how different we’d be
If we lived in a world
Where no one would care
If your very best friend
Was a big purple bear
Where color of skin
Is never a sin
Where it matters much more
If you’re nice or you’re mean
Than whether your skin
Is pink, blue or green
Close your eyes and try to see
Try to imagine how good it would be
If we lived in a world
Where friendship was blind
And lions and tigers and bears – oh my!
Could sit down together for coffee and pie
Where love is something you feel from within
And no one condemns you for living “in sin”
Where people could love
Regardless of gender
Where no one would care
If you’re heavy or slender
Close your eyes and try to see
Try to imagine how lucky we’d be
If we lived in a world
In which we could take pride
A world without borders; a world without sides
A world where people respected the other
A world where everyone called you “my brother”
Now close your eyes and try to see
Try to imagine you’re looking at me
Strip away all the labels and preconceived notions
Get to know me for real
Don’t just go through the motions
For underneath all the labels
I hope you will find
A woman who tries to be caring and kind
Who teaches her son that compassion is blind
That friendship and love are ideally entwined
That people are people no matter how they’re designed
(more…)
Tags: imagine, peace, poetry
Category Fantasy, Friendships, poetry |
Once upon a time
Or so the stories go
Girl meets boy
Boy meets girl
And feelings start to flow
In fairy tales it all works out
And love can conquer all
When “happily ever after”
Can catch you when you fall
But I don’t believe in fairy tales
Where true love saves the day
I just can’t believe in fairy tales
’cause life gets in the way
You might say that I’m a cynic
Or that I’m jaded to the core
It’s just that I’ve been all around
Been down that road before
Not saying it can’t happen
It often does in dreams
But then you must wake up again
And nothing’s as it seems
So I don’t believe in fairy tales
Though I want to believe in fate
If something’s meant to happen
Perhaps we simply have to wait
For planets to align themselves
And dreams that dare come true
But I don’t believe in fairy tales
Do you?
(more…)
Tags: fairy tales, fate, happily ever after, love, poetry
Category Fantasy, poetry |
Sometimes the world just gets you down
And times are rather tough
You’re feeling kind of out of place
Your mind is filled with fluff
You’re at a loss for what to do
You don’t know where to go
So you do what just comes naturally
And grab a cup o’ joe
When morning finds you far too soon
And gives your face a slap
It’s clear you haven’t slept enough
You really feel like crap
When all you really want to do is crawl back into bed
Or perhaps just try to kill the bastards drumming in your head
So you…
Grab a cup of java
That magic in a mug
Some caffeinated goodness
To chug and chug and chug
Without it you can’t function
Your brain gets stuck in park
No matter what you try to do
You just can’t find your spark
When I say I know just how you feel
I’m sure you know it’s true
’cause anyone who knows me
Knows that I’m an addict too
I love the way it tastes
And how it perks me up
If you want to make me happy
Just fetch your biggest cup
Of…
Caffeinated goodness
Oh how I love it so
A cuppa cappuccino
To make my body go
Perhaps some macchiato
Or latté on the run
It doesn’t make much difference
As long as I get one
Oh it doesn’t make much difference
As long as I get one…
(more…)
Tags: coffee, Humor, poetry
Category Food, Fun stuff, Humor, poetry |
When I see the world around me
It sometimes brings me down
Wars and devastation
Green that’s turned to brown
I try to right some wrongs
Effect the change I can
We all need to do our bit to save the world from man
Some people say that I’m naïve
That I can’t go changing minds
But if we do what we always do
No changes will we find
So think about this world we have
The only one we’ve got
And think about what you can do to save this world from rot
You don’t make peace with friends
What’s the point in that
We have to walk that road to peace even though it won’t be flat
We have to find a way
To make it all work out
’cause what we’re doing now
Has riddled me with doubt
Some people think I’m stupid
That I’ve clearly lost the plot
But I just want to save this world
The only one we’ve got
I know I’m just one person
My influence is small
And in the worldly scheme of things
I don’t matter much at all
I just want a world
Where I’m not afraid to live
We humans are amazing
We have so much to give
If we put aside our differences
And righted all the wrongs
Perhaps we’d have a world
Where everyone belongs
I’m smart enough to know
It’s not as easy as it seems
And when I’m feeling jaded
I’m afraid to even dream
We’ve got to work together
To find a better way
And ask ourselves what we can do to save the world today
(more…)
Tags: peace, poetry, save the world, War, world
Category Changing the world, Conflict, Current Events, Politics, Regional, poetry |
She stops and she sighs
And she thinks of his eyes
As she speculates on all that lies behind
The penetrating gaze
That’s been haunting her days
And tickling the corners of her mind
She imagines his touch
Loves his fingers so much
As they draw lazy circles on her skin
Slowly here, gently there
Getting tangled in her hair
Aiding and abetting every sin
She’s falling for his charms
Lays encircled in his arms
As his words wind their way into her heart
Caught up in romance
She never had a chance
She was his almost from the very start
But is he all that he seems
As he plies her with dreams
And promises a future that they share
With every stolen kiss
The tantalizing bliss
Is really almost more than she can bear
She leaves her soul ajar
As she wishes on a star
And she wonders if it’s destined from above
Now that all her hopes are pinned
She throws caution to the wind
And allows herself to truly fall in love
(more…)
Tags: love, poetry
Category poetry |
Bleary-eyed and body weak
The lack of sleep begins to wreak
Havoc on my tired soul
Exhaustion starts to take its toll
I try to rid my mind of thought
But sadly it is all for naught
For slumber doesn’t want to come
Despite the brain and body numb
So I sit and try to write
Listening to sounds of night
Feeling just a little punchy
Damn it! Now I’ve got the munchies…
(more…)
Tags: insomnia, munchies, poetry, sleep
Category Fun stuff, poetry |
Against a backdrop of terror attacks being perpetrated by Hamas, Israeli and Palestinian leaders are currently meeting in Washington DC for the first direct talks in almost two years. Yesterday, I was asked by a producer at the BBC World Service radio show “The World Today” to address Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She asked me to speak from the heart, sharing my thoughts on the current situation and letting them know what I thought needed to be done.
The text below is the “letter” I wrote to President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu, which I recorded and sent to my producer at the BBC last night. It aired shortly thereafter. This piece was written specifically for the BBC World Service radio show “The World Today“.
If you’d like to listen to the recording, go to this link and click the “Listen Now” link. Go to the 20:35 minute mark or so, ignore the fact that the presenter gets my first name wrong TWICE, and try to remember that I’m a writer and not a radio person.
*********
Dear President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu,
In the grand scheme of things, I am not important. I’m an Israeli, a writer, a wife… Right now, though, I speak to you as a mother – a mother whose greatest desire is simply to raise her son in an atmosphere that doesn’t breed hatred and fear.
Mr. Netanyahu, I am so, so tired of the actions of your government, which seemingly serve only to further isolate this country from the rest of the world. Trying to fix the situation with eloquent words doesn’t work. The problems don’t lie in the explanations, but rather in the actions themselves. Nobody believes that we are the victims anymore; they mock us for continuing to act as though we are. We cannot continue to say that we want peace when the actions we show the world are so clearly to the contrary. The occupation is eroding our collective moral compass.
Mr. Abbas, I don’t envy your position as leader of a fractured people without a country. That being said, when you and your colleagues continue to blame Israel for all of your problems, when it seems that you prefer not to take responsibility for the predicaments of the Palestinian people, it does nothing to build any trust on the Israeli side.
I do not pretend to understand all of the fine nuances of the security situation, nor do I entertain any illusions regarding the achievement of a solution. All I know is that the current situation is untenable. We need you to be strong leaders. We need you to make courageous, difficult, even painful decisions; decisions that will likely provoke outrage in certain sectors. Photo opportunities and joint press conferences are useless if nothing comes out of them.
When it comes down to it, I don’t have high hopes for this current round of direct negotiations. Experience has made me cynical, and neither of you seems terribly enthusiastic to be there. I dare you to surprise me and prove me wrong, if not for me, then at least for my son and his generation on both sides of the fence.
Tags: BBC, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, Palestine, peace process
Category BBC, Conflict, Current Events, Politics, Regional |
I send you off to school today, my precious little boy
Hand-in-hand we reach the gate – trepidation mixed with joy
I hold you close and kiss your hair before I say goodbye
And hope that you won’t see the tears that slowly fill my eyes
I wish you well in school today, my precious little boy
An adventure to embark upon; a journey to enjoy
I know it may be tough at times; I know you might be scared
But I’ll be there to guide you through; to help you be prepared
I filled your bag with dreams today, my precious little boy
For you to use – to pick and choose, to keep among your toys
Your dreams can lead you anywhere; don’t be afraid to go
To find the ones that touch your heart and set it all aglow
So study hard and dare to dream; be all that you can be
It’s up to you to choose your path; whatever sets you free
I want you to be happy; to do what brings you joy
And this is all I seek for you, my precious little boy
(more…)
Tags: children, dreams, Family, first grade, poetry, school
Category Family, poetry |
I find myself missing what we never really had
You move around us all
Sometimes pushed; sometimes pulled
Always on the fringes, yet just beyond our grasp
Such joy we felt when it seemed that you might stay
And yet…
Despite the hopes and dreams
You always went away
I think of you often
Especially now
When you seem so distant
Gone, but never truly forgotten
Many tears shed
Those of us who fell for you
Believed in you
Followed in your path
Without you, the future is bleak
Time passes and memories begin to fade
Your name is always on my mind
These days, it rarely passes my lips
They call you Peace…
(more…)
Tags: Israel, peace, poetry
Category Conflict, Current Events, poetry |
‘ve reached the sobering conclusion that it’s better to think with your head than with your heart, for when you let your heart take control, it often runs amok, leaving your head, your sanity and possibly your credibility in a ditch somewhere. When you let your heart take control – or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that when you allow your mind to cede control, you do stupid things that you never imagined you were capable of doing. And of course, you don’t necessarily realize what you’ve done until you have that lightning bolt moment of clarity, where you suddenly wake up on the far side of a nightmare and can’t quite believe you allowed yourself – even if only briefly – to behave that way, to completely lose control and turn into something that truly disappoints and mortifies you. By then, it’s usually too late because the damage is done. This damage is, quite possibly, irrevocable, as I think it’s much harder – if not impossible – to change someone’s impression of you once you’ve made a mess of things than to shape that important initial impression.
