Regardless of our daily hassles or more dramatic problems, luckily we ALL can have access to a durable self-power in life. It is called positive thinking and it seems that today, September 13, is meant to celebrate it.
Well, Bambi will pause for a few seconds to wish each one of you reading this post now a good day. She hopes you are feeling alive, ideally connected to your most positive energy possible, even if your day may be a bad one. As they say, there is always something good even in bad days.
Sometimes, a simple little thing such as a smile on the face of others because of a nice gesture of kindness from us can make the entire difference between hope and despair or… simply between a bad or a good day for all. Sometimes, it is the strength to move on with our life despite hardship or grief. At other times, it takes an extra courage, or a little more dose of patience, to achieve whatever objective we pursue, to simply enjoy a pleasant moment, and/or to take an emotional distance from negativity, whether stemming from those around us or from us.
To conclude this post, Bambi will allow herself to: (1) cite Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama with the following wise words: “There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live“; and (2) re-post Ms. Yasmine Ali’s uplifting Egyptian song entitled “Meeting people” [“Nikabel Nass” in Arabic], hoping you will enjoy it as much as Bambi does each time she listens to it or even sings it (even with her frog’s voice). For your convenience, a quick English translation will follow it. It is taken from an older post shown further below.
“We meet new people, we leave other people.
Our life can change, or turn upside down, in one second. What can we do?
This one is harming another person, this one is being hurt. This one is living in the past.
And our life conditions are baffling. If we are satisfied, they will deteriorate. Yes, we will be upset.
And whose life is always safe? No one can guarantee the future days.
The one who is satisfied with his life conditions and
differentiates between “halal” (good or allowed in life) and “haram”
(unlawful or prohibited).
A question
and its answer, we know it, although one day we will forget it, and what do we
take with us in the end?
As long as we
leave the world and we will leave it, why will we be upset?
A piece of advice,
just live and do not let anything disturb your peace of mind.
Take one minute
only to look around you and you will see the sun shining brightly.
And then, at
the height of the night, you will see the beautiful moon enlightening you.
Other than
joy and laughter, do not leave in your features when you will go.
What are you
arranging and calculating? What will happen will end up happening to you.
Hope is so
close to those who want to see it. You will be optimistic, and life will laugh
back to you, in the blink of an eye, and the world will be yours.
Our lives
are hours that we paint and beautify with colours.
With one colour, we choose to end life and with another colour we can give our life safety.
Tomorrow your worries will pass; there is nothing that shall not pass.
A life that wants you to be strong; the more you feel empowered, the fullest you will live.
We meet new people, we leave other people.
Our life can change or turn upside down in one second, what can we do?“
Bambi would like to thank journalist Roula Douglas for re-tweeting her colleague’s moving yet beautiful pictures of an abandoned synagogue in Bhamdoun, Lebanon.
This brings Bambi to extend her gratitude directly to Mr. Mathieu Karam, MSc., Photographer and Co-Manager of Live News at L’Orient Today and L’Orient Le Jour.
A picture taken by Mr. Mathieu Karam, Orient Today and L’Orient Le Jour
A picture taken by Mr. Mathieu Karam, Orient Today and L’Orient Le Jour
A picture taken by Mr. Mathieu Karam, Orient Today and L’Orient Le Jour
9/11, 2001: May the memory of all the lost innocent lives be eternal…
One song comes to Bambi’s mind in pausing to remember this sad day. It is a Fairouz’s song, that is actually Gibran Khalil Gibran (1883-1931)’s poetry on love from The Prophet. The poem is publicly available: https://poets.org/poem/love-8. If you wish, you may read the English text in Bambi’s older post shown further below.
First and foremost, may the memory of all those innocent people who lost their lives be eternal. Wishes of courage and peace of mind to their families and loved ones. Condolences to our dear neighbours of the South border and, by extension, to all of us. Every tragedy in our world is a reminder of that fine line in life between choosing love (… and life) or violence (…and death).
Last but not least, and if Bambi may, she would like to allow herself to leave you with the inspiring words of one of the readers of her blog. Yes Achim, it is you. Thank you again and here is your thoughtful comment to the older post on the theme of love: “Let’s follow Love’s call. A beautiful poem by Khalil Gibran, beautifully sung by Fairuz. Yes, love is joy and laughter, but it is also weeping. It is ecstasy, but also pain and pruning. It’s full of play, but also a serious commitment. It’s a call to growth. It gives you everything you desire, but it comes with a price. To forsake selfishness and to gain your own self, now purified of the chaff and husks, in the sacred fire of Holy Love” (Achim Wollmershäuser, February 16, 2022).
Bambi had an earlier brief post paying tribute to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the day of her death, as shown further below.
This being said, on September 8, 2022 (yes same day as the above), La Presse was too rushed to tweet the following:
The tweeted article above is about the end of the constitutional monarchy and it is telling us how her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II appears on Canada’s bank notes, passports, coins, and postal stamps. Bambi does not have any problem in life with any publication. Yet she could not help not to think that it seems insensitive, and surely disrespectful, to start with such newspaper articles JUST a few minutes after this lady’s last breath of life.
The above came in contrast with the wonderful tweet of Mr. Yves-François Blanchet with respectful and dignified words of condolences to the British people. We are talking here about the head of the Bloc Québécois federal party, which is far from being pro-monarchy or even perhaps pro-Canada, especially without a strong and respected Québec (i.e., its best interests). Thank you Mr. Blanchet for your professionalism and humanity: “On behalf of all elected officials, teams and members of the Bloc Québécois, I send our most sincere condolences to the people of England and to the family of her Majesty Elizabeth II. She has been in the heart of a troubled century with the desire to be a positive force within it”.
As for Lebanon, Bambi does not know what to think of its decision to declare three days of national mourning and an additional fourth day of national mourning on September 18. Why? Does the official Lebanon think it is part of the Commonwealth or what? And by the way, did Lebanon have as many mourning days after the Beirut blast?
If she recalls well, Bambi may have perhaps posted a short TV moment link of this song in the past. Anyhow, this is the full version of Aznavour’s famous “La Bohème”, as interpreted by Mr. Kendji Girac (with sub-titles in French). Thank you Jacinthe :)!
Thank you, Mr. Bruce Wark, for your very informative article about the latest development concerning Councillor Bruce Phinney.
First and foremost, Bambi’s heart goes to Councillor Phinney. The pain of kidney stones is already tough in itself. When we are physically suffering, the last thing we need in life is the additional pain of a “nasty surprise” like the suspension of our medical benefits, in addition to the absurd, unfair, and anti-democratic suspension of our salary (https://bit.ly/3KUR9vy).
Why is our municipal politics that nasty? Why are people so disconnected from democracy, work ethics, tolerance of different public opinions, analytical thinking, and most importantly of humanity?
Bambi stands in FULL support of Councillor Phinney! Indeed, silencing one of our elected politicians is silencing us all. No one deserves an undemocratic treatment, not even those who have mistreated Mr. Louis Béliveau in the past accusing him of their own vice. For the record, Louis is related to Bambi in a very intimate way and yet she is saying so. So, imagine if this politician is one of the most principled ones Bambi has ever met in her entire life between Lebanon and three Canadian provinces. She is saying so with all due respect to all our other politicians whether Bambi agrees with their policies or not.
To conclude this post, once again, it is only when we come back to standing up for principles that we are truly fair to all and to the fate of democracy in our towns, provinces, and countries. The principle of free expression. The principle of respect for all. The principle of civility. The principle of humanity.
Bambi refuses to go to bed without expressing her FULL support for Judge Tarek Bitar, the Lead Investigator in the surrealistic Beirut port explosion of August 4, 2020.
This judge deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, not political interference… and surely neither lawsuits nor threats!
The latest news in English, thanks to l’Orient Today:
To conclude this brief post, one song comes to Bambi’s mind. She has posted it in the past. It is by Mr. Jean-Marie Riachi and it is entitled “Beirut, Oummi” [“Beirut, my mom”]. Its lyrics go like this: “Beirut is my mom, Beirut is my dad, Beirut is my sister, Beirut is my brother, Beirut belongs to me. Give it back to me…!” When will Beirutis finally see justice served? Don’t they deserve the truth? Why can’t they have it like in any other respectable country?
Thank you Mr. Jay Lemay for your beautiful interpretation of “Quand les hommes vivront d’amour” [“When men will live for love”] of Mr. Raymond Lévesque , which is subtitled in English. If she may, Bambi would like to dedicate it to all those suffering in Saskatchewan today. Bambi’s heart goes to you ❤️.
She does not know about you, but Bambi loves benches and stairs a lot. Her birth city, Beirut has many famous stairs. During her last two trips back home, in 2019 and lately in 2022, her sister Rania took her to a lovely neighbourhood. In 2019, it was still filled with life despite the start of the financial crisis. In 2022, it was partly still filled with destruction and surely with sad memories of the Beirut blast of August 4, 2020. So many people lost their lives there. You can still feel it in the air or in the eyes of local people, despite their courage and resilience.
However, despite the sad memories mentioned above, there is still the beauty of the preserved or re-built historic architecture. According to Bambi, a significant part of the charm of Beirut is precisely due to its staircases. One is known as “The staircase of Arts” [“Daraj el Fan“] because of an annual artistic festival which takes place there. You can see those stairs in the following picture to the left side.
Mind you, when Bambi took this picture, she tripped as she was walking backward to get the most optimal shot while still being jet lagged. Luckily at the last second she managed to not hit her head on the sidewalk’s pole [Rania, do you still recall this moment : )?]. The second staircase exists in a nearby neighbourhood, which was also very heavily damaged by the surrealistic Beirut port blast. Luckily, it survived (or was it fixed?). Again, Bambi took this picture when she was with Rania and their cousin Laila. Precious memories to keep in their respective minds forever!
The picture to the left was taken by Bambi in December 2019. The picture to the right was taken by Bambi in July, 2022. Both stairs are in Beirut, Lebanon.
Since this past summer, ideas of posts on either benches or stairs have been in the back of Bambi’s mind. For her, benches represent a pause to self-reflect, to rest, or to read. It can also represent a romantic moment or a friendly time with loved ones. As for the stairs, they just make Bambi dream of running them up and reaching her destination whatever it is. They also make her hope/pray not to trip when running them down!
Seriously now, when Bambi saw those stairs in Beirut she wondered if her parents took them to meet each other when they were young and in love; of course, they are older/wiser now… so is their still inspiring love. She should ask them her question one of these days. For now, she just knows that she did ran the first staircase herself under the sounds of heavy shelling at least twice in her teen years during civil war.
Anyhow, stairs may represent so many things to so many of us. Taking the stairs up to meet someone or down to escape something :). Perhaps worrying about ability to take the stairs if we are injured or disabled. Perhaps being confused at a particular moment of one’s life: not sure if we want to go up or down… or where precisely? The top may be love or success or whatever we wish it to be. The bottom could be a more comfortable place or… hell, it depends. Who knows? Unless, you imagine hell (if it exists) to be higher in space. Whatever :)! We may also be intimidated by all the steps needed to complete a project or to survive a journey.
Regardless of all the above, if she may, Bambi will would like to take the opportunity here to cite: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who once said: “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase“.
Following this piece of wisdom, you may perhaps wonder now: What is the link of staircases with Mr. Justin Trudeau? Well, while preparing this post, Bambi discovered that our Prime Minister loves stairs too. You can see his own reason further below if you take the time to watch to the video, especially toward its end. This video comes after a few songs featuring stairs that Bambi chose to share with you today.
Well, here are a few words about those staircase-related songs. The first is a famous French-Canadian song by the most talented Mr. Paul Piché entitled L‘Escalier. Its lyrics are deep (you may wish to read the English translation). Bambi likes the part on children:
“After all, children, they are not so bad, They may hurt or misbehave sometimes, They may spit, lie, steal: In essence, they do what we teach them. “
“Just before I was about to close the door, I thought I forgot something, So I reached into my pocket to try and find what was missing, But it wasn’t my guitar, or medicine To relieve some pain, or to pass the time.
At the staircase, I went down the steps slowly, For without any reason I would go up again, For without any reason I kept going on. I was confused because something inside of me was missing, I felt lonely like a river abandoned by children.
And then time was passing, and taking me on the way Without stopping, without forgetting, without forgetting to drain me. Not long ago, I was small; now I’m still young, but big enough To see that we grow old, even in love, even in spring.
So as you can see, I find myself in a strange position, Pouches under my eyes and with a belly, but beer won’t be the solution. I would like, however, this song, as it is about my life To be played one evening at my house, a nice melody on the accordion.
After all, children, they are not so bad, They may hurt or misbehave sometimes, They may spit, lie, steal: In essence, they do what we teach them.
But to end this song in a positive way, I should say what I would have said, If I did not suddenly change my mind; Of course, I was going to tell you to escape, how to be independent, Distanced from the ones you love, to save the world from its problems,
To tell you there is no reason to cry, that the other song I was going to write was wrong, That love could prevent me from giving my time to those who need it, To tell you that heroes are not free, they are never wrong, they are unencumbered, That glory pays for the sacrifices, and power relieves the torments.
Of course, you would have cried along with lyrics, But in a way it is love, when the ones you love deny your attitude I shrugged them off, they did not care, I turned my back, they did not move, I scared myself, I confused myself, then when I understood, I returned. When I understood, I took a huge detour To end up alone in a staircase.
It is nothing new here, when I say we’re nothing without love. To help the world, we must be able to be loved. Without love, we are nothing“.
The second English song is “So Long, Farewell” from one of Bambi’s favourite movies, “The Sound of Music“, which she has watched more times than her age :)!
The third Arabic song is by Fairuz and it is about the staircase of roses or “Daraj el Ward“, which is a new discovery for Bambi.
The fourth and last song is simply for fun. It is for kids, in English, and entitled “The Stairs to Anywhere“.
Before ending with Mr. Justin Trudeau unique staircase-related TV moment at 2:27 minutes from the start of the following video until its end, Bambi will pause to say the following: Thank God because Mr. Trudeau did not have a brain concussion while doing his TV trick (he only hurt his wrist a little bit).
This being said, if you are curious now, you may watch Mr. Trudeau pretending to fall the staircase; a trick he learned from his dad, as he said in French. Bravo for his acting talent that can entertain TV watchers, hotel guests, and his wife, as he reported.
Well, who knows? After watching the video, you may perhaps think: Oh, how clever and lovely too. You may also think: Even if he is highly skilled in fake stairs falls, Mr. Trudeau is not as talented in his role as Canada’s leader :). You may even have both contradictory thoughts at the same time, of course with all due respect for him/his position. Regardless of your thoughts about your personal meaning of stairs or about our Prime Minister’s political performance, Bambi hopes you will enjoy the staircase-related songs as well as Mr. Trudeau’s impressive talent with stairs!
