Author: Bambi

This post is simply meant to share 16 pictures and 2 videos that Bambi took at the Sackville Waterfowl Park a couple of days ago. We are truly blessed to have such a peaceful yet animated piece of heaven in the middle of our small town.

For those who do not know the Maritime Provinces in general and Sackville (Tantramar now) in particular, “this award-winning 55-acre park, which is minutes from the highway and a short walk from downtown, features: 3.5 kilometres of accessible trails and boardwalks, including a section of the Trans-Canada Trail, 160 bird species (including 26 confirmed breeding species), and 200 species of plants” (https://shorturl.at/nFKMZ).

Of course, as usual, the post will end with songs. With or without music, currently embracing nature or not, may you all have a safe and a nice day or evening (depending on your time zone). This being said, if times are tough on you, remember that you can teach yourself to nurture patience and build your resilience while hoping for a better tomorrow.

To begin with, Bambi is both proud of and grateful to Ms. Zeina Farah for having shared with her a moving Byzantine chant for Saint Mary in Arabic ❤️.

May Mary protect the gifted Zeina as well as her birth country and loved ones. Well, the latter wish seems biased, or rather selfish, because Zeina happens to be first Bambi’s cousin once removed :).

Happy Feast of Assumption of the Virgin Mary to this blog’s readers who love Jesus’ mother.

As far as Bambi is concerned, she is thinking of her late mom now who used to sometimes call Saint Mary “Im el Nour”, which means “Mother of the Light” in Arabic. She is also thinking of her dad who is honouring Mary in his prayers. May she protect him et al.

May the hope and beauty of lights always shine to: (1) enlighten the darkness in our troubled world and (2) the one that may reside within ourselves, all of us.

This being said, now is the time for Bambi to wish Acadians a “Bon quinzou” (yes, tomorrow) or Happy National Day. In doing so, she offers them Mr. Michel Fugain’s song!

Last but not least, Happy Birthday to Bambi’s childhood friend, Fadi. OK, she is allowing herself to make him a few hours older/wiser now :). “Akbel El Mieh“, Fadi ❤️!

Bambi just read that “Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos has said that Nicosia has completed preparations for potential evacuations of foreigners from Lebanon and Israel, amid fears of a potential escalation in the Middle East... The plan involves the organized evacuations of citizens via the Republic of Cyprus, followed by their transfer to destination countries, as part of the humanitarian assistance that we provided in 2006 and 2023” (https://t.ly/wVjbp).

Eighteen years have passed since the July 2006 war and the region is sadly still in the same storm, with innocent people potentially evacuated, via Cyprus, to other destinations.

When will innocent people live without having to be evacuated again and again?

When will all those playing war games, and flirting with fire, JUST stop?

Maybe the international community is working hard, behind the scenes, to prevent a wider escalation? If that is the case, best wishes to reason and hopefully to peace in this part of the world, including Lebanon.

The Lebanese republic is already slowly agonizing. It surely does not need a wider war with endless grief. Instead, it badly needs neutrality. And how about political resurrection and economic stability?

To conclude this brief post, Bambi thanks Cyprus for existing in the middle of the troubled Middle East. For those of you who are not familiar with geography, the beautiful island (republic) of Cyprus is just 25 minutes by air away from Beirut while being about 40 minutes by air from Tel Aviv.

Between the fear of a wider war and the fear following an earthquake, Beirut’s beauty remains charming, thanks to its “corniche” (or coast road) landscape.

As reported by L’Orient Le Jour, and according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences, the earthquake mainly affected Syria and Jordan. However, the tremor was felt in Beirut and in other regions of Lebanon as well (https://shorturl.at/6Nzfq).

Of note, this 4.8-magnitude earthquake was also felt in Cyprus and Israel as per L’Orient Today (https://shorturl.at/CkCbJ).

May everyone in Beirut and in the rest of the Middle East be safe and sound from potential man-made as well as natural tragedies.

Bambi thanks Louis for making this post possible while admiring him for being a rainbow to his loved ones during their respective clouds ❤️❤️. As for you dear readers, more related pictures may be shared in the nearest future. Stay tuned… and remember to make a wish while looking at this stunning rainbow :).

Thank you, Mr. Levitt, for warning the Canadian public about the tragic meaning of the loss of Dr. Jordan Peterson’s application to the Supreme Court of Canada for leave to appeal against the decision of the College of Psychologists of Ontario.

First, for those who do not know the author, Mr. Howard Levitt is senior partner of Levitt LLP, employment and labour lawyers (Ontario, but also Alberta and British Columbia). Of note, he practices employment law in eight provinces.

As a reminder, the decision in question wanted the stellar Dr. Peterson to undergo a “compulsory reeducation for various views expressed on social media, all of which were unrelated to the practice of psychology” (https://shorturl.at/qYg0v).

As Mr. Levitt explained, “the complaints which resulted in the college’s order were made by people who had never been his patients, and indeed, who had never met him. They were also mostly American and clearly politically motivated. I was honoured to act on Dr. Peterson’s appeal, but was not involved in the original decision that led to the appeal” (https://shorturl.at/qYg0v).

Sadly, “this decision is a tragic loss both for the 25 per cent of Canadians who are regulated by professional and trade associations and for Canadians generally. It is an invitation to extortion and the pursuit of personal vendettas, as anyone can now threaten a practitioner with loss of their professional licence by filing complaints against them to their professional associations” (https://shorturl.at/qYg0v).

“As for the punishment assigned to Dr. Peterson, he will attend the reeducation sessions and undoubtedly run intellectual circles around his “educators“. 
The very idea that Dr. Peterson, one of the masters of social media, requires social media training by comparative incompetents, is both risible and ludicrous”. 

Mr. Levitt’s column is slightly longer, but Bambi selected some of its key parts, for your convenience. The bold text indicates the most worrisome as well as absurd parts.

Please do not make the mistake of thinking that this can only happen to others or to BIG names, like Dr. Jordan Peterson. Indeed, “You are Next” was Dr. Peterson’s title of the interview with Bambi about her own case. Now is her turn to borrow his own clever, yet worrisome, words: indeed, anyone can be next following his own legal decision.

Some may think highly of, and even like or are grateful to, Dr. Peterson (like Bambi) while others may be indifferent about his story. Yet others may be rejoicing because of his “assigned punishment“. If the latter option is where you find yourself, how about trying to be wiser now? In other terms, please do not fall into the trap of finding joy into Dr. Peterson’s legal disappointment. In case you did not know it, this emotion has a German-based name, which is schadenfreude (Schaden means harm while Freude means pleasure). Once again, your own future legal misfortune and/or absurd punishment (may God forbid) could also be the target of the schadenfreude of another unwise person.

This being said, Bambi thanks Mr. Levitt again while continuing to stand in full solidarity with Dr. Jordan’s Peterson’s right to write any thought on his social media platforms. It is up to us, the online readers (whether we are on social media or not, like Bambi), to decide whether we agree or not, to learn from him, and to grow.

Bambi is thankful to Dr. Peterson for his inspiring courage and for his willingness to make the next step as public as possible. Last but not least, bravo to him et al. for his new online academy (https://petersonacademy.com/). What an achievement and all the best!

To conclude this post, it is Bambi’s hope that professional associations, like the esteemed College of Psychologists of Ontario, will know how to re-commit to only protecting patients from harm within the practice of psychology.

Bambi’s heart is deeply touched by the lovely and generous gesture of her friend Gloria.

As you can see below, Gloria thought of Bambi when she saw “her” (as a figurine) at a store during her travels :). Not only that, she also took time off her busy schedule, taking Bambi out to offer her a cute gift, which is now exposed at her house.

This post will end with a message to her friend: Thanks, sweet Gloria. In addition to being proud of you for all your achievements (i.e., past, current, and future ones), Bambi loves you ❤️. Your kindness, beautiful smile, and our chat brightened her day. Please keep being yourself, including your inspiring values, positive mindset, and wise attitude in life!

Are you a meat-eater? And if so, do you like beef or chicken shawarma, like Bambi?

First, if you like to get yourself to smile, below you can watch a short video in which Rudy’s dad wants to order shawarma over the phone :).

Second, in case you are interested in learning how to cook shawarma, this post will share an 18-minute-video, which is subtitled in English and entitled “Everything About SHAWARMA :New Recipes, Preparation, Secrets, No-Garlic Chicken“. Thanks to Dr. Anthony Rahayel who introduced us to “his friend chef Charbel Mehanna” from “Shawarma Lab”.

“Sahteen”! Bon appétit!

At the end of today’s post, you can find one, from 2020, which was entitled “One month apart, Mr. Saab Erakat died and Dr. Hanane Achraoui resigned. Will the Palestinian leadership reform or dive into more Islamism?“.

We now have an answer to the question that was raised in the title. Sadly, it is definitely more Islamism as well as criminality in addition to corruption…. of course, all this in the name of a noble resistance. How sad for this cause and for the people of the beautiful Palestine.

At the end of earlier post, Bambi raised more questions which were as follows:

“How about elections also?

Of course, according to Bambi, it would be nice to see more secularism in the Palestinian public life (i.e., the Islamism of Hamas) and more independence from Iran’s influence.

As for Israel, is it too complicated to stop colonization and make Jerusalem shared for both co-existing nations?“

As you can guess from several other posts, Bambi does not endorse political assassinations of anyone, not even of an evil person (in the true sense of persistent behaviour and lack of empathy). For her, it is a principle just like her disapproval of death penalty; for ALL, no exception for anyone, not even for psychopaths or for malignant narcissists, that is with the dark triad.

By principle then, the above would also apply to someone as evil as the new leader of Hamas who, unsurprisingly, is much worse than the one who was recently killed by Israel (Bambi is not naming them because she is more interested in their behaviours over their characters). This being said, may everyone’s memory be eternal, including whom we might think are evil. Now, just think of the latest item on the CV of the new Hamas leader, which is the planning of a massacre. Can you imagine? We are talking about kidnapping of kids and innocent people, acts of rape and even of disrespect of human bodies… of course, again, in the name of a noble resistance.

Stated differently, is Bambi celebrating this new political nomination, like Mr. Nasrallah and Iran? No, of course not. It is a dangerous act of defiance. Indeed, it is an insult not just for Israel but also for all the innocent victims of this absurd war in all the countries of the region, starting with Palestine itself. More importantly, in the bigger scheme of things, it is also an insult for the hope of peace.

How can we hope for peace when the mindset of revenge (ie. an eye for an eye) is practised by both/all players. Some might say: yes, but does Israel have another choice? Others might say: yes, but does the current Palestinian leadership in Gaza, have another choice now, following the political assassination and given the massive destruction (including Hamas’ infrastructure), along with the resulting heartbreaking tragedy for the Palestinians. Needless to say that Hamas likely cannot see its own role in this human disaster, in addition to Israel’s responsibility. Regardless, there is truth in a positive answer to the two questions, which were raised above, especially when we put ourselves in the shoes of each side.

The wiser choice for all would be to learn/re-learn to accept one another, but how is this realistically possible? In the end, no one should/can eliminate the other. At least in Bambi’s dictionary of reason, it is never too late to work for peace, instead of being trapped in a vicious cycle when it comes to the cult of death and the mindset of revenge.

Is there hope for a deescalation now? Maybe/hopefully? We never know what is happening behind the scenes in any negotiations among the world’s leaders, including the players on the ground.

What about peace? Is there any leftover hope for the latter in the region? SADLY, peace seems to be increasingly unlikely, even if it would be nice to think that there is always light at the end of a tunnel. Indeed, even before the doomed October 7, 2023, Bambi’s thoughts were as follows (Robert, if you are reading, you may recall the discussion we had 1-2 years before the pandemic?): the Middle East’s eternal conflict will be solved when Bambi’s children will become grandparents… As a reminder, she does not have kids. Draw your own conclusion.

Anyhow, with or without peace, with or without an imminent wider war, Bambi will keep praying for peace. May everyone re-commit to reason. May healing, and eventually love, prevail, not just peace. ALL the innocent people, especially children, on BOTH/ALL sides deserve to live and enjoy life, including those in Lebanon. Enough of acts of war. How about acts of love for a change?

—

One month apart, Mr. Saeb Erakat died and Dr. Hanane Achraoui resigned. Will the Palestinian leadership reform or dive into more Islamism?

Yesterday was a day off in many Canadian provinces for different reasons.

In the Atlantic Canadian province of New Brunswick, we had a great reason to celebrate since it was NB Day!

This post is simply meant to share with you the picture of a tree Bambi has fallen in love with since she moved to South-Eastern NB sixteen years ago. She took this undated picture herself at the Fort Beauséjour/Fort Cumberland National Historic site. This famous fort was “the scene of three acts of war between France and Great Britain, the deportation of the Acadians and the tearing apart of British North America“. (https://shorturl.at/0PVHg).

As you can see/guess, the area of the Chignecto isthmus where the fort is located (at the border of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) is almost always quite windy, even in the summer and on warmer days. Indeed, you can easily see the impact of the strong wind from how the tree is tilted.

Of note, the tree (no clue what type) moves Bambi’s heart each time she visits it because it teaches her a valuable lesson: how to survive by bending with the wind of life. Yes, being psychologically flexible, not stiff, is a marker of a good mental health, at all times and perhaps maybe even more so during conflicts or crises. This is what will allow us to be open for self-growth. Indeed and according to Dr. Rachel Goldman, “What psychological flexibility boils down to is staying in the present moment and being open to experiencing whatever thoughts or feelings may arise, and then take action that is aligned with our values” (https://shorturl.at/jAO6).

Of course, there are other beautiful trees, including birch trees, olive trees, fruit trees, Christmas trees, Palm trees, Cedars, and Pine trees. Bambi adores the latter, even if she has been allergic to them, at least during her childhood (or she rarely encounters them in North America).

What about you? What is your favourite tree in life and why? You may have a personal reason. Maybe a good memory, maybe a tree to symbolize life at birth or the memory of a loved one following his/her death? Who knows? Maybe you study trees or you may have cultural reasons to honour them? Mind you, you may also be someone who is not fond of trees. One is free to love nature or not, as long as we all know how to respect it.

To conclude this post on a musical note, Bambi will leave you with two songs. The first one is in French and she discovered it while preparing this post. It is by Mr. Julien Clerc and it is entitled “Sous mon arbre” [Under My Tree]. An English translation can be found at this link: https://shorturl.at/NtbEN. As for the second Lebanese-Arabic song, it is by Fairuz and performed below by Mr. George Nehme (yes, we established that he is the brother of Ms. Abeer Nehme, also a great singer). As she may have already shared, Bambi loves this melody about a girl playing on a tree because it reminds her of wonderful memories of a quick family reunion with cousins visiting or residing in Montreal. She misses them so much. Same for all her beloved cousins. May each one of them be safe and sound, especially those in Beirut… today more than ever given the worrisome news.