Mr. Albert Camus (1913-1960) A picture taken from the internet
On January 4, 1960, French philosopher, journalist, and novelist, Mr. Albert Camus, died in a car accident. He was only 47 years old (https://bit.ly/3ieuOPJ). May his memory be as eternal as some of his thoughtful quotes, which may seem timely today more than ever. This is especially true in a world lacking love, which appears to be either authoritarian or careless. Sometimes both at once…
While preparing this post, Bambi learned that the great French singer, Mr. Serge Lama, ended his career at age 79 with an album called “Aimer” [“To Love”]. In it, he dedicated a song to Mr. Camus for whom he paid tribute with the following heartfelt words: “Oh Camus, I mourn you. My hero you remain. You who died of a Dostoyevsky in the heart“ (https://bit.ly/3VK32IG). If you wish, you can listen to this French song following some of Camus’ quotes.
“Always go too far, because that’s where you’ll find the truth.
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants.
Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.
By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.
Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it.
Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I
may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
You will never be happy if you continue to search for what
happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning
of life.
Life is a sum of all your choices. So, what are you doing today?
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay
an invincible summer.
Whoever gives nothing, has nothing. The greatest misfortune is not to be unloved, but not to love.
It is necessary to fall in love… if only to provide an alibi for all the random despair you are going to feel anyway.
We always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love – first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.
Sometimes, carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman
achievement.
Yes, everything is simple. It is people who complicate things.
To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others.
Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.
I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn’t, than live as if there isn’t and to die to find out that there is”.
Bambi feels the urge to quickly comment on a Reuters article entitled “Hezbollah head says change to Al Aqsa status quo could explode the region” that informs us of the following: “The leader of Lebanon’s powerful armed Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, said that any infringement of the decades-long status quo at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem could lead to an explosion in the region, not just inside Palestinian territories” (https://reut.rs/3VIxId9).
Can Mr. Nasrallah go back to Lebanon’s CRYING problems and leave Jerusalem alone, please? No one cares about who can or cannot visit any mosque’s, church’s, or synagogue’s courtyard in a different country. People of his country, and those born in it but left it, ONLY care about the suffering of the Lebanese people, including a recent migrant boat sinking with two dead and luckily 200 rescued, thanks to the Lebanese Navy assisted by UNIFL (https://bit.ly/3Igml9n). Thank you.
To conclude this brief post, if Mr. Nasrallah forgot Rémi Bandali famous kids’ song about the aspiration for peace during the bloody Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), here is a reminder from Bambi. The song is in in Arabic, followed by French, then English.
There is nothing like humour in life, especially on the first day of a new year. Thank you Mr. Mark Hachem for making Bambi laugh :). Happy 2023 to you!
On the last evening of 2022, Bambi is having some fun playing a musical game while awaiting the start of the “Bye Bye”! The latter is an annual famous Canadian TV show, which originally began before Bambi’s birth (i.e. 1968). Produced in Québec, the Bye Bye features sketches satirizing the past year’s political, social, and cultural events. It always ends with a countdown to the next year.
Well, over the past 32-33 years, Bambi has never missed any Bye Bye since migrating to Canada. If she is travelling or celebrating somewhere, she always takes the time to watch this show either on TV or online in the following day(s). Why would she miss the opportunity to laugh about the passing year? Tonight, she will have the chance to watch this TV show live. Cool!
Anyhow, this post will only feature some songs she likes. Almost all of them were posted on her blog in the past year. Some more than once even. Perhaps only one or two songs she did not have the chance to share them with you yet.
For all sorts of reasons, Bambi has trouble choosing which song to sing while transitioning from 2022 to 2023? For each one of them, she has a reason to think it may the one. At times, she likes the song because of the fun melody. At other times, it is more due to the deep meaning of the lyrics.
If you have the time or feel like playing with Bambi, you may comment on your preferred or least liked song. Bambi would love to hear from you. If you need any translation of the lyrics, she will happily guide you to earlier posts or consult her good friend, Mr. Google Translate :). For now, she will stop her blahblahblah to let the music have the final word of the year. Happy 2023 to all! Oui, bonne année 2023 à tous ❤️!
Bambi would like to wish you a wonderful new year filled with whatever your heart wishes.
If she may, she would like to also wish you what she has been blessed with in 2022 (and in life in general): Friendship!
Friendship can take so many forms in life.
First, and to begin with, being the kindest friend we can be with ourselves at all times, from the moments of fun with loved ones, to times of solitude with internal trips as per the earlier post [thanks Roula :)], and to hardship in life.
Second, true friends can become family. Is there anything more meaningful in life than a caring family?
Third, friendship is also about remaining true to ourselves, to our deepest values, and speaking our mind.
Fourth, friendship is also about being/remaining the most genuine “friend” we can be to loved ones; and friendly with those who reach out in times of hardship.
Fifth, being thankful to both our faithful and ALL the new “friends” (some are a true gift of life!).
Last but not least, as a friend to both herself and others, Bambi refuses to lose her humanity in life. It is in this spirit that she wishes everyone a wonderful new year. This includes those who have been friendly as well as those who may have lacked humanity to the point of indulging in lies, defamation, and/or attempt of cancellation. This also includes those who may have lacked the courage to take the time to remain friends, even privately. May everyone’s new year be filled with the beauty of humanity and the true meaning of friendship.
To conclude this post in music, one song comes to Bambi’s mind on new year. It is Ms. Céline Dion’s celebration of friendship (English lyrics copy-pasted from YouTube follow the melody). Our dear Céline is right: “friendship is the most beautiful country” [“L’amitié c’est le plus beau pays“].
Happy 2023, dear friends in humanity ❤️!
Bonne Année 2023 chers amis de l’humanité ❤️! ️
“If it’s a
friend
If he’s for
you
What you are
for him
The one who
can love you
Without ever
judging you
The one that
stays when the others already left you
I say that
if it’s a friend
Then you
have succeeded in your life
You already
found the evening star
And you’re
not alone anymore on the road
If it’s a
friend
Give your
bread and your wine and your life
And do the
world all over again
Like have
done three hundred times
Don Quixote
and his old Sancho Panza
If it’s your
friend
Tell him so
he’ll sing and sing with him
Friendship
is the most beautiful country
If it’s a
friend
If he
becomes crazy when you do crazy things
If he shows
you sometimes he feared for you
If nothing
less than the best satisfies him for you
I say that
if it’s a friend
Then you
succeded in your life
Each one on
our side
We’re only
thow halves
Together we
go over mountains
If it’s a
friend
Give your
bread and your wine and your life
And do the
world all over again like have done three hundred times
Don Quixote
and his old Sancho Panza
If it’s your
friend
Tell him so
he’ll sing and sing with him
Friendship
is the most beautiful country
If it’s your
friend
If he has
your laughing if he has your tears too
If he has
the same angers
Fill him
when the earth
With its
trumpets and its wars goes wrong
I say that
if he’s a friend
You can say
a huge thank you to life
Because it
made of him
A brother
you choose
And the
companion of luck
If it’s a
friend
Give your
bread and your wine and your life
And do the
world all over again like have done three hundred times
Don Quixote
and his old Sancho Panza
If it’s your
friend
Tell him so
he’ll sing and sing with him
Friendship
is the most beautiful country
If it’s a
friend
Give your
bread and your wine and your life
And do the
world all over again like have done three hundred times
A few nights ago, Bambi did a tour of the news in her birth country concerned about its financial crisis. While doing so, she came across these beautiful lines by her own sister, Ms. Roula Douglas. This author and journalist is full of wisdom. Yes, this is Bambi’s conclusion, regardless of any sibling bias :). Just check one of her latest tweets. The text is in French and you can read Bambi’s translation following it.
“In these last days of the year, I realize that among all the journeys I have made and all the paths I have travelled, the most significant today is the one that leads to me and my inner peace”.
Mind you, in a country of multiple crisis, including a paralyzed political system (yes still no President of the Republic of Lebanon!), this is quite an achievement on behalf of Roula.
Same if you live in other countries of the world, including Canada, with much inflation and loss of purchasing power. Of course, same for yet other countries with extreme poverty and cholera like Haiti, Syria, and Lebanon. And what about countries with raging territorial or civil wars respectively, like Ukraine and Myanmar, or places with cyclic clashes like Armenia-Azerbaijan, Gaza-Israel or Afghanistan. And what to say about countries with ongoing fights for liberty like Iran or some continuation of war like Syria?
Yes, many troubles worldwide. Despite all this, may everyone remain safe and as serene as realistically possible at the end of internal trips like those of Roula.
To end this brief post on a musical note, Bambi would like to offer Roula and the dear readers of her blog, a French-Canadian song she discovered while preparing this post. It is by Ms. Marie-Denise Pelletier and it is entitled “Le voyage intérieur [Interior journey].
Safe travels everyone, both internally and toward 2023 ?!
Allez, bon voyage à tous à la fois à l’intérieur de soi et vers 2023 ?!
The powerful article, featured in this post, summarizes what has surprised Dr. Joseph Facal in 2022. It is food for thought about the increasing censorship in Canada.
Dr. Facal’s article (https://bit.ly/3I5VX1X) was recently published in the Journal de Montréal. With the assistance of her faithful friend Mr. Google Translate, Bambi will first present his article in the language of Shakespeare. Second, she will share a song she discovered this morning while preparing part of this post.
This musical discovery is entitled Liberty and it is by Ms. Lauren Kellie. Its lyrics are powerful and its music beautiful. At the very end, following Kellie’s superb song, you can find its lyrics, as copy-pasted from YouTube.
From the lyrics, the following sentence resonates in Bambi’s mind:
“It’s in our DNA to be free,we’re not made to live this way” .
As a society, why are we collectively accepting the unacceptable, which is censorship? Are we doing so out of fear or is it out of a desire to please and conform? We can perhaps add to the latter a lack of critical analysis in addition to a distortion or a corruption of the use of principles. Stated differently, principles like freedom of expression and/or academic freedom apply for thee and not for me. Censorship is for thee and not for me. The violence of cancellation, or cancel culture, is tolerated for thee and not for me.
So, what is the best antidote to the above? It may be simply respect for all. This means for everyone’s opinions, no to violence for anyone, yes to individual rights for all/anyone, AND, most importantly, a re-commitment to principles for the the sake of principles. This means the latter apply to anyone with any opinion, including unapproved political or scientific ones.
Indeed, it is vital to constantly protect freedom for all. If we stop venerating the latter, as a cherished principle or value, especially in so-called “controversial” cases with which we disagree, like Bambi’s own story, it is only a matter of time until each one of us will lose freedom in our society.
All this being said, Bambi will stop her own initial thoughts here because it is time to share Dr. Facal’s sharp and wise words now. Please remember the musical treat following his article!
—
“War in Ukraine? I confess that I did not believe it until the last minute.
But that a tyrant invades his neighbour is not particularly a novelty.
For me, the most disturbing, the strangest, the most insidious event of the past year has been the continuation and deepening of censorship in our Western societies.
Storm
Instead of slowing down, it seems to me to have accelerated.
Lexicons of now banned words are produced.
TV shows are banned for hearing “offensive” words.
Artists guilty of being white are removed from museums.
Books disappear from reading lists submitted to students.
Even yours truly had his picture taken down from a wall in my old CEGEP [or college in the province of Québec. He is apolitician, academic, and journalist. He was a Parti Québécois member of the National Assembly of Québec (1994-2003) and a cabinet minister in the governments of Mr. Lucien Bouchard and Mr. Bernard Landry]. It was only put back because people started asking questions.
Obviously, censorship is nothing new, but who expected such a comeback?
I’m not sure that today’s young people, many of whom have become so embedded in the software of self-censorship that they don’t realize it, realize that they can say less than you and me in the year 2000 or 1990.
Have them watch a sketch by Yvon Deschamps or RBO [the former is a famous comedian and the latter is Rock et Belles Oreilles, a radio, television and stage comedy group that was very popular in the 1980s and 1990s] and see their bewildered reactions.
We are experiencing a perfect storm, that is, the meeting of elements that combine to produce maximum effect.
You have, on the one hand, a properly religious thought, which divides the world into good and bad, which has an answer to everything and which never doubts.
You have, on the other side, cowardly administrators, who bend before the slightest protest, no matter how outlandish, and who will justify their cowardice in the name of “respect” due to the “feelings” of a handful renamed “the community”.
However, I will bring a nuance immediately.
As people retire and are replaced by younger people indoctrinated with wokeism, who rise to positions of influence in newsrooms, on campuses, in human resources departments, etc., censorship is no longer just the work of people who are afraid, but of executives who are on the same wavelength as the protesters.
It is, moreover, fascinating to see the extent to which wokeism, now well established in power, persists in presenting itself as the struggle of the “dominated”, as the legitimate struggle of those below against the oppressive power of the capitalist and liberal society.
Fight
It is equally fascinating to see their instrumentalization of the meaning of words.
These people only have the words “listening”, “dialogue” and “openness” in their mouths.
But for them, “listening” means agreeing with them.
“Dialogue” means imposing their monologue.
The “opening” is one-way. Have you recently heard of a censor who acted out of conviction and not out of fear to admit that he was wrong?
The fight, I fear, will be long, as the struggles against religious obscurantism have always been”.
Thank you Ms. Linda De Suza for your musical heritage in French, Portuguese, and Spanish!
Before going to sleep late yesterday night, Bambi came across a YouTube video referring to the death of M.s Linda De Suza at the age of 74. Her brain immediately dismissed the news as a hoax. Perhaps because she has seen many of the latter about other artists or even politicians? Or perhaps because our first natural reaction to death is denial (https://bit.ly/3G0dxlm)? Regardless, Bambi just heard a confirmation of this sad news on her internet Lebanese-American radio, along with a couple of De Suza’s immortal songs.
Of note, Bambi was preparing a post on censorship in Canada, which will be a translation of a very thoughtful article of Dr. Joseph Facal (in partnership with her beloved friend, Mr. Google Translate, of course) and an opportunity to share her recent musical discovery on liberty. She put it aside now, perhaps until tomorrow, to post this brief tribute to Ms. Linda De Suza… May her memory be eternal.
You may perhaps wonder why would Bambi be saddened by the death of Ms. De Suza to that extent? No, it is not only because she is BIG fan of this inspiring lady (who sold over 2 million records); like many fellow fans worldwide, not just in France or Portugal. Indeed, it may be perhaps the case because her French songs have rocked Bambi’s childhood and adolescence in Beirut. It is as if a part of her youth has died now with Ms. De Suza, even if her music will outlive her and us all.
Indeed, God knows how many times her songs played on the Lebanese radio during its bloody civil war (1975-1990), bringing tenderness and romance in the middle of brutality; how many times Bambi listened to them: alone, with her sisters, or with friends at the end of parties when music usually turns into slow dancing. She recalls having taking the time to write down De Suza’s beautiful lyrics more than once. She even sang them; alone do not worry because it is safer to the ears of her loved ones. Ms. De Susa’s lyrics are so beautiful that even a frog’s voice cannot succeed in turning them to bad melodies!
Thank you, Ms. De Suza for having existed and for your eternal musical heritage. You were an icon of the successful, and moving, Portuguese migrant to France. You built bridges between hearts in your adoptive and birth countries. Your beautiful influence travelled beyond Europe, including Lebanon and other francophone or francophile places. Heartfelt condolences from Bambi to your loved ones. Again, may your memory be eternal, as it will remain in your fans’ hearts and brains’ limbic system ❤️.
To end this tribute, Bambi will allow herself to borrow the translated concluding words of President Macron and his spouse in their official statement (https://bit.ly/3GpTb6p). Following this, she will share some of Ms. Linda De Suza’s most famous songs found on YouTube (a couple come with an English translation). She hopes you will enjoy either re-listening to them or discovering them.
“At the crossroads of two cultures, two languages, translating her greatest French successes into Portuguese, she asserted herself as an icon of the crossed destinies of our two peoples, and sponsored Portugal when it joined the European Union in 1986.
The President of the Republic and his spouse salute this talented singer who builds bridges between the country where she began her life and the one where she ended it, in this Normandy which was dear to her. They send their sincere condolences to her son, his family, and all those moved by her songs, in Portugal and in France.”
