Category: Sackville’s Memorial park

This post will begin by identifying the chosen song. It is called “Maak ya Lebnan ORمعك يا لبنان [With you, Lebanon]. It is by DJ Rodge featuring Tania. The song is a call for peace to the world from out of Lebanon. If you wish, you may read an English translation of its brief Arabic lyrics, thanks to the assistance of Mr. Google Translate, Bambi’s loyal friend. The YouTube video below shows the beauty of the Land of the Cedars.

This being said, why a song to an Iranian diplomat, you may wonder? Well, according to L’Orient Le Jour, “Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani told local TV channel al-Jadeed on Wednesday that he had been summoned by the Lebanese Foreign Ministry after his comments on Hezbollah’s disarmament, but that he was unable to appear today because he was “busy” (https://tinyurl.com/2sxk42vt).

Why was Iran’s Ambassador to Beirut again summoned and invited to the Bustros Palace today? Short answer: over a remark about Hezbollah’s weapons. Longer answer in Naharnet (https://tinyurl.com/33p8w89r):

“The disarmament project is a clear conspiracy against nations. While the United States continues to supply the Zionist entity with the latest weapons and missiles, it prevents countries from arming and strengthening their armies, and pressures other countries to reduce or destroy their arsenals under various pretexts. Once these countries surrender to demands for disarmament, they become vulnerable to attack and occupation, as happened in Iraq, Libya and Syria. We, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, are aware of the seriousness of this conspiracy and its threat to the security of the peoples of the region. We warn others against falling into the enemy’s trap. Maintaining deterrence is the first line of defence for sovereignty and independence and should not be compromised” .

Imagine Mr. Trump talking like this about Canada’s Armed Forces or defence strategy, would this be acceptable?

“From Lebanon to the whole world, peace.

‎This land will always be full of sweetness and colours.

‎O Beirut, your love is back.

‎And what was is back.

‎Don’t worry, you’re stronger than time.

—

‎From Lebanon to the whole world, peace.

‎This land will always be full of sweetness and colours.

‎Beirut, Beirut, your sun never sets.

‎You are the light of the world.

‎You are love, you are tenderness.

‎From Beirut, we will stay with you, Lebanon”.

To quickly pay tribute to Pope Francis before going to sleep, Bambi will allow herself to borrow the beautiful words of Racine, the late and great French artist/writer/poet: “May my mouth and my heart, and all that I am, honour the God who gave me life” [“Que ma bouche et mon coeur, et tout ce que je suis, rendent honneur au Dieu qui m’a donné la vie”]. May the soul of Pope Francis, a man of faith and goodness, rest in peace. May his memory and Mr. Racine’s memory be eternal.

Wow, time flies!

It is already “Sabet el Nour” [Saturday of Light] just before Easter day.

Bambi will already say: “El Massih kam” to her dad et al. ❤️.

Happy Easter, dear readers, if this day means anything to you.

Whether it does or not, have a wonderful weekend everyone.

May the light of love and peace fill all the hearts and illuminate the universe.

Bambi just learned from France Info that Mr. Naim Kassem, the Hezbollah Chief, expressed the following thought today: “We must remove this idea of ​​disarmament from the dictionary“. He also stated that the Hezbollah “will not allow anyone to disarm it” (https://tinyurl.com/5ehfdpjb).

What nerve! To state the above, one must be disconnected from the SAD reality of death and destruction while being incapable of taking responsibility for dragging Lebanon into yet another absurd war.

Of course, it is only logical to expect resistance to change when it comes to giving its organization’s weapons to the legal authorities. Bambi can understand the psychology of resistance to change. However, there is a difference between the latter and unfairness to his fellow Lebanese citizens or country. Stated differently, until when the blind loyalty to Iran’s military interests and ideology?

Ms. Zeina Farah, Bambi’s first cousin once removed, has an angelical voice that goes straight to heaven. Here is she is (left side) with her talented colleague, Ms. Rosy Hajj, chanting together in Arabic on the this Holy Thursday.

From Zeina, you hear the beautiful “Lamentations” of the Greek Orthodox service of the Good Friday. From Rosy, you hear “Wa habibi”, a moving Maronite prayer for Jesus.

Thanks and bravo to both of them!

The talented and beautiful actress, Ms. Gal Gadot, happens to be Israeli.

Ms. Gadot recently played the the role of the evil queen in Snow White.

Because of Ms. Gadot’s role in this Disney movie, the latter has been banned in Kuwait and Lebanon (https://tinyurl.com/5hp8hjay; https://tinyurl.com/nhzyb3wf).

Is there anything more apparently absurd than such a ban?

Indeed, why are we keeping children from watching Snow White in movie theatres?

What would this imposed ban practically achieve? And where do we go from there?

Would a cultural boycott be extended, may God forbid, to health bans of generic drugs for chronic health conditions or to promising medical inventions, including the recent development of the “first-ever blood test for early detection of Parkinson’s disease” (https://tinyurl.com/frp67st2)?

So, with all due respect, why this hypocrisy? And why the stupidity?

Beyond culture or public health, how can the badly needed peace be achieved in the Middle East if we keep resorting to narrow-minded political decisions like this one?

Today’s post is made possible, thanks to Salome’s uplifting talent and generosity 💚. Many thanks to her for sharing the magic of spring in her charming country. May the Dutch blooming flowers remind us of the beauty of life. Perhaps most significantly, may they inspire each one of us to: (1) nurture our inner beauty; and (2) welcome and cherish others’ unique beauty.

To err is human (“l’erreur est humaine” in French).

Stated differently, everyone makes mistakes from time to time.

Of course, not two mistakes are the same. Some are are much more substantial than others. Sadly, some can be fatal.

Yet, we all make errors. It is what makes us human.

Yes, making mistakes is part of being human. After all, we are neither robots nor God, thank Goodness. Life would be too boring had we been perfect or automated.

Imagine, how rigid we would be without any opportunity to learn, grow, repair, and maybe laugh at ourselves or with beloved ones, after mutual forgiveness.

She does not know about you, but Bambi refuses perfection in life. She does not take herself too seriously. She prefers to aim for authenticity and for excellence, as needed [OK maybe not in some activities like cooking :)].

When it comes to her own mistakes, she tends to easily acknowledge them, with self-compassion (and even with humour, as needed). She prefers this over self-blame. In other terms, she takes responsibility for her mistakes. For instance, she can apologize or offer a solution to correct, or maybe mitigate, the error in question.

Who knows? Maybe this is inspired by the rubber erasers of her childhood, to delete ink or pencil errors/marks, and to move on… to the next mistake :).

What about you? Do you tend to be perfectionist or too hard on yourself? Is your self-talk too critical or, maybe worse, do you think it is your fault if someone treats you poorly in life (https://tinyurl.com/4x8z82dk)?

It is Bambi’s hope that, regardless of any mistake in your journey or relationship, you will try to discern what belongs to you (i.e., your responsibility for your own behaviour and decisions) and what belongs to others (ie., their own accountability, if any, for their behaviour and decisions). This practice may bring fairness to all. Who knows? Perhaps it can also strengthen meaningful relationships or social connections.

This being said, Happy National Rubber Eraser Day to you, dear readers, tomorrow (https://tinyurl.com/bdsuybze)!

First, Happy Palm Sunday to those of you, dear readers, who may be perhaps celebrating this day, which falls a week before Easter.

Second, thank you, Mr. Mario Dumont for your column in the Journal de Montréal, which sadly informs us that Canada’s Debates Commission seems to have turned its back to rigour once again (https://shorturl.at/qDDPP). Below is a quick English translation, with the assistance of Mr. Google Translate.

I surprised a few people by explaining in a previous column that Canada has a Debates Commission. For those who missed it, there is indeed a full-time organization in Canada whose mandate is… to organize two debates every four years. What they do with their days the rest of the time remains a mystery.

At the very least, to justify the use of your tax dollars, you can tell yourself that in this country, debates are organized to perfection. With civil servants working on them for four years, can we expect anything less?

Bad news: the Commission has been completely misled this year. One party has secured a platform in the debate by seriously putting the members of the infamous Debate Commission to sleep. Let’s be clear: the Green Party of Canada cannot and should not be invited to this debate under the stated rules.

Clear Rule

Here’s the rule: to be invited, a party must meet two of these three criteria: have at least one MP, obtain 4% of the vote in the major polls, and field candidates in 90% of constituencies (309 are required).

The Green Party does indeed have two members of Parliament in the House of Commons. Forget the 4% poll tally, they barely get half that.

To meet two of the three criteria, the party must field candidates in 309 ridings. However, according to Elections Canada, the Green Party is far from this number, as it is only represented in 232 ridings. And since Monday, the nomination period has closed.

The Green Party does indeed have two MPs in the House of Commons. Forget the 4% poll, they barely get half that. Logically, the Green Party should have been automatically disqualified. The Debates Commission’s explanation is ludicrous. Two weeks ago, when the decision to invite them was made, the Green Party declared that it “endorsed” a sufficient number of candidates. Unfortunately, about 80 of them ultimately never applied. Hello, rigor!

Unfairness

It’s obviously unfair to give the cheater a privilege: visibility and airtime. If we decide to be flexible with the rules, we should have invited Maxime Bernier of the People’s Party. He is fielding 247 candidates, 15 more than the Greens.

This is the second time in three elections that the Commission has been laughed at. In 2019, using different criteria, Maxime Bernier obtained an invitation by presenting a curious poll showing he had a “serious chance of winning” in four ridings. On election day, his party had obtained between 2% and 5% of the vote in these counties. Far from any hope of winning. The Commission had been duped.

Your taxes pay for a permanent organization to organize the debates, and it fails two out of three times.

Mark Carney must be laughing to himself. The more people there are on stage, the less debate there is“.

In a couple of days, it will be the fiftieth anniversary since the start of the cruel Lebanese civil war (April 13, 1975 to October 13, 1990).

This VERY sad April 13, of Bambi’s personal and collective memory, is mixed with happy feelings. How could it not be when it is also the birthday of her childhood friend Rita ❤️?

Bravo to those former fighters for coming together to promote peace in young people.

May reason win over endless wars, forgiveness over resentment, and love over hatred.

Life is too short to be wasted on armed conflicts… May peace finally know how to prevail.

May everyone heal from trauma, re-build destroyed homes or broken souls, find disappeared loved ones, celebrate shared humanity, and sanctify human dignity.