Our Universe

Some people are suns.
They like to think they are the center of the universe.
They sure act like one.
They may not know of other solar systems,
Other galaxies,
They like everyone to depend on them,
Need them, revolve around them.
Do not get me wrong!
They are kind, and very generous.
They do not expect anything in return.
But if you want to be with them,
Get close to them,
Be careful!
You will burn.
After all, they are not interested in you.

Some are black holes.
Very mysterious.
No one knows for sure when, why, and how they became like this.
They are madly in love with you.
In fact, they want you all to themselves,
So, they absorb you,
Your thoughts, your emotions, your soul.
They never give anything back.
If you want to know them,
learn about their mysteries,
You can.
You only have to let go of the world you belonged to,
To be in theirs.
You can never get out.

Then there are moons,
and all the stars inspired by them.
Receptive to the suns' generosities,
and kind enough to share all they have.
They let you learn about them.
You can visit them often.
You can stay with them as long as you wish.
They are secure enough to let you go.
They know you will come back,
If you know how lovely they are.
And you know,
Regardless of what you choose to do,
You are safe.

Tonight!

I cannot sleep tonight.
How about you president Obama?
Good night, and Good Luck, Mr. President!

Ice

I had a good morning,
I felt the magic of a new beginning,
I felt all the possibilities,
All the beauties this day could offer.

I was scraping the ice from my car's windows.
I was blaming the cold weather,
For all the time it was going to take away from me,
In the upcoming winter days.

Then, it happened,
You finally took the courage,
You walked towards me.
"Good morning" you said,
"What is your name?" you asked.

Suddenly, I was grateful for the ice,
For it made us hesitate and meet,
Before quickly driving away to work.
I looked forward to the icy and snowy days ahead.

Laura

Laura has three kids. Teenage twins and a freshman in college. She drives over fifty miles everyday to work. Her father-in-law has been having many medical issues for a year. Her husband commutes two hours, each way, on most days to see his father. All of this has caused them so much stress and money. She showed up at work every single day.

Then, we had a hurricane last summer in our region. A tree fell on the roof of her house. Insurance offered them another house to stay in while they fixed her house. She came to work every single day.

After six months, she was getting ready to move back in her repaired house. She heard her mother's cancer is back. It had spread from the kidney all over her body. Images indicated it had gone to her brain. Her mother was going through different treatments and procedures everyday. Their days together were numbered. She came to work every single day.

Her mother passed away on a Friday night. Laura was at work Monday morning. She took Wednesday and Thursday off to attend her mother's funeral and memorial services.

Hope

Year 2009 is ahead of us.
A year when the Audacity of Hope,
Can take the office,
Can affect many for better.

A new year with
New hopes,
New dreams,
New plans,
Unexpected events to unfold.

May we not be disappointed.
May we keep believing in hope.
May we dare to crave for bigger dreams when welcoming 2010,
Having started tasting the sweet fruit of hope in 2009.

The Art of Losing Is Not Hard to Master!

I have witnessed many friends, relatives, classmates, colleagues, and myself move to different countries or states over the years for various reasons: living in better societies with more individual rights, pursuit of higher education, starting careers, better job opportunities, alleviating financial hardships, etc. These moves are more common and even expected for people living under severe circumstances or at certain stages of their lives: when going to college, going to graduate school, starting a career, getting married, having kids, etc. People move with hopes that the new place offers the opportunity to achieve what they were aiming for. However, some people repeat this pattern of moving and starting a new life very often without being motivated by a specific goal or a significant life-changing event. This second group is the focus of this post.

I have always admired such group of people for their determination to advance in life, for bravely starting all over again, for making a new place their home, for establishing new friendships, and learning all about a new community. I found all they go through too exhausting. How can it be easy to start fresh when it takes so long just to figure out who is a trust-worthy plumber in town? I looked closer. They do not always move because their new destination has better opportunities to offer. They do not move, even though it is hard, to achieve higher goals. Rather, they use those goals to justify and rationalize their moves. They move because they find it harder to stay. It is hard to stay when every corner of the city reminds you of memories with your last love. It is hard to continue to show up to work when no one supports you, when all your relationships are tainted. It is hard to stay where you do not have any friends. It is hard to stay when there is nothing and no one to stay for. Thus, they keep moving and mastering the art of losing.

Staying is an art. Making things right is an art. Maintaining friendships and good relationships is an art. Making a place your home is an art. Establishing traditions that would last over the years is an art. "The art of losing is not hard to master".

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three beloved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

-- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster.

Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979)

Stone Carvings of Childhood Era

Tonight he is the star on the stage. He is singing and dancing. All the girls reach for his hand. They take his picture, and shout his name to draw his attention. In the audience, he has an old friend. A friend from his childhood. She came just to support him on his big night and to catch up with him.

They meet after the concert. He does not talk about his successful career much. Instead, he says how as a kid he enjoyed going to his friend's house. How he liked its yard with an always empty pool. How he liked playing with her American games. But above all, he remembers how she was studios and he was not. How his mother wished he was more like her. He remembers when his parents built their house, they had the opportunity to pick a name for their alley. They did not name it after their son. No, they named it after her, a girl of a distant relative! It might have to do with the fact that all other close-by streets were named after flowers and her name was also a flower's name. Having his name for their street would have broken the pattern in that neighborhood: this reasoning could not heal his hurt feelings.

The old friend, a grown woman now, listens to him. She feels the heavy weight of all the sadness he has been carrying since his childhood. She had no idea all these years that is how she is remembered on the other side of the world, in southern hemisphere, by an old friend. She had stolen part of his mother's love and attention he needed so badly without even knowing it, or worse, without even trying.

She is so glad they had this conversation. She thinks: "Good that I came to see him. Good that I acknowledged he is the star, and I am an old fan." That night, she made a promise to herself: if she ever had a kid, she would constantly reassure her/him that s/he is loved regardless of his/her successes and shortcomings. She would never ever compare her child with another.