"Killer whale drowns SeaWorld trainer in Orlando."

This was the title of several new agencies yesterday. Meanwhile it shocked everyone; the investigations are taking place to clarify the details which caused the death of the trainer. The doubts are whether the “trainer either slipped or fell” into the water which caused serious injuries and eventually her death. This news made me wonder about the selfishness of humanity.
Imagine how day and night thousands of whales and dolphins ask themselves: “Why am I here?” There is no one to answer them. I want to answer them.
My dear beautiful whales and dolphins,
You are all imprisoned because we are humans and you are not, because we are selfish enough to close our eyes and be cruel for millions of dollars that you make for us. We are egocentric enough to watch your pain and laugh. This is all because we, humans can be really selfish and ignorant. My dear beautiful whales and dolphins, it is partly your fault too. You have a happy, charming smile. You are able to jump up and down and enlighten our day. It is your fault too!!!
My dear beautiful whales and dolphins, I hope a day comes that you have the power to imprison us so we understand what it feels to live in a small cell and be the puppet of someone. I hope a day comes that we make freedom rather than money. I hope….
Maybe before blaming the retailer for the retaliation, we have to think why did it all happen?
Image:http://farm1.static.flickr.com/166/362405199_e16f93e821.jpg

After finishing The new John Lewis Gaddis book, "The Cold War, A New History",I have two statements from millions of conclusions in my head to write:
1. Gorbachev was one of the ONLY politicians ever deserving to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
2. I truly enjoyed reading Gaddis.

It might appear that with this two statements, I have reached an absolutely naive conclusion out of the complex history of the Cold War. But these were only two of my many conclusions and indeed the most emotional ones.
F.T.Image from:http:http://i.biblio.com/z/956/119/9781565119956.jpg

Last year I was talking to a fellow friend of mine who was applying for different universities. When I asked him: “How come you are only considering UBC and SFU?” he responded: “I want to be here for the Olympics!”
After The Canadian Olympic Association was able to overcome South Korea and Austria on July 2, 2003 and officially announce Vancouver as the host of 2010 Winter Olympic, several critics supported or opposed this action. The supporters mentioned the social and economical benefits of the Olympics. Aside from all the excitements that the Olympics generate among the Vancouver residence, it would also peruse the British Colombia’s government to consider a certain budget for updating the city and its transportation system. Indeed, few weeks before the Olympics opening ceremony, there are obvious changes within our community. The new Canada Line which connecting Richmond to Vancouver is an example of one of these rapid changes. Moreover, the supporters argued that the Olympic Games would increase job opportunities for a short period and it would also have considerable economical benefits.
On the other hand, the oppositions argued about the high cost of such event. Meanwhile, Canada is struggling with the economical crisis, only one billion dollars is being spent on the security of the Olympics. Thus the oppositions questioned the reasons behind such a costly event. They proposed that other ways of spending billions of dollars could have been on major programs for creating jobs or solving old but fundamental issues such as homelessness in Vancouver. Lastly, Vancouver will be hosting one of the biggest sport events of the year regardless of all the supports and opposes. Although the only hope remaining is that in the long term the government would use the economical profit of the Olympics to solve fundamental issues such as homelessness, the doubts remaining is whether a government that previously did not plan a major program to solve such problem, would do that now? Only time can answer this question.
F.N. Image from: http://www.wmo.int/pages/publications/meteoworld/archive/april09/images/vancouver-olympics-2010-language-test-online.jpg

Dream of light (A comment on volunteering at Villa Carital)

Everyone can’t enter it. You have to be able to enter the special code before opening the door. You step in and the door closes behind you. Then a sudden mysterious alternation happens and you walk into a dream. In the dream people look similar to ordinary humans but their heart is made of light. They are so different that it makes you act differently. They are so kind that it makes you kind. Hope flies around the air of the hopeless dream. Their countdown has started but they still smile, laugh, and love. They don’t belong to the darkness. Their heart is made out of light.
The time tells you to leave. You open the door and step into the darkness….

Ode to the Book

When I close a book
I open life.
I hear
faltering cries
among harbours.
Copper ignots
slide down sand-pits
to Tocopilla.
Night time.
Among the islands
our ocean
throbs with fish,
touches the feet, the thighs,
the chalk ribs
of my country.
The whole of night
clings to its shores, by dawn
it wakes up singing
as if it had excited a guitar.

The ocean's surge is calling.
The wind
calls me
and Rodriguez calls,
and Jose Antonio--
I got a telegram
from the "Mine" Union
and the one I love
(whose name I won't let out)
expects me in Bucalemu.

No book has been able
to wrap me in paper,
to fill me up
with typography,
with heavenly imprints
or was ever able
to bind my eyes,
I come out of books to people orchards
with the hoarse family of my song,
to work the burning metals
or to eat smoked beef
by mountain firesides.
I love adventurous
books,
books of forest or snow,
depth or sky
but hate
the spider book
in which thought
has laid poisonous wires
to trap the juvenile
and circling fly.
Book, let me go.
I won't go clothed
in volumes,
I don't come out
of collected works,
my poems
have not eaten poems--
they devour
exciting happenings,
feed on rough weather,
and dig their food
out of earth and men.
I'm on my way
with dust in my shoes
free of mythology:
send books back to their shelves,
I'm going down into the streets.
I learned about life
from life itself,
love I learned in a single kiss
and could teach no one anything
except that I have lived
with something in common among men,
when fighting with them,
when saying all their say in my song.
Pablo Neruda

Another Iranian Revolution?

(The photo from "The New York Times")

After the Iranian elections in June 2009, meanwhile President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad started his second term with the majority of votes, the opposition candidates, Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi challenged him by questioning the validity of the elections. Since then, a series of protests erupted in Iran at irregular intervals which have become known as the “Green Movement”. Immediately following the creation of this movement, the international observers doubted the likelihood of a serious impact of the demonstrations. However, after the recent December 28th demonstrations in which without any previous announcements by their leaders, a vast number of opposition supporters took to the streets of Iran on the holy day of Ashura, various political analysts started to reflect on the possible long term outcomes of the “Green Movement” rather than its persistence.
During the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, it was highly possible that after the revolutionaries overcome the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi’s regime, they would create a fundamentalist government. But after several months of demonstrations it is still uncertain what the outcome of the demonstrations will be.

A video that shook my body!!!!

I have been a strong follower and up to a certain extent a supporter of the Iranian "green movement". There were many profassional and amature videos published by the agencies or the demonstrators, viewying the brutality used against the demonstrators in several rallies. However, none of them shocked me as much as this one:

Under such conditions Iran is steps away from repeating the Tiananmen Massaker!