It lies not in our power to love or hate
For will in us is overruled by fate.
When two are stripped long ere the course begin,
We wish that one should love, the other win;
And one especially do we affect
Of two gold ingots, like in each respect:
The reason no man knows; let it suffice
What we behold is censured by our eyes
Where both deliberate, the love is slight:
Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?
I used to be a fanatic about self-reflection, and about recognizing changes in myself and figuring out what they mean.
Not this time around. Now, my life is changing on an hourly basis, really, going from what I have learned to call my own, to something unknown, exciting, but uncertain. I compare it often to the previous changes in my life, which were forced, sudden and raptured the past from my future. Following that analogy, I shouldn’t be scared at all, because one way or another, those changes have brought about best things in life, and have enriched my life beyond any expectations. But now i’m 33 years old, it’s not easy to start over with two suitcases and boxes of books.
Now I find it hard to analyze, to go inside my mind and put in order the chaotic scenarios and picture the future even two months ahead. So instead, i’ll be going with the flow, trying to get the glimpses of revelations and jot them down, hopefully not forget the experiences and feelings i encounter. New life begins, again.
Enough for now, will write more when i am inspired. Now off to arms trade treaty and the rights of victims of armed violence!
Updates from NGOs on the Chilean earthquake.
March 1 is Bosnian independence day. I still remember the first one clearly.
Mesa Selimovic is one of Bosnia’s greatest literaries, philosophers, sociologists, but above all else, a patriot. In his book, Derwish and the Death, he describes the paradox of being a Bosnian, and an excerpt from it amazes me. His ability to describe what it means to be Bosnia or Bosnian in this universe is timeless, and it is worth knowing. Disclaimer of course, this is my attempt at translation, not an official one.
We are no one’s,
Always on some median, always someone’s dowry.
For centuries we have been searching and rediscovering ourselves. Soon we won’t even know who we are.
We live on the cross road of worlds, on the borders of peoples, always guilty to someone.
The waves of history break against us as against a rock
We have been torn away, but not accepted.
Like a water stream separated from its mother by a rapid, no longer a stream, but neither a delta.
Too small to be a lake, too big for the earth to absorb it.
Others honor us by having us walk under their flag, because we do not have ours.
They bait us when we are needed, and reject us when we have served our purpose.
It is unfortunate that we have fallen in love with this deadbeat land, and we won’t leave.
But everything has a price, even that love.
Everyone thinks they will outsmart the rest, that is our misfortune too.
What kind of people are the Bosnians? They are the most entangled people in the world.
History has not joked with anyone like it has with Bosnia.
Yesterday we were that which today we want to forget, yet we have not become something different either.
With an unclear feeling of shame because of guilt and rejection, we do not want to look back, but we have no time to look forward.
It is unfortunate that we have fallen in love with our deadbeat land, so we won’t leave. But everything has a price, even that love.
Are we by accident so overly soft and cruel, gentle and hard, do we accidentally hide behind love, as the only clarity in this uncertainty, and why?
Because we are not indifferent. And since we are not indifferent, we are honest. And when we are honest, then here’s to our foolishness.
Mesa Selimovic
Convention on Cluster Munitions reaches 30 ratifications! -
Convention on Cluster Munitions reaches 30 ratifications with today’s deposits by Burkina Faso and Moldova submitting the final two instruments. The Convention will enter into force and become international law on August 1, 2010. Survivor Corps leads the Cluster Munitions Coalition work on assistance to victims of cluster munitions.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions brings into international law a rights-based standard for assistance to victims, their families and affected communities. The framework in the Convention has the potential to enhance the global efforts around armed violence reduction and development, including in future arms control initiatives.
Earlier tonight, a girl from Kent, Washion on Tumblr (a sort of blog/social networking site I frequent) posted her suicide note on her blog. Within seconds, at least a hundred of tumblr users reblogged it to gain awareness. Using her IP address, they found out her name and where she lived. The Kent City Police Department got over fifty calls from all across the nation warning them about her plans. They got to her in time. A hundred of teenagers who had never met each other in real life, most didn’t follow this girl’s blog personally, saved a life. This is something that blows my mind, and I think that I’m a better person because of it. There is good in this world and on the internet, contrary to popular belief. <3 Thank you for reading this and please keep Haleigh Hess in your prayers.I am not even sure why, I just want as many people as I possibly can to know about the pure love and awesomeness that happened tonight.
Today I received the shocking and saddening news that one of my friends, a guy who I had shared a dorm floor and many memories with, had passed due to complications from a bout with swine flu.
It’s a weird thing when someone so close to your own age passes away. Older people are supposed to pass away, after long fulfilling lives full of many memories, not a young vibrant 25-year-old who was just starting to make his mark on the world. For me, it’s an extremely focusing thing. It’s like an interlude during a grand play - a moment when you can sit and digest what you have just seen and heard.
I didn’t know Justin as well as many of my friends who are now grieving, since I was a freshman when he was an outgoing senior, but he definitely made a significant impact. I remember him as one of the most welcoming, gracious, funny, and intelligent people I had met and, as a young, nervous, clueless college freshman, a friend was exactly what I needed. As I’m reading some of the things people have written on Facebook about Justin, I’m struck that no one has been mentioning how much money he had, or the kind of car he drove, or how popular he was. Instead, I see words like “love,” “caring,” and “generous” being used quite a lot. That’s pretty striking.
We (and by we, I mean my stupid cynical generation) often turn up our noses when we hear people utter the old cliche that “you can’t take it with you.” I don’t think hearing and rehearing this mantra makes us change our behavior all that much. However, when something tragic or shocking happens - when someone so young and close to us is taken from us - it can maybe make this idea a little more clear. Call it a twisted object lesson.
Regina Spektor has some lyrics from one of her recent songs that says “No one laughs at God in a hospital/No one laughs at God in a war/No one’s laughing at God/When they’re starving or freezing or so very poor.” That’s deep. Think about it. Think of everything we’ve complained about recently - we don’t have a job, or we don’t have the right job, or we don’t have the right car, or we don’t have a boyfriend/girlfriend, etc., etc., etc.
If you asked a lot of people what the defining moment of their last decade was, a lot of them would probably say September 11th. That was most certainly a tragic day for our nation, but, I was 15, pretty self-absorbed, and, if I’m honest, the whole sequence of events was surreal enough that it hardly had an effect on me. (Please understand, though, that I’m not minimizing the horrific nature of the events.)
Instead, on April 16th, 2007, a gunman walked into Virginia Tech University and murdered 32 people. That rocked me to my core. I think I spent literally hours pouring over the news media, survivor stories, and memorials dedicated to the events. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that 32 of my peers - average college students - had woken up and gone to class on a day which would turn out to be their last. Suddenly, all the insignificant stuff that I had thought was ending my world seemed like a string of horribly misplaced priorities.
April 16th was a day that I will always remember. On April 24th, myself and a couple of friends held a benefit concert at our school for Save Darfur, a concert that would eventually birth my current non profit effort Rock for Justice. I’ve never told anyone this really (though I guess I am revealing it now), but the tragedy of Virginia Tech directly influenced my decision to start Rock for Justice. If it’s possible for one person to experience an instant transformation, I think I experienced something close. Where I was previously absorbed with achieving some mythical dream of fame and fortune, I now couldn’t shake from my mind the brevity of life and the importance in positively affecting all the people I could. A lot of times, people will ask me about why I started Rock for Justice, and I’ll give some ambiguous reason about combining my passions for music and art with social justice. That’s partly true, but, honestly, the real reason is that I don’t think I can bear to waste any more of the precious time I’ve been given. 32 people I had never met who went to a school I have never visited touched me in a way I never thought I would be touched. When I hear of people like Justin Key - a good man, a man of integrity, someone who certainly didn’t deserve to go so early - it just strengthens this resolution.
I want to bring this rather long blog post full circle, because this shouldn’t be about me in any sense. My friend Justin is an example of someone I look up to and an aspiration of the type of person I want to be. He touched so many people with the short time he had on earth. I guess, what I’m saying, is that when something tragic like this happens - what should we do? Do we pause to grieve briefly before returning to our daily self-centered routine? Or can it be enough to jar our perspective, even a little?
VIDEO: Survivor Corps' Scott Quilty Discusses Fort Hood on WMUR-TV -
(via survivorcorps)
This weekend apparently the “big guns” in the discussion on the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina are coming together to (again) once and for all move out of the gridlock that the nationalist politicians are creating in the country.
For the last 15 years, these kind of talks have been perpetually convened, with the world’s best and the brightest when it comes to what Bosnia needs in the future? Let me restate that - what the Bosnian people need in the future.
What Bosnian people do not need is politicians speaking on behalf of them.
1. The political leaders have not made much progress in terms of developing the country and fostering economic productivity in the country. In fact, most of the time they intentionally stall and obstruct the process, so it’s more than just incompetence that is responsible for the situation.
2. As representative of the people, the political leaders have failed to fulfill their duties to the citizens of Bosnia.
The political leaders are elected by the people, and have the duty to represent their best interest. The political leaders do not represent the views of ALL Bosnian people, nor do they often represent the interest of their own “people.” Fifteen years after the Dayton peace agreement, our “leaders” still need to be “convened” by an external actor in order to be able to talk about the future of the country in a civilized manner. They have failed to fulfill their duty clearly.
3. Electoral system’s validity under international law is dubious. On top of that, it has obviously ineffective. It has failed to produce a system of government that will move the country toward progress.
Whatever the final conclusion ends up being on the validity of the Dayton obligations under international law, the reality is, those at the table should have created a different electoral system. The system as designed is not conducive to generating the enabling environment necessary for any improvement of the quality of life of its citizens.
The people of Bosnia must be at the table when the future of the country is discussed. They have positions on the issues that will be discussed, because they will affect their lives directly. And they have the right to be heard. The conveners in Butmir - the EU, US, once again are attempting to “fix Bosnia,” once again, by doing the same thing they did before, and before…
Times have changed, there are now political and practical reasons for getting the people involved. The economic crisis is affecting the entire world. Coming to a solution that will set in motion a process toward positive change will allow the country to become a productive and contributing member of the international community, diverging less and creating more domestic resources.
Moreover, if any agreement is to be arrived at in Butmir, it should NOT have permanent legal obligations. It should call for a broad-based participatory process to ensure that all issues related to the future of the country’s governing system are decided with the full involvement of those whose lives are at stake here - the Bosnian citizens. All of them.
The political leaders should not be allowed to be the only voices speaking for the Bosnians in Butmir.