This is dead on...
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Comments on Pol Pot and Other 'Truths'
I really liked what a friend of mine from the Netherlands had to say about dictators. Here's what Lourens wrote:
Stories about 'the killing fields' are always fascinating to me. It shows what can happen when people or regimes (governments) claim that only they posses the 'real truth'. Therefore we should ALWAYS question those who make that kind of claims. The difficulty is, however, that those claims are often in disguise, or seem so very logical at that moment. And then suddenly a mass movement has started. Those who question such a hype are ignored, discarded, put aside etc.
Hitler is the absolute example (now, afterwards). Pol Pot probably had believers at that time. People often trust their leaders and even willing to fight for them. The First World War was an incredible example. Soldiers driven into death by the thousands.
Dith Pran said it correctly (note: in case you forgot, Dith Pran is the Cambodia journalist who survived the genocide of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. He just passed away):
"If you didn't think about the danger, it looked like a performance," he said. "It was beautiful, like fireworks. War is beautiful if you don't get killed. But because you know it's going to kill, it's no longer beautiful."
It makes me wander in thoughts to Iraq, the modern killing fields. We were clearly misguided by our great leaders, who claimed their truth. I understand that Americans still might think different.
Stories about 'the killing fields' are always fascinating to me. It shows what can happen when people or regimes (governments) claim that only they posses the 'real truth'. Therefore we should ALWAYS question those who make that kind of claims. The difficulty is, however, that those claims are often in disguise, or seem so very logical at that moment. And then suddenly a mass movement has started. Those who question such a hype are ignored, discarded, put aside etc.
Hitler is the absolute example (now, afterwards). Pol Pot probably had believers at that time. People often trust their leaders and even willing to fight for them. The First World War was an incredible example. Soldiers driven into death by the thousands.
Dith Pran said it correctly (note: in case you forgot, Dith Pran is the Cambodia journalist who survived the genocide of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. He just passed away):
"If you didn't think about the danger, it looked like a performance," he said. "It was beautiful, like fireworks. War is beautiful if you don't get killed. But because you know it's going to kill, it's no longer beautiful."
It makes me wander in thoughts to Iraq, the modern killing fields. We were clearly misguided by our great leaders, who claimed their truth. I understand that Americans still might think different.
We are Such Hypocrites...
Everyone is making a big deal about this priest who is arrested in Russia. While it is unfortunate that he is being detained and while I would like to believe he intended no ill-will, he tried to enter Russia with a box of ammo. The priest, Philip Miles, says it was ammo for "his friend's new Winchester rifle." Miles has also been going to Russia for the past ten years for mission work. But, c'mon. If it was some Russian or some Middle Eastern who had the same story while trying to come into the U.S., you bet our authorities would have put that guy in jail. People need to quit acting shocked over the arrest and saying it's not fair. It makes sense. Hopefully, it will get cleared up. But again, c'mon people. Quit having a double-standard when it comes to national security!
A Moscow court on Monday convicted an American pastor of smuggling hunting ammunition into Russia and sentenced him to three years and two months in prison.
Phillip Miles, pastor of Christ Community Church in Conway, S.C., part of an evangelical fellowship, has been in custody since his arrest Feb. 3, several days after arriving in Moscow.
Miles has said he brought the .300-caliber cartridges for a friend who had recently bought a Winchester rifle -- a gun rarely found in Russia. He said he did not know bringing such ammunition into Russia was illegal.
"I'm very disappointed. It's a strange sentence for one box of hunting bullets," he said as bailiffs led him from the court in handcuffs. His lawyer, calling the sentence surprisingly severe, said he would appeal.
Pol Pot Still Haunts Villagers
Most of you probably don't know who Pol Pot is, but he is THE man responsible for the mass genocide in Cambodia in the late 70s. Remember this picture of the pile of the cracked skulls? It was that remains of the victims of the Khmer Rouge at the killing fields... well, that some more bones, some bits of clothing and dozens of mass graves. That was all Pol Pot's doing. Remember the jail I walked through where I could still see the dark blood of victims staining the floors and walls? Again, Pol Pot. The monster died in 1998. But, it seems some people are still worshiping him. Either out of reverence or fear... of his spirit. The Cambodian genocide trial is just getting underway right now too.
ANLONG VENG, Cambodia (AP) -- Ten years after the death of brutal Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, his grave has become a symbol of spiritual comfort to some in the village where he is buried.
Pol Pot's grave has become a symbol of spiritual comfort for some in the village where he is buried.
Villagers pray at the site, asking for blessings of luck, happiness and even protection from malaria -- despite the mayhem he wrought upon their country. He died on April 15, 1998, apparently of heart failure.
"I know it is odd, but I just do as many people here do, asking for happiness from his spirit," said Orn Pheap, a 37-year-old woman who lost a grandfather and two uncles during the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror from 1975 to 1979.
"I don't know how long I can stay angry with him, since he is already dead," she said. Her house sits 100 yards from the grave.
Officials in Anlong Veng, 250 kilometers north of the capital, Phnom Penh, say only few of the area's 35,000 residents pray at Pol Pot's grave.
For most, Pol Pot is remembered as a murderous tyrant with fanatical communist beliefs. Under his leadership, the Khmer Rouge turned the country into a vast slave labor camp, causing the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, forced labor and execution.
But Cambodians believe in the influence of spirits and superstitious forces on their daily lives and fortunes, which may be why some worship at Pol Pot's grave.
Last week, the grave -- a pile of dirt covered by a knee-high corrugated zinc roof -- was cluttered with clay jars filled with half-burned incense sticks, a sign of prayer and worship.
Many may still view their former tormentor as a powerful figure, said Philip Short, author of "Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare," a biography of the former despot.
"Evil or good is not the issue," Short said. "He has imposed himself on Cambodians' imaginations, and in that sense he lives on" in the spirit world.
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Once a jungle war zone, Anlong Veng is now a sprawling border market town bustling with the kind of capitalist activities Pol Pot and his comrades sought to stamp out. Ramshackle shops are filled with clothing, housewares, pirated DVDs and other goods from nearby Thailand.
Cambodian pop songs blare from a coffee shop near Pol Pot's grave, which has been designated a tourist attraction. It is among the few remnants of Khmer Rouge history, which the government is trying to preserve.
Some Cambodians have traveled to Anlong Veng to spit on the grave and curse him in anger, said 37-year-old Sat Narin, who owns a nearby clothing shop.
"Given his bad reputation, he should not be venerated," he said. "But somehow he is popular with some people."
Among the worshippers who seek blessings from Pol Pot's ghost are ethnic Vietnamese who live in the community -- a sharp irony given Pol Pot's massacres of ethnic Vietnamese during his rule.
A 33-year-old Vietnamese resident, who goes by her adopted Cambodian name of Van Sothy, recalled a nightmare in which she saw a black-clad man sitting on a tree near her hut.
When she described the vision to her Cambodian neighbors, they advised her to bring offerings of fruit and boiled chicken to Pol Pot's grave to ask his spirit for protection.
"I have prayed at his grave ever since. I just want to show some respect to the spiritual master of the land," she said.
If Pol Pot were alive, he would likely be facing war crimes charges along with five of his former comrades currently detained by Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal. The long-delayed trials are expected to start later this year.
Nhem En, who was forced to work as the photographer at the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng torture center in Phnom Penh, says he is setting up his own museum in Anlong Veng about the communist group -- not to glorify them but for educational purposes.
He too used to light incense and pray at Pol Pot's grave, he said, but "only for him not to butcher people again in his next life."
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Set the Powers Free...
"Enthusiasm comes with the revelation of true and satisfying objectives of devotion; and it is enthusiasm that sets the powers free." ~ Woodrow Wilson
Monday, April 21, 2008
Going Light...
One of my main goals since I've returned to the US is to get rid of most of my possessions. Why? Because I want to be back to wandering the world in October and not have to worry about "junk" I've left behind.
I stumbled upon this verse today and found it inspiring:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt 6:19-21)
I stumbled upon this verse today and found it inspiring:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt 6:19-21)
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Killing Fields Survivor Dies
I just learned about the killing fields, seeing the remnants of them myself, last December. Now, I learn that Dith Pran, a Cambodian journalist who survived the killing spree, has died from cancer. The movie, The Killing Fields, was the popular film that told the story of the murderous Khmer Rouge. It was based off of Dith's character.NEW YORK (AP) -- Dith Pran, the Cambodian-born journalist whose harrowing tale of enslavement and eventual escape from that country's murderous Khmer Rouge revolutionaries in 1979 became the subject of the award-winning film "The Killing Fields," died Sunday, his former colleague said.
Dith Pran founded an awareness project dedicated to educating people about the Khmer Rouge regime.
Dith, 65, died at a New Jersey hospital Sunday morning of pancreatic cancer, according to Sydney Schanberg, his former colleague at The New York Times. Dith had been diagnosed almost three months ago.
Dith was working as an interpreter and assistant for Schanberg in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, when the Vietnam War reached its chaotic end in April 1975 and both countries were taken over by Communist forces.
Schanberg helped Dith's family get out but was forced to leave his friend behind after the capital fell; they were not reunited until Dith escaped four and a half years later. Eventually, Dith resettled in the United States and went to work as a photographer for the Times.
It was Dith himself who coined the term "killing fields" for the horrifying clusters of corpses and skeletal remains of victims he encountered on his desperate journey to freedom.
The regime of Pol Pot, bent on turning Cambodia back into a strictly agrarian society, and his Communist zealots were blamed for the deaths of nearly 2 million of Cambodia's 7 million people.
"That was the phrase he used from the very first day, during our wondrous reunion in the refugee camp," Schanberg said later.
With thousands being executed simply for manifesting signs of intellect or Western influence -- even wearing glasses or wristwatches -- Dith survived by masquerading as an uneducated peasant, toiling in the fields and subsisting on as little as a mouthful of rice a day, and whatever small animals he could catch.
After Dith moved to the U.S., he became a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and founded the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project, dedicated to educating people on the history of the Khmer Rouge regime.
He was "the most patriotic American photographer I've ever met, always talking about how he loves America," said AP photographer Paul Sakuma, who knew Dith through their work with the Asian American Journalists Association.
Schanberg described Dith's ordeal and salvation in a 1980 magazine article titled "The Death and Life of Dith Pran." Schanberg's reporting from Phnom Penh had earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1976.
Later a book, the magazine article became the basis for "The Killing Fields," the highly successful 1984 British film starring Sam Waterston as the Times correspondent and Haing S. Ngor, another Cambodian escapee from the Khmer Rouge, as Dith Pran.
The film won three Oscars, including the best supporting actor award to Ngor. Ngor, a physician, was shot to death in 1996 during a robbery outside his Los Angeles home. Three Asian gang members were convicted of the crime.
"Pran was a true reporter, a fighter for the truth and for his people," Schanberg said. "When cancer struck, he fought for his life again. And he did it with the same Buddhist calm and courage and positive spirit that made my brother so special."
Dith spoke of his illness in a March interview with The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey, saying he was determined to fight against the odds and urging others to get tested for cancer.
"I want to save lives, including my own, but Cambodians believe we just rent this body," he said. "It is just a house for the spirit, and if the house is full of termites, it is time to leave."
Dith Pran was born September 27, 1942 at Siem Reap, site of the famed 12th century ruins of Angkor Wat. Educated in French and English, he worked as an interpreter for U.S. officials in Phnom Penh. As with many Asians, the family name, Dith, came first, but he was known by his given name, Pran.
After Cambodia's leader, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, broke off relations with the United States in 1965, Dith worked at other jobs. When Sihanouk was deposed in a 1970 coup and Cambodian troops went to war with the Khmer Rouge, Dith returned to Phnom Penh and worked as an interpreter for Times reporters.
In 1972, he and Schanberg, then newly arrived, were the first journalists to discover the devastation of a U.S. bombing attack on Neak Leung, a vital river crossing on the highway linking Phnom Penh with eastern Cambodia.
Dith recalled in a 2003 article for the Times what it was like to watch U.S. planes attacking enemy targets.
"If you didn't think about the danger, it looked like a performance," he said. "It was beautiful, like fireworks. War is beautiful if you don't get killed. But because you know it's going to kill, it's no longer beautiful."
After Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia in 1979 and seized control of territory, Dith escaped from a commune near Siem Reap and trekked 40 miles, dodging both Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge forces, to reach a border refugee camp in Thailand.
From the Thai camp he sent a message to Schanberg, who rushed from the United States for an emotional reunion with the trusted friend he felt he had abandoned four years earlier.
"I had searched for four years for any scrap of information about Pran," Schanberg said. "I was losing hope. His emergence in October 1979 felt like an actual miracle for me. It restored my life."
After Dith moved to the U.S., the Times hired him and put him in the photo department as a trainee. The veteran staffers "took him under their wing and taught him how to survive on the streets of New York as a photographer, how to see things," said Times photographer Marilynn Yee.
Yee recalled an incident early in Dith's new career as a photojournalist when, after working the 4 p.m. to midnight shift, he was robbed at gunpoint of all his camera equipment at the back door of his apartment.
"He survived everything in Cambodia and he survived that too," she said, adding, "He never had to work the night shift again."
Dith spoke and wrote often about his wartime experience and remained an outspoken critic of the Khmer Rouge regime.
When Pol Pot died in 1998, Dith said he was saddened that the dictator was never held accountable for the genocide.
"The Jewish people's search for justice did not end with the death of Hitler and the Cambodian people's search for justice doesn't end with Pol Pot," he said.
Dith's survivors include his companion, Bette Parslow; his former wife, Meoun Ser Dith; a sister, Samproeuth Dith Nop; sons Titony, Titonath and Titonel; daughter Hemkarey Dith Tan; six grandchildren including a boy named Sydney; and two step-grandchildren.
Dith's three brothers were killed by the Khmer Rouge.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Learn the Head Fake and Live Your Dreams...
One of my roommates during college just posted this video on my profile in Facebook... It's a video that EVERYONE should watch. It's long, but worth every minute. It's priceless... and it made me tear up.
Randy Pausch Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals. For more, visit www.cmu.edu/randyslecture.
"Journeys" are special University Lectures in which Carnegie Mellon faculty members share their reflections on their journeys -- the everyday actions, decisions, challenges and joys that make a life.
Some quotes I pulled from it with the hopes to get you to sit down and actually watch it - BECAUSE YOU SHOULD:
"I'm dying... and I'm having fun."
"Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you."
"Never lose the child-like wonder."
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."
"If your kids want to paint their bedroom, as a favor to me, let them do it."
"Brick walls are there to let us show our dedication."
"Luck is where preparation meets opportunity."
Randy Pausch Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals. For more, visit www.cmu.edu/randyslecture.
"Journeys" are special University Lectures in which Carnegie Mellon faculty members share their reflections on their journeys -- the everyday actions, decisions, challenges and joys that make a life.
Some quotes I pulled from it with the hopes to get you to sit down and actually watch it - BECAUSE YOU SHOULD:
"I'm dying... and I'm having fun."
"Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you."
"Never lose the child-like wonder."
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."
"If your kids want to paint their bedroom, as a favor to me, let them do it."
"Brick walls are there to let us show our dedication."
"Luck is where preparation meets opportunity."
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Muslims Embrace Pope Benedict
This sounds like a step in the right direction...
The following op-ed is by Nihad Awad, co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties group. He may be contacted at: nawad@cair.com.
As one of 138 Islamic leaders and scholars from around the world who last October signed the first-of-its-kind "A Common Word Between Us and You" open letter intended to promote understanding between Muslims and Christians, I welcome Pope Benedict XVI on his first papal visit to the United States.
While that letter, which was well received by the pope and other world Christian leaders, recognizes the differences between our two faiths, it also states: "[L]et our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to (one) another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual goodwill."
It is this desire for harmony and goodwill between faiths that leads American Muslim leaders to welcome the pope and to meet with him during his visit to our nation.
Religious leaders have a great responsibility and opportunity to show the best of both our faith and of our nation's religious diversity during the pope's visit. We must demonstrate that our faith in God should be a source of peace and reconciliation, not violence or mutual mistrust.
American Muslims can also reiterate that they respect and love the revered figures of Christianity, including Jesus and his mother Mary.
As God states in the Quran, Islam's revealed text: "Behold! The angels said: 'O Mary! God gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him. His name will be Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and in (the company of) those nearest to God.'" (The Holy Quran, 3:45)
The Quran also reaffirms God's eternal message of spiritual unity when it states: "Say ye: 'We believe in God and the revelation given to us and to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and it is unto Him that we surrender ourselves.'" (2:136)
The Prophet Muhammad said: "Both in this world and in the Hereafter, I am the nearest of all people to Jesus, the son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one."
As Americans, we cherish diversity, not only in race and ethnicity, but also in faith. In that spirit, I see the pope's visit as an opportunity for him to learn more about America and its respect for religious diversity.
Unfortunately, some of the pope's past statements and actions have led to tensions between Muslims and Catholics. It is perhaps best not to dwell on these past events, but instead to use them as a springboard to help deepen interfaith dialogue based on mutual understanding and acceptance of differences.
The true test of productive interfaith dialogue comes when we build partnerships to take on the great challenges facing humanity today - injustice, inequality, war, poverty, illiteracy, disease, and hunger. To that end, we must quickly expand and strengthen the constructive conversation between faiths.
Two great faith communities, Islam and Christianity, together make up more than half of the world's population. It is therefore imperative that Muslims and Christians use their faith to make a positive difference in their communities and the world.
By preaching - and practicing - the values of tolerance, love of one's neighbor, justice, peace, and reconciliation, people of all faiths can help reverse the world's disturbing descent into violence and division.
Today the world needs forward-looking political and religious leaders who focus more on the future than on the past. We need leaders who build on what we have in common, not on our differences.
It is our hope and expectation that Pope Benedict XVI is one of those who will help lead our world to a better future.
ISLAM-OPED is a syndication service of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) designed to offer an American Muslim perspective on current political, social and religious issues. ISLAM-OPED commentaries are offered free-of-charge to one media outlet in each market area. Permission for publication will be granted on a first-come-first-served basis.
Please consider the following commentary for publication.
The following op-ed is by Nihad Awad, co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties group. He may be contacted at: nawad@cair.com.
As one of 138 Islamic leaders and scholars from around the world who last October signed the first-of-its-kind "A Common Word Between Us and You" open letter intended to promote understanding between Muslims and Christians, I welcome Pope Benedict XVI on his first papal visit to the United States.
While that letter, which was well received by the pope and other world Christian leaders, recognizes the differences between our two faiths, it also states: "[L]et our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to (one) another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual goodwill."
It is this desire for harmony and goodwill between faiths that leads American Muslim leaders to welcome the pope and to meet with him during his visit to our nation.
Religious leaders have a great responsibility and opportunity to show the best of both our faith and of our nation's religious diversity during the pope's visit. We must demonstrate that our faith in God should be a source of peace and reconciliation, not violence or mutual mistrust.
American Muslims can also reiterate that they respect and love the revered figures of Christianity, including Jesus and his mother Mary.
As God states in the Quran, Islam's revealed text: "Behold! The angels said: 'O Mary! God gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him. His name will be Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and in (the company of) those nearest to God.'" (The Holy Quran, 3:45)
The Quran also reaffirms God's eternal message of spiritual unity when it states: "Say ye: 'We believe in God and the revelation given to us and to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and it is unto Him that we surrender ourselves.'" (2:136)
The Prophet Muhammad said: "Both in this world and in the Hereafter, I am the nearest of all people to Jesus, the son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one."
As Americans, we cherish diversity, not only in race and ethnicity, but also in faith. In that spirit, I see the pope's visit as an opportunity for him to learn more about America and its respect for religious diversity.
Unfortunately, some of the pope's past statements and actions have led to tensions between Muslims and Catholics. It is perhaps best not to dwell on these past events, but instead to use them as a springboard to help deepen interfaith dialogue based on mutual understanding and acceptance of differences.
The true test of productive interfaith dialogue comes when we build partnerships to take on the great challenges facing humanity today - injustice, inequality, war, poverty, illiteracy, disease, and hunger. To that end, we must quickly expand and strengthen the constructive conversation between faiths.
Two great faith communities, Islam and Christianity, together make up more than half of the world's population. It is therefore imperative that Muslims and Christians use their faith to make a positive difference in their communities and the world.
By preaching - and practicing - the values of tolerance, love of one's neighbor, justice, peace, and reconciliation, people of all faiths can help reverse the world's disturbing descent into violence and division.
Today the world needs forward-looking political and religious leaders who focus more on the future than on the past. We need leaders who build on what we have in common, not on our differences.
It is our hope and expectation that Pope Benedict XVI is one of those who will help lead our world to a better future.
ISLAM-OPED is a syndication service of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) designed to offer an American Muslim perspective on current political, social and religious issues. ISLAM-OPED commentaries are offered free-of-charge to one media outlet in each market area. Permission for publication will be granted on a first-come-first-served basis.
Please consider the following commentary for publication.
Just Play The Game...
"You could not live your life in the fear of the unknown. You made your plans, took the necessary precautions and then you played the game." ~Mohammad, The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy
This Doesn't Help...
Once again, I've got a ton of catching up to do. And, for those of you who don't know, I am back in the U S of A.I was just parusing Ben's blog since he's still living the dream and... well, I'm not at the moment. I'm thinking I shouldn't read his blog for a bit... it just convinces me that I made the wrong decision. After trekking to base camp on Mt. Everest, he is back in Bangkok just in time for the water festival!!!
Right now it is Songkran, the Thai new year. Also known as the Water Festival, it consists of drenching every person with buckets of water, nailing them with super soakers, or lobbing water baloons around. It is literally impossible to stay dry if you go outside. The tempurature here is brutally hot, so the water feels great, but it makes it dangerous for me to bring my camera out. I saw some people with good bags around thiers, screwed into the lens filter, and may try that today with the camera on an auto mode. The festival goes on until the 15th, and I dont leave until the 18th, so I may zip out to one of the surrounding towns for a few days at the end.
Life was so much easier over there... I've had hassle after hassle since I've been back. But, I'm focused. And I AM going back out to embrace that HUGE, CRAZY WORLD. Flights are set. Now is the time to save some moola, get the right gear and get rid of EVERYTHING else... and I mean EVERYTHING!!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Coincidences...
I had wanted to make this certain point in my discussions with Silviu: Too many coincidences have become entangled into the story of my life for me to actually consider them coincidences. Silviu is, as I mentioned before, is a self-professed atheist or agnostic (depending upon how you look at it). And, as I also mentioned, we consistently found ourselves delving into debates about spirituality, religion, humanity and God. And I must say, Silviu has given his arguments a lot of thought. I didn’t always have an answer for him. Although, sometimes I knew there was an answer… I just didn’t yet have the ideas in which to properly articulate them to someone who doesn’t possess the faith that I do. Nonetheless, the foundation of my spirituality was left, admittedly, a little shaken after my conversations with Silviu. Shaken, but still standing. Personally, I cannot deny the Heaven that I know lies beyond the veil of cynicism that lies over modern society. As a Tengri Mongolian put it in one of Paolo Coelho’s novels, The Zahir: “Welcome to the place where we say the sky is blue even when it’s gray, because we know that the color is still there above the clouds.”
And then, as if in a special, reassuring gesture, another coincidence materialized before my eyes. The moment I grasped it, I was also able to grasp how recent events had to occur and recent decisions had to made just as they happened or else the “coincidence” would have been lost to me:
When I flew to Munich, I had the option of trying to find a couch to surf for one night or to move on to Graz. I did have time to just continue on my way. But, for reasons I wasn’t quite sure of, I decided to stay in Munich. ‘Get some rest after my flight,’ I thought. It’s because I stayed at Martin’s in Munich that I discovered The Zahir. Oddly enough, the Zahir was one of the few books in English on Martin’s bookshelf. Paolo Coelho was the author, so I was immediately interested, because the two books of his I had already read greatly affected me. Even though I knew I wouldn’t finish before I left, I began reading the book. Unsurprisingly, this book, like the others, began impacting me greatly. Then I had to go, and leave the book unfinished. I really don’t like leaving things unfinished.
Upon my arrival in Graz, I learned that Claudia is struggling with some personal issues. Immediately, I thought of the book. From what I had read so far, I thought The Zahir would have some excellent insight into what Claudia was facing at the moment. So, I made it a point to purchase her a copy in German. I also picked up a copy for myself in English. Now, I would get to finish it! Claudia, also a big fan of Paolo, insisted that I should buy a copy of one of his novels that she had read, the Witch of Portobello. She said I would identify with it just as much as she did. (Claudia and I have already realized we are cut from the same cloth, though, there is a bit of a difference with the pattern we are weaving with it.) Claudia had also already purchased Into the Wild for me. So, after finishing the Zahir, I tackled Into the Wild, saving The Witch of Portobello for last. I had just finished Into the Wild when I arrived in Salzburg and met Silviu, my Translyvanian host. Although, the Dracula/vampire myth was created by an Irish man who had never been to Transylvania, I still thought it was interesting that the Transylvanian I met was passionate about death metal and, often enough, spent time in dark, underground dives. (Now, I’ve already described how this is just one element of Silviu’s complex character. There’s a good deal more to his personality that veers away from death metal and dark, underground dives. He’s a great guy!)
And finally to the point of all this, after extensive, challenging debates with Silviu, I finally crack open The Witch of Portobello on the train from Salzburg, Austria to Bern, Switzerland. Page three reveals the opening setting: Transylvania. Page three also reveals the main plot: there is a world of energy and magic beyond that of our everyday existence… a world of spirituality and God. Thus, by page three, the Witch of Portobello was already making an argument against what I had been hearing from Silviu: “that anything science cannot explain has no right to exist.” Another suggested point of Silviu’s was the apparent need for all those who are spiritual to “force” their spirituality upon others. On page five of the Witch of Portobello I read: “No one lights a lamp in order to hide it behind a door. The purpose of light is to create more light, to open people’s eyes, to reveal the marvels around.” Hence, the inherent quality of spirituality (so often likened to light) is to share its energy. That same idea is echoed in Luke 11:33, the verse that opens Paolo’s book: “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.” It’s the nature of belief to shine upon those who don’t believe.
So as you see, it could have been just a mere coincidence that the plot of the Witch of Portobello is rooted in Transylvania and that a Transylvanian had just hosted me. It could also have been just a mere coincidence that the book in question also tackled the very issues my Transylvanian host and I debated. But, then, when you consider the intricate complexity it took for that “coincidence” to even take place, you realize… there is simply too much design behind the event, to call it a mere “coincidence.”
And another thing to ponder… I was struck with the desire of wanting to meet Paolo Coelho. Interestingly enough, despite my lifelong love of reading and writing, I can remember only one other time I had actually wanted to meet a writer in the flesh. When I was young, I wanted to meet Jack London. But, unfortunately, he had already passed. Paolo, on the other hand, is still alive and well and still writing. Just a couple days ago I had a tentative invite from a friend to plan a trip to South America this summer. Paolo is from Brazil. Hmmm… just a though. Could be nothing. The SA trip might not even happen. But still… the parallels are to strong to ignore.
And then, as if in a special, reassuring gesture, another coincidence materialized before my eyes. The moment I grasped it, I was also able to grasp how recent events had to occur and recent decisions had to made just as they happened or else the “coincidence” would have been lost to me:
When I flew to Munich, I had the option of trying to find a couch to surf for one night or to move on to Graz. I did have time to just continue on my way. But, for reasons I wasn’t quite sure of, I decided to stay in Munich. ‘Get some rest after my flight,’ I thought. It’s because I stayed at Martin’s in Munich that I discovered The Zahir. Oddly enough, the Zahir was one of the few books in English on Martin’s bookshelf. Paolo Coelho was the author, so I was immediately interested, because the two books of his I had already read greatly affected me. Even though I knew I wouldn’t finish before I left, I began reading the book. Unsurprisingly, this book, like the others, began impacting me greatly. Then I had to go, and leave the book unfinished. I really don’t like leaving things unfinished.
Upon my arrival in Graz, I learned that Claudia is struggling with some personal issues. Immediately, I thought of the book. From what I had read so far, I thought The Zahir would have some excellent insight into what Claudia was facing at the moment. So, I made it a point to purchase her a copy in German. I also picked up a copy for myself in English. Now, I would get to finish it! Claudia, also a big fan of Paolo, insisted that I should buy a copy of one of his novels that she had read, the Witch of Portobello. She said I would identify with it just as much as she did. (Claudia and I have already realized we are cut from the same cloth, though, there is a bit of a difference with the pattern we are weaving with it.) Claudia had also already purchased Into the Wild for me. So, after finishing the Zahir, I tackled Into the Wild, saving The Witch of Portobello for last. I had just finished Into the Wild when I arrived in Salzburg and met Silviu, my Translyvanian host. Although, the Dracula/vampire myth was created by an Irish man who had never been to Transylvania, I still thought it was interesting that the Transylvanian I met was passionate about death metal and, often enough, spent time in dark, underground dives. (Now, I’ve already described how this is just one element of Silviu’s complex character. There’s a good deal more to his personality that veers away from death metal and dark, underground dives. He’s a great guy!)
And finally to the point of all this, after extensive, challenging debates with Silviu, I finally crack open The Witch of Portobello on the train from Salzburg, Austria to Bern, Switzerland. Page three reveals the opening setting: Transylvania. Page three also reveals the main plot: there is a world of energy and magic beyond that of our everyday existence… a world of spirituality and God. Thus, by page three, the Witch of Portobello was already making an argument against what I had been hearing from Silviu: “that anything science cannot explain has no right to exist.” Another suggested point of Silviu’s was the apparent need for all those who are spiritual to “force” their spirituality upon others. On page five of the Witch of Portobello I read: “No one lights a lamp in order to hide it behind a door. The purpose of light is to create more light, to open people’s eyes, to reveal the marvels around.” Hence, the inherent quality of spirituality (so often likened to light) is to share its energy. That same idea is echoed in Luke 11:33, the verse that opens Paolo’s book: “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.” It’s the nature of belief to shine upon those who don’t believe.
So as you see, it could have been just a mere coincidence that the plot of the Witch of Portobello is rooted in Transylvania and that a Transylvanian had just hosted me. It could also have been just a mere coincidence that the book in question also tackled the very issues my Transylvanian host and I debated. But, then, when you consider the intricate complexity it took for that “coincidence” to even take place, you realize… there is simply too much design behind the event, to call it a mere “coincidence.”
And another thing to ponder… I was struck with the desire of wanting to meet Paolo Coelho. Interestingly enough, despite my lifelong love of reading and writing, I can remember only one other time I had actually wanted to meet a writer in the flesh. When I was young, I wanted to meet Jack London. But, unfortunately, he had already passed. Paolo, on the other hand, is still alive and well and still writing. Just a couple days ago I had a tentative invite from a friend to plan a trip to South America this summer. Paolo is from Brazil. Hmmm… just a though. Could be nothing. The SA trip might not even happen. But still… the parallels are to strong to ignore.
Quotes to Ponder...
Shantaram
“We can know God, for example, and we can know sadness. We can know dreams, and we can know love. But none of these are real, in our usual sense of things that exist in the world and seem real. We cannot weigh them, or measure their length, or find their basic parts in an atom smasher. Which is why they are possible.”
“The truth is often found more often in music, than it is in books of philosophy.”
“The truth is that here are no good men, or bad men. It is the deeds that have goodness or badness in them. There are good deeds and bad deed. Men are just men – it is what they do, or refuse to do, that links them to good and evil. The truth is that an instant of real love in the heart of anyone – the noblest man alive, or the most wicked – has the whole purpose and process and meaning of life within the lotus-fields of its passion. The truth is that we are all, every one of us, every atom, every galaxy, and every particle of matter in the universe, moving toward God.”
“Of course, naturally, God is impossible. That is the first proof that He exists.”
“All possible things don’t exist.”
“Nothing exists as we see it. Nothing we see is really there, as we think we are seeing it. Our eyes are liars. Everything that seems real, is merely part of the illusion. Nothing exists, as we think it does. Not you. Not me. Not this room. Nothing.”
“The sane man is simply a better liar than the insane man.”
Kismet = Fate (Urdu language)
“Reality, as most people see it, is nothing more than an illusion.”
“There is another reality, beyond what we see with our eyes. You have to feel your way into that reality with your heart. There is no other way.”
“Dream the future. Plan it. Then make it happen.”
“Suffering is the way we test our love, especially our love for God.”
“Justice is a judgment that is both fair and forgiving. Justice is not only the way we punish those who do wrong. It is also the way we try to save them.”
“A politician is someone who promises you a bridge even when there’s no river.”
“I don’t know what scares me more, the madness that smashes people down or their ability to endure it.”
“The burden of happiness can only be relieved by the burden of suffering.”
“What characterizes the human race more? Cruelty or the capacity to feel shame for it?”
- Niether. “It’s forgiveness that makes us what we are.”
“We live on because we love, and we love because we can forgive.”
“Every time we cage a man, we close him in with hate.”
“Fear dries a man’s mouth and hate strangles him. That’s why hate has no great literature: real fear and real hate have no words.”
Me
“When you get closer to the truth, you stop comparing your good deeds to other’s ill-doings. Instead, you find yourself on a quest to find more examples of good – whether from wicked man, or saint.”
Did you know there are 31 places in the world where the sand dunes sing?
Into the Wild
“I prefer the saddle to the street-car, the star-sprinkled sky to a roof, the obscure and difficult train, leading into the unknown… and the deep peace of the wild, to the discontent bred by cities.”
“I don’t think I could ever settle down. I have known too much of the depths of life already, and I would prefer anything to an anticlimax.”
“The peculiar thing about Everett Ruess was that he went out and did the things he dreamed about, not simply for a two-weeks’ vacation in the civilized and trimmed wonderlands but for months and years in the very midst of wonder...”
“…damning the stereotypes of civilization, chanting his barbaric adolescent yawp into the teeth of the world.”
“In a dream he saw himself plodding through jungles, chinning up the ledges of cliffs, wandering through the romantic waste places of the world. No man with any of the juices of boyhood in him has forgotten those dreams.”
“But then, I am always being overwhelmed. I require it to sustain life.”
“God, how the trail lures me. You cannot comprehend its resistless fascination for me. I’ll never stop wandering.”
“Always, I want to live more intensely and richly.”
The Zahir
“Learn by doing and not by thinking about doing.”
“We can harness the energy of the winds, the seas, the sun. But the day that man learns to harness the energy of love, that will be as important as the discovery of fire.” (Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin)
“As soon as people decide to confront a problem, they realize that they are far more capable than they thought they were.”
“I also learned a respect for mystery: As Einstein said: God does not play dice with the Universe; everything is inter connected and has a meaning. That meaning may remain hidden nearly all the time, but we always know we are close to our true mission on earth when what we are doing is touched with the energy of enthusiasm… If not, we had better change.”
“All energy and all knowledge come from the same unknown source, which we usually call God.”
“When we can love unconditionally, without restrictions, we become more like God.”
“In order for the true energy of love to penetrate your soul, your soul must be as if you had just been born.”
“In order to live fully, it is necessary to be in constant movement; only then can each day be different from the last.”
“…distancing yourself from your personal history, from what you were forced to become.”
“With different stories, with experiences we never dared to have or didn’t want to have. That is how we change. That is how we love grows. And when love grows, we grow with it.”
“Stop being who you were and become who you are.”
“Forget who we are in order to become who we really are.”
Why are people sad?
“They are prisoners of their personal history. Everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan. They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person. They accumulate experiences, memories, things, other people’s ideas, and it is more than they can possibly cope with. And that is why the forget their dreams.”
“The invisible world always manifests itself in the visible world.”
“May your horizon always be wider than you can see.”
“Welcome to the place where we say the sky is blue even when its gray, because we know that the color is still there above the clouds.”
“The taste of things recovered is the sweetest honey we will ever know.”
“Age only slows down those who never had the courage to walk their own pace.”
“The extraordinary occurs in the lives of ordinary people.”
The Witch of Portobello
“No one lights a lamp in order to hide it behind a door. The purpose of light is to create more light, to open people’s eyes, to reveal the marvels around.”
“No one sacrifices the most important thing she possesses: love.”
“Collective reality” versus reality.
“She wanted to live, dance, make love, travel, to gather people around her in order to demonstrate how wise she was, to show off her gifts, to provoke the neighbors, to make the most of all that is profane in us – although she always tried to give a spiritual gloss to that search.”
“…the mistress of the truth.”
“It’s the nature of the female to open herself to love easily.”
“Everyone’s looking for the perfect teacher. But although their teachings might be divine, teachers are all too human, and that’s something people find hard to accept.”
“An encounter with the superior energy is open to anyone, but remains far from those who shift responsibility onto others.”
“The best way to know who we are is to find out how others see us.”
“The grandeur of God reveals itself through simple things.”
“Everything moves, and everything moves to a rhythm. And everything that moves to a rhythm creates a sound.”
“When mouths close, it’s because there’s something important to be said.”
“Dance to the point of exhaustion, as if you were a mountaineer climbing a hill, a sacred mountain. Dance until you are so out of breath that your organism is forced to obtain oxygen some other way. And it is that, in the end, which will cause you to lose your identity and your relationship with space and time. Dance only to the sound of percussion…”
“When you dance, the spiritual world and the real world manage to coexist quite happily.”
“The hand that draws each line reflects the soul of the person making that line.”
“Writing wasn’t just the expression of a thought, but a way of reflecting on the meaning of each word.”
“What is a teacher? I’ll tell you: it isn’t someone who teaches who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.”
“All great painters understand: in order to forget the rules, you must know them and respect them.”
“See life through your own eyes and not through other people’s.”
“Real love is composed of ecstasy and agony.”
“The truth is that each step we take, we arrive”
“The trees give so that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.”
“Instincts become sharper, emotions more radical, the interpretation of signs becomes more important than logic, perceptions of reality grow less rigid.”
“Unconditional love does not fear suffering, rejection, loss.”
"...die to the world and be reborn unto yourself."
“We can know God, for example, and we can know sadness. We can know dreams, and we can know love. But none of these are real, in our usual sense of things that exist in the world and seem real. We cannot weigh them, or measure their length, or find their basic parts in an atom smasher. Which is why they are possible.”
“The truth is often found more often in music, than it is in books of philosophy.”
“The truth is that here are no good men, or bad men. It is the deeds that have goodness or badness in them. There are good deeds and bad deed. Men are just men – it is what they do, or refuse to do, that links them to good and evil. The truth is that an instant of real love in the heart of anyone – the noblest man alive, or the most wicked – has the whole purpose and process and meaning of life within the lotus-fields of its passion. The truth is that we are all, every one of us, every atom, every galaxy, and every particle of matter in the universe, moving toward God.”
“Of course, naturally, God is impossible. That is the first proof that He exists.”
“All possible things don’t exist.”
“Nothing exists as we see it. Nothing we see is really there, as we think we are seeing it. Our eyes are liars. Everything that seems real, is merely part of the illusion. Nothing exists, as we think it does. Not you. Not me. Not this room. Nothing.”
“The sane man is simply a better liar than the insane man.”
Kismet = Fate (Urdu language)
“Reality, as most people see it, is nothing more than an illusion.”
“There is another reality, beyond what we see with our eyes. You have to feel your way into that reality with your heart. There is no other way.”
“Dream the future. Plan it. Then make it happen.”
“Suffering is the way we test our love, especially our love for God.”
“Justice is a judgment that is both fair and forgiving. Justice is not only the way we punish those who do wrong. It is also the way we try to save them.”
“A politician is someone who promises you a bridge even when there’s no river.”
“I don’t know what scares me more, the madness that smashes people down or their ability to endure it.”
“The burden of happiness can only be relieved by the burden of suffering.”
“What characterizes the human race more? Cruelty or the capacity to feel shame for it?”
- Niether. “It’s forgiveness that makes us what we are.”
“We live on because we love, and we love because we can forgive.”
“Every time we cage a man, we close him in with hate.”
“Fear dries a man’s mouth and hate strangles him. That’s why hate has no great literature: real fear and real hate have no words.”
Me
“When you get closer to the truth, you stop comparing your good deeds to other’s ill-doings. Instead, you find yourself on a quest to find more examples of good – whether from wicked man, or saint.”
Did you know there are 31 places in the world where the sand dunes sing?
Into the Wild
“I prefer the saddle to the street-car, the star-sprinkled sky to a roof, the obscure and difficult train, leading into the unknown… and the deep peace of the wild, to the discontent bred by cities.”
“I don’t think I could ever settle down. I have known too much of the depths of life already, and I would prefer anything to an anticlimax.”
“The peculiar thing about Everett Ruess was that he went out and did the things he dreamed about, not simply for a two-weeks’ vacation in the civilized and trimmed wonderlands but for months and years in the very midst of wonder...”
“…damning the stereotypes of civilization, chanting his barbaric adolescent yawp into the teeth of the world.”
“In a dream he saw himself plodding through jungles, chinning up the ledges of cliffs, wandering through the romantic waste places of the world. No man with any of the juices of boyhood in him has forgotten those dreams.”
“But then, I am always being overwhelmed. I require it to sustain life.”
“God, how the trail lures me. You cannot comprehend its resistless fascination for me. I’ll never stop wandering.”
“Always, I want to live more intensely and richly.”
The Zahir
“Learn by doing and not by thinking about doing.”
“We can harness the energy of the winds, the seas, the sun. But the day that man learns to harness the energy of love, that will be as important as the discovery of fire.” (Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin)
“As soon as people decide to confront a problem, they realize that they are far more capable than they thought they were.”
“I also learned a respect for mystery: As Einstein said: God does not play dice with the Universe; everything is inter connected and has a meaning. That meaning may remain hidden nearly all the time, but we always know we are close to our true mission on earth when what we are doing is touched with the energy of enthusiasm… If not, we had better change.”
“All energy and all knowledge come from the same unknown source, which we usually call God.”
“When we can love unconditionally, without restrictions, we become more like God.”
“In order for the true energy of love to penetrate your soul, your soul must be as if you had just been born.”
“In order to live fully, it is necessary to be in constant movement; only then can each day be different from the last.”
“…distancing yourself from your personal history, from what you were forced to become.”
“With different stories, with experiences we never dared to have or didn’t want to have. That is how we change. That is how we love grows. And when love grows, we grow with it.”
“Stop being who you were and become who you are.”
“Forget who we are in order to become who we really are.”
Why are people sad?
“They are prisoners of their personal history. Everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan. They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person. They accumulate experiences, memories, things, other people’s ideas, and it is more than they can possibly cope with. And that is why the forget their dreams.”
“The invisible world always manifests itself in the visible world.”
“May your horizon always be wider than you can see.”
“Welcome to the place where we say the sky is blue even when its gray, because we know that the color is still there above the clouds.”
“The taste of things recovered is the sweetest honey we will ever know.”
“Age only slows down those who never had the courage to walk their own pace.”
“The extraordinary occurs in the lives of ordinary people.”
The Witch of Portobello
“No one lights a lamp in order to hide it behind a door. The purpose of light is to create more light, to open people’s eyes, to reveal the marvels around.”
“No one sacrifices the most important thing she possesses: love.”
“Collective reality” versus reality.
“She wanted to live, dance, make love, travel, to gather people around her in order to demonstrate how wise she was, to show off her gifts, to provoke the neighbors, to make the most of all that is profane in us – although she always tried to give a spiritual gloss to that search.”
“…the mistress of the truth.”
“It’s the nature of the female to open herself to love easily.”
“Everyone’s looking for the perfect teacher. But although their teachings might be divine, teachers are all too human, and that’s something people find hard to accept.”
“An encounter with the superior energy is open to anyone, but remains far from those who shift responsibility onto others.”
“The best way to know who we are is to find out how others see us.”
“The grandeur of God reveals itself through simple things.”
“Everything moves, and everything moves to a rhythm. And everything that moves to a rhythm creates a sound.”
“When mouths close, it’s because there’s something important to be said.”
“Dance to the point of exhaustion, as if you were a mountaineer climbing a hill, a sacred mountain. Dance until you are so out of breath that your organism is forced to obtain oxygen some other way. And it is that, in the end, which will cause you to lose your identity and your relationship with space and time. Dance only to the sound of percussion…”
“When you dance, the spiritual world and the real world manage to coexist quite happily.”
“The hand that draws each line reflects the soul of the person making that line.”
“Writing wasn’t just the expression of a thought, but a way of reflecting on the meaning of each word.”
“What is a teacher? I’ll tell you: it isn’t someone who teaches who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.”
“All great painters understand: in order to forget the rules, you must know them and respect them.”
“See life through your own eyes and not through other people’s.”
“Real love is composed of ecstasy and agony.”
“The truth is that each step we take, we arrive”
“The trees give so that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.”
“Instincts become sharper, emotions more radical, the interpretation of signs becomes more important than logic, perceptions of reality grow less rigid.”
“Unconditional love does not fear suffering, rejection, loss.”
"...die to the world and be reborn unto yourself."
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Once Upon a Time…
…far far away, in the land of rolling hills and rocky cliffs, lived the Von Trapp family. Okay, okay. I know, my posts are enough of a novel as it is… But, Salzburg, the city that served as the storybook setting for the movie The Sound of Music is, well, something out of a storybook. Churches, shops, jewelry stores, banks and apartments of old Austrian design are huddled between an alcove of towering cliffs and the banks of the Salzach river. Europe’s best-preserved castle, Festung Hohensalzburg, rises from the peaks of the most prominent rocky crag, guarding and protecting the winding cobbled streets that twist and turn along ornamented buildings below. Signs of gold, red, yellow, green and blue sway overhead the cobbled lanes, hanging from intricate iron brackets. Then, suddenly the tight, winding streets open up into cozy piazzas marked with elegant fountains and enclosed by grand cathedrals, theatres, opera houses and government buildings. For me, it was love at first sight. Salzburg, the home of Mozart, has captured my heart.
When I arrived in Salzburg Monday afternoon, my cs host Silviu accompanied me on a stroll through the charming city. He introduced me to the main landmarks so that I might be able to easily navigate my way around the next day, when I more thoroughly explored the city on my own. One of my favorite landmarks was the old “car wash.” An ornamented wall with paintings of gallant horses served as the background to a decorated fountain that was surrounded by a bigger trough of water with steps leading into the bowl from opposite ends. This is where carriages and horses would be washed during the first half of the twentieth century. That night, we relaxed to the smooth sounds of the sax at Jazz It, a local dive near Silviu’s apartment.
Silviu is an intriguing character. His strikingly handsome face and piercing blue eyes are largely shrouded by a long mane of hair and a full scruffy beard that gets bushier at the chin. His look matches that of one of his biggest interests: death metal. Silviu, a Romanian, thoroughly enjoys nights of heavy metal head-banging in dark dives. Yet, outside of the metal bar scene, Silviu is perfectly comfortable in the subdued setting of a jazz lounge or in the academic and artistic setting of the university café that’s popular with music students (where we ate at earlier that afternoon). His manner is gentle, even a bit tender. His eyes speak of compassion. His thoughts, though, speak of distrust., a distrust in anything that can’t be explained by the physical world around him. Silviu is a self-described cynic and agnostic.
Silviu is also an open man, however, and willingly discussed and debated ideas on hope, humanity and God with me. Silviu has traveled to India - where there exists a world, which many say, is a far cry from the conveniences and comforts of Western civilization. Thus, Silviu certainly has experiences from which he can draw sound arguments that support his ideas. I too have seen the different worlds of the Cambodian people and the villagers of Vietnam and Laos. So, I can understand many of his arguments.
And that was Silviu’s only qualm with engaging me in debate. He didn’t want to come across as a person who wanted to pull me away from the hopeful optimism and spirituality that marks my own personal views of the world and of humanity. I continually reassured him, though, that challenge is good. Challenging debates help us fully measure just how much faith we do possess in our supposed beliefs. They help us identify the areas where the foundation of our faith might be weak and faltering.
It turned out, Silviu and I couldn’t really stray from these debates whenever we spent more than ten minutes together, even when others joined us in our activities. Our exchanges were always respectful and completely amicable though, and we usually wound up sucking those around us, no matter how hesitant they might be, into the debate.
My exchanges with Silviu were leaving me with a lot to ponder and consider and were quickly flagging places where my faith needed further exploration and instruction. And that was okay, because I had a lot of time for self-reflection the next day. Silviu had to work on his doctorate’s program on the university, so I set off to discover more of Salzburg. First, I met with a cheerful young cs student for lunch. Cordi’s sweet disposition and easy smiles were like a refreshing breeze after the deep, dark discussions with Silviu. Cordi took me to a little café popular with students in the old city, called Picnic. Then, we went to a new 60s café she had just discovered, called Afro Café, for desert. Both places had a fun, easy-going atmosphere. After sharing tales of our travels and adventures and our plans for more to come, we parted ways. She was off to statistics class. I was off to wander the city.
I ambled along snapping pics of the winding cobbled lanes, ornamented churches and the towering castle. Along the way, I munched an original Austrian Brez’l and bread from the oldest bakery in Salzburg. Before too long, I found myself in an old cemetery with unique graves. Some of the graves and headstones were monuments gated in arched alcoves, similar to the gated alcoves that the Von Trapp family uses to hide from the Nazi soldiers. This cemetery backed right up to one of the sheer cliffs surrounding the city and from there I could spy old houses formed straight out of the sides of the rock. How cool would it have been to live on the side of a cliff?!
I spent a long time in the cemetery… thinking and taking pictures. It turned out to be the same cemetery that Silviu has pictures of hanging on his wall in his bedroom. Eventually, I wandered away from the ancient bed of the dead and headed up the side of the cliff toward the Festung Hohensalzburg. I had planned to hike up to the castle and see first-hand the best preserved castle in Europe, but my curiosity veered me off course and the next thing I knew was I was wandering down a path along the rocky crags… away from the castle. I still got some great views of the city… and, I was able to take in the landscape, the smell of the surrounding evergreens and limber, the calls and chirps of the birds, alone and in peace, instead of with a throng of tourists on the terraces of the castle. I was more than content with where my wandering feet had led me. I had found myself amidst the pages of a fairytale storybook…
Later that evening I met up with Silviu. He and the couchsurfer he would be hosting the night we are a local brewery. Silviu says the brewery scene is the epitome of the truly local Austrian experience. You grab a litre or half litre mug from the shelf, pay for the beer, bring the receipt to the barman at the tap and fill up your mug. You can also stop along any one of the stands along a strop of shops selling Austrian sausages, brats, breads and more. Before too long, Silviu and I were back at the questions and debates, and our fellow cser pitching in from time to time. A metal head like Silviu (though you wouldn’t think it from his preppy style of dress), he tended to side with my host.
By midnight, I was on the way to the train station to catch my train to Bern, Switzerland. My train left at 45 past the hour and arrived the next morning around eight. I would do my best to get some shuteye, before another full day of wandering in more lands of the fairytales…
When I arrived in Salzburg Monday afternoon, my cs host Silviu accompanied me on a stroll through the charming city. He introduced me to the main landmarks so that I might be able to easily navigate my way around the next day, when I more thoroughly explored the city on my own. One of my favorite landmarks was the old “car wash.” An ornamented wall with paintings of gallant horses served as the background to a decorated fountain that was surrounded by a bigger trough of water with steps leading into the bowl from opposite ends. This is where carriages and horses would be washed during the first half of the twentieth century. That night, we relaxed to the smooth sounds of the sax at Jazz It, a local dive near Silviu’s apartment.
Silviu is an intriguing character. His strikingly handsome face and piercing blue eyes are largely shrouded by a long mane of hair and a full scruffy beard that gets bushier at the chin. His look matches that of one of his biggest interests: death metal. Silviu, a Romanian, thoroughly enjoys nights of heavy metal head-banging in dark dives. Yet, outside of the metal bar scene, Silviu is perfectly comfortable in the subdued setting of a jazz lounge or in the academic and artistic setting of the university café that’s popular with music students (where we ate at earlier that afternoon). His manner is gentle, even a bit tender. His eyes speak of compassion. His thoughts, though, speak of distrust., a distrust in anything that can’t be explained by the physical world around him. Silviu is a self-described cynic and agnostic.
Silviu is also an open man, however, and willingly discussed and debated ideas on hope, humanity and God with me. Silviu has traveled to India - where there exists a world, which many say, is a far cry from the conveniences and comforts of Western civilization. Thus, Silviu certainly has experiences from which he can draw sound arguments that support his ideas. I too have seen the different worlds of the Cambodian people and the villagers of Vietnam and Laos. So, I can understand many of his arguments.
And that was Silviu’s only qualm with engaging me in debate. He didn’t want to come across as a person who wanted to pull me away from the hopeful optimism and spirituality that marks my own personal views of the world and of humanity. I continually reassured him, though, that challenge is good. Challenging debates help us fully measure just how much faith we do possess in our supposed beliefs. They help us identify the areas where the foundation of our faith might be weak and faltering.
It turned out, Silviu and I couldn’t really stray from these debates whenever we spent more than ten minutes together, even when others joined us in our activities. Our exchanges were always respectful and completely amicable though, and we usually wound up sucking those around us, no matter how hesitant they might be, into the debate.
My exchanges with Silviu were leaving me with a lot to ponder and consider and were quickly flagging places where my faith needed further exploration and instruction. And that was okay, because I had a lot of time for self-reflection the next day. Silviu had to work on his doctorate’s program on the university, so I set off to discover more of Salzburg. First, I met with a cheerful young cs student for lunch. Cordi’s sweet disposition and easy smiles were like a refreshing breeze after the deep, dark discussions with Silviu. Cordi took me to a little café popular with students in the old city, called Picnic. Then, we went to a new 60s café she had just discovered, called Afro Café, for desert. Both places had a fun, easy-going atmosphere. After sharing tales of our travels and adventures and our plans for more to come, we parted ways. She was off to statistics class. I was off to wander the city.
I ambled along snapping pics of the winding cobbled lanes, ornamented churches and the towering castle. Along the way, I munched an original Austrian Brez’l and bread from the oldest bakery in Salzburg. Before too long, I found myself in an old cemetery with unique graves. Some of the graves and headstones were monuments gated in arched alcoves, similar to the gated alcoves that the Von Trapp family uses to hide from the Nazi soldiers. This cemetery backed right up to one of the sheer cliffs surrounding the city and from there I could spy old houses formed straight out of the sides of the rock. How cool would it have been to live on the side of a cliff?!
I spent a long time in the cemetery… thinking and taking pictures. It turned out to be the same cemetery that Silviu has pictures of hanging on his wall in his bedroom. Eventually, I wandered away from the ancient bed of the dead and headed up the side of the cliff toward the Festung Hohensalzburg. I had planned to hike up to the castle and see first-hand the best preserved castle in Europe, but my curiosity veered me off course and the next thing I knew was I was wandering down a path along the rocky crags… away from the castle. I still got some great views of the city… and, I was able to take in the landscape, the smell of the surrounding evergreens and limber, the calls and chirps of the birds, alone and in peace, instead of with a throng of tourists on the terraces of the castle. I was more than content with where my wandering feet had led me. I had found myself amidst the pages of a fairytale storybook…
Later that evening I met up with Silviu. He and the couchsurfer he would be hosting the night we are a local brewery. Silviu says the brewery scene is the epitome of the truly local Austrian experience. You grab a litre or half litre mug from the shelf, pay for the beer, bring the receipt to the barman at the tap and fill up your mug. You can also stop along any one of the stands along a strop of shops selling Austrian sausages, brats, breads and more. Before too long, Silviu and I were back at the questions and debates, and our fellow cser pitching in from time to time. A metal head like Silviu (though you wouldn’t think it from his preppy style of dress), he tended to side with my host.
By midnight, I was on the way to the train station to catch my train to Bern, Switzerland. My train left at 45 past the hour and arrived the next morning around eight. I would do my best to get some shuteye, before another full day of wandering in more lands of the fairytales…
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