In the US, it is not usually recommended to live a walking distance from the downtown. This is usually the case in big cities because of safety concerns but in small safe college towns, like Columbia, it is very convenient.
This is a story from “The 4 Essentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking” by Cliff Michaels. Luckily, I found the text of the story in the author’s blog.
After graduating from Harvard Business School, an American stock broker named Joe decided to take a vacation. He chose a small island, famous for its quiet fishing village and local smiles. If only to take his mind off business a few days, Joe vowed he would fish a little and avoid the money-talk so prevalent on Wall Street.
On his first day of vacation, Joe strolled along the beach. He spotted a small fishing boat coming into shore. Inside the boat were a lone fisherman and a fresh catch of large tunas. Dozens of locals and tourists were handing over cash as the fisherman docked his boat. Joe was so impressed, he complimented the fisherman and asked how long it took to catch so many fish.
“Not long at all,” said the fisherman. “Plenty of fish in these waters.”
“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” asked Joe. “You could certainly make more money in such rich waters.”
The fisherman smiled and said, “Oh, I catch more than enough to support my family and lifestyle.”
“But what do you do with the rest of your time?” asked Joe.
The fisherman replied, “I read, nap, and play with my daughters. Some days I teach kids how to fish. Other days I play soccer with school children. In the afternoons, I stroll into the village where I sip wine and play guitar with my lovely wife and friends. Most nights we cook fish and share recipes with tourists.”

“Wow, you have lots of free time,” said Joe. “Listen, I have an MBA. I can help you vastly expand your business. If you simply spend more time fishing, you would soon earn enough money for a bigger boat.”“Really?” asked the fisherman.
“Absolutely,” said Joe. “And with a bigger boat, you could catch enough fish to buy several boats, then a whole fleet. At that point you would be successful enough to sell directly to a processor, cutting out the middleman, and vastly increasing your profits. Eventually, you could open your own cannery, controlling product and distribution!”
“Then what?” asked the fisherman.
“If all goes well, you’ll find yourself in a big city, running a rapidly expanding empire,” said Joe.
“How long would all this take?” asked the fisherman.
“Not long at all. Maybe 7 to 10 years,” replied Joe.” With me as your CEO, I’ll bet we can do it in 6 years if we hustle. I’m all about the hustle!”
“Wow. Then what?” asked the fisherman.
Joe grinned and said, “Well, here’s the best part. When the time is right, we could take the company public or sell the enterprise to the highest bidder. At that point, you would be very rich — a millionaire many times over.”
“Really? A millionaire? Then what?” asked the fisherman.
“What do you mean?” asked Joe.
“I mean, what would I do if I was a millionaire?” asked the fisherman.
“Whatever you like,” said Joe. “You could retire, move to a tiny coastal village, fish a little, play with your kids … stroll into the village each night to sip wine … and play guitar with your wife and friends … and …”

Without another word, Joe and the fisherman shared a good laugh.
Mary: Imagine a man with a gun. You’d be scared. So would I. But what if you saw him walk into a playground and point that gun at a child, how scared would you be then? And if you saw him pull the trigger, shoot one child, then another? Would you still be scared? Or would you stop thinking about yourself and just try with every fiber of your being to stop him before he killed the whole school? Of course you would. I know your fear, Rachel. But always remember who we’re fighting for. And who we’re trying to stop.*
No doubt everyone will agree with Mary that the person shooting children should be stopped. But the critical question is how? I believe in such case a law officer on the scene is obliged to protect civilians and has the right to shoot the killer. But what if Mary was referring to a family planning doctor and the children were not in a school’s playground but in their mothers’ wombs?
It seems both Islam and Christianity agree that abortion is a sin because it is the act of killing a human. In Islam, there are exceptions to this rule for certain circumstances. Luckily, because Jordan’s religion according to its constitution is Islam abortion is impermissible. In the US, the issue of pro-life statute is very complicated and differs from state to state. In addition, the matter is still heavily discussed and debated until now.
Unfortunately, many Arabs are using and promoting phrases and ideas that they are not aware of its consequences. One of these ideas is “Religion is for God and the country is for all.” They of course want the separation of religion and state.
It is shame if we don’t trust God and are ashamed of his words to be our guidance. I believe this is what a separation means to those who are promoting it in our holy land, the land of the prophets.
Of course it is very imperative also to mention Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) hadith:
Whoever amongst you sees anything objectionable, let him change it with his hand, if he is not able, then with his tongue, and if he is not even able to do so, then with his heart, and the latter is the weakest form of faith.
This hadith gives us reason for not trying to change things that are beyond our capabilities and may cause harm to us. Mary, in the above scenario, plays the role of an American pro-life extremist who promotes killing family planning doctors. Although, abortion is against her religion she should not tried to change things by hand (using violence) because such thing caused her to break the law and hence harm herself.
* From UK’s TV show MI5.
For more than 20 years I used to stay in Damascus two months every summer. I grew up loving the City of Jasmine more than any other city. My visit to Syria used to be as much fun as any kid in Disney Land. I used to know every corner and every street in the city. There was so much to do in Damascus, two months were never enough for me. Having cousins my age in Damascus helped me a lot learn more about the culture and the places to be for teens.
But as I was growing up my love of the city started to fade away. I knew that living in Syria is not as visiting it. I still remember, although I was nine or ten, watching on Syrian TV an interview with one of Hama‘s aftermath prisoners. For some reason I vividly remember the interview and that we were having dinner at my grandparents’. My parents, grandparents, and my three uncles were there, we all were silent. Syrians were, and still until recently, so terrified no one could speak ill of the regime even in their houses. The prisoner on the TV was shaking and confused. He was bombarded with questions that all led him to say how sorry he was for what he did and how his life is nothing without Mr. President.
Later, I knew more about the dark side of the authoritarianism regime. Things in that beautiful country where not as pretty. Every citizen in Syria knows exactly what should be said and what not. A single politics-related mistake can cause a man to vanish. No record of him being in jails, hospitals, or any where else. In Syria, it is possible for a person to evaporate like water.
But Arabs say “بقاء الحال من المحال” (translation: everything has an end). Therefore, they finally decided to do something about their miserable lives in the Middle East. Among all the Arab countries I have never expected any thing to happen in Syria but they proved me wrong.
Because I have relatives in Syria I don’t watch the news about Syria; I know exactly how bad things can get over there. And for that I don’t watch these videos about Syria on YouTube as well. The regime there is not like any other regime in any other Arab country, I know what they are capable of doing. Even though I am far away from the heat I don’t have the courage to speak up unlike the brave woman, Rima Dali, whom I read about yesterday. She was arrested because she had a banner that says “Stop the Killing. We want to build a nation for all Syrians.” [Aljazeera]
Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, taught us that the best Jihad is to speak the word of truth to a tyrant ruler. This woman is a hero. She is so courageous. I can never do any thing close to such bravery thing.
p.s. As I mentioned, I don’t watch news about Syria so I am sure there are other brave Syrian men and women. I am writing about this woman simply because I read her story.
Jordan belongs to all Jordanians. Loyalty is only measured by one’s achievements and service to the country. The diversity in roots and heritage enriches our Jordanian national identity, which respects the rights of the citizenry, in a spirit of unity, tolerance and moderation, and opens the gates of diversity.
Speech from the Throne By His Majesty King Abdullah II
Opening the Second Ordinary Session of the 16th Parliament
Amman, Jordan
26 October 2011
Recently, it seems there is a lot of emphasis about where certain group of people is from. I have seen it a lot on Twitter and Facebook; “I am a proud Jordanian.” I personally don’t understand the reason behind using such slogan to write on one’s profile in social network sites. Unless, one is shoving it on the face of his enemy during a war I see no reason to define oneself as a “proud Jordanian.” For those of us, Jordanians, who were born during the past 50 years being Jordanian is nothing we achieved or worked hard to become. When a new baby is born to a Jordanian father, the baby automatically gets a Jordanian citizenship. I sacrificed nothing to become a Jordanian other than the fact that my father is a Jordanian who also did nothing to become a Jordanian other than that his father was a Jordanian too.
It is normal for parents to brag about their children, “my kid is an honor student” or “I am proud of my kid he or she did this or that.” Parents feel they did something right so they like to celebrate their children achievements. But can one be proud of something he has no hand what so ever in achieving? Can I, for example, feel proud of Honda industry because I own one? Or do you think it is normal for one to say “I am a proud white?” It sounds racists, doesn’t it?
I might be mistaken but I feel the “I am a proud Jordanian” slogan implies something not very positive against others. Slogans and kind words without actions are meaningless. For example, what good our children or spouses get if all what we have to offer them is to say “I love you?” Words without actions mean nothing. On the contrary, it may harm who we love more than do good.
I love Celtics region. Except their love of Beer I and the Irish both share many common things. We both love the green color, Pipers, Celtic songs, and lamb meet. I love their accent, their beautiful greenery landscape and their hot women. Should I start saying “I am a proud Irish?”
Being “proud” is a result of doing or achieving a task. It makes no sense for one to feel proud being tall, white or simply Jordanian. After all, we are all going to be accountable in front of God for what good and bad we did and how we treated other humans not for what passport we have.
Saying that, here are some tips of how one can show his love to his country beyond slogans and raising flags:
Let us work hard to be proud of how we will transform Jordan to a cleaner, safer, more educated, culturally open and more advanced country.
This past winter was my best in the last 10 years I spent in the Mid West. The reason is nothing other than it was the warmest. Being someone who likes outdoors I hate when I have to stay at home because of cold weather. Besides, I lose 10 lbs in summer. No diet. My body likes warm weather so much it transforms itself to a new body.
Columbia is really a very beautiful place. You will know what I mean when you see pictures below:
Starbucks
Home
Neighborhood
Today, many Americans waited in long queues hoping to be 1 out of 175 million to win the $640 million mega lottery prize. The prize money is so big it made me ponder. In movies, the bad guy sometimes asks the good guy “what is your price?” This typical statement indicates that every man has a price that will make him deviate from whatever he stands for.
In Islam, lottery is considered one form of gambling and therefore it is haram (unlawful). As far as I know, without exceptions, all Muslim scholars agreed that gambling is a sin regardless of the way it is executed.
If no one wins Friday night, the jackpot will grow to $975 million. Lottery officials are considering moving the next drawing after Friday to Times Square in New York City as the anticipation and jackpot build, DeFrancisco said.
It is very easy for us to keep away from something when we don’t like it. For example, eating pork in Islam is haram and since Muslims grow up not eating pork meat it is very easy for them to not crave it. So, I don’t think Muslims struggle by not eating pork meat. There are Muslims though who drink alcohol and refuse to eat pork. They claim they don’t eat pork because it is haram but they can’t answer why they drink alcohol although drinking is a bigger sin than eating pork. My answer is because not eating pork is much easier thing to do than not drinking alcohol. There are many such examples. My idea is that we very often follow our religion’s command when it is easy to do or falls under our habits, cultures or traditions.
Now, going back to the $640 million lottery. How about buying a lottery ticket for a chance to win $600 million? I am sure many Muslims including myself will say “NEVER.” But let us make it a more challenging thing to test our belief, integrity, honesty or whatever makes us good followers of the religion*. What if the chance of winning the lottery is not 1 in 175 million but is 1 in 2. Assume no one won the lottery and only two tickets left. You got a chance to buy one ticket. You know for sure that one of the two tickets will make you $600 million richer. Would you buy this $1 ticket?**
If you answered no then you are not honest. Unless we are in the same situation we can’t answer this question. If you are a religious person you would hope to still say no and not disobey God no matter what but you don’t know yourself unless you are in the same situation. I don’t know whether every man has a price or not but I think our values are not unbreakable as we love to believe.
* Do you know of other religion, beside Islam, that considers gambling or lottery to be a sin?
** This question is for people who don’t buy lottery tickets because of their religion.
Instantly, as we prepared to sit on our designated seats at Wynn’s Las Vegas theater we felt we were in a magical place. The theater was nothing like anything we have seen before. Unlike others the stage is in the center of the theater surrounded by the audience seats. To our excitement the stage was covered by fog and we could feel that below the thick layer of fog was water. Something like a pool. If the scene of the theater from inside was not enchanting enough we could feel cool mists all over the place.
Of course as much as we were enchanted by the theater the performance was spectacular and unequivalent to anything I have seen before. Le Reve means the dream and indeed everything about this show feels like a beautiful dream. I can write forever about the show but I am sure whatever I write can never give the show the least amount of credit it deserves. It is simply outstanding and a dream that I hope I will never forget. If you ever visited Las Vegas make sure not to miss this one.
Unfortunately, taking pictures was not allowed so I am using the theater’s website pictures:
Wynn Theater
It amazes me how the land of enforced zero-tolerance law, democracy, freedom and political correctness is still exposed to hate crimes. Such place should have the lowest number of hate crimes. However, what is good about the US is that it is the land of numbers and statistics as well.
The number of groups whose ideology is organized against specific racial, religious, sexual or other characteristics has risen steadily since 2000, when 602 were identified, the [Southern Poverty Law] center said… In 2011, the center tracked 1,274 of those groups, up from 824 the year before. [Source: NYT]
Hate Groups in the USA 2000 - 2011
I wonder what actions the US took or is going to take to reduce these numbers and equally important to study why hate groups are in the rise?
The following are three shocking crimes the nation is talking about:
A 32-year-old Iraqi mother of five who was found severely beaten, by her 17-year-old daughter in their home, next to a threatening note saying “go back to your country” died on Saturday March 24th. [Source: yahoo]
A more controversial [hate] crime took place in Florida where a 17-year-old black teen was shot dead by a neighborhood watchman. The incident has turned questions about race and guns into a national debate. [Source: latimes]
This week, three white Mississippi men pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes in connection with the 2011 beating death of an African-American man. Anderson, 47, died after he was beaten and run over by a truck driven by Dedmon, who was part of a group of seven white youths who decided to “go f**k with some niggers” after a night of partying and drinking, law enforcement officials have said, quoting some of the suspects in the case. [Source: cnn]
As much as we like to brag about loving and practicing freedom of speech but sometimes not taking action against a hate group may lead to such crimes or at least may cause unfavorable consequences.
Two weeks ago, during one weekday, about sixty men meet after midday to fulfill a mission they felt it was obligatory on them. Sixty men meet at the same time and same place for the sake of one man. Some of these men skipped their lunch others missed their classes to be in the town’s only masjid (mosque). When everyone was ready they rode their cars and headed thirty miles south of the town to another nearby city.
When we reached our destination more men were waiting for us. Our destination was a plain land. It was very muddy because of last night’s heavy rain. We walked in silence. I could hear some men whispering others were murmuring.
The recently dug out grave at the other end of the small land was deep. The three men who jumped into the grave to pull the body down were covered up to their chests. Couple of men gave directions on how to properly place the body according to the Islamic tradition and what to say while the body is pulled down and laid properly. Others stepped up to help, each carrying a shovel ready to cover the grave. I moved back to give space for those who want to help not just to stand still and watch. I am not at my best in such situations.
The man whom we lost was no angle or prophet. He was a normal man. Yet, when he passed away I heard nothing but good things about him. How he comes to the masjid everyday. How he is always smiling. How much he likes kids. How much he helps with the masjid’s maintenance. I knew him for eight hears and yes he is all that. But the problem is why we only remember the good things about people only when we lose them? He was born in Pakistan among his Pakistani blood family and buried in the Midwest among a new bigger multiracial and multinational family.
After we laid down our deceased in the five feet grave and then fully covered him with the muddy soil we prayed for him a better life in a better place. When we were done the sixty men headed back to their usual businesses except one whom we left there for good.
Death, unparalleled to any other fact, is the only reality that constantly reminds us that we are helpless in front of God’s will. It is a sign that while living this short life we need to be at our best behavior. Life is so short to be wasted …
