خصومة مع الخالق – قصة قصيرة

كان رشيد شابا في اواخر العشرينات من العمر، يكبرني ببضع سنين. كلانا ترك بلده لاكمال دراسته. أنا قدمت من الأردن وهو من الجزائر. قبل سفره كان يعمل معيدا في احدى الجامعات الحكومية في بلده. خلال فترة عمله مدرسا استطاع ان يدخر مبلغا من المال كاف لاكمال دراسته. كان شخصا ممن يعتمدون على انفسهم، لا يسأل مساعدة من أحد. كان يختلف عن بقية الشباب من جيلنا. كنا أحيانا كثيرة نقضي الساعات في مناقشات جادة وغير جادة، ولكن النقاشات الجادة كانت تغلب حديثنا. كان الحديث معه ممتع شيق. تلمح فيه ذكاء غير موجود ممن هم في جيله. كان نقضه البناء لأبناء بلده العربي المسلم ومقارنته بالمجتمعات الغربية وحتى الشرقية المتحضرة هو ديدنه. يلحظ أدق الأمور والتفاصيل في هذه المجتمعات متمنيا أن تنهج مجتمعاتنا العربية ما هو مفيد منها وتترك ما يناقض ديننا.ـ

ما زلت أذكر عندما أريته صورة – لم أعد أتذكر تفاصيلها– وصلتني بالبريد الألكتروني تشهد على معجزة الله سبحانه وتعالى. قال لي حينها “هذه ليست معجزة”. دهشت من جوابه وتجرئه على هذا القول. ولكنه كان انسانا يؤمن بالعقل والمنطق. ولكن منطقه هذا لم يمنعه بأن يكون شابا متدينا محافظا على صلواته المفروضه.ـ

رغم التزامه كان أول شاب عربي أتعرف عليه يعلن صراحة عدم حبه لوالده. فتقاليدنا العربية لاتسمح لنا بنقد الوالدين. كان والده كأحد هؤلاء الذين يحسبون أن زوجاتهم وأبنائهم ملك لهم. الأب يأمر والجميع يطيع. لا رأي في البيت سوى رأيه وحده. كان صديقي هذا يتسآل ساخرا دائما من مدى حرص مجتمعاتنا العربية على تلقين الأبناء حب وطاعة الوالدين دون الأخذ بعين الاعتبار فيما اذا كانا –الوالدين- يستحقان هذا الحب والطاعة العمياء. لكنه كان في نفس الوقت دائم الحديث عن والدته. قد يكون حبه واشتياقه لها هو السبب في كثرة الحديث عنها، أو قد يكون حزنه لتركه اياها مع والده دون أن يستطيع مساعدتها. كان يقول أحيانا كثيره انه لم يعد هناك أي شيء على الأطلاق يجعله يعود الى بلده سوى والدته.ـ

كحال كل الطلبة المغتربين أفترقنا وانقطع الاتصال بيننا. سألت عنه فقيل لي أنه فقد والدته وهو في الغربه دون أن يراها. تألمت كثيرا لهذا الخبر فوالدته كانت الشيء الجميل الوحيد في حياته الذي كان يتمنى رؤيته. كان يتمنى انهاء دراسته ليبقى بقربها ويعوضها عن سعادة لم تراها مع والده. تألمت أكثر عندما علمت أنه فقد الاتصال بالخالق ولم يعد يصلي. للأسف كانت محنة واختبارا أقوى منه. علمت فيما بعد أنه رجع الى بلده. لا اعلم السبب رغم أنه كان يردد أن السبب الوحيد الذي سوف يجعله يعود الى وطنه هو والدته – قد يكون شعوره بأنه قريب منها في بلده رغم وفاتها سبب في عودته…ـ

لا أعلم حاله الآن، ولكني أرجو أن يكون قد تصالح مع القدير العزيز…ـ

The new facade of email scams

Unless you have never used the internet before you should have received one of the many Nigerians’ business proposal email scams. Recently, these business proposals are not from Nigeria anymore. Read the two emails that I received recently; one from Hong Kong and the other one from Scotland. It seems bankofscotland.com does exist but bea.com does not, the legitimate bank is hkbea.com.

I am afraid because of the current economic crises, people’s greed for fast money will flourish this business proposal email scams. Therefore, expect to receive such emails once every week in the near future.

From: ZHANG (zhanglui@bea.com)

Goodday,
I am Mr. Zhang Liu  i work with Bank of East Asia. I have a business of  $26.5million for you
contact me for details.
Zhang Liu.

From: Leith Fraser (leith@bankofscotland.com)

Good Day,
I am contacting you for a business transaction involving GBP £17,000,000 (Seventeen Million Pounds Sterling) hoping that you will contact me at your earliest convenient for a possible business deal. I am presently the External Auditor of Bank Of Scotland Plc, with your sincere assistant and co-operation, I am determined to work this deal with you if you can do the business. At the moment, I am constrained to issue more  details about this business until your positive response is received. Please take a moment of your time to read this  and send your response. I assure  you that this deal is worth taking and highly profitable.

Leith Fraser

Autumn in the Midwest 2009

The thermometer cricket

	Here is something new, to me at least. The snowy tree cricket’s (a.k.a the thermometer cricket) chirping can be used to tell the temperature. To find the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, count the number of chirps in 13 seconds and then add 40. By the way, chirping is done be males to attract females.          [NPR]
If you haven’t seen fireflies before (see right) they attract mates by illuminating light. Computer Scientists and Engineers studies fireflies to learn how they synchronize their light emission.
	In Computer Science, time synchronization is a very important research topic since communicating machines need to synchronize their clocks. Science is really a cool thing.

A ladybird drew a smile on my face

While I was trying to make sense of the nonsense that I am reading, a ladybird settled on the book that I am struggling with and let me took couple of pictures of her beautiful exotic curve. Lucky her she flew away when she got bored.

 

American Muslims Exposed!

Four Congressional Republicans accused The Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) of "trying to infiltrate the offices of members of Congress by placing interns in the offices." [video]

I think the fundamental American justice system rule “It is not what you know, it is what you can prove.” does not apply to Muslims. I am not just referring to this story but rather to many other unfortunate stories or incidents from “randomly” selecting every Muslim look-a-like to be screened in American airports to accusing innocent Muslims of plotting a terrorist act. Why CAIR wants to spy on America? What is their motive? American Muslims are the most educated and professionals among other minorities here in the US. Yet, unfortunately they will always be looked at as having a hidden agenda to destroy America. For sure not all Americans believe of this unrealistic conspiracy theory but as long as Fox news is the number 1 TV news in America this attitude towards Muslims in general and American Muslims in particular will continue and may, unfortunately, spawn more hatred towards Muslims if it lasted longer.

Goodbye summer, winter you are not welcome!

I am a big fan of the sun. Summer is my best time of the year and winter is the worst. The cloudy dark sky makes me depressed. Winter is for romantic, hot chocolate lovers, home staying, blanket huggers and fireplace stalkers type of people. I am totally the opposite. I love sipping coffee outdoor enjoying moderate heat of the sun. Here is my tribute to summer:

Pictures taken during the summer of 2009.

The hottest TV drama

I don’t watch TV drama series, not even Heroes, Lost, and Prison Break. These are the shows that people were talking about for the last couple of years. I lose interest in watching television series when I know there will be season 1, then season 2, then season 3, and so on. Beside, I don’t have the time or force myself to be home to watch TV at a particular day and time. But when a TV drama discusses how people react to certain events and when hulu.come grant me the privilege to watch TV series anytime I want, it got my attention. FlashForward is the new TV drama series that made me watching. The plot is that the entire population of earth blacked out; they all lost conscious for two minutes. Within these two minutes every one saw a glimpse of the future. What I like most about this promising series is the different reactions of people after they saw these two minutes into the future. Some believed that what they saw will happen and others chosen not to.

Apparently, those who saw something they liked in this short glimpse of their future, for obvious reason, continued with their daily routine because All of them believed what they saw will eventually happen. However, the others who saw bad incident or event reacted differently. Some chosen not to believe it and denied it will happen. Others, believed it will happen and fell victim to their obsession to know why this will happen to them. And some others, wanted very badly and worked hard to change their future.

The series will make you ponder about the future and destiny. Watch all episodes here.

Best Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Cartoon

Source: The Washington Post

Ads gone wrong

The Huffingtonpost call it “The 10 creepiest unintentionally-sexual ads of all time”

Very funny, it includes videos and photos.