A former student and now a friend emailed the following and raised few points that I will clarify once the reader acquainted with the contend of the email...
Hello Sir,
I spent some time catching up with your blog this morning and thought I would share my thoughts with you.
The first is a suggestion for a blog post if you're willing to share this information. Something I always ask myself when reading your post about Mr. Oakes is how did you 2 even get so close to begin with? We read all these stories of the great times that you 2 had together but I don't remember ever reading about how or why you met, outside of school of course. In every romantic novel or movie, the introduction of the 2 people is always at the beginning. Hopefully you understand that by me saying romantic, in this case I am referring to the loving friendship that you 2 had. Nowadays, it's not really socially acceptable to say that you love a friend as it will automatically be misconstrued as being in more than just a friendship.
***
People hug because their are friends... They express their love with that hug and love has different components within itself... Sexual love is just one aspect of it... And love does not necessarily mean sex... Spiritual love... friendly love... We say; "I love your company"... and imply just friendship and no sex...
Jesus loves us... No sex implied... God loves us... and no sex implied...
People love each other for different reasons... and love does not mean sex...
I am married and Ross is just a dear friend... and I miss his friendship... One of the main reasons for that is... HE WAS NOT JUDGMENTAL... He did not read between the lines... He just said; "You are allowed..." and that was the end of that ...
People miss their kids... I do mine too... People love their kids... I do mine too...
Siblings love each other... and families love each other...
I hope the world will learn to love again... and stop sexual innuendos and funny stuff...
I loved my students... I appreciated my time with them... We learned together and each group was learning in a different way... and we had fun and we created a loving atmosphere... The classroom was a refuge for me... and I noticed that our classroom was a refuge to the students too...
We loved each other...
But at times the elders were brutal... At times the teachers were not-loving... and that pained me... I did not want to gossip about what happened... and I could not hold it within me... So at me spare time I visited the chapel... and sat their my myself... Besides my classroom, the chapel was the most inviting place... It was peaceful and quiet... I could breath the peace and calm my nerves... I could feed the loving eternity... I could embrace the love of humanity again...
And I sat their for few minutes... for half an hour... at times for an hour...
Ross had the habit of playing classical music in the chapel... Later he learned to play Gregorian Chants and cantatas too... and I appreciated his sensitivities... He sensed that I want to be by myself... and did not disturb me... Left my alone... And that alone-ness was beautifully enchanting... It was spiritually uplifting and intellectually loving...
One day Ross noticed that when I leave the chapel I walk backwards so as not to turn my back to the alter... that is Armenian custom... Expressing respect to the inexplicable in us and above us and around us... He jumped on the opportunity and asked about it... I explained... and that was it...
That was how we met... and noticed each other... We became friends... and we had good times with each other...
A friend emailed me the other day that Ross was worried about me driving alone at night... after we had few drinks... But as I mentioned before, I took the right lane and drove carefully and slowly... Never got a ticket for drunk driving... But Ross always worried about me... He realized that at times I am to rash, and at times too uncompromising for my own good...
He said I can never be a diplomat... He insisted that I will never learn how to dilute my beliefs and compromise on my rights... That's why he was overly protective at times... He thought that I will never learn how to protect myself...
***
A second point, regarding the little library box in front of the house. I have never seen that anywhere in Canada. For some reason, nobody is as trusting of their neighbours and is always scared something will be stolen. A good example of that is how kids are over protected in Canada. You can't simply let your young kids go outside alone anymore because of the fear that something will happen to them. Here in Europe, I see the complete opposite. You see kids as young as 5 or 6 walking or taking public transit to school alone or with a friend. It is the social norm here for kids to come home from school, do their homework and head straight to the park or surrounding streets to play with their friends. As popular as video games may be, playing a sport outside with friends is infinitely more enjoyable for them and so rain or shine, the kids are always outside. A further example is that library box. Here in Europe, I see much bigger boxes in parks close to playgrounds with a hundred books or more. The simple policy is to take a book, you have to leave a book and that way everybody is sharing and learning together. It's refreshing to see that level of trust being reciprocated at such a large scale, although it is noticeably less now with all the terrorist acts happening in Europe.
***
Dear friend-student...
Those photos are not from Canada... My daughter took the pictures in Los Angeles...
Sharing is wonderful...
Once I was driving and made a right turn abruptly... almost cutting the other vehicle... The police stopped me... they were just there and I had not noticed them... He said; "I realize it is snowing and it is slippery... But please share the road..." That stuck with me forever... To be honest I was at fault... But if he had ticketed me, I would have learned nothing...maybe I would have been bitter too... But that day I learned something and sharing the road was only part of it... Sharing my blessing with others was the essential message from the Police...
That was a loving gesture... I always remember that incident lovingly... I love that policeman, wherever he may be now...
***
**Just to note, I will try to make this last part as politically correct as possible so as not offend you or anyone else that may read my reply to you. **
My last point is regarding the recent news that Dolce and Gabbana is the first luxury brand to start an Arabic/Islamic line of clothing. I personally find it pathetic and agree with you that greed is what motivated these actions. I would like to add however that, more than greed, I feel as though this is desperation on their part. The company as a whole is not doing so well and so is kind of like their "Hail Mary" play, so to speak. With more and more luxury brands entering the market, their previous dominance has dwindled and so this is affecting their bottom line. What makes it more obvious that this is a desperation play is the timing of the release. With all of the recent terrorist events all over the world, the world has somewhat blacklisted Arabic/Islamic culture and so by D&G going after that culture, they are somewhat turning their backs on the rest of the world and hoping that that single market will solve all of their problems. It may at the beginning but long term, I think it will end up hurting the company. What I find particularly pathetic is that as far as I knew, the abaya and hijab that they are now designing is supposed to be religious clothing. I personally think that whomever decides that they are better than the whole religion, want to flaunt their wealth, and wear designer RELIGIOUS clothing is not in fact a true believer or practicing religious person. Just as an example, how stupid would it look if priests now wanted to wear Versace or Hugo Boss robes? That's completely unthinkable and out of the question. I can understand having religious clothing custom made, even with higher quality fabric, to fit better or be more comfortable but commercializing it and turning on your traditions is just a complete joke in my opinion.
There have been numerous other companies to sell their souls for Arabic money so they're definitely not the first company to do so, just arguably the most pathetic. Another example that closer to home for me is to do with Real Madrid, my favourite team. Since 1931, the club crest hasn't changed and has had a small cross on the top of it. A year ago, due to a new sponsor (National Bank of Abu Dhabi), they have now removed that cross so as not to offend Muslim sensibilities in that region. That's again pathetic in my opinion to turn your back on a century of history just for some money.
Real Madrid drop Christian cross from club crest in middle east...
Real Madrid have removed the traditional Christian cross from their official club crest after signing a lucrative three-year deal with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi...
Take care and enjoy,
F..............
***
And also...
It is not only Dolce & Gabbana... Materialism is all around us...
I remember these shoes...
They wrote about them at the time... They talked about them at the time...
And my question always has been... By leaders have to succumb to the vanity of the material... and they do it once and once again...
The spiritual leaders succumb to its glitter...
The politicians are corrupted by its power...
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