Ross loved... The Tale of Two Cities...

Ross did not have any faith in the leaders of organized groups... religious or secular it did not make much of a difference... 
And I did not believe in organized groups... 
Any group begins with good intentions, but then degenerates into a group hungry for power and survives by demolishing individual rights... 
That's always the case... even with revolutionary groups and organizations... 
The U.S. began with a revolutionary zeal and established a government "for the people and by the people...," but now it is in a state of crisis... The democratic rights of the people are under attack in the name of "national security..." 
The Islamic Jihadist danger is real... Europe is in turmoil and the refugee crisis has not been solved... 

***

Yesterday the Oscars were awarded... Best film Spotlight... When they announced the winner... I said, "politics..." and indeed it is a political game and hypocrisy... by the Hollywood elite...

  

The Spotlight... But also the Sins of the Press...

I have a question... Is only the Catholic Church corrupt and abusive... ? Is the Catholic clergy only sexually assaulting boys, and maybe girls...? I believe that all organized religions have their share of abuse... But the North American media and the Hollywood elite... have targeted the Catholic Church... and Christianity only... 

I believe the Evangelicals are as corrupt as the Catholics and abuse boys too... other religious groups too... have their share of abusive behaviour... 

Any temple...any church...any mosque and any synagogue...is the same... The only difference is that the Catholic clergy have been caught red handed... and others are still in the shadows... Sexual abuse of boys and girls has a long history and comes from the Egyptians and Greeks to us...

Targeting the Catholic Church and criticizing Christianity... is organized hypocrisy and abuse of power... I believe all organized religions are in the same boat... and the boat is fortunately leaking... 

I hope soon...there will be more Spotlights... Spotlight on Evangelicals... Spotlight on Muslims... Spotlight on Jews and Spotlight on Buddhists and Hindus and all... Chinese and all the rest... 

Shining the Spotlight just on one group is organized abuse of power... is organized hypocrisy... and just greed to make money...

***

Every now and then... If a writer or a journalist has nothing else to do... they write about Christians... they write plays about the stories in the Bible... and they distort and twist and abuse the truth... In case of plays... they have the ultimate excuse... It is fiction after all... they say...

Recently.. 'The testament of Mary' opened up on a Boston stage... The play is quite sexual... and believe it or not...sex is profitable...     

Before it premiered on broadway in 2013, Colm Toibin's 'the Testament of Mary' began its life as a book. Actress Paula Langton portrays Mary in ‘The Testament of Mary,’ which opened at Boston’s  New Repertory Theater... 


From Broadway to Boston... and globally Christianity is free for all... 

People use and abuse as they please... Shine the Spotlight... wherever they please, 

but as long as they are focussing the Spotlight on Christianity... 

But these writers abstain from writing about other religions... !!! 


What are they afraid of... ?  Islamic jihadists...? Vocal and militant minorities...?

Activists outside 

the 2013 

Broadway 

premiere of ‘The 

Testament of 

Mary’ protest the 

play’s depiction 

of the Holy 

Mother ... Of 

course the play 

was "successful" 

and now it is 

staged in Boston...

Just a final challenge... If playwrights and writers in general are truthful enough... and courageous enough... Let them write about other religions too and try the same abusive approach as they write about Christianity... 

***

As I began... I don't appreciate organized religion... I do not appreciate organized politics too... But I do not agree to shine the Spotlight only on Christianity and the Catholic Church... 

 

Opulence and decadence... in Hollywood...

Ross said; "You are going to the city of dreams...," referring to Hollywood... "and to the city of hypocrisy... too...," I added...
The Hollywood elite was in its opulent best yesterday... But also at the zenith of hypocrisy... Just few blocks away there is the Hollywood skid row... and thousands of homeless...
 

Skid Row and homeless people... in Hollywood...

Once Ross coined; "Opulent homelessness..." after an Oscar night... "That's the reality...," he said... 
Ross loved the movies... He did his best for the homeless... But here we are again... The opulence of Hollywood... and the misery of Hollywood... 
I guess we can repeat... "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair..."
Ross loved The Tale of Two Cities... and Ross loved life too...

Ross Wanted to Visit The Holy Lands... and The Rest...

Ross was unhappy about the Middle East... He wanted to visit Jerusalem, but he was scared about the political situation... I had consented that I will accompany him, if and when he decided to visit the Holy Lands... 

He was furious about the war in Iraq... It jeopardized his dream trip... he was against the intervention in Afghanistan... It scared him... He could not comprehend the idea of "suicide bombing..." As a Catholic Christian he believed in the sanctity of life... He was absolutely against killing...  He had internalized "Thou shall not kill..." and upheld it... he was against the death penalty... Suicide, for whatever reason, was abhorrent to him... 

Wars kill, suicides kill... and wanted to visit the Holy lands... and on the way he wanted to visit Rome too... 

Ross did not have any dispute with organized religion... But he knew that I shied away from organized everything... He was kicked around and was abused... He was taken advantage of... but he endured... He had faith... that was his upbringing... that's how he was nurtured... 


He wanted to visit the Holy lands to anchor his faith and wanted to walk in the Vatican to consolidate his life long learning...
He loved the simple "fisherman's" life of Jesus and wanted to contrast that with the opuance of Rome... 
He just wanted to experience the contrast... and tell about it after...

On the other hand I wanted to visit the Holy lands to affirm my solitude... my "alone"ness... and spirituality... Later I desired to cross over to India... and continue the experience of harmony and peace in one of the ashrams... I wanted to extend Jesus to the simple Indian ashram of peace and harmony...

Ross wanted a special trip to India... He could not inhale everything with a single breath... He wanted to have time and learn through experiencing it...

Whenever Muslim Imams began their diatribe against Western culture and Christian beliefs... Ross was ashamed on their behalf... 
He insisted that religion, any religion... cannot be mean and belligerent...
I told him that Islam is based on spreading the religion through wars... They wanted to conquer through the sword and I did not like it...
Check below this Imam in Canada... "preaching"...

Imam Shaban Sherif Mady: “The Prophet Muhammad told us that Constantinople would be conquered. This was the capital city of the Byzantine Empire. I am talking about prophecies from the sunna. Where is Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire? Today, it is in Turkey.   “Turkey, Montenegro, Kosovo, all the way to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia… All these countries were ruled by the rightly guided Caliphate, the last Caliphate of the Muslims. [It ruled] about half of Europe, in the East, and then the other half, in the West, the countries of Al-Andalus: Spain, Portugal, and part of France, all the way to the Ural Mountains. All this was an Islamic Caliphate. “Constantinople will be conquered. It is the Prophet Muhammad who said so. And what was Constantinople? Just like the Vatican today, it was the capital of all the Christians in the world. It was conquered and became Turkey. The Hagia Sophia became a great mosque, where Allah is worshipped. “The prophecies of the Prophet Muhammad came true. But some prophecies have not come true yet. Look forward to it, because the Prophet Muhammad said that Rome would be conquered! It will be conquered. Constantinople was conquered. Rome is the Vatican, the very heart of the Christian state. When and how? You and I, who suffer of psychological defeatism, cannot fathom that. But people of faith have will, power, and understanding, and they know that the Prophet’s hadith is true, for he does not speak on a whim.”

I told Ross that organized anything is projection of power... I did not believe in organized religion... But he could not divorce himself from the clutches of his life long learning... We had serious discussion about Jesus... telling; "Go and preach the word of God..." I told him it was abused and that's how colonialism was justified... "The White man's burden..." He listed and I knew that deep down, in his heart, he agreed with me...
I often times contrasted the love-based Christianity to the "eye for an eye..." Judaism... I tried to show him that the New Testament is a radical and revolutionary departure from the Old... and wandered why the Bible lumps them together...

Islam was another issue... I told him that Islam is believed in the forceful
spread of the teachings of the Prophet... I told him; "They believe that virgins are waiting for them in heaven... That's why they go for suicide bombing... Their religion preaches that..."

"Who is waiting for them if the suicide bombers are females...?" He questioned... 

I did not know the answer for that... ! Maybe the Muslim preachers do not know the answer for that too...!

But Ross was supportive of the kids in The Middle East... He said; "They are victims and the violence is not their fault... It is not their doing..."

He wanted to help them and at school he helped the Muslim students... He brought them together and facilitated their prayer during the day... He gave them time during the lunch break to bring their prayer mats to the chapel and pray... 

He helped them in any way he could...  
He was full of love... and he wanted love... peace... and harmony in the world... He hated the wars... he hated violence even as a sport...

***

... And a Heart Warming Moment...

This young fan in a photograph that spread on social media has been identified as Murtaza Ahmadi, a five-year-old boy who lives in a Taliban-controlled area of Afghanistan...
The kid is a football fan... admires Messi... The shirt was made by his brother, from a plastic bag...


Murtaza, whose father admitted he could not afford to buy him a replica jersey, said he had only a punctured ball to play with in his village in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province.


But now he has the real jersey... Once the photo was identified... Messi, the Barcelona forward... signed one of his jerseies and through United nations agencies sent to the kid...

The kid was happy before... I am sure he is happier now... Maybe Messi and his club can sent him few footballs too... With love and compassion everything is possible...

But then... Diogenes walking around with a lantern during the day... Looking for man and woman...

Schlumberger Limited is the world's largest oilfield services company and employs approximately 105,000 people world wide... Representing 140 nationalities working in more that 85 countries... It has four principal executive offices located in Paris, Houston, London, and the Hague... (from Wikipedia)   The oil prices have tumbled world wide... The company's revenue was down 27%... Profit plunged 41%... But still the company earned huge sums of money... They profited... So the CEO of the company, Paal Kibsgaard, in 2015 received total compensation for his services worth $18.5 million... As they say on the street... A shitload of money...! But,  ... the rest of the Schlumberger workers did not fare as well as the CEO... The company cut 25,000 jobs during the year...  The CEO received $18.5 million for cutting 25,000 jobs...!

Ross Danced in Union Station... and Diogenes Moments...

Ross and I did not have a rigid schedule when we met... We did not plan our visits to the downtown core... where the entertainment venues are located... where we knew that we could have a bite and a drink... We just met together at one of the underground hubs... and took it from there... We believed in spontaneity and scheduling things restricted creativity and enjoyment... We  believed in the moment... and wanted to do whatever the moment suggested... before and after the main attraction... a play, or a concert, or a ballet, or an opera... or just a walk in the downtown core... just a walk after the happy hour, after our meal... our drinks...
We roamed... purposefully purposeless... and we winged through time and space... in those moments Ross was at his creative best... He was ingenious... He acted well knowing that I will support him... 
We usually met at Union Station... the downtown hub for trains and the subway... It is a wonderful building... spacious and high ceilings... Ross loved the Station... When he was younger the family visited the city travelling by train from Montreal... and now he took the train to Montreal to stay with his brother... for a weekend... may be few weeks... He loved Montreal... he was familiar with the streets... But that's for another day...

  

Union Station... a glorious venue... a friendly place... the start of our afternoon adventure...

The Union Station was familiar to Ross... in fact, he felt at home in the building... actually he felt more than at home in the Station...
And one day we met there for a roaming afternoon and night in the city...
Ross complained that I was late... that he was waiting for about thirty minutes... But he was happy... His eyes twinkled and I was sure he was up to something... Rossian trick to begin the afternoon... 
Right after greeting me and complaining for his wait... he directed my attention to the sound of a violin playing joyful tzgan-gypsy music... He knew that I love the violin and the cello and also tzgan music from the Balkans... 

 

Ross had no inhibitions... and he began dancing to the tzgan music...

 Ross teased me... " Did you know that the Balkans... is a beautiful place... on the Mediterranean... blue waters and high cliffs and good food and tzgan music..." He was repeating some phrases from an old conversation... that we had before...

He directed us to the corner where an elderly guy was playing the music... He had placed the violin case open in front of him and sitting on a stool was entertaining the passers by...

"He is playing beautiful music...," Ross whispered aloud... He wanted me to get into the mood... and we listened a tune... Rossed tossed all the coins that he had in his pocket... Ross always tossed coins to people on the street... homeless people and street entertainers... 

The older guy began a lively tune... Ross waited for few notes... He looked at me... He waited for few more notes... and suddenly darted in the middle where the open violin case was resting... and he began to dance... He jumped and hopped... laughing aloud... He circled the violin case... and I did not have much choice... I began clapping... with the rhythm of the gypsy... and Ross got encouraged... He jumped higher... opened his arms and laughed... 

People gathered... They clapped with me... and Ross continued... The music stopped... and people applauded... Ross was very happy and the older musician was happier... people put lots of bills in the open case... 

 

We waited for few minutes and went to Royal York Hotel... for our happy hour... 

***
Diogenes walking around with a lantern during the day... Looking for man and woman...

Difficult to Imagine...?  A nationwide survey found Flint, Michigan residents paid the highest water rates in America.  Yes, for the privilege of drinking that disgusting, contaminated, in fact poisonous water, the folks of Flint paid about $864 a year, almost three times the US national average... This image provided by FlintWaterStudy.org shows water samples from a Flint, Michigan home. The bottles were collected, from left, on Jan. 15 (2), Jan. 16 and Jan. 21, 2015. ... And Flint residents paid the highest rate in the US for the dirty and contaminated...  not-safe-for-human-use... in fact, poisonous water... Because the Governor wanted to save money... on the back of the poor folks of Flint...  Big Brother scam...?

And...

"The water is just terrible and unbearable," say the residents... in St. Joseph, Louisiana...

On some days, the tap water in St. Joseph, Louisiana is the same rusty color as the water tower.     The residents complain...   But the municipality insists that the water is safe since the brown colour is from iron content... which is 32 times higher than the regular (normal?) tap water...and it is okay... they say... since the Government guidelines allow iron to be present in the tap water...    The shower spews putrid yellow or brown water, at least once a week... and no one cares...!                    Will the bureaucrats bath or shower in this water...?  Iron or lead... it looks disgusting...

Question...

What Flint and St. Joseph have in common...?

Answer...

• Small towns... 
• Mostly black residents...
• Poor people...

...and both at the mercy of the Big Brothers in their towns... !!!

Ross Brought Spiked Orange Juice to Me... and Other Things...

Government bureaucrats and School Board apparatchiks... placed the Mathematics Department on life support... The teachers were instructed to follow all day seminars... So as government appointed teachers will teach our teachers how to teach... better...

I guess whenever the government feels pressured from parents comes up will ideas and lots of money to spend on things which will throw dust over the eyes of parents and victimize the teachers...

Teachers are always an easy target for scapegoating... No one loves or respects them... not even the students...!

So I was attending seminars 10-12 times each year... I had to attend because of my position... I was the Department Head... I was bored and I learned NOTHING new... But I had to attend... I had no choice... 

On one of these occasions I encouraged Ross to feel for one of the teachers... I knew that the teacher will be "sick" on that day... and Ross was a "mathematician without numbers..." 

He hesitated for a while... but eventually gave in to my encouraging pleas... he was going to attend...

So early in the morning we met at school and I dove us to the "seminar'  which was going to teach us how to teach... and all the rest of boring stuff... 

I wanted him to be there so as I may have something to do... Listening to almost nonsense all day is expecting too much ...
At lunch Ross winked and I did not know what he meant... Few minutes after he took a bottle of orange juice from his backpack... and gave to me... I realized what the wink was for... The orange juice was spiked and spiked real good... and Ross was happy like only a child can be... pure and zippy... He was indeed happy for his mischief...
Later he apologized to the Principal who had sniffed his mischief...
"I know him...," Ross said, "When he is not interested he will not listen to it... and I just wanted him to be normal... and get out of his boredom.
I know him and I know that he does not need anyone to teach him how to teach..." That was all the Principal would have from Ross...

Ross never gave up his rights... He never yielded to stupidity too... 

***

A friend sent an email...

When you were talking about how everything at the funeral was for the living, I totally agree with you. However, I find them very comforting. When I was still 22 I came home one morning from a party, obviously still disoriented and exhausted. I went to pick up my landline and call a friend in New York who was supposed to visit for the weekend but my cellphone started ringing. When I picked it up, it was another friend from PA and he told me I needed to sit down. That friend from New York had died in the night at a party. I was crushed. I collapsed and had to hang up and catch my breath. I couldn't breathe or speak or function for a good five minutes before I could call back. That friend who died was supposed to be with me! I had told him to switch the weekend! If he had been with me he wouldn't have been at that party!  The guilt that crashed on me like wave after wave made me feel like I was drowning. Obviously I went to the funeral in New York. Seeing all of that stuff for the living was a huge comfort. He's gone to a better place, a place where he doesn't need comfort. It was people like me who needed it. When I was walking up to his casket I collapsed, another friend caught me from behind. The only thing that got me through that line were the flowers and the distracting smells and music. Everything about those few days helped me realize though that there was nothing I could have done to stop this from happening. The people that spoke, I didn't care if they were being real or fake, I just needed to hear them so I could breathe again. So although these things are just for the living, it's the living who need it the most. It took me until recently to forgive myself. I still have his photo on my night stand.

Yes, Ross will agree with you also...
The ceremony and the flowers and the incense and the chants and the colours... in fact everything is created for the living...
The living can only create for the living... The living can only project forward whatever they know... and whatever they know springs from their experience... They have no clue what the dead person feels and if the dead person feels... The living people who have invented all the customs and the ceremonial departure... have projected their live knowledge... They have no clue what there is on the other side and how things are on the other side...

***

... and a Diogenes puzzle... 

Diogenes walking with the lantern in hand observed things... and of course asked questions about things...

They say India is the "world's largest democracy..." and it has always bothered me... that how come a system established in "castes" and a system which has the "untouchables" can be dubbed democratic...?
Yesterday, I was reading that at least 1000 females are acid attack victims in India every year... and it made me sad...
See few of the victims below...

Acid burns the skin and eats the flesh - acid attacks can blind and maim and leave a person's face disfigured and unrecognisable. In India it's estimated that there are 1,000 such attacks per year, maybe more... Can democracy exist where violence against women is tolerated by society...? A new initiative... In the shadow of the Taj Mahal a group of strong and determined women, all survivors of acid attacks, have come together to run a cafe and tell their stories to the customers... and to the world... "I even thought it would have been better if I had died," says Dolly an acid attack victim... pictured here. Now she wants to continue and study to become a doctor. Maybe even help bring democracy to India... I hope she will...

Ross told me once that "Democracy can exist only when the people are educated... He insisted that we read again Plato's Philosopher King... I agreed to reread Plato... Maybe you should too...