It does disturb me all the news and activities that are lead by the Jordanian Left party against the Jordan Summer Festival. Their base point of objection is on the French multinational advertising and communications company Publicis who are organizing the event and who happened to be the organizer of the Israeli celebrations for their 60 years independance.

The truth is that even after more than 15 years old of a peace treaty between Jordan and Israel, the Israeli issue is still a very sensitive matter to the Jordanian people in particular and to the Arabic people at large. I would recommend more governmental advertisment aka the ones of Jordan first to help getting more acceptance and backing for the peace treaty, but that is all a different matter. The matter here is that the Jordanian Left party is using this sensitive issue in order to fail the Jordanian Summer Festival.

While our sub-democtaric system allows such social political movements, and I personally do respect freedom of speech and people’s right to stand for what they believe in, I find it sad to watch some democratic means help in not only damaging the image of Jordan but also the economical benefits that the government has been relying on out of this festival. It is one thing to object on a certain policy and to ask for a change, and another thing to call for a boycott and failure of a major event that had a lot of money spent on and a lot of hope and expectations were built upon.

So how much awarnace do people have of Publicis as a company? Does the Left Party know the amount of years this company has been serving the local Jordanian market? and we have any official statistics of their market share? I personally remember several awards they boasted in the newspaper last year after the Jordanian Ad Awards summit.

And are we start boycotting any multi/inter national company that deals with Israel? If yes, we would better off start with shutting down the computer we are working on! That would be more damaging to our economy, isn’t it? and would just raise our sense of patriotism and make us feel of how good of arabas and citizens we are!

People, object as much as you like, but please, please, please, try to build instead of destroy. Suggest alternatives, pressure to get what you believe is right, but don’t, don’t destroy any attempt that can possibly bring us more money under this difficult economic situation.

During the world economic forum at Davos, winner of the Nobel Prize for
Peace, Shimon Peres, told the following story.

A rabbi gathered his students and asked them: How do we know the exact
moment when night ends and day begins?

‘When it is light enough to tell a sheep from a dog’ said one
boy
Another student said: ‘No, when it is light enough to tell an olive tree
from a fig tree’
‘No, that is not a good definition either’.’
‘Well, what’s the right answer?’ asked the boys.

And the Rabbi said:
‘When a stranger approaches, and we think he is our brother, and all
conflict disappear, that is the moment when night ends and day begins.’

I quote the above from Paulo Coelho‘s book, ‘Like a flowing River’, and I ask myself how long would it take for the day to begin? When are we going to see the humanity in both the strangers and brother?

Would it be ‘betrayal’ highlighting the words of a leader of a nation that we call enemy? or is it wise to start looking into their human side and connect with it so that to elevate both of us to the nature of humanity in us that is longing for a normal life of love and peace?

“God doesn’t take that much trouble over the formation of a man who…”

That is a beautiful line, isn’t it? The second part continues within the context of the story in ‘The Pillars of the Earth‘ to explain how the guy with all that history of pain and education was meant to be a kind of preparation from God for him to take over a noble cause.

Regardless of my own belief, it does strike me the amount of truth this sentence hold in it. It does really take a good amount of formation for a man to shine. It is most probable for a man wiath much education, some travelling, and deep contact with humanly emotions to excel in life. Whether it is randomness that dictates someone to go through his path of enlightmenet, or it is a deity’s pre-set destiny,the outcome is the same. Randomness sounds like an unacceptable explanation, and I have minimum faith for the existance of a super natuaral deity.

The bottom line is that it is simply how nature goes. It goes beyond logic to have all the trouble of formation of someone who will end up being idle while he carries a lot of potential on his shoulders. For you, me, and others, just look at the events of your past and how much trouble it took in order to be in the state you are in today. It might be that your current position doesn’t reflect your true potential, and most probably something much better is hiding for you.

God doesn’t take much trouble over the formation of a man who won’t fullfil his role. It does make so much sense.

Isn’t it time to have some officials in our ministry of health who really know something about health and related scientific methods?

Read this: Al-Ghad’s newspaper article on homosexuality in Jordan

And then read this scientific opinion of a Dr. on 7iber: http://www.7iber.com/blog/2008/06/22/homosexuality-and-the-medical-opinion/

then stop and wonder of how safe are we with such professionals running our health ministry!

No wonder I was afraid to catch an infection when I had to take the health test for my ice cream shop at one of the ministry departments!

I have recently been entertaining myself with the idea of the linkage between gays and creativity. I discussed it with many people with different backgrounds and opinions, and I give it much though myself. In reality, there is a general notion – positive stereotype that is attached to gay people and link them to creativity.

Ofcourse generalizing among a set of people in any attribute whether it is positive or negative is prone to carry an amount of error. Stereotyping is a kind of generalization that is usually proved mistaken when measured upon individuals, but it can also carry some amount of truth for it doesn’t come up of no where.

I have found no real scientific studies/statistics that link homosexuality to creativity, but gays can be easily spotted in the creative industry locally and around the world. One would argue that creative industries are more tolerant for the differences of people, and thus gay people would find it easier coming out without hiding their sexual identities, but the observations of the numbers (which might be wrong) do indicate a larger ration of gay people in creative jobs than in society at large. A visit to a fashion house, advertising agency, or the faculty of art in a college might give a closer view.

Creativity itself is a wide concept. Wickipedia defines it as a mental process involving the generation of new ideas and concepts. Generation of new ideas is not limited on some considered to be creative industry. In every job, there is a space for creativity. People may shine anywhere. Claiming that only gay people are capable of being creative is absurd at least, but whether there a is correlation between the two attributes is something that is worth investigation.

A reasonable explanation of the creativity of gay people is that breaking the barriers of social rules that gay people has to go through in order to embrace their sexuality does leave them with no real boundaries that may limit their scope of thinking. Viewing society from a different perspective may be an advantage of a focal point for generation new ideas. Other non homosexual people who do break so social norms in a way or another are more likely to be creative than others who are limited with chains of inherited set of rules and ideas. It does explain the small ration of creative people in the Arab world compared to the western world for us trying to dictate every aspect of our lives through a set of rules attached to what we call our religion.

But does that explain the childhood emerged talents of creative people?

Some gay people prove their talent in their early childhoood before even realizing their sexuality and what does it mean. They show such talent without also having to break any social rule or defined constraint. I remember at the age of 10, one of my friends at school had the ability to draw a full features faces on the black board. I have no idea about his sexual orientation, but this is a living example of the emerging childhood talents.

Does childhood creativity indicates a genetic linkage? It may, and it may not. I sometimes wonder if there are a set of bundled genes that can come up togather which explains partially some stereotypes. I mean that there might be a linkage between a set of homosexual genes along of a set of creativity genes that may explain the attachment of gay people to creativity.

A simple reasoniong came from a religious view of a friend of mind: God takes something and gives something else instead, like having handicapped people being smart!

The explanation might sound offensive for gay people, as they don’t consider their sexual orientation a shortage that requires a compensation from God, and while there might be some smart handicapped people, it is absurd to generalize among them all. Still the notion of a bundled genes appears instinctly in such claim.

One other aspect that is worth mentioning here is the reasoning of the feminine side of gay men and the attachment of femininity to creativity. Claiming that gay men are more attached to their feminine side than straight men. While scientific studies proved some difference between the gay and straight brains, linking it to femininity is arguable. Besides, the whole argument is easily bounced by the amount of creative men through the history of humanity. How many of them were gay? That is impossible to prove.

Whether there is a link between being gay and being creative is arguable. Positive stereotyping may encourage more and more gay people to be more creative. Believing in something is a first step of achieving it. It is encourageable to positive stereotype oneself in order to get better achievments. Whether you are gay or not, positive stereotyping can be good for you, and does help your creative side shine.

Wooohooo, so I finally reached 30! It has been a long 10 years of being in my 20s! Started with good times at the university, then the struggle of finding a decent job and desperate unsucceful adaptation to long working hours, and finally to the slight maturity that comes with age at the end of my 20s.

Yes, some signs of age started to show up, some white hair here and there, a small bald started taking over my head, and a new wrinkle pops up around my eyes every couple of days, but all in all is good. I like some changes, they are gently appearing, no agressive attitude yet and they are accompanied with more self confidence, a better perception of life, and a growing happiness and appreciation of life.

It is my first time reaching 30. I never done it before as far as I remember – unless my previous incarnations hide it from my perception -. It is cool that human beings have the ability to measure the changes happening to them through the years. I am not sure if this is just me or not, but I really feel that my adulthood didn’t started when I reached my 18, my teenage started in my mid 20s, and I just recently started feeling being an adult! Maybe 18 is a bit exaggerating, but 21 sounds good for a mental age.

30 must be a good age, Jesus started his mission when he reached 30. That must says something. I heard that in heaven we all end up to be 32 years old, that tells something as well, right? It is the combination of youth and the start of maturity. A good enough strength along with a big ambition. Big dreams to take on the next coming years of my life at a time I realized that I am in full control and better awarnace of what I really want.

I wonder what my 30s are hiding for me, and ready to explore the exciting possibilities that are coming ahead. My life has been growing better every day, and my level of happiness has only been moving up each day. I look forward for more and more good days, and more and more ideas and experiences to share it with you guys.

Thank you all for being a part of my life. Each one adds a color to the picture of my life that makes it a real beautiful art work.