September 11 – How do we honour the fallen?

It goes without saying that 11 September 2001 is a momentous day in modern history.

Regardless of who you believe is responsible and who you believe should be “punished”, the fact remains that many people lost their lives senselessly on that day.

I’m am sad to see that instead of uniting against more senseless death, we have taken upon ourselves the mandate of causing more of it in the name of the war on terror. Something as traumatic as war, both for the soldiers and the civilians, is certainly no solution to terror.

The definition of terror is an “overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety”. And while for many 9/11 did elicit such a feeling, it was also a time that demonstrated what we are capable of when we pull together as a community. The many acts of kindness and selflessness performed during this time speak volumes about what we could do if we worked “for” instead of “against”. Instead of pulling together and continuing in this direction, we have accepted more human rights violations, more war and more division among humans.

Americans have become more paranoid and have been starting to act like victims and are surrendering to the messages sent by sensationalistic media and out-of-touch government. It was interesting to observe the wariness of American travelers around me and my carry-ons in Bangkok airport on the way back to North America. We sitting on a gangway to the gates, had passed 3 security checks including a pre-check-in interview and yet, although I was sitting not two feet from my carry-ons, I saw many a worried face observing them as they passed.

When did we become a people of victims? Why are we retaliating wit more brutal force and causing more suffering when we know how it feels? Isn’t America meant to be a strong nation? Since when is true strength demonstrated by brute force and a disregard for principles and decency?

Do we need another catastrophe to remind us of the importance of community?

Let’s act now to honour the fallen by never allowing something like this to happen not just to us and our friends but to any one human being!

Reach out to a person in need, yourself, not through an agency. Be it a smile or a hug or buying someone a meal. It doesn’t have to be something big to be something that counts.

Can’t that be the lesson we take from 9/11?

(I know I am not a New Yorker or an American but I don’t think you have to be to understand 9/11.
I am a human and I live in the industrialised world and though it may sound naive, I think I have a good understanding of American style politics and thought.)

Happy Trails with Arie – as requested by Lindy

So in this, the latest installment of my travels, I have recently been a film extra in a Hollywood fil filming here in Bangkok. It’s called Shanghai and stars John Cusak, Gong Li, Ken Wattanabe and Chow Yun Fat scheduled for release at Xmas.

Now I never thought that of all places Bangkok would be where I would be a film extra if I ever were to be one but I cant say it was too bad of an experience.

I saw an ad on message board and I called the number. A few hours later I was on the set, way out in the northeastern suburbs, being dressed ina heavy wool tux (in the midst of Bangkok August!) which I then wore for most of the the next 12 hours and a minimum of 12 hours for the next 3 days. The pay was lousy and I couldn’t care less if i got on screen or not (unlike some who kept ruining shots and others who kept powdering their noses) but it was an interesting experience. More than anyone, I loved  watching the director of cinematography, Benoit Delhomme, at work. He was so intensely keen to get it right it was just inspiring.

Bangkok itself is grey and mostly dull unless you’re after shopping or sex but I’ve been lucky to meet interesting people there, mainly on the shoot, and now it remains to be seen if I will be staying here or returning to Canada to study.

Hope this is interesting to you all…

The inevitable financial crisis we are all faced with – an opportunity for social change?

If the world economy collapses we have no one to blame but ourselves.

A large part of our salaries go to one of two places: the government and corporations.

Having relinquished the power we have to those instutiutons through laziness, percieved helplessness or by espousing values that support “laissez faire”, it’s not surprising that the economy and in fact the world really doesn’t cater to what’s good for the people while allowing corporations to act sociopathically but still within the limits of the law.

We’ve propagagated environmental destruction and have accepted disregard for social welfare in the name of the potential for increased net worth and reduced personal responsibility and we’ve been sucked in by fear mongering to further stomp on civil liberties and government accountability.

If anything, this economic downturn is a good thing as is the increased price of oil. It’s an opportunity to re-evaluate what’s acceptable and what’s important. I’d like to see a positive change come from this unlike the opportunity we missed at 9/11.

Albeit a very traumamtic time for a lot of people, the social response of putting stranded strangers up in their homes, donating blood, food, blankets, time and the focus moving back from the “I, me, my” to the “we” was  a beautiful thing to see and unfortunately it dissipated all too quickly.

It would be a shame to see another opportunity slip through our fingers again.

Money is great but there’s only so much it can do and as we can see with Iraq and Afghanistan and record oil company profits it can do a lot more harm than good. What we need as human beings is clean air, clean water, shelter, food, clothing and a good bunch of people around us. And yes all those things take money but how much do we really need? I could go off on a tangent about reckless borrowing and credit card spending and its contribution to the current situation but I think it’s enough to say that those things have come from created needs for more and for bigger faster better. All marketing messages that appeal to our most basic urges but in the end really don’t help things.

Having travelled quite a bit, the happiest morst relaxed people I’ve seen are those who have less, not more.

I truly believe the best things in life are free. Hugs, sunsets, listening to the waves crash onto the shore….

Maybe I’m too “airy” , but honestly after much analysis these are my conclusions.

I hope I’ve contributed to this dialogue without undermining anyone or making an ass of myself…..

Cheers from Bangkok (where I am at least for now),

Arie

Us vs them – the best paradigm?

So I’ve been dealing with the question “Where are you from?” a lot since I
started travelling 15,5 months ago and I’ve been thinking a lot about the
relevance of the question and people’s reactions to it.

It’s hard to say. I can answer that question many ways. I’m from my mother’s
womb. I was born in Canada and my parents met there but they’re both from
Morocco and I don’t feel very Canadian. My family history goes back to
pre-Inquisition Spain and pre-Arabic Morocco. I’m Jewish. I’ve lived in
Canada, Israel, Australia and may well live in Thailand for a while. So far
off all those places I feel most at home in Melbourne but I don’t have
residency there so I don’t know if I can claim that as home.

So I usually answer “many places” but it doesn’t satisfy most people. What
is the answer do you think? And why does it matter? Why are we happier when
we are surrounded by people who happen to share the same geographical
vicinity as us and why is it then that Aussies don’t like being confused
with Kiwis and Cambodians with Vietnamese….I suppose it’s cultural and
historical but is it realy necessary and relevant today?

Why do imaginary lines on a map make or break who we are responsible to or
whom we like or dislike? Why can we say “I don’t care if the kids who made
my clothes are underage and work in bad conditions, they’re in China!” or
“Who cares if they factories they’ve built to produce goods for the
industrialised world are polluting India, I don’t live there.” and feel
justified?

Obviously it goes beyond lines on a map. We affiliate in ways the erode the
personal value of people based on the groupsthey belong to. We lose nuances
and sometimes even create identity issues because if it.

Take political parties or sexual orientation for example. Why do I have to
pick a party rather than a candidate and why is someone who won’t affilate
as purely gay or straight they’re the subject of suspicion or derision or
both?

Personally, I see the world as one big country and I value people for
themselves. But I’m trying to understand and I’d like to hear whatyou think.
Why do we need a “them”? Why can’t we just be an “us”?

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