Friday, January 23, 2009

Email from Canada

Hi Priscilla,

Uzma and I watched and very much enjoyed the whole inauguration...Amazing ceremony. When Omer [age 10] came back from school he wanted to watch the whole thing on computer.

Tomorrow Omer will be sharing his favorite sentence from Obama's speech with his teacher and classmates, "the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness". He wrote this in his school agenda.

During our evening walk, Omer, Danial and I spoke about the difference between kingdom and democracy. We concluded "King stay until he dies and then nominate his son, and in democracy PEOPLE send "the bad guy" to Texas :) and Danial [age 7] says, in Helicopter :)

There are many challenges for Obama but the HOPE is there.

Aamir

7 comments:

Cheryl said...

What a wonderful father your friend appears to be.

It is uplifting to feel hopeful..

I'm so used to feeling cynical about the political leaders in our country, it took me by surprise to find myself actually entertaining the feeling of hope, for both our country, and mankind in general.

Biddie said...

Enjoyed the children's perspectives on the inauguration - I hope that Obama can chart a peaceful path for us.

Aamir said...

"Human Being as a Guest House"
by Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi, A Sufi Poet

This being human is a guest house
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Cheryl said...

Aamir, that poem is lovely. Thank you for posting it.

Maria said...

Greetings to everyone. I have enjoyed all these comments about the inauguration. Thank you very much indeed, Aamir, for this wonderful poem by Rumi. It is very wise. Thank you, Priscilla, for opening this discussion since the inauguration.

Priscilla said...

Thank you, Aamir, for the poem by Rumi. That is an interesting perspective, to let all those things in ... but I think the door should be kept open so they can go out again. Some bad attitudes might like to hang around. How do we persuade them to be off? Or should we remain passive? I have been meaning to read Rumi's poetry.Is it in Persian or Arabic? What translation do you prefer?

Biddie said...

What a subtle philosophical way to view one's feelings and moods. Not many people would be able to have the maturity to approach life this way.

I was wondering which language that the poem was translated from?

Also, I wondered, if in that language, the lines had any cadence/meter or rhyming patterns?