All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts…. William Shakespeare
A Photograph from my travel in Tanzania, Zanzibar
We start and end at starting lines. Every second is a new starting line. We can choose to start or end as we go. We can change directions, we can try different roads, we can always return or drive back, but we can not guarantee finding things to remain the same. And sometimes they can be even better than before. We can not expect. We can not overpower ourselves to what is unknown, this will always lead us to disappointment. We must give up all expectations and demands to life, we should ask with kindness, look with hope, accept with compassion. Whenever it is hard we later reach a point we feel blessed & grateful. So stop wasting ur time just standing there where u r… Move forward, or backward, try different things until things work out for you, don’t be too fixed with one thought. Be open to things that might be even much better. 
“Destiny doesn’t mean that your life has been strictly predetermined. Therefore, to leave everything to fate and to not actively contribute to the music of the universe is a sign of sheer ignorance. The music of the universe is all-pervading and it is composed on forty different levels. Your destiny is the level where you will play your tune. You might not change your instrument but how well to play is entirely in your hands.” Another great one by The Sufi mystic & Islamic scholar Jalal ad-Din Rumi – Rule#29 from the book 40 Rules of love by Elif Shafak – Read more below.
Two years ago, the following question occurred to me:
What is the difference between Destiny and Fate?
Why does everyone keep saying, this is your destiny, or this is just fate? what is the difference anyway? And if things are meant to be then what are we fighting for?
I kept searching for answers, asking people I love, people I felt are wise, people who I was interested to hear their input. I started to evaluate life, incidents, accidents, and concluding. After few month of living the question, answers starting coming to me. How? Serendipity filled my life. Coincidence, luck or call it Destiny or Fate started to take place. Things that were a little bit fortunate or unfortunate but at that specific time it all seemed to have a language of its own. Bumping into loved ones, bumping into long time acquaintance, getting into the most unimaginable accidents, and even meeting new people who end up changing my life.
Yes, all of the above happened to me within literally less than a month, I felt I can predict reasons, but then with time, it showed me different reasons, and so I realized that reasons either change according to time or they are simply always unpredictable even when they are predictable.
So i came down to the following conclusion: Fate; is what you have no control over; your parents, your siblings, your class mates, your kids, acquaintances, accidents, gifts, location etc… Destiny; is how you deal with them, where you take your relationship to, how you establish or sustain, how you act; positive or negative, how you feel; lucky or unlucky.
And Like Rumi puts it in the above quote: Fate is your instrument, it can not be changed for it is given to you, but how you play this instrument is your destiny, your choice, to use it or not to use it, to become a musician or to just frame it for display. To make beautiful memorable piece, or to make noisy and harsh piece. Your fate is what you have no choice over, your destiny is how you decide to act upon it.
Dream World is right here where you are, if you only look at it without looking at the future. The Quote “if you change your mind you can change your world” is true, not only true but accurate. If you feel unhappy then it is time to reflect, time for space, time for observing our pattern of thoughts. What is leading to unsatisfied feelings? Pattern of thoughts that need to be rearranged, looked at from different angles. Trust the power within to transform your own life.
In life, we face the days that we can’t remember because they went by so quick, and the days that we will always remember because they truly carved in. Sadness & happiness are feelings that leave marks in us. They make us and create us and change us. We hold on to what carves into us, but some of us hold on too tight for too long that turn it into an attachment. Attachments become painful to let go, and therefore start to harm us.
By learning to accept; things be as they come, time frame is as is, not trying to control or change things but instead change within and be part of any process. Faith is all there is, we have been brought to life to experience, to learn and to grow, to expand and to change, nothing is the result of anything except what we wish to hold on to. Evaluate your life, yourself from time to time, and let go of what you have held on to for too long; that has not been serving you.
As Rumi once said:
“No matter what plans you make, no matter what you acquire, the thief will enter where you least expect. Be occupied, then, with what you really value and let the thief take something less. When a trader’s bales fall into the water, he’ll try to grab the most valuable things. Some things will certainly be lost as the water of life flows away. Let go of the cheap stuff and work to save what’s really important. Mathnawi II 1505-1509”
It was a Saturday, one freezing Saturday, rained half of the day, I was in a car with 3 people, followed by another car and a small truck. We drove into a rustic area, filled with mud, and it looked so squishy and pale. A place that screams out poverty, as sadness walks into our hearts. We parked our cars and started walking towards a blue door, a United Nations school, as we walked into the school, I saw simple drawings on the walls but the drawings felt lifeless. I tried my best to keep my thoughts inside my head and be patient to see and learn more about this place. We were welcomed by a very sweet lady that had the hijab on and worked for the PCRF, she warmly welcomed us and seated us, and another 2 men walked into the meeting room as they all started to tell us about the camp and the unjust and unfair living situation. With every word that came out of their lips, they managed to yet keep a positive energy around them, words of hope and wisdom. They sarcastically spoke about the basic human rights that they are unfortunate to, they are so hopeless yet have accepted their conditions and living standards and continue to “silently” demand the respect of simply being human. They spoke about the discrimination towards them and what they encounter in their daily lives as refugees living in refugee camps “of-course not by choice” and are not entitled to any nationality and have no rights to own a passport “also not by choice”. As they were speaking, I drifted in terrified wonder, I suddenly realized that I can no longer feel my nose for it felt frozen, and so I started gazing with my eyes wide open at the people who came with me if any of them seemed to be experiencing the same cold. I then noticed the smoke coming out of their mouth while they spoke. It was freezing in there.
I then started to hear voices of children, running around, and playing, sounds of laughter, and answers to questions, I started to think about what could the reasons be to have a United Nations school function in the cold with no heat. I started to question myself about who would be responsible for this school? Is it just an architecture with no supervision? Are schools supposed to be mandatory warm when it is cold outside? Or did I just happen to misunderstand the full concept of life and human rights?
It was last weekend, when I joined a beautiful group of people who took part of the project To Rebuild Gaza that aimed and succeeded in collecting and fundraising blankets, winter clothing’s and gas heaters for the Gaza Refugee Camp in Jordan.
It was my first time to go and visit the Gaza Refugee Camp or what is also known as “the Jarash Refugee Camp“. At first I thought most people were from Gaza, “a city in Palestine” and so are called the Gaza Refugee Camp, but to my surprise I learned that those are refugees of the occupied territories in Palestine “Unfortunately what is known today as Israel” who were forced like many other families to leave their homes and cities, and so those Palestinians ended up refugees in Gaza during the 1948 nightmare of the Israeli occupation. In the 1967 conflict those families had to leave Gaza to Jarash, and this, is how the Gaza refugee camp was formed in Jordan.
“What about Human rights?”
While the group I was with started organizing the items and calling in families to give them what they needed for winter, I decided to stay and play with the kids. The kids were incredible, so much energy, and laughter, they were all in slippers and with no jackets, and did not seem to feel cold or complain at all. They seemed to be so happy to meet new people running around from one person to another. There were already few foreign volunteers there playing with the kids. I had my camera with me, and the kids started to play with it and pose for me to photograph them.
Those kids are adorable, not only adorable, they are beautiful, they want to have fun, they want to color, and draw, they want to communicate, they want to challenge one another, they want to be part of life. They are Human. Why is it that things are not the same for them? Why is it that they have no rights to feel belonging? Why is it okay for the people who were responsible for them being refuges to never ask about them?
I understand that the universal deceleration to Human Rights was created by the United Nations back in 1948 exactly when Palestine went through “Al Nakba” where over 700 thousand Palestinians were forced to leave their homes during the Israeli war of independence. I understand that the United Nations was established in October of 1945 during the time the British were helping thousands of Jewish immigrants enter Palestine from the World War II without taking into consideration the results of all the refugee Palestinians. I understand that the United Nations was established with a goal to prevent another conflict to happen like the World War II while they were the ones behind the resolution 181 that ended in allowing Palestine that was fully inhabitant by Palestinians “Muslim, Christian and Jewish” to become a Jewish state and the state of Israel. I understand that the above is the result of 2,097,338 registered Palestinian refugees in 10 refugee camps in Jordan, 449,957 registered Palestinian refugees in 12 refugee camps in Lebanon, 526,744 registered Palestinian refugees in 11 refugee camps in Syria, 762,288 registered Palestinian refugees in 19 refugee camps in the West Bank, and 1,258,559 registered Palestinian refugees in 8 refugee camps in Gaza that were all setup and are all running by the United Nations. What I don’t understand is how the United Nations have failed to find a solution for all the refugees they have set up, and how the Palestinians until today do not have the basic rights to return to their homes, and how the United Nations is one of the factors for the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian war that defeats its own purpose.
What about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights created by the United Nations in 1948 exactly when all those refugee camps were also setup? What about all those refugees who are not entitled to any of the following:
For original link and full articles of the above Human Rights Click Here. And I repeat…..What about the people in refugee camps? What about the kids who were born in refugee camps? or are they not part humankind?
Believe it or not, but speaking from what I know of the Palestinians living in refugee camps, they are not entitled to 80% of the above human rights declared by the United Nations and yet all the refugee camps are set up by the United Nations…
So is there an exit plan to your business plan? Do you have a solution? Or maybe a solution to the problem you created? Or are those who create the rules are really permitted to break them?
For more information on To Rebuild Gaza who are fundraising towards building a pediatric cancer department in Gaza with the PCRF “The Palestinian Children Relief Fund” and also are creating a great awareness campaign towards the last attack on Gaza that killed over 2000 Palestinians from Gaza, visit their website or facebook page. To read more facts and information about the Gaza Refugee Camp click on this link SamarTravels.
Saturday, November 8th 2014
Solothurn, Switzerland
Where do I start from; for the love of architecture ? this town is breathtaking. It is all about the details, about the little pretty things, it is colorful, full of authentic colors, and beautiful people walking around, you would sense they should be in some sort of a costume, but they are not. The tiny shops, the bicycles, the flowers, the windows, the doors, the river… I kept wondering how do the people live here? It is such a small city, but it brings happenings into your heart, unless it is because I haven’t explored the outside of the center. Anyway, if you ever visit Switzerland, try your best not to miss visiting this unforgettable city that is just about 2hours away from Zürich by train.
Life is too short to keep hiding in a box, get out there, be out there, share your wisdom your happiness your positive thoughts and feelings. Where will you go if you stay inside your box? Afraid of consequences and rejection? What is life without them ? So what if things didn’t work out a zillion times? but you have gained trying, experiencing, living. Live, love, laugh, enjoy, breath, play and share. Get out there, get out from your box. The only rules there, are those you have set for yourself, the only limits are, this you have drawn for yourself. Life was made for you to sculpt with. If you choose what you think is right verses what you feel is right then it is your choice. Sculpt life the way you feel it is right, sculpt because you can make a difference, because it is made for sculpture, because you feel for a reason. Have a wonderful day, starting with positive thoughts, feelings and wishful thinking. ❤️🙏
Razan Masri 