Benevolence

The power of forgiveness is as difficult and challenging to practice especially when caught off guard. Take for instance the store owner who showed mercy. In these desperate times desperate measures are sought by a few which by no means should ever be condoned.

This scene caught on a security camera played out on the ‘Today’ show, broadcasted on NBC while I heartily gobbled my breakfast.

But here it is. A father stealing to support his starving family, in the gloom of the darkness and shrouded in a mask and armed with a bat barges into a convenience store. The store owner having none of it retaliates with a shotgun from behind the counter only to be faced with sobbing man. A hazy close up shot depicts the joining of hands begging to have his life spared in a prayer like gesture. Extremely haunting.

Literally holding the would be-robber’s life in his hands, the benefactor instead handed him forty dollars along with a loaf of bread and made him promise never to commit it ever again. This act of kindness moved me so much showing that here in this world in a time of so much tumultuous troubling times the best of humanity is still prevails.

This immediately resonated with Victor Hugo’s tale of redemption in his epic novel ‘Les Misérables’. The central character Jean Valjean was so grateful and repentive when his benefactor, Bishop Myriel, bestows even more kindness when Valjean wrongs him. Not only is he released from these charges but is given two silver candlesticks. This changes him forever and repays this act of forgiveness and kindness forward later in life and thus is redeemed.

I do hope that I shall make this an example should a similar situation ever arise in my life that will make a difference to another human being’s destiny. Just like that of Mohammad Sohail from the Shirley Express convenience store showed us on that fateful night in Garden City, New York.

As I finish my thoughts on the subject of forgiveness, let us not ever forget the young men who laid their lives on the shores during the Invasion of Normandy that commenced on June 6, 1944.


And now we pay our respects to these brave men and women courtesy of “This week with George Stephanopoulos” aired during week of May 31, 2009
Army MAJ Jason E George, 38, of Tehachapi, CA
Army 1LT Leevi K Barnard, 28, of Mount Airy, NC
Army SGT Paul F Brooks, 34, of Reedsville, WV
Army CWO Brent S Cole, 38, of Reedsville, WV
Army SFC Brian Naseman, 36, of New Bremen, OH
Air Force Lt Col Mark E Stratton II, 39, of Houston
Air Force SrA Ashton L M Goodman, 21, of Indianapolis
Navy CDR Duane G Wolfe, 54, of Port Hueneme, CA
Army 1SG Blue C Rowe, 33, of Summers, AR
Army SPC Chad A Edmundson, 20, of Williamsburg, PA



May happiness reign for all of us who live life and live it to the fullest and never forget those who have moved to the spiritual plane. How beautiful this world is and how much we must treasure it.

Tribute to Memorial Day

At the eve of Memorial Day, my thoughts and prayers go out to all soldiers who have passed away or are with their loved ones. Every Sunday on the segment of “In Memoriam” from “This Week with George Stenanopoulos”, and before heading for my ritual to heading to mass, my heart goes out to all families who have lost a daughter, wife, son, husband, mother or father.
The following are the names released by the Pentagon:-
Army SPC David A Schaefer Jr, 27, of Belleville, IL
Army SSG Esau l De la Pena-Hernandez, 25, of La Puente, CA
Army SGT Carlie M Lee, III, 23 of Birmangham, AL
Air Force 1st Lt Roslyn, L Schulte, 25, of St. Louis, MO
So many who will not be returning to their homes have had their names displayed every week and month ever since I began watching this particular airing on ABC. I so much admiration for what this nation has accomplished, none of this would have been possible were it not for the valiant unsung heroes fighting for its ideologies. And so I have taken it upon myself to pay my respects to the fallen soldiers during this brief pause to cease whatever my activities are and say a short prayer for all of them.
And so being in the United States of America for only eight years, I hope that all of you will join me and raise a toast for the brave men and women serving at battle fields far away and to all who have perished so valiantly so that we are all safe!!!!

I had a dream

An alternate universe cycle that runs in parallel to what I envision my life to be, but do not take it as my present to be as – how can I put it….dreary – but a part reality and part fantasy in this beautiful city of New York.

It will encompass my thoughts on mostly the nuances of pop culture, lavish events, enlightening seminars, excerpts of skewered views of political so called ‘talking heads’ and even the mundane daily activities.

But before it rolls out the welcoming carpet to a delightful yet intriguing Pandora box of Manhattan, my journey began halfway round the world in the beautiful paradise island of Bahrain.

Once considered as the Garden of Eden and the legend that it gave birth to the Tree of Life it is where part of my heart and soul still resides to this day.

Presently it is in the middle of the night and while I am in deep slumber right in the heart of New York City, I am sweeping over the sandy dunes of the little island as a falcon until the capital of Manama appears. But it is not the Bahrain of 2009 but of 1990. I am at peace, which is surreal, perhaps subconsciously being a precocious teenager leading a very sheltered life.

All the while the drone of the Big Apple is all around me until the crack of dawn and I am awake.

I go to the window and view the horizon which is New Jersey. Another day, cars and buses appear as moving dots on a miniature trail. What are people in them thinking of while they view the Manhattan skyline across from the Hudson River?

Smiling while taking a deep breath, I think to myself how lucky I am to be in the most beautiful city in the world.