We lost someone this week. Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet who was referred to as the “national poet” of Palestine.

Darwish used his poetry to gain the attention of the world so they may understand the Palestinian movement and it’s problems of obtaining a solid state. The Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement “He started out as a poet of resistance and then he became a poet of conscience. He embodied the best in Palestinians… even though he became iconic he never lost his sense of humanity. We have lost part of our essence, the essence of the Palestinian being.”

If there was ever any trace of animosity in his words it was due to a substantial amount of frustration he felt as both a public figure and a refugee himself. Once stating “my homeland is not a suitcase,” Darwish showed that despite the struggle for placement of his people with Israel, their energy should be used for humanity. He was quoted as saying “The first step of real peace is to know the other side, its culture and creativity”.

A great example of this is his poem “He Is Calm, and I Am Too”

He is calm,
And I am too.
He drinks lemon tea,
And I drink coffee.
(this is the only thing different about us)
He, like me, wears a loose striped shirt,
And I stare, like him, in a monthly magazine.
He does not see me as I eye him discreetly;
I do not see him as he eyes me discreetly.
He is calm,
And I am too.
He asks the waiter for something;
I ask the waiter for something.
A black cat passes between us,
And I touch its night of fur;
He touches its night of fur.
I do not tell him: The sky is clear today,
More blue;
He does not tell me: the sky is clear today.
He is the seen and the one who sees;
I am the seen and the one ho sees.
I move my left leg;
He moves his right leg.
I hum the melody of a song;
He hums the melody of a song.
I wonder: Is he the mirror wherein I see myself?
Then I look towards his eyes, and I do not see him.
I leave the coffee shop in a hurry,
I think: Maybe he is a killer,
Or maybe he is only a man passing through
And though I am a killer.

His website says “[he] quietly left us…He was a beautiful human being, able to see what no one else can see: in life, politics, and even people, expressing his visions in a language that seems to be made only for him to write with.”

We need more people like Mahmoud. I think this earth has more people like Mahmoud, but they are afraid to come out of hiding. I don’t blame them.

One of the great things about being in an age where we can witness the advent of new ways of thinking (like the “green” movement), is how people and companies will use it – for good or profit? Sometimes corporations will claim a particular idea will be for good and that if they happen to make a few bucks, so what. That’s why they call it business. The flip side to that is how the population will react to such notions / inventions. Especially in the U.S. where ‘freedom’ is more than just a privilege, it’s a way of life to be strangled until it stops moving.

However, sometimes there are ideas that make sense, far outweighing the freedoms of those in need of it. An example is when Nissan came out with what they call the “Eco Pedal,” an option that will be on some of their models in the near future. Think of it as a gas pedal with eco-friendliness in mind:

Basically, through a series of computer chips and boards, it determines how you are pressing on the gas pedal and figures out how much gas is being used in relation. If you are accelerating too fast (wasting gas), the pedal “pushes back” in a way, limiting your ability to push too hard so you maintain an efficient acceleration-to-speed ratio. This, of course, saves your gas.

It doesn’t tell you how to drive, it just guides you to drive more efficiently. Will this be seen as a way of “being told what to do” in the land of the free? Probably, if it becomes a standard feature in all cars. But much like the speed limit and the safety belt being the law, the majority will hopefully just accept it with a red, white, and blue grain of salt.

Here’s to innovation for the greater good.

So I’m flipping through one of several blogs and sites I do daily and come across this little gem via NYTimes about waterboarding. Apparently, at the magical (and usually stinky) Coney Island, there is a sideshow that shows you what waterboarding looks like.

On the front is Spongebob Squarepants getting interrogated while saying “It don’t Gitmo better!” (insert awkward chuckle here). Viewers climb up the stairs in the front, insert a dollar (where the arrow is) and look through the barred window to…well, they explain it better. From the article:

The “figures” are animatronics like you saw as a kid at Chuck E. Cheese, only way scarier.

Yeah, we truly live in some fucked up times.

Full article here.