Washington DC

The saying that if you visit a city in the united States then you visited the whole United States does not apply on Washington DC city. From all the cities in the United States, Washington DC stands out as a very unique because of its historical heritage. Particularly because of all the historical buildings and museums that explain the story of the establishment and progress of the United States.

Every time I visit the city, I make sure to have a meal in a small cafe across from the National Air and Space museum, before touring that museum which is my favorite place in that great city. I think that I am emotionally attached to that place because of my childhood upbringing. Growing up, I was fascinated by the nuclear and space race between the Americans and the Soviets. It is just nostalgic as well as fun for me to see by my own eyes samples of the nuclear arsenals and spaceships that once were hidden from the public for security reasons.

Well, enough talking about DC. Where are we now? In Virginia still celebrating Christmas. One of my gifts for my brother in law was creating him a blog. If you like theology, the queen of all sciences as he usually likes to point out, then you have to check it out the bard de duke. The guy has something important to say. Good luck Philip!

My Christmas Gifts

There is something fundamentally good about receiving a gift. I can not put my finger on it. May be it is the anticipation about what is inside that colorful box or the emotionally attached meaning that one is really loved and that someone out there really happy that I exist in this world. Growing up, we really never had the tradition of exchanging gifts. When I was young, I had Santa coming to visit me few times but sure enough, I prematurely figured out that Santa does not really exist. I cannot really remember how did I reached to that conculsion early on in my childhood, but I know that the fact that we do not have chimneys in Jordan had something to do with it.

The first time, I celebrated Christmas in the United States was few years ago. I was appalled by how commercialized Christmas was. Particularly, I could not believe how much Americans spend on buying gifts that they do not really like to others who really do not need them. I told my host family that year, that once I have a family of my own, that I won't embrace this crazy tradition of buying many gifts. This year, we decided to celebrate Christmas with the wife's family. My wife who is usually smarter than me bought our gifts when we were in Jordan last summer, so that was a relief. But to tell you the truth, there is another part in me who missed the frenzy of shopping in malls for this Christmas. There is just something nice and right about enjoying the season and this holiday time of the year.

Yesterday and as I opened all those beautifully wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree, I felt like a little sleepy child who's so excited for the gifts and tired in the same time for not sleeping the night before waiting for Santa's long anticipated visit. Today, I am a different person. I feel as a mature grown-up man. Not only I believe that I should celebrate Christmas, but also believe that Santa Claus truly exists.

Christmas: Joy to the World or a personal crisis time

Psychologists and Psychiatrist know it well, Christmas is the busiest time of the year for their practices. But why do people get depressed or anxious during this joyful time? Two reasons I believe. A holiday time is really about ones' family getting together. For some of us, this is a depressing reminder of ones'
dysfunctionall family, a deceased father or mother or the family that they have never had or will never have.

To add to this, the combination of Christmas and the end of the year only makes things harder. If you like me, and once had a 15 itemed-list of goals to
accomplish last year, then this can be a depressing time as well. People
look at these lists and discover that they have accomplished none or very few of their personal goals and dreams. They did not go to work out and failed to get rid of these extra pounds and the story goes on. The truth is that people tend to value themselves according to their accomplishments and the end of the year is a brutal time of accountability.

Is there an advice that I like to give. Yes. Understanding the spiritual meaning of Christmas and the power of personal reflection can be a great help. Remembering the Prince of Peace who was born to make our world a better place and reaching out to those who are less fortunate will make this holiday season a very special one.
Merry Christmas every body. Shifaa

Jordan Planet's subconscious effort to avoid talking about Iraq's new election!

Kinzi, a no nonsense common commentator on the Planet's posts had an interesting observation about Jordan Planet's bloggers. She said," any idea why no Jordanian bloggers talking about Iraq's elections? There are proud purple fingers all over the city, a higher than expected turn-out, and lot's said on Iraqi blogs, but no comments from the neighborhood!"

Any body out there in the Planet have an idea explaining this subconscious mystery? May be Freud was right after all when he said, "what is unspoken becomes unspeakable!"

Redemption and the Death penalty

I could not sleep yesterday as I heard the news about the execution of Stanley Williams, a founder of a gang group in Los Angeles. Stanley also was charged with the murder of four people in the Los Angeles area in 1979. Since then Stanley changed his life while he was in prison and authored 10 books from Death Row. His message was simple and clear: Violence is never a solution. He urged young gang kids to get out before it destroys them and the lives of their family members.

So what did the world gain yesterday of taking another life away and what is really the logical sense behind the death penalty? This man might not be a good man but I am sure that 99% of the population would be content if he could have spent the rest of his life in a prison cell. And how can we ever know if he really committed these crimes. There have been 128 individuals (In America)who were on the Death Row and were proven later on to be innocent.

This is the world that we live in today. A world that has no recognition or understanding of redemption. Redemption, in other words, has no place in the justice system. Our earthly justice system offers no path for conversion. Once marked for condemnation, an offender destiny is fixed. May be I am wrong, I just happen to believe in second chances, we all need those. Shifaa

The Coptic Minority in Egypt

If the Egyptian Coptic minority makes 8% of the total population of Egypt's population according to governmental records (20% according the Coptic church), how come they got only one elected member in a parliament made of 454 members? I mean if the banned Muslim Brotherhood which made spectacular gains securing 20% of the parliament seats accused the ruling party of systematic process of preventing their members from voting, why do not we hear anything about the Coptic minority's political struggle? May be Copts are too quite and peaceful that nobody takes them seriously!

Would you say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays"?

Would you say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas? If you think that this is not really an issue, you might be wrong, not in America at least. It is the finals week and I have not been following the news lately, but my wife told me yesterday that there was a rare attack on President Bush from his religious conservative base. The attack came after President Bush and his wife Laura used the "Happy Holidays" greeting instead of "Merry Christmas" on their personal Christmas greeting cards.

Religious groups and individuals believe that there is an intentional campaign led by liberal groups to take "Christ" from the "Christmas" holiday replacing it into a "X-mas one." On the other hand, liberals and secularists agree with Freud that religious people are neurotic at best and they liked to be perceived as the persecuted ones. Who is right and who is wrong? I do not really know. I only wish that those who stand on the extreme sides of any society will focus on more important issues, such as reaching out to people who are in need for food in this special time of the season. Two thirds of the people of our world today live on 80 cents a day.Shifaa

One of the kidnapped peace activists is a fellow blogger......

One of the kidnapped peace activists (Tom Fox) is a fellow blogger. You can tell clearly from his compassionate writings about the kind of person that he is. His latest post was in November 8th and I hope that this post won't be his last one. My prayers also go to him and his family at this time.

On the other hand,it was uplifting news today to hear the released statement by several Palestinian Political Parties asking for the release of the four kidnapped peace activists. You can read the statment in English and Arabic on Khaled's blog.

The puzzling questions of the day are, why a group that describes its mission as a " "truth telling" mission recounting the stories of ordinary individuals in areas of conflict is a target for such violent attacks and how cheap kidnappers and insurgents are willing to go to hurt decent people? This is just appalling to my little mind. Shifaa