Sometimes it makes you feel better to laugh for the sake of laughter and if I know right; laughter is a good exercise for the heart, so laugh away people …

Isn’t that so cool? I want me one of those
I am putting this as a ring tone

Now; I really do not get it when people put themselves in danger line like that!!

This is a wild beast that will never be tame; the minute it got a chance it was allover the poor fellow and I guess he and the beast are dead now … why would he go in the cage anyway???

Scary

Don’t be surprised by the title … I was almost sure that I knew this myself until I was put face to face with an unfortunate situation that showed me that it does not really matter to the community how I rate myself when it comes to success and failure because each member of this large society has his/her own definition that depends only on their own views and beliefs.

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of failure is: nonperformance of something due, required, or expected. In Wikipedia, it is: failure refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective.
In Wiktionary, it is:
1. State or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, opposite of success.
2. An object, person or endeavor in a state of failure or incapable of success.
3. Termination of the ability of an item to perform its required function.

I find the above definitions clear and straight forward, however; when I started interpreting them according to what people classify as a failure, it was a totally different scene and one that might not only be vague but also blurry and confusing. I mean why even bother understanding what the word or the status means when almost everyone will judge you from where they are standing. It is not like being overweight because there are standards for that, it is not like being black or white, blonde or brunette or redhead, it is not like being old or young … all these things are easily detected and do not need our personal input to decide one way or another despite that our perspective might change how we deal with these things, but still; we cannot miss them. But when it comes to failure or success for that matter; how can one judge or decide if someone has succeeded or failed?

I see success and failure as two faces of the same coin, but what I fail to see is how to define the boundaries of this coin. What are the standards for success? What are the things that one has to achieve in order to be classified as successful? Is it position or money or fame or what exactly?

Everyone thought that Marilyn Monroe was so successful and that her life was glamorous, but it turned out that she was miserable and her life ended mysteriously with a global inclination to believe that she committed suicide. Elvis Presley was a role model to almost every man in his generation and everyone dreamed of a life like his, but in reality he was miserable enough to become a drug addict and that eventually killed him. Princess Diana gave up everything to be happy. We can always look at celebrities as successful people who lead lives out of fairy tales, but the truth is that we do not know how happy with their lives they are, how content and satisfied they are and how successful they see themselves.

In our part of the world, people tend to be more emotional and judge others from that perspective. I have been thinking about this for some time now and found that no matter how hard a woman works and how high she aims and reaches, she will still be considered a failure because she did not achieve the ultimate goal in due time, which is getting married and having kids.

Now I would really consider this theory and might even believe it if the woman had full control over this particular issue, but she cannot decide who to marry and make it happen like men do, she has to wait for him to propose and hope for the best, so how does this count as a failure?

The other day; I was accused of being a failure by one of the closest people to me. Maybe she took my life and compared it to hers and when she found that I did not take her path and still did not marry and had a few kids that I was a failure. It did not matter that I had a better career and a more comfortable lifestyle, I was still a failure to her because I am not Mrs. Someone like she is.

To tell the truth; what she said was hurtful and sad and I did not expect it to get to me like it did, but what hurt the most is that I realized that if the ones who know me think this way; I should not be expecting much from those who don’t, and I decided that as long as I will classify myself as a failure or a success according to my own interpretation of the words or status and to hell with everyone who does not approve because at the end of the day, those who matter would not mind while those who mind, do not actually matter.

Yesterday was very long and exhausting with all the preparations for my brother and sister’s arrival from USA. My mother was very excited and of course got us all working and preparing the meals and sweets that my brother is craving; he was away for almost two years after all.

He was supposed to arrive on Friday but his domestic flight into Chicago was delayed by an unexpected storm and it happens that on that particular day, RJ decided to be punctual and this led my brother and sister to miss their flight to Amman. To be precise; they have arrived before the take off but RJ staff would not allow them in and said that it was not their responsibility that they were delayed. Therefore; they had to stay in Chicago over night and catch the next flight to Amman.

Yesterday; RJ was delayed for an hour and a half in Chicago so we headed off to the airport to be there when they arrive. The flight arrived and we started watching passengers going out and meeting their waiting families with lots of hugs, smiles, laughs and tears. The terminal was literally full of people and 80% of them were smoking despite all the “No Smoking” signs and the fact that the airport is actually a “Smoke Free Zone”. It seemed that all smokers have a tendency to disobey and disrespect all the rules and laws when it comes to their cigarette cravings. They handle this issue as if the world and everyone in it owes them something and that they should be allowed to do whatever they wanted and get away with it.

When you have a couple of hundred people smoking in the same space; what do you think will happen? You got it; the fire alarm was set off and boy was it noisy!

It kept ringing for almost 10 minutes and I kept looking around and people were still smoking and lighting up new cigarettes and at the same time having a big frown on their faces exclaiming why this alarm would not stop ringing!!

This got me wondering; why do all smokers have this tendency to break the law? Why are they so careless about the wellbeing of others? Why do they put others in danger and act as if it is their right to do so? Why do they think that they can get away with it?

I will tell you why …

Because the “No Smoking” signs are just that; signs. They were put there to make us believe that we are doing something about the health risk that smoking causes, they are there to make us believe that we are acting to enhance our image since we are on top of the list of countries with alarmingly high rates of cancer, they are there to tell people who object to smoking and smokers that there is something being done, but the sad truth is that people are bragging about breaking this simple law; they smoke right under the sign and show it off.

It seems to me that signs stating certain laws in the country like “No Smoking”, “STOP”, “Give Priority” and the likes are just there to give us the illusion of being a civilized community, while in reality; all these signs mean absolutely nothing if not followed. If people are left to their own judgment; they will always be inclined to break the law if they know that they can get away with it.

My uncle lives in France. When my dad visited him once and he took him out for a ride, my dad noticed that my uncle was stopping at every “STOP” sign even if the street was completely empty and he could really get away with it, so dad asked him: why don’t you just keep going if the street is empty? My uncle answered: if I do not stop, I will be paying a huge fine and maybe persecuted, so it is better safe than sorry because you never know when there is a policeman standing around the corner!!

Why don’t we have the same level of law enforcement? Isn’t it better to have laws that are followed than having signs that are not respected and are disregarded at every chance people can get away with it? How can we create the urge to respect the law even if there is no one watching? I suggest that the government starts fining these law breakers every chance they get because only then, we can say that we are a community that respects the law and does not break it, because what are the chances that someone who breaks a small law would have a higher inclination to break much bigger and more important more critical laws?

Anyway; my brother and sister arrived safely but their luggage didn’t!!!

Let’s hope that RJ can locate them and bring them back!!!

I was never one to swallow the words and suck them up just because they would make someone angry if and when I say them, and I believe that people would want to hear some of these things especially when it comes to business and professional feedback.

It goes without saying that one must be very careful when this feedback is of a personal nature where emotions might get in the way and fog the scene, therefore; it should be given slowly and without hurting the recipient’s feelings. However; when this feedback is not personal or of a sensitive nature, one must be as honest and clear as possible.

Today; three of my colleagues and I went to this restaurant to grab a bite during the lunch break and it is one of the fancy places and not so cheap mind you. We were led to a table that was designed for two but they somehow managed to stuff it with four places, so by the time the very expensive soft drinks arrived, it felt like something will just fall any minute.

As soon as our food arrived, the waiters started roaming around us like sharks circling a prey, and I mean one of them pops up and crawls closer to us, sees that we are eating our food which is precisely why we were there in the first place and then crawls back just in time for another one to take the next shift in crawling, lurking and annoyingly watching us trying to consume some sandwiches.

As we were going out and while paying the bill, I felt the words stuck in my throat and I just had to spit them out and that’s exactly what I did. Their explanation was that they wait to pick up the empty plates!! Yeah right! Like we can consume the food in less than 2 minutes which was all what they gave us.

So there was a debate, should I have done that? Or should I have just swallowed it and walked out annoyed and unsatisfied with the service and vowing to myself never to go there again?

What do you think?