The God Abandons Antony - Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis

Translation 1:

When suddenly, at midnight, you hear
an invisible procession going by
with exquisite music, voices,
don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive—don’t mourn them uselessly.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say
it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
as is right for you who proved worthy of this kind of city,
go firmly to the window
and listen with deep emotion, but not
with the whining, the pleas of a coward;
listen—your final delectation—to the voices,
to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing.

 
Translation 2:

If unexpectedly, in middle night,
an unseen company be heard to pass,
with music and with voices exquisite, —
turn not away and uselessly lament
your fortune that is giving in, your work
that came to nothing, the projects of your life
that proved illusory from first to last.
As one prepared long since, as fits the brave,
bid now farewell to the departing city,
farewell to the Alexandria you love.
And above all, do not deceive yourself:
say not that your impression was a dream,
that, it may be, your hearing played you false:
to futile hopes like these never descend.
As one prepared long since, as fits the brave,
as most fits you who gained so great a city,
approach the open window steadily,
and with emotion, but without the plaints
and supplications of the timorous,
listen — knowing it to be your last delight —
listen to the elysian sounds, the exquisite
instruments of the mystic company;
and bid farewell to the city you are losing,
farewell to the Alexandria you love.

"World has failed Syria"

So I wrote this a couple days ago on Facebook after seeing this headline. I received many amazing responses so I thought i'd share it here as well. I love it when I get the urge to write and passion happens, so i end up typing pages. Better than any paper! :) 
Note: feel free to share opinions and ask questions on my ask.fm page! Have you failed? 

Reading this broke my heart. It's true, the world has. The truth is, people don't care and won't care unless it happens to them. I only wish that people could walk just a day in the shoes of a Syrian. Only then the world will unite, only then people won't rest until the slaughtering and injustice stops, because it'll be a huuuge slap in the face.

People need to wake up. They make you think what they want you to think. You only know what 'they' want you to know. You don't know what's really going on in Syria, Bosnia, Ukraine, and Venezuela (and many more) for a reason. You don't care for a reason.

You, scrolling down your FB newsfeed right now, you're the perfect result of how your government wanted to shape you as. You're a victim of your own system. They've succeed. Keeping you busy with the latest technology or your worries like paying for college. Making sure your education price tag increase every year while little do you know your government spends much more money than the cost of higher education on a prisoners living expenses (in the US). $50,000+ dollars. Let that sink in.

People need to wake up. I think I know how Syrians feel. During the 2011 Egyptian revolution when things got really serious, as thousands were dying daily in riots for their freedom, the government shut down all communication in Alexandria (Cairo, Port Said, etc.). That means no phones, no internet, no nothing. I can't describe how wrong it felt... being striped only of that one right.

As it was too dangerous to leave my house (and along with the city curfew every night) I was left with a lot of time to think. The whole week I was actually excited, despite the day-to-day fear, tension, and despair...I was excited. I was excited to see what the rest of the world was doing. All week along I remember thinking 'whats happening is so crazy, this is historic, the whole world must be watching! My friends abroad must be worried sick! My FB must be blowing up'.

When we received internet access and service again, when I got the chance to see how angry the world must be at my government because of what's happening outside my window, I did what anybody would do, I signed onto Facebook haha. And guess what, I had a sad realization that the world was not watching. I received only one post from an old friend in elementary school saying she saw 'something' on the news about Egypt and she asked about what's going on.

Most people don't give two cents about what's going on outside their small fixed lives. Don't be that person. Death is not 'something'. Lock Down is not 'something'. Prison breaks are not 'something'. Trying to overthrow a dictator is not 'something'. Risking your life for a better future is not 'something'. Dying for freedom is just NOT 'something'!

What I went through is nothing compared to what the Martyrs (r.i.p) went through or what Syrians and Venezuelans are going through right now at this very moment.

Do you wake up thinking about death? Do you pray begging God that Bashars army doesn't bomb your street today? Do you fear going to a hospital because you know that every time it's rebuilt the doctors are attacked or the building will be blown up because your president wants to make sure you don't live?

No you don't. There are parts in the world where peoples daily struggles make all ours feel so small and pathetic.

For the sake of humanity we have to act on things. Some people question God at this point. Thinking why does He let all this happen then? All this chaos and slaughterings of innocents? It's because He gave us the ability it to fix things, to do something about it. The mind to think with, the strength to act, and the heart to care. It is us who have done nothing.
We have truly failed. 

I want to learn sign language.

I want to learn sign language, just for that one time if i ever get to meet someone who is mute. Just so I can be able to communicate right away with him as if nothing makes him less capable for the general public to greet him and wish him a good day. Just to be able to say 'Isn't it a beautiful day out sir' or simply 'Good Morning' or even to compliment his attire. Just to be able to communicate with him like everyone else.
I truly do wish so. I want to learn sign language.

What do you Desire?

"If you say that money is the most important thing, you’ll spend your life completely wasting your time: You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is, in order to go on doing things you don’t like doing — which is stupid!" Alan Watts