In The Land of Opportunities
Lost in strange darkness and spent
I plunge my feet in and out of the sand
As my instincts drag me here and there
Alone, with only my homeland's music in my head.
I'm stranded in the desert
Far from the blanket of fake modernity,
Seeking other alien footrprints like mine
To find some shred of warm familiarity.
Footprints erased into oblivion
By the wind that carries my tune
Away and back like flickering fireflies
Under these starless moonlit skies.
The melody that now echoes in the air
Pulls me further into the blackness
Till I find myself moving to the rhythm of foreigness
In a round dance with other familiar srangers.
We find home again through this sensually vulgar beat,
For a few moments we feel relieved and complete
As we whirl around the fire of longing our souls create
Like pagans paying homage to Brigit.
And I wonder, as dawn creeps above the dunes,
If I'll ever reclaim my sense of belonging
In this land where we buy success
With the crushing price of loneliness.
Copyright © 2008 Daisy Tchiftjian
Labels: Poems
posted by Daisy Tchiftjian @ 11:38 PM
14 Comments
14 Comments:
I realy like that, it is so true:
In this land where we buy success
With the crushing price of loneliness.
No one can have it all.
keep it up.
R
Success my ass in the fucking desert... fucking camels are more precious out there than foreigners and you are talking about success? what fucking success? to get like 1000 $ more a month? I bet you aint saving a penny outhere... not even few bucks you can start your life with. that aint called success! i call it " The Prodigal Dreams of Dunes and Camels In Fucked Up Deserted Lands Where Bums Think Will Get Rich or Richer" (no offence) (:
I've got two things to say:
1- Success is relative. For some people it's wealth and excessive money. For others it's enough if they live a decent life to accomodate their needs and random luxuries in addition to sending money to their country of origin. And there are those to whom success comes in the form of doing what they've always dreamed of...etc etc...
2-If you're speaking out of experience, at least you have to feel relieved that you're not the only "bum out there" ;)If not, come and see for yourself so that at least the vigor with which you have expressed yourself will find its proper place :)
thanks for your concern, advice and invitation (: but i really find it humiliating to go and live in the desert and work for those scum bags and waste our talents. I mean afterall, all they have is the money. Let them work for themselves and we will see if they will induce the momenum in construction, prosperity and technology. Why did you choose the desert? Why not Germany? USA? Canada? is it the trend to go there and be enslaved or what?
Well, it's not a bad place to start with. There are many things here that I wish were different but then, there were more things I wish were in my hometown as well. However, when opportunity knocks, it would be foolish not to answer the door. Especially when it's an opportunity you never thought you would come across, and no it's not about the money, but about passion. But there are westersners working here as well, many of them in fact. Would it be so wrong to make yourself something somewhere that's only paying you to make it something in return?
Correction:
There are many things here that I wish were different but then, there were more things I wish were *different* in my hometown as well
Well from my friends’ experience, everyone who starts there will end up living there and working there for lifetime. In addition to that, the sub-local global atmosphere out there is not promising for a true and solid future career. All one does out there is work instead of having a job. There is a difference between those two. How many hours you work per week? I bet not below 60 hours per week. And eventually, the outcome is not worth the effort. Opportunities always knock (unless someone is not competent enough). So going for THAT job or offer might not be the good choice. It is true that there are westerners out there but still easterners have the biggest share. All you have is Indians, Pakistanis Kazakhstanis, Chinese and so forth. I think it is humiliating to have a Pakistani as a boss just because getting the Pakistani to work for the company would costs it less.
Workers in the Gulf think they are making big bucks but eventually they are only getting half the wage that the West would provide for 33% less working hours. In Germany for instance you only work for 40 hours per week. Trivial mathematical calculations show that in the West, the ratio of income to the working hours will be 300% more than the one you are having right now in the Gulf. On top of that you will be living a decent life, where camels are not more precious than you as a foreigner, and you will be experiencing life in its full meanings, apart from sadness and solitude.
Passion is not bounded by a certain position in a growing country just because your hometown did not provide such an opportunity. And no, it is not wrong to get paid for something you do, that is the definition of work and this definition abides by the conservation rules of the society and the balance of the human being. Why work with the relatively few westerners in the Gulf if you can work with all of them in the West? Why do we have to constantly fix an old car if we can get a brand new one?
So how can a "Pakistani" be your boss when you as a "Lebanese" get paid more? :)
Putting aside any racist slurs you might/not mean, you have to double check your resources and if I were you I wouldn't say anything before I myself am 100% convinced that I'm only stating facts and not calculaions based on mostly impressions and convictions, in other words, based on what you want to see.
However, whether you go to the west or the east or north or south, the money you make is the money you deserve no matter where you're from, and it ALWAYS corresponds to what you spend from it. How come you didn't say that you would be settling in the west as well if you go to work there?
When it comes down to the way you live, there's no difference between here and there. You earn and you spend. And if I want to stereotype people like you have done, your Lebanese friends (I assume) are likely to spend too much in one go in the name of youth and the favorite motto "I love life". While for you that's ok to do that in France or UK or US, because it's ok to settle there, it's not ok to be extravagently lavish somewhere you plan to live only temporarilly.
You're right about one thing. Passion is not bounded by a certain position. And mine isn't bound at all. Obviously.
I am right in everything I stated before :)
All my information is based on facts and statistics but it looks like we work in different fields, but in my field, and from people i know, who constantly go there and come to lebanon, almost all their bosses are Pakistanis and Indians. We are not talking about the simple workers who sweep the roads but those guys held important positions in my field.
I am 100 % sure of my calculations and they are based on facts: in the US, my field pays $70K a year for a fresh graduate while in the Gulf, all i can get is $30K max a year.
Earning money has nothing to do with spending it. I mean, i did not address that issue and spending money is not my problem nor concern and no i dont love life and that is not the point. My point has only one outcome: the income i get in the gulf compared to the income i get in the west. The point you addressed is out of scope.
You are right about the settling issue, i mean come on, would you prefer the desert or the west? for a vacation, temporary job or even settling somewhere for lifetime?
Everyone's free to think and speak what they want so long as they degrade no one and respect other people's opinions and statements.
True but when someone is heading down to the pitlord, i guess it would be helpful to enlighten few minds. i am filled with zeal (in a negative way) when camels issues are involved.
best regards
hi there mister OR miss anonymous...i think you are such a weak person who dont have anything of your own...not even you respect yourself...leave apart your country or where you come from your family or what you do...so there is no surprise that you could ever respect other peoples views n ideas...
it seems that you have been slave for ever and you are really pissed off with where you are and what you are doing...so are so weak that you cant move from where you are stuck...and then you start blaming a country and a region and the people living there and then the background of the people where they come from...if you have something in you why dont you come out of your shell and prove yourself instead of talking such big but shallow words...
"dog that barks seldom bites"
and people who have something in them dont look for excuse to prove themselves...they never bark n shout they cum n bite and show everyone what they can do...so buddy
every country is good every religion is great...all geographical areas are amazing...and
its only one thing which is good or bad that is the top compartment of every human and which is called mind...so if you have any trouble with that department of yours...it is sure goin to be that way..wherever you go wherever you work...whatever you earn....
so try looking in there and not looking for it outside...
hope you understand your problem...and if not ...no one can help you...you have lived like this n you will live rest of your life the same way...just cribbing....
cheers
may GOD BLESS YOU...
hi i am back again...
I was not aware that people like you do surf this webpage (or actually yes! now i remember). I thought you only exist on youtube.com forums and fuckyouandyourfamily.com.
a flock of losers here... it is really a waste of time...
Watashi Wa Zakennayo Busu...
Enlighten few minds... who are you to enlighten anyone, am sure you are just a talkative loser who just hate this country, or you are waiting the first chance to be here.
It is The Land of Opportunities and if you are such a loser who is happy to live the way you are and not look beyond that so let it be, enjoy it.
The funny thing is, you are talking about your friend experience it seems you guy's are bunch of losers, just an advice you need to try the place before you talk about it and a "friend experience" is bull#$@#@.
and btw if a Pakistanis and Indians are better than you in the same field it is ok that they are the bosses any smart person can grow in this place (am sure not u) so if you are smart try to come and try instead of working for your 70k and pay 40% off them taxes.
Just to enlighten you, we work 40hr a week like any other place and there are more than 500,000 westerns in this country so and most of them are in a very good positions, THEN WHY THEY DID NOT GO TO THE WEST TO WORK.
If you think we live in desert and ride our camels to work every day try to use something called www.google.com and do so RESERCH about Duabi and the UAE
I can’t say more, as I said before, try to do something more than talking about a FREINDS experience.
r
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