We all spend our lives in the hopes

Of finding someone

Who can decipher what it means to be us

 

As if

Knowing could ever replace being

 

These masks that we wear

The burdens that we carry

The losses we have seen

 

These are not souvenirs

Not a language to be translated

 

 

And yet

In every heart lingers the need

To be known

To be loved

For whatever that is worth.

The Death of God

The Death of God

In the beginning there was God
infinite and majestic
but so very alone

His loneliness drove Him mad

So in His madness
He created the angels
the ultimate epicenter of goodness
Creation demanded that old things create new things
and so he extracted the goodness from within Himself
to create noble and moral beings

The process was excruciatingly painful

separation is not easy

In the end, the angels received most of God’s virtues
in little quantities, but mainly possessed goodness
He enjoyed their company
and relished in the sounds of their voices
their laughter
The very first voices he would ever hear

But having so little goodness inside of him now
he soon grew bored and tired of the angels
For what good is company that doesn’t
indulge in the same thoughts as you?

And so, he created the earth
filled with trees and flowers
thousands of them, thousands of colors
Ocean and skies
inexplicable order
the kind that appears chaotic
but contains stability
But the
power and stability
mocked him

So, he created animals
To them he gave innocence
They were wild
a strange kind of free
and lived within their own understanding of themselves
Their own realms
They filled him with joy
but with time, they too, began to bore him
For he no longer possessed
the innocence needed to understand
their play and vivacity

And so he created humans
To them, he gave his intelligence
They were the strangest of his creations
they theorized about their existence
Measuring everything with meaning
and purpose
he did not understand
their thirst for knowledge
Anger arose in his heart
For his incapability to be a part of something
Anything
And in his anger
he created the demons
To them he gave maliciousness and cruelty

And than he burnt out in flames
exploding and causing the creation of all other things
time, space, relativity
He became thought and mind and matter
all at once
He became so much, but he ceased to exist

The angels saw the chaos of the world
and mourned for the loss of their creator
They were the only beings with the key to Heaven
And so they created a reward system
in which goodness was the most esteemed trait
The good could have access to the Heavens
and all other would either perish or rot
in the abode of the demons.

  © Amina Masood
First in a series of poems (I hope). Next:  Premonition of Chaos

She carried things with her

Symbolic things

with no real meaning
 

A ring from her dead father
that she did not 
remember
she had no
 encasement of his memories

no inclination of the feel of his touch

his smile.

Sandy Hook Massacre: The Aftermath

As most individuals in the United States, and perhaps around the world, already know: On December 14, 2012 a man killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut (source). Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother and then killed 20 students and 6 members of faculty at Sandy Hook Elementary School (source).

Let me begin by expressing how terrible sorry I am about the loss of these amazing people, most of whom had bright futures and most of their lives still in front of them. With that said, this tragedy has left most individuals in America questioning various aspects of American life and culture. The most controversial subject has been gun control. Among other controversies are issues about video games, race, and mental illness.

In the 1970’s the National Rifle Association, along with other corporations, began to argue that the second amendment allowed citizens to carry guns (source). The NRA argued that every citizen had a “right” to own a gun. Since then, most Americans have accepted the freedom of citizens to own guns. But recent events have prompted many Americans to hit the streets and go online, using sites like Tumblr and Facebook, to protest current gun regulations and some have called for a ban on gun ownership of citizens all together.

I personally have very little knowledge about gun regulation, but, from what I’ve been reading and researching, I agree with most Americans: there needs to be more emphasis on gun control and regulation. Whereas most states in the U.S. are “shall-issue” states, I think that the government needs to implement laws that make it much harder then a simple background check and a gun safety course (source). At the same time, I don’t think that gun ownership should be completely outlawed. I think that most people arguing or protesting for/against gun control are ignoring the complexities.

One of the main reasons individuals carry guns is self defense. I have personally often thought about taser guns as a replacement for guns as far as security issues go. Another argument I have encountered many times by individuals that are pro-guns is that the state and government can have total power if they limit the individual citizens’ right to bear arms. As for this second argument, I think that in a crisis between state and citizen, citizens will find a way to obtain guns.

Again, I don’t think that gun ownership should be outlawed completely. I do believe that gun ownership should be a lot more difficult and a longer process then it currently is. One system of gun control and regulation that has been popping up is Israeli gun control. Some regulations of the Israeli gun laws, as explained in the article Israeli Gun Control (by Ben Hartman), are:

• Must be 21 years old
• Must go through a mental and physical health exam
• Pass shooting exams and courses at a licensed gun range
• background checks by the Public Security Ministry, which is in charge of the Israel police.
• Once they order their firearm from a gun store, they are allowed to take the firearm home with a one-time supply of 50 bullets, which they cannot renew.
• The gun owner then must come back for a new license exam and testing at the gun range every three years. As of this January, Amit said a new law will go into effect requiring gun owners to prove that they have a safe at home to keep their firearm in.

The Israeli government also has strict laws about hunting licences. I personally call for the ban of ALL hunting licenses in the United States. I believe that hunting harms the environment and it is morally wrong to kill animals for personal sport and enjoyment (but that’s another article/post entirely).

TO BE CONTINUED: (RACE, MENTAL ILLNESS).

MORE READINGS:

Some more on gun regulation and history

Write Your “I AM FROM” Poem (and Share!)

Where I’m From (Amina Masood)

I am from High ceilings
from porcelain dolls and broken mud banks
I am from grassy land and open skies
and old clothes with loosening threads that you put in sheds and attics but cannot throw away
I am from mango trees
whose tall roots reached for the stars and then drooped down, defeated
I am from _paper dolls with paper homes and paper families that were easily made but hard to replace
from Mohammed and Masood
I am from happiness and love that consumes
and from values that teach about the world
from values that make it hard to be anything other than that which I am
I am from  لا إله إلا الله
I am from Adam and Ishmael
from fresh, unpasteurized milk and unprocessed food
from the time of war and eulogies
and from  the time of reconciliation and finding home
a car crash and pain and loss
Resurrected by miraculous joy, I am from the people that loved me and love me still, from the ones that came in my life and never left, from the ones that did leave, I am from everything I ever was or ever wanted to be.

Write You Own–>

Humanimal: A Proposal for Hybridity

** A literary critique of poet Bhau Kapil’s text, Humanimal by AMINA MASOOD**

Humanimal: A Proposal for Hybridity

I slip my arms into yours, to become four-limbed
I slip my arms into the sleeves of your shirt
To write this, the memoir of your body
– Bhanu Kapil (Location 94).

There is a place where all things meet and merge- allowing the existence of hybridity. In her book, Humanimal, Bhanu Kapil explores the idea of a hybrid space that allows binaries to be broken down. The title’s “an” exists as this space between hum“an” and “an”imal. Kapil examines the ways in which language and poetry can play a role in creating this hybrid space where humans can understand each other as well as the natural world. In doing so, her book becomes a “project for future children” (Kapil, Location 35). She suggests that if we take action trying to erase dualisms, such as the dualisms between man and woman, human and nature, human and animal, then future children can come into a world that is free of the dualist structure. Kapil stresses the importance of an anti-dualist world because hybridity necessitates understanding, whereas dualism creates structures of opposition.

In Any War Between the Civilized Man and the Savage, Support the Civilized Man.

Before I even get into the context in which this quote is being used, I want to talk about why it’s blatantly wrong. The word civilized is a very subjective word and the western culture celebrates the idea- but that doesn’t mean that people should only be human or have value because they’re “civilized.”

This kind of ideology is why the Native Americans were brutally killed, raped, removed from their land and for a very long time- removed from history.

This kind of ideology is why African Americans were enslaved for so long. Why they were dehumanized as a population.

This kind of ideology is why the Irish were colonized by the English, why there possessions were taken away from them, why famine and poverty were such a huge problem in the country that it moved Johnathan Swift to write A Modest Proposal.

 

By using this amazing thing called “civilized” the western world has repeatedly belittled other cultures and people. To say that being “civilized” is what makes a good man is a ridiculous notion. History has proved that “right” and “civilized” are not the same thing. Also, the word “savage” is a loaded term. It doesn’t just mean uncivilized, but it carries a lot of negative connotations.

Now, about this sign in it’s context. First of all, the sign doesn’t make the distinction between Palestinians and the rest of the Middle East. It tries to say that supporting Israel means that you’re against Jihad. What Americans know as jihad is what 9/11 was. To say that supporting Israel means you’re against 9/11 is a silly thing. I’M AGAINST 9/11, but I in no way support Israels’ military actions against the Palestinian people. The sign forces you into supporting Israel because you sure as hell don’t want the other option (supporting Jihad); what it refuses to acknowledge is that supporting Israel does not equate to defeating jihad. Isarel’s fight is against Palestine- NOT all of Middle East, NOT the people behind 9/11, NOT Al-Qaida or the government of Sadam Hussain.

Secondly, Palestine belongs to the Palestinians as England belongs to the English. Palestine was under British rule and was  forcefully taken away from the Palestinian people and given to the Jews so that they may have their own land. I sympathize with the need for a Jewish homeland, but to take one man’s home and give it to another is wrong. The Palestinian people didn’t just get placed from one home to another- they were taken from their homes and given NOTHING in return. Generations of Palestinians have grown up in refugee camps. Since the beginning of this year, there have been 535 attacks on these Palestinians. The blockade of Gaza continues. How is that a “civilized” thing to do?

Why is the Palestinian a savage? Because he’s fighting for his home? Because he’s fighting with home made bombs and rocks? Because the Israelis fight with tanks and weapons? Because no one will come to the aid of the Palestinians while many come to the aid of Israel? He’s a hero- IF- he’s an American (or anyone who isn’t a part of the Middle East). The American soldier is always a hero. Even if he partakes in a massacre (My Lai, Vietnam). So why is a man who is fighting for his home back, for a better life for his children,  his inalienable human rights- a SAVAGE? Because he’s fighting the self proclaimed “civilized” man.

“we do not seek to delegitimize an existing State – that is Israel; but rather to assert the State that must be realized – that is Palestine.”

–       Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas

 

Disclaimer: I am not trying to have these signs removed, because I do believe in freedom of speech (although just because you have the right to do something, doesn’t mean you should it). I’m just having my opinion known. I may not be right, if you think I’m wrong- I’m open to calm conversation. But rude and biased comments, I don’t need.

A little about the history of Israel (if you’re interested).