Aimane idhajji, these are my words

THESE ARE MY WORDS Written by:

Aimane IDHAJJI

These are my words

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“A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything” MALCOLM X

These are my words

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THESE ARE MY WORDS In the next few pages, I will put my heart in each line I write, everything I ever felt, thought and believed in. You will find on these pieces of paper, my ideas about different things, the world, the life and the definitions. In fact everything around us will have a place between my words, and it’s not because I’m some sort of an encyclopedia, but I just think, not with my brain but with my heart.

My Name is Aimane IDHAJJI, I’m 18 years old and I’m from Tiznit. I’m an economic student at IBNO ZOHR UNIVERSITY in Agadir, and now, I am willing to write my first book, and because I don’t have any degree yet, in any specialty, I decided to write in general, using my knowledge, in order to use this book as a lamp to light my way, my future and to clear my principles.

Actually, it wasn’t my idea, but it was a very dear friend’s idea, a really nice person has a pure soul, a clean heart, a thoughtful mind, and an artistic view to the world. This friend is “Rayhana ELMOURABIT”, she’s the one who gave me the idea, she used to say:”Aimane you’re wise” whenever I say something that she finds special, or even beautiful to read, and I used to imagine the way she’s saying it, because I know her personally and I know how she talks, and it’s just so much fun and heartwarming to read and imagine her sound.

For the moment I’m actually thinking of what my next pages will contain, and I don’t really have any specific subject, but I have a plan, and I will organize everything, and share it with you, lovely readers.

Throughout this book, you will certainly find ideas I took from platforms, such as movies, books, songs or even commercials, because as I said before, in this book, you will find anything I believe or used to believe in, and for me, I get ideas from anywhere, then I think about it, do some research, and take my decision, whether to believe in or not.

This book will be forever for free, for one reason, I used to have a teacher who always says:” the best things in life are for free” and this book represents my life experiences, this book is me standing as words, which makes it the best thing I could ever offer, because it comes from the bottom of my grandmother’s heart.

Of course, I’m not William Shakespeare, I’m not even close to his level using English language, but I love the language, I love Arabic too, but once I had a teacher, an English teacher, the same one I mentioned before, he’s the one who made me love the language, he once asked us in class who loves English? And if you do, why? Then I answered saying that I love the melody, but it’s not the real reason, I just couldn’t say it in front of the whole class, because I was afraid of understanding my words in a wrong way, the real answer is because he’s teaching it, he made me love it.

The teacher I talked about is the father of the girl I talked about, amazing family isn’t it?

Mr. Brahim ELMOURABIT, my living idol.

This book is dedicated to you both MUCH LOVE … MUCH RESPECT

“The most beautiful things in life are for free”

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CHAPTER 1: CHANGE

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We all want to change, change our reality, change the world, no matter how it is for us, good or bad, but we still want that change, because for a human being it’s never enough. We always want more; more fun, more respect, more dignity, we want it to be a perfect world, which is possible for me, because I believe perfection is something reachable, it only depends on the definition, and the one everyone is using these days is not that good for me, as the Spanish quote says: “life without problems is a problem”, that means that to achieve the perfect life we need some adrenalin, something to break the silent life made by routine.

We want to change the system, but we don’t know how, or we don’t have the strength to do so, or we are stopped by our fear; our fear of the unknown, our fear of consequences, reasons are many, but it’s always the same result. However, the biggest reason for me is forgetting that all these changes we look for are just superficial, despite how beautiful and colorful they seem, it will not take us anywhere far, not even one step forward; In fact what we should do is think of how could the world change if we don’t, we are the main component of the world, we control it, and it’s obvious that we are not managing it as good as we should, which means that it’s not the world’s problem but ours, as a result, we have to change to the better, in order to change the world to the better.

Now the thing is, how can we change ourselves? And the answer is the simplest you could ever imagine: EDUCATION. We should educate ourselves, not only to get a job, but to improve our capacities, take our humanity to a whole new, superior level; learn from our history, and build a better future, a future that we’ll be proud to tell the next generations about when it becomes history, we can all see how education raises nations from negligence, and darkness, to wisdom, and hope, let’s take a look at Japan, USA, … these are countries which have chosen to be on top of the world by developing education, after their dark history full of wars, now they have already built their present, and still working on their future.

For me, I really love something a very great man once said about education, he said that when you get back from work, don’t watch TV, he said find something constructive and read it, something that will make you seem smart even if you’re not, and I totally agree. They also say when you open a school, you close a prison, which is true, but I just find it underestimating school’s role in society, and as a result I say: ”if you open a school, you save a generation”, in case if you’re wondering who that great person is, it is MALCOLM X. Personally, my goal in life is to get everyone’s respect, love, and appreciation, that’s why I always look to change to the better, that doesn’t mean that I plan every single step I make, because sometimes I make mistakes, but when I make one I regret it and I look into my heart, to change that hate, and anger, to love, and inner peace.

Change is not as simple as it seems, because as I said before, it should come from people, and people are different, some accept it, some don’t, but with education, we will certainly realize that life is a journey to happiness, and there is only one way to make it, and it’s the right way, it’s by taking our responsibilities, towards ourselves, towards our community, towards our country, and towards humanity.

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CHAPTER 2: GREATNESS

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I learned about greatness from movies actually, I watched a few movies about great personalities in the world, and I realized how hard human beings should work to get what they need, because in life we don’t get what we want, we get what we need, and greatness is something every single human being needs, but the main factor that makes it invisible for some people is how bad they need it, how much they need it, when they need it as bad as they need to breath. They will do anything possible to achieve it, and the reason behind this will, is the strength given by greatness, it’s not about body strength, but it’s all about the soul, and the heart, because the important is not to be strong but to feel strong.

In addition to this, I believe that greatness comes with big sacrifices; because what’s worth the prize has always worth the fight, let’s take a look on those who made it to greatness, you can chose any well-known name and you’ll see, the hard work, the sweat, the suffer they have been through, as they say: “no sweet without sweat”.

In fact, there are many ways to achieve greatness, all we have to do is keep believing in ourselves, and follow our hearts, just like there are two types of people who achieve it, those who live it, and those who get it after death, because greatness is a recognition of people around, to all things a specific person did, and this recognition, can come a bit late, but it will never be considered as too late.

To get there, we need to ask ourselves, why are we living? Studying? Working? And the right answer is, to make it to excellence, not success but excellence, and the difference between those two expressions is that success makes you a product of society, with no special things inside, in the other hand excellence is building yourself, being a real human being, creative, special, well educated; success is looking for the world: money, fame; excellence is looking for the truth: happiness, when you look for excellence. It’s no longer you chasing success, it’s success chasing you.

One thing we should never say, or even think about: “life is dark, and there is nothing we can do about that”. Take a look at this picture and maybe it’ll give you the real meaning of the world:

In my own point of view, I believe this picture is somehow “life”. I mean look at it, there are a lot of colors, beautiful ones, with happy kids playing, but with all these beautiful stuff, darkness is still around them, and this is simply life, it looks dark but when you look at it with a little kid’s eyes, colors are all you see, and happiness is all you feel. So when you fall, don’t you ever say life

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happened, but take your responsibilities and get up, finish what you started. You have a gift, you love doing something. You’re an artist, a painter or a singer, then do what you love, and share it, you say you need time, then keep calm because you have it, you’re just too busy sleeping. Go out there and share what you love, and one thing I’m sure about, work is never done until it’s shared, because then and only then you can judge it.

I believe I have the secret, the key for excellence’s door, and it’s going after our heart, not our head, I already said it but I’m going to explain; our head is the source of negative thoughts, because any dream needs work, hard work to become reality, and whenever our body starts getting weak, our brain starts asking to stop, using those messages like: “you can’t do it” ; “you don’t have what it takes” ; “just drop it”, but your heart is the responsible for encouragement, because it doesn’t have anything to lose, it will keep pouring blood throughout your body anyway.

One thing to never forget, life will never end because of failure, death is the only responsible of life ending, so keep trying to be great, every day is a chance to be a better person, and if you failed, at least you got yourself respect, because trying is the best part of life, the prize is something you get in a few minutes, but trying is for life, then enjoy it. In addition, greatness is relative, you can’t say that you got it all; you can’t say that you have won 100%, but you can always say that you gave it your 100%.

“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them”.

William SHAKESPEARE, Twelfth Night.

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CHAPTER 3: RESPECT

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The most beautiful sensation a human being could ever feel, is to feel respected, but to get, you have to give, which means that to get people’s respect you should show them yours, in everything, every action, your way of talking, discussing, and your way of living.

Let me share something with you, everything is symbolic, whenever you write something about yourself, no matter how important it is, or how official it is, you should always write “I” in capital letter, in order to show yourself before anyone else how much respect you have for yourself, they say nobody is going to believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself, same thing for respect, no body’s going to give you his respect, if you don’t do the same for yourself. “I” in capital letter may not be noticed by everybody, but those special ones will.

I already mentioned that education is the solution to get the change we are looking for, and education is the solution to share respect in our community too, for that reason, we have to start with the young generations, develop our educational system, and base it on respect. As we can all notice in foreign countries they give much importance to their nurseries, because at that age, kids are not responsible for their actions and reactions, as a result WE (grown people) should show them how to act, react, and make decisions in the best possible way.

Why don’t we use techniques already used by developed countries? Learn from their mistakes, and never make them again.

Respect education is not something we can get only at school, it’s something our children should notice anywhere, at home, in the streets, in the way we treat them, the way we talk to them, using those famous expressions like: “sorry”, “thank you”, “pardon”, “after you”, these expressions aren’t just a vocabulary, these expressions are: EDUCATION, and only that kind of education can get us to RESPECT. Especially inside the family, parents should LISTEN, not HEAR, but LISTEN, that way the child will learn how to be responsible for his/her words, and his/her actions, because he/she knows that any wrong decision is followed by punishment, parents also should try as hard as they can to be the best, the closest to their kids.

Let us imagine the world full of respect, no one would ever hurt a fly because he/she respects its right of living, no one would ever treat a woman bad because he respects her humanity, no one would ever cheat because he/she respects the trust he/she has been given, no one would ever yell at you while driving your car; the world looks beautiful, bright, full of colors, then why won’t we try to make it this way?!

It’s just a matter of will, it’s not even a matter of time, obviously, time is all we have, but the will to give respect the place it deserves is what we need, the will to change, to make this world better than ever and the will to make this world a place we will be proud to call HOME.

“I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.”

ALBERT EINSTEIN

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CHAPTER 4: NEVER LET THAT LITTLE KID INSIDE OF YOU GROW UP

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We, human beings, forgot the reason behind our existence; we forgot that this world is a shared place, where everybody should throw away his selfishness, and look for the common good, and the only way to do so is by never letting that little kid inside of us grow up, especially with what growing up means these days, when growing up means that you can steal, kill, lie, sell al l your principles for money, then, never growing up is better, because that little kid’s soul, will never allow you to give your principles a price.

Keep innocence in your eyes; when you were little; wasn’t it hard for you to lie? Wasn’t it hard to hurt people, no matter how close or not they are? Of course it was hard, but now it’s not, actually now it’s I don’t care’s time, nobody cares, or just convincing themselves that they don’t, while they really do, but they can’t show it because they want to seam strong, which is wrong, as I said before, it’s not important to BE strong but to FEEL strong.

You might say that never growing up means never taking responsibilities, then what would you call the fact that a kid would never let his/her best friend make a mistake alone, it’s true that he/she’s not stopping him/her from making it, but at least he/she’s being there for him/her, he/she’s taking his/her responsibility as a best friend, in fact he/she’s just sharing the consequences.

When I say, never let that little kid inside you grow up, I’m not talking about your head, it’s all about the heart.

All I want to say is don’t let your head control your humanity, yes, it’s true that our brain is what makes us different than all kind of creatures, but our heart is what makes us different between all mankind.

Let us all refresh our memory, let us remember our childhood days, the days I call glory days, when we used to produce real stuff, when we used to spend hours just drawing, creating things, building Lego houses, I personally used to build Lego weapons, it was so much fun, and I hated breaking my work to make something new, I loved watching my work, so I used to ask for more Lego, which was something I don’t get, so I’m pushed to tear it down, and build something new.

Could you see how much creativity the little me brought to the world? The little me never stopped creating new stuff even with the lack of means, but the little kid, that little tiger, fighter, inside of me kept giving, the little me never thought about how much his work worth, all I wanted at that time, is those encouragement words I used to get from my parents.

Let us all try something, imagine the world as a road, you are the responsible of how the road would look like, and what are the things you want to see around; of course all you want to see around are beautiful things, of course you want to find amazing views in each side, now stop imagining, and make it true; just like the little you would do back in the days.

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CHAPTER 5: GREED

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If you’re looking for the secret of all corruption in the world, the secret of all the bad, all the darkness, all the wars, all the poverty, all the suffering, let me tell you that it has never been a secret, because it’s just as obvious as the sun in a sunny day, it’s “GREED”, five letters, separated, they won’t be having any meaning: “G”+“R”+“E”+“E”+“D”, just like any other word and expression, but together, they’re just as dangerous as a nuclear bomb, or even more, a nuclear bomb needs a lot of knowledge to build, but greed is just a feeling that grows up in the inside, silently, changing a man from good to bad, making the following hours, days, months, years, just the same.

Greed, is what makes a human being so ready to break all the rules, from religion, to law, greed is what makes a human being blind, from all the facts, all the lights around turns to a big, huge dark hole, it’s like a little snake poisoning a person’s ideas, believes, thoughts, principles, and with time passing that snake keeps growing, bigger and bigger, but he’s never satisfied with what he has, he always wants more; more power, more money.

Greed is what makes a human being seeks for salvation not with faith in his/her hands, but with anger, hate, and a history full of bad decisions regret can’t wash anymore.

The entire economic, political crisis, are results of greed controlling humans, because no one would ever wish any harm for anyone if he/she wasn’t controlled by greed, let’s get back to our humanity’s history, let’s take a look on the slavery ages, do you think the white race is superior to the black race in any way?! Of course not, but the whites had the chance to control money, and because they wanted more, they had to work more, but they’re just too lazy, so they had to find an easy way to make a good fortune, and the only way available is by using those black human bodies, treat them as bad as possible, pay them as low as possible, and earn as much as possible. This is a big part of our history ruined by GREED. Let’s take it all the way down to Africa, the rich continent with its diamond and gold’s mines, now here is the big question: ”Is there any positive impact of this wealth on the population’s living conditions?”, in fact this question does not deserve looking for an answer because it’s just everywhere, on the news, thousands of documentaries are made about Africa, the biggest question now is: ”what is the reason behind poverty, analphabetism, civil wars in the biggest continent?”, and I’ll just give you the answer, it’s GREED, a few British, and American families controlled by GREED, are the ones responsible for making the conditions in Africa the worst.

Unfortunately, there is no medical cure for greed, the only way to face it, is spiritual, and it’s something no one can protect you from, it has to come from the inside, help is required but it’s not the main factor to stand against that big, huge, black cloud.

I started thinking why do we let greed control us? When we know that it’s not going to take us anywhere far from the sea of sorrows, we know it, because we feel it, we see it, as a matter of fact, we face the world’s rejection, we throw our principles in the trash without taking a last look at it, a last look that could save us, release us. We convince ourselves that the world is just jealous and that we will get the world’s respect when power is ours, while all we’re doing is painting fear with respect’s colors.

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CHAPTER 6: FREEDOM

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Freedom, a right we fight for, but we don’t really know what the expression means, because there is no hundred per cent right definition, it always depends on the society, the culture, education as well has an impact on everything, some define it as doing whatever they want as long as it doesn’t hurt in any possible way someone else, and I believe this is the best definition, but some others don’t really agree, saying that freedom doesn’t have any limits, they also say that their freedom gets even stronger IF it goes along with the other’s freedom.

As far as I’m concerned, there is no difference between the two definitions, the only difference I could find is that the second one seems a bit more artistic, it has a melody, because as long as they are using “IF” in their definition, limits are not going anywhere.

Actually, I believe, limits are the most welcomed to build an organized society, even if the society we’re living in is ruined, and yes we can always talk about freedom if we were living in the Savannas.

It’s true that this world is so evil and unfair, but just because it’s the way it is, does not mean that it’s the right, normal way, because YOU are here, I’m here, we know what’s best for this country, for this planet, and we’re going to fight to make it a better place, yes we’re a few, but we can do a lot, it’s hard, it might get us killed with a heart attack or even murdered, so what?! Personally, I don’t want my name to be remembered as a hero, I only want to die respecting myself, with no regrets, a few won’t be a problem, because it’s much better to regret something you did, than to do so for something you never did, they can always use the jungle as a prove that if we’re living in a world like ours limits should not exist, because they don’t exist in the real jungle, but if we take a look to the animal behavior, we find that the jaguar for example would never attack a pregnant gazelle, while it’s his right to attack her, it’s his right to defend his right of surviving … limits.

Freedom, is relative, it’s something you should believe in, it’s not something you can find somewhere, a person can be in a prison, which means that his/her freedom to decide and act as he/she likes has been taken, but he/she can always feel free, because his/her heart and soul are free. Being married is somehow considered by a lot of people as a limit to their freedom, when it’s not, if you just listen to your heart you’ll find that a human being needs someone to complete his/her qualities, cover his/her weaknesses, get the best of him, because we always need someone to feel safe with, someone to feel free with, someone we can trust, someone who will support our decisions, or put us on the right road, we all do want to feel these feelings, share them, at least I do.

Freedom is a bless, a bless should be protected, respected; freedom is not something you get, it’s a point you achieve, it’s a mental situation, that guarantees LIBERTY, somehow space is what you need to BE free, but it’s not about being free, it’s about feeling free in your heart.

Now I’m going to show you why it’s all about feeling free, not being free, and it’s as simple as ABC, when you’re physically free, limits are more severe, because a simple act of putting your body in a tight space, is a lack of freedom, but when it’s in your heart, there are no limits, no one can make you believe in something you don’t agree with, you can act like you do under some sort of pressure but deep inside you’re not.

N.B. It’s not always about feeling; sometimes people’s recognition is wanted.

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CHAPTER 7: DREAM IT, LIST IT, DO IT

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To be honest, this title is not mine, it’s not a movie title or a song title, it’s a book title, a book I never read before but I just heard the title somewhere, and I was impressed with it, because it resumes how I believe life should be lived.

Life is a chance to live, and when you’re getting something as easy as life is given, you should prove that you deserve the opportunity you have been offered, by putting your print on the world’s history map.

And yes, life is given so easy, because when your mother gives you birth, you’re not the one who suffer, she’s the one who suffers, you just enjoy her smile after she takes you in her arms.

In addition to this, putting your print does not mean being famous, but make your name as clean as a new born baby’s heart, so that the special one for you will be able to remember who you were, with love, because it’s never about getting the world’s recognition, but it’s all about the special, close ones.

To be clear, no one in humanity’s history was able to get every single human being’s love, respect and recognition, because of one and only reason, DIFFERENCE, people’s differences makes it 100% IMPOSSIBLE; ideas, schools of thoughts, believes, are never the same, simply because cultures are not, so never let yourself expect something like it.

Three steps can get you anywhere you want, three steps can change your life, three steps can make you a different person, a creative, productive individual, a person who puts a plan for anything he/she wants to do, a person who does not count on luck, a person who prefers working over sleeping, a “doer” not a “don’ter”, let me explain what these two expressions mean, these two expressions refer to two types of people, a DOER comes from the verb TO DO, and a DON’TER is the reverse, now a doer is a person who is ready to start, a person who does not accept the facts, while in the other side, a don’ter is a person who is ready to drop it, a person who accepts the facts just because they exist not because they’re right.

If you follow these three steps, you have certainly proved that you deserve the life you have been given.

I don’t really have anything I can explain, because the title has been chosen very carefully, in order to be simple and clear.

I have another slogan that I love, it’s a song’s title, this slogan is some sort of a message to those don’ters, it says:”DO or DIE”, no other choice, because after life there is no second chance, no second life, no other world, there is only two things, heaven and hell.

Just the idea of being recognized in the street excites me, having millions of people following my funeral, sad for my lost, and I wonder how some people prefer staying in the shadows while they can really shine, because we got the fire, and all we have to show to people is our smile in the sky, illuminating all mankind.

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CHAPTER 8: JUSTICE & EQUALITY

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Justice and equality, two rights which a lot of people usually confuse; which one is better or which one can get us to the other, while I believe one should not even exist, I’m talking about EQUALITY, because all it does is tearing down JUSTICE, I don’t see any justice with equality.

Equality by definition is providing the same rights, the same treatment, to everyone no matter how educated he/she is, or which social rank he/she belongs to, or his/her sex, and it sounds good, it seems nice, of course it does, it has to be, because I didn’t take you anywhere deep in the meaning of this definition, I did not mention that these beautiful words above are hiding some dangerous consequences. Let me give you an example, if equality is what we want, every single worker no matter how important his/her work is, or how hard it is, should be getting the same salary, does it still sound good? May be to some, but one thing I’m sure about is that it’s not FAIR. To be honest, I don’t believe in equality, I even hate the expression and I don’t know why people are defending it that hard, especially men and women equality. It makes me wonder, is it just another try to produce the standard human being, or I’m just looking at it in a wrong way, but after I thought about it, I am now sure that nothing good can come from it. Personally, I love the differences GOD made between the male and the female, such as how the male is stronger, and how the female is sweeter, because I don’t want to wake up one day married to a woman just by sex, while she’s not able to feel my sadness, frustration, happiness and excitement, I’m not ready to be married to a woman who’s not ready to shed a tear for my lost because she can’t look weak.

And don’t get me wrong too, because I hate two universal stereotypes, the first is that men are all cheaters, and the second is that all women can do anything for money, I hate the idea the French quote:”Toutes les femmes sont des putes sauf ma mère” presents, because in my point of view it’s not about a good woman, and a bad man, or the reverse, it’s all about a good or bad human being.

Your sex does not make you inferior to the other sex in any way, because each one has his or her weaknesses, holes only their other half can fill.

We can say justice contains equality, and it’s true, but relatively, because as I said before, equality by definition is literally ruining justice.

As a matter of fact, all equality has brought to the world is division while justice is a right everyone forgets their misunderstandings for; can you see the difference now?

I have already mentioned that everything is symbolic, and this problem is proving my idea, because mixing up two beautiful expressions like these gives a whole different meaning to our words, and our requests.

Actually it was kind of hard for me to make the decision of discussing “justice and equality” because I know some are going to take it a bit emotionally, which can make it personal, and that can get me a few enemies, but I believe everyone will have enemies at some point, so let it be, nothing is going to stop me from speaking my mind.

“It’s always better to say too much than never to say what you need to say.”

John MAYER

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CHAPTER 9: KINDNESS

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Kindness is the concept life revolves around. Kindness is the moral that keeps life going on.

Kindness is the power of love; love to the human race, kindness is the sign of humanity.

Kindness started being a part of history, maybe an imaginary history; because I’m not sure a human being can change that much in a short amount of time.

May be “Darwin” is right, maybe we really were apes and we got developed to be humans and now we’re passing to the next level … SURPRISE : WE’RE CHANGING TO MONSTERS. I hate this negativity, but I just can’t hold it inside. How can I do so when everything around is reminding me that life isn’t getting any better? How can I do so when I feel like … I think I’ll just stop for now until I get back to my normal situation …

Not much time left before we face our creator, so how can we face him while we can’t even respect the smallest duty our humanity imposes? Who does smile in people’s face anymore?

It’s normal to have problems with some people, what’s paranormal is hating them because of a stupid, silly thing. This is what I call being UNFAIR, because for me, no matter how big your issues are, keep your smile, your smile is the last thing you could offer to that person, your smile can change the whole relationship.

Your smile is kindness, and it’s the only thing that holds the world from tearing apart, it’s been a long time since the last time we gathered around something to imagine, isn’t it? So let’s imagine the world without kindness, life without a smile, what do you see? It’s like a movie in my head, a sad movie, pale image, a lot of shadows, a few people around, eyes looking down, and silence, nothing but the sound of my steps. This life I imagined is not the kind of life I would be willing to live for sure.

Now let’s imagine life with kindness, another movie, a different one, a happy movie, sunny day, gentle breeze, a lot of people walking around, looking forward, head up, a lot of sounds, sounds of laughter, people saying HI to each other, sharing love, and putting smiles in their faces, and this is the life I would be dreaming to live.

A voice deep in my heart is telling me that it’s possible, as long as dreams are meant to be true, hope still remains.

Everyone deserves to be treated kindly, no matter how good or bad he/she is, because relations inside the society are just actions and reactions, and if there is something society can control, then it’s the people’s reactions, actions cannot be controlled but reactions can be. Consequently, we should be kind to one another in order to be treated kindly. Criminals prove my idea, because jail does not change a thing in them, for one reason: life in jail is not easier than life outside, they’re still getting that tough attitude they used to get outside, they’re still facing the same threats they used to face outside and even worst. Now the question is how can that person change while he’s still living in the same hard, dangerous environment? The problem is, even if there is a will to change, the environment starts being an obstacle instead of being a source of encouragement.

These are my words

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CHAPTER 10: THE BEGINNIG OF THE END

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When you refuse help, when you refuse any human contact, when you look at the world as your enemy, when the ground beneath your feet starts to shake, split, and give birth to mountains, mountains of hate, despair, agony and sorrow, this is the beginning of the end.

When you live in the shadow land, surrounded by hopeless dreams, when you turn to a ghost, invisible, then, be sure it’s the beginning of the end.

When no love is shared in a society, only caution, caution from the ones called friends, family and everyone else, when the whole world is a threat, when losing starts being better than winning, when smiles are nothing but a sign of hypocrites, when laughter turns to be an annoying sound, and silence is the best music, this is the beginning of the end.

If you think lovely reader that this is how you feel, and this is how you see the world, then you have two choices. The first is to fight back, fight your black ideas, or throw yourself in front of a train; as long as nothing good comes from you, it’s better to leave.

If you think the second choice is suitable for you, better to close the book and do it, but be sure that your lost wouldn’t have any sense, you’ll just be the guy who used to sit by the street corner, and nobody will be interested in feeling any type of sympathy for you.

But if you’re fed up with your empty life, and you believe that the only choice you really do have is to bring back colors to your life, here is what you have to do: 1. Close your eyes and put your arms around your chest like if you hugging yourself and say: “I forgive every single person who has ever hurt me”, say it out loud so that you can hear yourself, so that you will be able to convince yourself; 2. Look at the mirror, smile, you can fake it if you want, but ask yourself: “how selfish was I for not sharing this beautiful smile?” and you will certainly find that you were selfish even with yourself, because hiding that smile was the main factor that made you the sad person you were a few minutes ago; 3. Wear clothes with bright colors and go outside, take a walk and say Hi to everyone you have eye contact with, plus a big smile on your face; 4. Get back home, take a big piece of paper and writ: “TODAY I AM A CHANGED HUMAIN BEING”; Every day can be a beginning, every minute can be a beginning, but you have the choice, whether to make it the beginning of a new life, a life dedicated to self discovery and chasing greatness, or the beginning of the end, maybe the end of a life that never started.

Because life don’t start with birth, as long as destiny controls you, and everything happening around cannot be related to you in anyway, life did not start for you, life starts when you start being in charge, life starts when you start facing your deepest fear.

These are my words

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CHAPTER 11: COURAGE

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Courage or bravery, the oldest lesson every generation tried to teach the next. The last generation before mine tried to teach us this principle.

Stories were told, cartoons were made, songs were played and books were written, all about this one and only principle, but with all these efforts some of us still don’t get it, some misunderstood it, some simply wouldn’t take the right meaning and preferred their own.

In my opinion, courage is not deleting fear, but controlling it, facing it, and defeating it, because fear is what keeps us alive, our fear of darkness made us invent the lamp, our fear of the unknown made us curious to learn more.

As I already mentioned, some misunderstood it, thinking that bravery is looking for trouble, not caring for the consequences, trying to be somebody, somebody everyone will remember the name of, somebody whose memory can remain no matter how much time has passed, or how many things happened, they simply attached courage to glory.

The Lion King once said to his cub that courage is not looking for trouble, even known that all the cub wanted is to be brave like his father, but the father himself used courage only when he needed to, he did not choose to be in situations where he has no choice but to be brave, because sometime being courageous can be a stupid decision, sometimes running away is smarter.

I certainly don’t mean giving up, when it’s a matter of believes, there is only one choice, and it’s facing the world, fight, and be a lion about it, a Lion King.

As a matter of fact, courage is complicated, but it’s necessary, courage is what makes a person different than the other, courage decides, whether to be a normal, simple citizen, or a leader.

Wisdom is nothing with the absence of courage, because fear stops us from thinking straight, fear puts a gigantic black cloud in front of our eyes and the road starts being impossible to drive on, because nothing can be seen anymore, while courage brings faith, and light the way through the clouds.

Courage determines man; courage proves how much a person deserves living.

Courage protects the sound of our voice, courage keeps us away from shutting our mouths and closing our eyes from the things that matter the most.

Courage brings belief, belief brings faith, faith brings curiosity, curiosity brings searching, searching brings truth, the truth brings fighting and fighting brings … HONOR …

“A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.”

Martin LUTHER KING, Jr

These are my words

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CHAPTER 12: HONOR

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How can I even start, I feel like all the words seem to be weak in comparison to this powerful expression.

I believe I have to stop looking for the right words and use it itself.

Honor can even be a sensation, a feeling that gives you the chance to be a step ahead from the others, because it puts you in a comfortable zone, a zone full of respect, esteem and recognition.

Honor is what keeps you on the right track, knowing the right thing to do and following it, because knowing the right from the wrong is never enough, this is not wisdom, wisdom is knowing the right and following it, and knowing the wrong and avoiding it, your Honor, lovely readers, is what gives you wisdom, because it keeps you thinking, wondering whether your decisions are right or wrong.

The existence and the absence of Honor ladies and gentlemen is the responsible for your way of thinking, your vision of the world and your decisions.

Honorable, this is how I describe myself, and I hope the way I feel about myself is affecting my actions and reactions. Because for me, my image is all I’ve got, and as long as I am an honorable person, the honor I am talking about should be visible in my actions, spoken words, thoughts and believes.

Honor, respect, courage. These few words, powerful words, are the ones that make death seems to be so easy and accepted at any moment, because when you have those things (sorry but I can’t even find a category for them), you start feeling proud, proud of yourself and of your achievements You start appreciating moments, because you start understanding that every single minute of your life is a part of history, and after death, your history, your reputation is all you have got left. It’s true that you can’t take your reputation with you to the grave, and it’s true that it’s not a win-win situation, but remember that the best things you can offer to the world are the ones you sacrifice for.

Having Honor or being Honorable, is what gives you that white image, clean reputation, and when you have a good reputation, you have people’s recognition, and when you get people’s recognition. Be sure, lovely readers, that you have just achieved greatness.

Death is the end of everything, except for one thing, your MEMORY. Honor can be the cause you die for, because it’s not something you need people to give you.

That’s why there is no possibility for it to be taken from you by any power in the world, nobody can and nobody will.

We can notice that when honor started being rare, the world started being full of corruption, injustice, evil and negativity.

All I can say is: “Live with honor or die for it”.

These are my words

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CHAPTER 13: LOYALTY

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“I never met my grandfather, he died when I was just a baby, but, when I hear about him and ‘Hachi’, I have a feeling like I know him, they taught me the meaning of loyalty, that you should never forget anyone you’ve loved, and that’s why ‘Hachi’ will forever be my hero”, these are the last words from “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale” movie, said by a little kid for a school project, these words made my eyes wet, in fact, they were already wet but these words had their weight.

‘Hachi’, lovely readers, is a dog who waited for his dead master for 9 years in front of a train station no matter how the weather is, when even his wife changed the city trying to run away from his memory, but the dog, the loyal dog, stayed and waited. I don’t care if he wouldn’t have the same reaction if he knew that his master is dead, but we, humans, don’t wait for anyone all that time even if we we’re sure of his/her comeback.

Loyalty is an education, loyalty is a concept we should remind ourselves of, loyalty is appreciating what you have received from people, staying true to yourself and true to those you are associating with. Always be there and try to do the very best for what you belong to. Trust also has its place, because being trusted can be a big factor to create loyalty.

Earning loyalty is not a dream for individuals only; it’s the goal of every company in the world.

Every company needs to finish its business season with a profit, not only financial profit but human profile too, because winning the heart of a client is winning his/her loyalty. And if you lost a cent today in a specific product, you can recuperate it with another product, this is a concept every company in the world concentrates its efforts and policies to achieve; this is an economic view to the expression.

All domains that counts on people’s opinions to announce their loss or win are concentrating on the idea of loyalty, and politics isn’t an exception. All the political parties are fighting to win the heart of the majority. In politics just like in economics loyalty is not the final goal, loyalty is not the reason behind the existence of companies or political parties, but it’s a bridge to accomplish their purposes.

As a conclusion, loyalty is not a purpose but it’s a bridge to get the purpose, even between individuals, because loyalty is what gets us to keep a relationship alive, whether it’s a friendship, love affair or a professional relationship, which makes loyalty a key to excellence, a key to the world’s heart and a key to perfectness.

“The game is my wife. It demands loyalty and responsibility, and it gives me back fulfillment and peace” Michel Jordan

These are my words

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CHAPTER 14: EMOTIONS

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The first chapters were about following the heart not the head, but I never said anything about the one thing that makes the heart special and different than the brain, I never said anything about feelings, emotions.

Emotions are the first thing a person is ashamed of, no matter how beautiful or sincere they are; sadness, happiness, despair, hope, excitement, love, hate and anger, these are emotions we all have experienced, and we certainly have experienced the feeling of being ashamed of them. We feel ashamed because we think about what the others would think, we consider these feelings as ridiculous, because we think that these feelings put us in a position of weakness, leaving behind the fact that these feelings are the beauty of life and its taste.

For me feelings are the memories that keep our past alive.

It makes me wonder, is it truly because of the emotions themselves? Or something else that makes us ashamed? Maybe it’s not about the emotions; maybe it’s the reason that makes us feel that certain feeling is the reason behind that shame, or maybe the idea we compose about our personality is the responsible after we discover the truth; maybe that found truth is disappointing.

Maybe it is, maybe it’s not.

I won’t miss this chance to take off that shame and uncover my heart. I won’t miss this chance to mention how proud I am for being a sensitive person, because I am, I am proud to be able to feel the others’ sadness, I am proud to be able to shed a tear when I need to, not caring for the others reactions. I am proud to be able to feel weak from time to time.

And if you think that I am ashamed of the reasons that make me feel weak, I can’t miss this chance no to clarify that I love romances, yes I do, I watch romantic movies and I cry, and I am proud to be that kind of person. I actually thank ALLAH for making me the person I am, I can even add that I listen to calm and sad music, and I won’t lie or try to hide that I used to be ashamed of who I am, but I’m not anymore, now I’m PROUD. I concentrated on crying because it’s a sign of sadness, and as a man the most feared thing is showing sadness, especially by crying. Crying for a man is a sign of weakness and weakness is a shame, but for me, nothing seems to be more natural than crying and feeling sad, feeling weak, because it’s not possible for a human being to feel strong all the time; what goes up must come down.

Sadly, hiding our emotions and keeping them inside is the main cause for regret and depression.

We regret not doing a lot of things we needed to do because we were blocked by our fear of weakness, we get depressed because our fear of weakness again stopped us from letting our emotions out.

As long as these are my words, you will and without any doubt find a lot of emotions, some of them are hidden between the lines, some of them are clear, some of them can’t be understood but felt, and some can only be seen in my face while writing or reading through this book.

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I would like to give a special thank to all my friends, the ones who showed their support to the idea of writing a book, the ones who helped me correct it, the ones who made me believe that I am on the right track and those whose words made my days, those who took friendship to a whole new level.

These few pages mean the world to me; these few pages are like the sun after a stormy night for me, because I started writing after I spent a short amount of time in depression. I went through a time when nobody’s words were enough to bring back joy to my heart, I had some moments when I felt guilty, I felt like I have committed a crime against myself, and because I couldn’t find what it is I had to remind myself of who I am, I had to prove to myself that I can do something, something not everybody can do, and I am not trying to show off here but I have to remind myself that whether the world liked my words and thoughts or not, I still believe it’s worth a try.

These are my words

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These are my words

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