In Their Place/A Nightmare

A nightmare.

Everything's distorted, the faces, the body parts. Lines, shapes; creatures, people, objects strewn without order about the space. Shafts of light showing glimpses of chaos, while other sights lurk in the shadows.
Screaming, pain.
Mouths gaping wide, gestures of despair. Dead bodies lying about, knives as well.
It's a window to disaster.

It's Nepal.

A great damage has been done as you hid from the danger.
You come out, you see the result.

Chaos, pain, despair. None of this is happening. Not to you. Why is it? Why??
Everything is destroyed. Your home, your family, your friends. Gone. GONE.

This can't be real.
It's a nightmare.

Know Right Now Video: Nepal Devastated by Earthquake (Time)

Christmas Stories

My favorite Christmas story is the Nutcracker and after that, A Christmas Carol. Among the things I love about The Nutcracker is Tchaikosky's ballet score: it is so enchanting and delightfull, with wonderful, unforgetable melodies and orchestrations that capture the mysterious atmosphere of the story, showing how, for children, Christmas is a time where magic can happen. Besides Tchaikovsky's music, I love the story's setting in Germany around the Romantic era, I think. It must have been so wonderful to celebrate Christmas in a setting like that: a lovely European town arrayed with evergreen garlands, old carols and cheer, filled with elegantly dressed people preparing family feasts, decorating their Tannembaums with candles and ribbons in their warm homes, their children playing with their toys and their friends and relatives arriving in fancy dresses and having cordial conversations. 

One thing I've always thought as curious was the figure of Godfather Drosselmier, the old gentleman wearing an eyepatch who gave the Nutcracker to Marie. I've never understood exactly why does he appear on top of the 
Grandfather Clock when it strikes twelve and the magic spell begins. Was that 

an illusion or was he really there? Did he plan all the events so that Marie could break Nutcracker's spell? That, as well as the backstory about how Nutcraker was actually Drosselmier's nephew, and how he got the curse and earned the hatred of the Mouse King, has always haunted me as something mysterious and 
interesting.


As for Christmas Carol, one of the reasons why I like it is similar to the one I 
had mentioned for the Nutcracker: Christmas in an old European setting, this 
time in England. The other reason is the idea of feeling regret for all the bad 
deeds that one has committed and an honest desire to change, to make up for 
those wrong actions. Every time I'd watch one of the many film adaptations for the novel, I'd enjoy so much the scene where Scrooge wakes up and realizes 
he's alive and it's Christmas morning, and he is brimming with joy, actingcontrarily to his previous behavior! I loved how the joy of that scene was so  palpable, the joy of having been given the chance to set things right, to surprise others with gifts, to help the poor and suffering, to say jokes and cause others 
to laugh and feel merry. Hands down, A Christmas Carol is the most potent 
Christmas story. Charles Dickens: RESPECT!

Lastly, I wanted to mention that my favorite Rankin Bass ABC 25 Days of Christmas special is JACK FROST. It has such a sweet but sad love story!!! A girl 
loves Jack Frost, though she can't see or hear him, and Jack Frost in turn falls in 
love with her, so he decides to become human! BUT as a human he can't tell her that he's Jack Frost! In the end, she gets married to a knight in shining armor 
(literally!!!). When Jack goes to propose to he, he opens the door to see her in 
her bridal gown, arm in arm with her knight. Jack says aside to her father: "I 
thought she loved me!", as he looks down in disappointment. "What?", says her dad, "she told me she loved Jack Frost, but she never told me she loved you." 
This part KILLS ME. I always feel a terrible pang of pity in my heart for poor Jack Frost!! 

Later on, as the newly wed couple steps out of the church, Jack, who returned to his invisible form, lets a snowflake fall on the bride's nose (even though it 
was spring). 
"What was that?", asks the knight.
" An old friend kissed the bride", says the girl as a tear rolls down her cheek. Feels, man.

"You are, Kupla!"

Nothing but Mist

The mere fact that we're alive is a veil between us and being able to understand our existence...

Everything we know about life, we’ve learned thanks to the collective experience of humanity throughout history, recorded in books, and to the experiences of the people around us. We all know at least the basic things of the deep mysteries of existence: why we were born, what’s the point of life, why do we have to die, how you never know how close death is to you, how people say that we should live as though each day were our last, etc. Concerning death, everyone has different beliefs about what happens beyond and how to deal with it….in my case, I know that if you love God, you will go to heaven after you die, once your soul is purified for it. I know that heaven is paradise, it’s the place of ultimate joy and beauty; so do millions of other people: we are certain about it. But it’s curious how we know….but we’ve NEVER been there. No one has ever come back from the death to tell us what it’s exactly like. And we’ll NEVER know, neither farther on in the future …not until we die. I sometimes think about how the dead see us, the living, from where they are. They have such a larger scope and dimension added to their understanding of existence…and I understand then more clearly how our vision here is so LIMITED. It’s only once we die that we will have a direct connection to what we should know, to what really matters, the sense our life had…it’s absolutely true what they say in The Secret of Kells:

 “Oh, there's nothing in this life but mist”

-Brother Aidan

"There is nothing in this life/world but mist,

And we will only be alive

For a short time.”

--Aisling’s Song

Yo Nezahualcóyotl lo pregunto:

¿Acaso de veras se vive con raíz en la tierra?

Nada es para siempre en la tierra:

Sólo un poco aquí.

Aunque sea de jade se quiebra,

Aunque sea de oro se rompe,

Aunque sea plumaje de quetzal se desgarra.

No para siempre en la tierra:

Sólo un poco aquí.

--Yo lo pregunto

(Nezahualcóyotl)

Selfies? Herm....

OMG selfies! Suddenly, I noticed, especially at the start of this year, that they were the rage! More than anything, the concept in itself of the selfie boomed in all sorts of media: t-shirts showing cute animals taking selfies were everywhere, and even a selfie song came out! The idea existed long ago already, but its start may be marked by two things: smart phones with two sided cameras that allowed you to photograph yourself, and later on the emerging of the word “selfie”, whose existence I became aware of only by the end of last year.

            I believe it makes perfect sense that people take so many selfies (or groupies). Once you start taking a picture of yourself, you can’t stop. You just can’t take one, there has to be more, especially because it’s hard to be satisfied with how your picture turned out. Then you start having ideas of funny faces or cool looks. When you’re with more people, this symptom is multiplied, and you end up with a whole bunch of pictures on your camera storage. Yes, I find it understandable, but personally, I don’t like the idea and try to avoid taking selfies. The thing is, you tend to waste time AND camera space taking all those pictures. I’m okay with just a few selfie “shoots”, that’s it. But, you know, it’s not that I find it repulsive, it’s not that I cringe every time I see people taking them, it’s more like I don’t see much point to it. Now, there’s something else I really don’t like related to selfies, and it’s when people post random selfies on Facebook and add hashtags with very lame words or phrases. Now that’s what I really don’t like: hashtags. But that’s another subject that should be tackled on a separate entry.

            That’s all I have to say about selfies.

Rembrandt-Self Portrait, 1630 Etching

Bible Burns

I’ve recently been thinking that in the Bible there are actually many times where people get burned, figuratively speaking. Many of these occasions involve the Jewish people—those who’re angry at Jesus--confronting him but ending up with Jesus shutting their mouths with some answer.  I think it’s all pretty interesting because you get to see God’s knowledge and wisdom in action, resulting in adequate ‘burns’ for each particular occasion. Here are some examples:

                        There’s this moment when the Jewish authorities, who don’t want to believe in Jesus, ask him from whom did he get authority for his actions, and Jesus proposes them something (Mt 21, 23-27):

                        *Note: God had sent John the Baptist to “prepare the path of Christ” in advance, but not everyone believed in him.

                        In another example, Jesus tells an allegory that clearly referred to how the Jewish authorities were corrupt and refused to recognize the Son of God (Mt 21, 33-41). The message was so plain they realized who he was talking about. To top it off, Jesus mentions a foretelling passage from the Scriptures that directly refers to these guys’ conduct, one that they themselves knew well and couldn’t deny its meaning. That was a pretty big burn (Mt 21, 42-43).

                        Now for me, this example is the most epic, though it doesn’t involve a direct conversation with Jesus. He cures a blind man who is known to everybody in the place. When the Pharisees heard of it, they once again refused to believe such a miracle and began to inquire the former blind man and everyone around him again and again about the incident (Jn 9, 26-33).

                        Despite all of these burns and more, though, the Pharisees kept refusing to accept Jesus. I guess that if there’s anyone who can relate the most to the phrase “haters gonna hate”, it’s God.

Star Child

                On a quiet night, a baby girl lay on the grass in a forest clearing, under the stars. A woman who was passing by saw her and took the strangeness of it all as a sign that this was a star child. She decided keep and raise her. The girl grew into a special child, almost pale as ivory, her hair silver and her eyes clear grey. She took delight in playing in the forest, especially at night, and sang ancient songs that no one had taught her. She was a friend of nature, and no animal feared her. When she sang, the forest’s aura became more serene and beautiful. 

Whenever she combed her hair, stardust would fall and shimmer about the ground. Out of these fireflies were born, floating quietly among the shadows. As she neared the age of eighteen, she began to feel disquiet and yearning in her heart. When she told her mother of this, the woman finally explained the truth about her birth. During the following days, the girl felt that some answer to her yearning was approaching…Finally, one night she was escorted to the sky. Two glowing white beings descended to her, saying they had come to take her to her true home. When she stepped forward, a light glowed about her and arrayed her into her full glory, and so she followed the two beings until the three became bright white stars burning far up the sky. However, she had loved her forest so much that she decided to visit every summer, and it is said that she can be seen or heard singing among the glades, stardust falling about her.

To live again

                Alex sped down the highway. He had just got out of work and had only 3 hours to get home and finish the paper that was due tonight. Listening to his favorite song as he drove on the way only reminded him how much he could’ve written in advance had he disconnected from Facebook, tumblr and You Tube at midday. But that was part of life. There’ll always be moments when you fall for it and distract yourself too much, delaying responsibilities. Besides, how could he fall behind his favorite pages and not reblog posts on time? A new article interviewing his favorite band had come out today, how could he miss THAT? Anyways, it wasn’t like he was going to do much progress during that break. He randomly remembered his brothers and frowned as he realized he hadn’t called them in a long time, or even thought about them much. Maybe he wasted too much time…especially on himself. His priorities were college and work, he really didn’t worry about much else, and his free time he’d spend distracting himself with his interests. He had to admit that he was pretty selfish overall, and that maybe he sucked as a sibling or friend.

            His mind away, he changed lanes abruptly. Next thing his car screeched off the road and ended up with its front half dangerously hanging down the steep, rocky slope that was beside the highway. Alex was so shocked and terrified. In seconds, his life had suddenly plunged into grave danger. He didn’t know what to think, sitting motionless with his seatbelt on, panting fearfully: the wrong moves might cause the car to budge free from its place and plummet to the bottom. That was when he heard someone calling out. He turned around carefully to see two men who had pulled up nearby and where telling him to hang on. He didn’t know if he could believe in those words, as death was clearly a small step away. He found himself thinking that he’d give anything at the moment for being with his brothers or his friends, enjoying a nice beer and a warm conversation.

*                       *                       *

It was a miracle. He couldn’t believe he’d made it, standing on the road surrounded by local policemen, the guys who’d helped him, his best friend and seeing the faces of his brothers and parents in front of him as a tow truck pulled his car back from the brink. “We were so worried…” hugs and honest words. Brimming with palpable attention and care. As arrangements were made to patch up the situation, his brothers talked about different plans to cheer him up. “It’s been a long time since we don’t exchange CDs and stuff, I miss doing that”, “let’s hang around more”, “we should go to the beach”, “why don’t we spend a day biking together and later eat ice cream and goof around?” He slowly felt that the days before him seemed fresh and bright. He wasn’t conscious that in the past hour he hadn’t thought even once about his usual preoccupations or interests. He was so focused on the moment, on this good taste of what life really is like.

Times Like These - Foo Fighters