the awakening. is there a moment in your life where you suddenly realize that you have unfulfilled dreams? is there a time when you feel like you haven't achieved anything to be proud of? somehow i feel like i am experience mid-life crisis, which once again reminds me of my 'I will have a short life' prediction which my closest friends will have heard before. it's really time for me to do the things that i really want to do, and not adhere to what others want me to do. life is too short. you'll only be 22 for one year, and then you will never be able to catch it back.
random procrastination. the cab was taking me from amman airport to madaba, where i was to buy a mosaic piece for my father. on the way were rolling hills and farmland... not amazing rolling hills, but nice enough for me to start day-dreaming. so i was holding a cigarette in one hand trying not to get ash into the cab, and gazing out of the window at the fields of green. then i started thinking... if everyone returned to the fundamental basics of life, perhaps some millennia back, the only people who would survive on this planet would be farmers, hunters and basically people who can find or grow food. in addition to that, those people must be living close to a natural water source. if we were one day stripped of all modernity (no electricity, no phones, no cars, no supermarkets...), how would anyone survive? all the survival skills that we might have learnt from outward bound or such... would they be of any use?
and then i moved on thinking about the art of law. lawyers get paid so much money because they are professionals; because you need a degree (and it's hard to get). when you move to a less sophisticated country like bahrain, you will realize that the rule of law that we take for granted can be very undeveloped and be overthrown easily by powers of authority. for example, a local guy was speeding on the highway behind you, keeps on flashing his headlights to tell you to shove off, and then hits your car from the back. let's say the impact was quite serious, but he was more injured that you are. in hong kong, according to traffic law, it's nearly certain that the car that hit you from behind is at fault... but here, you (as a foreigner - let's say you were Indian), would be put into jail without any questioning. you will be able to make one phone call, and then stay there at least one night, before you know what's going to happen. the supposed 'law' only protects it's own people, and if you're not one of 'them', you must have good bucks to get yourself out.
another thing i heard just today. it is a trend for the locals to live off credit card loans... so they use one card to cover this, one to cover that, and happily be in debt all their lives. they live rather extravagant lives, buying expensive cars etc, but their wage could be much less that what me or you are earning. so my question to my friend was, 'so what happens when they can't pay the money?' that was when the shock came. when they really can't pay the money, they appeal to the government. they tell them their situation and perhaps after some senior official's authority (obviously with some money paid or some good connections), the government helps them pay all the money back. so why would anyone possible wish to work for their money in this country? why would anyone be stupid enough to work so hard to earn money, if the government will support them no matter what? so in the end, banks and loan sharks lose on this one - and mind you, there need not be loan sharks in bahrain. hmmmmmm.
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