Dec 30, 2013

Elfnesh

I hope and pray that someday I will be blessed to marry a woman who will bear us a daughter who will in turn resemble fraction of you. I have heard of angels, but I have never seen them smile, walk or talk. I just know you Elf.nesh, the definition of humility, with a heart that of an innocent child. The closer I am to you, the joyous I am on this Earth. Your caressing fingertips reinvigorate life; your presence conquers the peace, you live love not in words but in silence.

Your beaming pupils emit grace & dignity with care and affection /
Your faith inscribed between those perfectly patterned wrinkles /
Your joy in abundance, always over flowing, smiles reflected from your infectious enamel teeth to gift it to the starving world /
Your love, your love is an addictive warm sensation of an oasis reservoir that flows through your calluses hands.

እልፍነሽ

የንጋቱን ፀዳል ቀድሞ - ኑሮ ሲፋለመኝ
የማይነጠቅ ነጥቆ - ራቆቴን ሲለቀኝ

ብሌኖችሽን ሳይ - ጨለማው ጭልጥ አለ
ጥርሶችሽን ስመለከት - ፈገግታ ተረገዘ ፤ ሳቅም ገነፈለ

ትንፋስሽን ሳዳምጥ - ነገን ኣስተማረኝ
ጣቶችሽ ሲዳብሱኝ - ሂወት ዘሩልኝ

እልፍነሽ - እልፍፍፍፍፍ-ነሽ!
የደስታዬን ተካፋይ - የፍቅር ፏፏቴ
ቀና ብለሽ እስክታዪኝ -ይሄው አደግኩልሽ
ፍቅርን ያስተማርሽኝ - ኣብሮ ኣደግ ፤ ሁለተኛ እናቴ።

እወ ዓብየልኪ

ወዮ ዕሸል ነይረ - ግርም ሎሚ ነዊሐኪ
ዓይኒ ዓይነይ - ብፍሽኽታ ኣንቃዕሪርኪ
የመና ደኒቁኪ - መስኖይ ተሓጒስኪ

ወዮ ዕሸል ነይረ - ድጋም ኢለ ግማሽ
በፂሐዮ ጣይታ - ብሩኽ ኢድ እልፍነሽ

ክንዲ ኣደይ ክንዲ ሓፍተይ
ክንዲ ኹሉ ዓባዬይ ማሓዛይ።

- Daniel

Dec 22, 2013

5 Small Steps to be Happy

When New Year comes around, I try to choose few words which I want to make my new year resolution; however rather than waiting to start those on new years day, it is even better if you can make them your habit by then.  For this year, Happiness is on top of my list, and so I thought, doing Shawn Anchor's 5 Ways to Turn Happiness Into An Advantage was a perfect opportunity. I recruited a friend to do this small challenge with me. We will do our own things, but having a motivator is always helpful (going forward if it is not private and if it is worth sharing I will blog about it, otherwise, I will be keeping it on my note pad for the next 21 days).

Click the links above to learn in details how it works, but here is the short explanation of how it works.
1. Everyday, we are to write 3 things that we are grateful for.
2. Journal one positive experience that we had with in the past 24 hours (spend writing at least 2 minutes.
3. One act of kindnesa
4. At least 10 minutes of exercise and
5. 2 minutes of meditation.

So here it begins. The 3 things that I am grateful for today are:
1. I woke up and when I thought of my act of kindness, it made me happy. Because it was a great reminder on how wonderful some people are and how their influence on you grows over time.
2. I walked outside and during this winter season, the weather was so amazingly nice that, I decided to change and go running through the woods for a while.
3. I was interpreting for about an hour and half this morning and, interpretation is one of those things that allow you to experience what Roman Krznaric calls, The Power Empathy a way to place yourself in the shoe of others and attempt to see the word through their eyes, because when you are interpreting you are trying to explain things as accurately as you can of what is being said regardless of what you know and what you think. It gives you a sense of how others process information in their head.

JOURNAL: I work for an organization that saves lives. Literally. And I think my job is so rewarding. Extremely diverse office, if you walk into our office, I bet if you care to count, in one day you probably can count over 30 languages. Amongst many one of things I do is, I sit with clients and I ask them their short and long term goals. Some people have never thought about their long-term goals in the sense that most of us (us = most of you reading this). You can ask, what can you envision yourself possibly doing in 5 years and some people just never considered that thought? They feel intimidate to even suggest that they can rise up to some of their desires. This makes me feel so privileged for the fact that I have this sense of feeling and confidence I can be what ever I want to be. Not everyone feels that way. When I push them further and try to get a sense of what they are fond of…they say well it would be nice to be….a nurse (just an exa.) and let go a light hearted smile that just glows on their face when they imagine about it. Every time I get to see that from a client it inspires me, reminds me of my privileged, and makes me feel humble.

While I am at it, I thought I share, my office is doing this fundraising which you can find here and we are only $1K short of our goal, feel appreciated to drop in your blessings.  

Be happy and success will follow.

Cheers,
Daniel

Dec 16, 2013

Your First Instinct (‘Go With Your Guts’)

One of the best ways to focus on the task at hand is to address it. That could be either through
communicating directly with others or through writing (at least for me). Give the ideas/thoughts that you would rather not occupy yourself in yet continue to recycle itself in your head a full freedom to fly off first class. Here is a ticket that I bought on the fly (scratched quickly) so that I can allow myself the undivided attention and solitude with the other ideas fighting themselves to come up to the surface.

Go with your guts they say, for a reason. Your instincts (snap judgment) is a decision that the brain makes in a such a quick glance of reflection yet it is the summary of all the information it has gathered up to date in its entire life. Yes, it could be hard to explain in words but the brain knows more than it is able to explain why it feels certain way. If you allow it and follow your instinct, more than not you will be happy you did.



Cheers,
Dani

Mandela, a Symbol of Human Strength

As NelsonMandela one of the world’s iconic human beings is laid to rest.  “So what was it that allowed Mandela to miraculously unite a nation?” There are so much lessons that we have learned from him over the years and hope that we continue to learn from him. Ever since his death, forgiveness, Freedom, and Peace have been some of the few words repeated over and over again by world leaders and ordinary citizens across the glob when describing him. Although some of us might never have the strength, we should always aspire to do better than yesterday and practice the lessons that we are fortunate enough to have learned from such human beings alike. On this beautiful Sunday, I personally want to focus on one theme. FORGIVENESS. I feel I owe him so much gratitude for showing us the strength of human determination for one’s true values and for showing us what is possible.

In forgiving, you free the inner self from harboring unpleasant feelings, increasing the space for a lighter colors; more reasons for positive energy and for laughter and joy to over take. You focus on deeds that are worthwhile, invest your energy on things that you can be proud of, and claim the result, as results of my effort loudly and publicly. There is no shame in forgiving, but of strength and the opportunity for joy to spread like new cells and for love to bloom.

I recommend you to read this article by: Johann Lochner, an Apartheid-era Cop during the height of the struggle who looks back on Mandela's Forgiveness. Mr. Lochner now lives and works in Dallas, Texas. Here are some wonderful excerpts from the article but the full article can be accessed via the links below.


“So what was it that allowed Mandela to miraculously unite a nation?
Mandela forgave the Afrikaners.
Forgiveness. Yes that same forgiveness Jesus expressed when he cried out to his Father while hanging on a cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Forgiveness removed the shackles of hate, and Mandela knew that mutual forgiveness was the key to national reconciliation.

Forgiveness freed Madiba, and forgiveness freed his country. Mandela chose a symbol of hate and turned it into a symbol of hope. As seen in the movie "Invictus," Mandela insisted on forgiveness as the key to uniting his beloved country"



Rest In Peace Madiba! 

Blessed Sunday All.

Just another inspired youngster - Daniel 

Dec 11, 2013

Tigrinya Eritreans & Tegaru Ethiopians are off the same people

The Tigrigna speaking Eritreans and Ethiopians are the same people. Period. I saw a comment on a
facebook group that stated ‘Agame, Adwa and Tembien* used to work in Eritrea like slaves and they speak Eritrean Tigrigna so they think they speak the right Tigrigna’. This was as accurately as I could remember it. It is not verbatim as the comment was deleted soon after it was posted. It was obvious that some people were offended by it. The person making the comment seems to be expressing that people from the names mentioned above have the attitude/belief that their dialect is the right dialect of Tigrigna. However he seems to disagree and states that, these mentioned above are in fact using an Eritrean dialect. So I thought this is a great opportunity to say something I always felt. When it comes to the relationship between Eritrea and Tigray, sometimes I feel like some members of our community (whether if that be our family or friends) have lack of understanding on some of the basic simple facts…

Fact #1. The Tigrigna speaking Eritreans aka Tigrinya (as they are referred in Eritrea) and the Tigrigna speaking Ethiopians aka Tegaru come from the same Semitic family tree, along the likes of Amharic and Tigre speaking ethnics. Of course over time it is inevitable that groups could grow apart and even develop distinct difference in their culture and language as well as other beliefs. This is true anywhere in the world. That is why we have so many different ethnic groups, languages and religions (belief) all around the world. Otherwise no matter if you believe in creation or evolution there weren’t that many different groups at the beginning right? Distance and lack of connectivity creates people to adopt and foster their own ways of life. Which are both a blessing and a curse at the same time. It is a blessing, because it allows people to have new perspective on things and choices. It is a curse because this simple fact could be source of problems between the different groups due to the lack of understanding and the gap of information between them.

So one is neither superior nor inferior to the other, the Eritreans and Tegaru along with their similarities and difference are just the same family tree that could and might have grown to show a very very small signs of difference between them here and there, this can be attributed to distance and time in isolation from one another.

Fact #2. Geography and connectivity has a huge influence on the spread of culture, language and religion or anything of that sort. Hence, if the Tegaru residents of the Tigray region closer to the borders speak much more similar Tigrigna dialect with their Tigrigna speaking Eritreans residing across the boarder, this should be expected than the dialects of Tigrigna speaking Ethiopians who live farther away. Why? Because humans interact with other humans that reside in their close approximately, and their interactions are not limited to buying and selling goods and services, but also borrowing and lending culture, language, faith and other intangible fundamental things. Therefore, it means the bond will remain fairly in tact. If one wants to argue that, the relationship/bond was a a by product of Tegaru crossing to Eritrea for economic reasons or the Eritreans crossing to Tigray, Ethiopia for economic or other reasons, that is the natural flow of people across the glob. If our people crossed the boarder for employment or trade reasons, that should not be a thing to be ashamed of. It means people went seeking after their interests what ever that is. Aren’t Ethiopians coming to America or Europe for one reason or another? If there is one thing that we should learn from the Western countries is the respect for work in a pursuit to better one’s life.  That brings me to my last fact.

Fact #3. When Ethiopian and Eritreans used to cross the boarders seeking for employment purpose, they were travelling with in their own country, remember we were just one country Ethiopia, Eritrea as a state with in Ethiopia, therefore people moving around with in their own boarder for different opportunities is just a normal thing to do. To those who consider that as a sign of superiority, pride, disdain or shame, please trust me when I say that is just a sign of your ignorance reconsider your belief.   

What should concern us is, for our people Ethiopians and Eritreans not being able to cross each other’s boarder. In time when the world is becoming a small village by the day with new treaties, it is being separated that should alarm us from our neighbors not having a history of connectivity and close relationship. Often times, I notice, Tegaru Ethiopians being offended to hear an Eritrean/s stating or implying that people from “Agame” or “Tigray” used to go to Eritrea for employment opportunities. So what?

Obama during his speech at Nelson Mandela memorial services today said, something so beautiful, there are too many of us Obama echoed, “…there are too many of us, too many of us on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices must be heard.” When we see our fellow family and friends either being offended or attempting to offend with such things, things that are not even offensive things to begin with, we should discuss our differences and explain what we think. We all have our moments when our ignorance gets the best of us, we should jump on the opportunity to discuss and by that educate one another not dismiss it and leave it covered. Because covering it is not a solution, addressing it is. You can’t solve ignorance and the lack of knowledge by burying it, its cure is exposing it to light by that I mean to the process of learning.

*Agame, Adwa and Tembien (local names in Tigray Region of Ethiopia who speak Tigrigna)

Cheers,

Daniel

Dec 6, 2013

Nelson Mandela’s Legacy










What makes President Nelson Mandela’s a legend? So so so many things; but I think President Mandela’s achievement is his decision to retire after one presidential term. He returned the power to the masses when he could have easily continued being in power. This I think was the real turning point for South Africa’s democratic culture and the legacy he lives behind as a selfless public servant who cared so much. Perhaps a lesson takes from what made USA the country that it is today. I believe that, General George Washington’s decision to return his commission to the Continental Congress after the battle in 1783 was a monumental point in the history of the USA. I wonder if America could have been the America we know it today had George Washington decided to try to remain as commander-in-chief rather than resigning his power.

Some are just born to leave a legacy for centuries to inspire children and adults alike. Some belong for
history books, their deeds live on…

Here is a short video about the life of Nelson Mandela from Al Jazeera and a good read by Matthew Fisher titled 'One of Nelson Mandela’s greatest achievements was winning battle against odious pass laws'

"I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself". Amen Madiba and may your soul rest in peace. -Daniel