The Road: One Step at a Time

Hoopoe found in Herzliya- by me

The first of my master’s classes are now over. I have never spent so much time on a paper. Perhaps that is a lie. I’m not so sure, on deeper introspect; however, it certainly feels that way when crammed into one week. I’ve got to believe my Mexican American War Newspaper Analysis took more time; however, that paper took me a semester to write, and was a lot more than four pages. There is a certain difficulty to limiting words that does not exist in giving unlimited space.

Anyway, that’s got to be quite boring to read. I am thankful that you have all made it this far! What I intended to write, days ago at this point, was something that caught me by surprise. I was thinking very hard on a walk home from the market, my eyes on the ground, and completely missed the 16 story apartment building that indicates my road. After turning back I was thinking about the way we look is related to mindset. From karate, I always hear senseis say to keep your eyes up (well level, looking at the opponent). Looking down, they explain, breaks your posture and significantly weakens everything. Other sayings talk about people with their heads in the clouds, or being grounded.

Walking around here, a lot of people walk with their heads down all the time. I can see why, I find myself doing it sometimes. There is quite the stray dog problem so, as you can imagine, it’s important to watch your step; however, if you spend the whole day looking down you’ll miss a whole lot, like a beautiful flower, a friend waving hello or a hoopoe picking up its breakfast. Looking up and looking down have nothing to do with having your head lost in the clouds. Staring into the ground, with thoughts racing, your mind can take you anywhere.

I think that is one of the beautiful things of our mind; our imagination can take us anywhere; it’s also a great danger. The important thing is, that we follow through on our dreams, and not give in despair. Our mind can open a door to a room of friends and good times, or dark dreary nights where not only the wind howls, but there is no one there. That’s quite a leap there right? But it’s a wonderful transition to recent developments. At my last job (which I honestly enjoyed) I had time for karate; however, I was falling behind on my goals of writing and practicing art and guitar. Part of it is certainly my desire and expectation to have 40 hours in a day, but that doesn’t mean I should stop trying everything. Since I’ve been here, I’e gotten sucked into school and I’ve fallen behind even on karate.

Things are turning around though. I just have to whisper to myself: I think I can, I think I can! I did teach a few classes of karate. It was a rewarding experience, and I’m glad that I taught well enough that I was asked back. Hopefully I’ll get more opportunities for that, but I definitely miss just training! It’s so much easier to be the student than the teacher, and I may have found a closer dojo I can start going to!

In addition to that, the University, may have heard wind of my complaints against the lack of clubs. Well that is a statistical chance of zero, but a recent announcement seems to be geared at appeasing my qualms. They have proposed starting a poetry club, and a salsa club. So far as I’m aware, it’s the dance, but without a description they may very well be working on a cooking club.

I mean, who in Israel would name a café “explosion” in Israel? Something has to be lost in translation there, but I return to the day at hand. I am about to attend the Herzliya Conference, which I thought was a tiny insignificant gathering. Little did I know how very wrong I was. This year’s speakers include individuals from Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and the PLO, and is known and important enough to earn derision from Hezbollah. At least, the participation of the Arab participants has been condemned.

Walking home from school - a Snail

What I would like to conclude with is returning to the thoughts briefly mentioned earlier. How looking down or looking up says something about you. Like anything in life there needs to be balance. If you only look down, you’ll miss the beautiful world around you, though avoid stepping into something unpleasant; however, if you only look up you may just crush a poor snail crossing the path.

Sometimes, I have to admit, it helps me to come back here and read my own writings. I generally try to sit and write when I’m in a good mood (aside from ‘The Buzz of finals’), and it helps me remember the direction I want to go. I am a very lucky person, and have a lot of wonderful people surrounding me. I also have quite large dreams, but leat-leat (לאט לאט) as the Israelis say. Slowly slowly. The first trip to plan is to the Hula Valley. After that I will find a way to make it to Spain. I am very excited to see Seville. Pero, antes de ir a Espana, yo necisito practicar mi espanol! Ese deficil, pero pienso que es importante hablar mas de un idioma. Entonces, tengo clases de Arabic and Hebrew. El ultimo problema es que quiero usar ‘ani’ y ‘aval’ en lugar de ‘yo’ y ‘pero.’

I want to just say, that it is always a pleasure to practice speaking, even if sometimes I feel like I am three years old. So before long Spain and England is back on the list. I want to ask you, what are your dreams? Your dream destinations?  Whatever they are, I hope you never let go of them and you can always find your way. I must confess here though, as I am sure you all know, this is not a new idea. I’m sure a lot of big names have said it, but if there is one thing I have learned along the way, it’s the acts of the little people that create the big names (that is not to negate the effect of icons by any means). Personally, I take it from an important person to me who I want to thank here for helping me through tough times, for being a friend and a mentor. For leading by example and showing that the most important thing to do is never give up on your dreams.  Thank you SA!