TO: "YESTERDAY,TODAY AND TOMORROW"

By Yesterday

"Yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream."

Khalil Gibran

My beloved invention,

I have this habit of quoting The Poets in my letters. Yes, it was that Lebanese poet who said it: that I am but a memory and that Tomorrow is only a dream. I am elated that you have not forgotten me yet. You wouldn't believe your ears if I told you how many of them have forgotten me already. How painful! The day I invented you, I saw everything and said, "Behold, everything is good!" Didn't that Jewish scribe tell you? But now I see imperfection everywhere; they have forgotten me. Perhaps you are the only invention I should have had.

My dear, I cannot say you have wronged me but you have made quite a few presumptions about me that are wrong. However, that is not more than a mother can bear. But it just calls for another chance of mentoring you and hence this letter.

My dearest of inventions, you are the sum of all that have been your yesterdays. The scars I have impressed on you, all those memories - both sweet and sour - the mistakes you made and the wrongs you righted, all the yesterdays you have had so far, know you not that those are you? Yesterday is your progenitor, your mother! And "Mother" should have been the sweetest word on your lips! (Isn't that what the poet said?) How can you call me cruel and mean? Do you not know that fighting with your Yesterday is being at war with your own self? Besides, I can see that remorse and regrets, scores of "I should haves" and "I shouldn't haves" are consuming you. Take heed child! Yesterday is what has dictated your Today; even the phantom Tomorrow, if it ever comes, depends on me. That is how I, in my infinite wisdom, have willed it to be. Accept your Yesterday, call me "my dear Yesterday," and you will appease Today, and you shall love and be loved. (Isn't that your wish anyway?)

I always say, "Tomorrow is but a phantom," for one never knows if it shall come. Poor child, it pains me to see that you have rested all your hopes on a phantom that is Tomorrow. "Sweet Tomorrow," you call it, and I believe you have even made a messiah out of it. Never can a phantom be your deliverer, son, for it is never promised. Have you not heard the cliché that Tomorrow is never promised?

My beloved, you have asked me this, "Why didn't you say something so I could have taken care of all the good things that happen and transferred to today?" I could have done that but I refrained from it for your own good. What would you have been doing in your Today if I told you the slightest something? Wouldn't your life have been a two-and-two-makes-four affair? Wouldn't you have been like that mathematical table - everything of yours figured out and nothing left for you to invent? Wouldn't you already have died of boredom if you had that kind of predetermined life? What would you have been without the challenges and all that makes life colorful? I have, in stead, given you the playing dough of life so that you can shape it, reshape it and make whatever kind of life you want out of it. Remember what Sartre said, "Everything has been figured out, except how to live." Yes! Everything except how to live! And that is because I, in my infinite wisdom, considered it the best way for you. Figure out how you should live your Today; invent, create, don't just sit there and wonder what you will do Tomorrow, if it ever comes. You can long for Tomorrow, though, while you remember me and make your Today, just like that Lebanese poet said - "Let Today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing." That is the hallmark of harmony; that is what I call life. Remember this, by not telling you the slightest hint I have given you life.

I understand your frustrations with Today and that may be why you told me to "get the hell" out of your life. I sure am "the hell" out of your life for I am no longer there. But remember, my footprints remain; and the legacy I have bestowed upon you is still lingering. Never mind the other curses you threw at me; I am your mother and I can bear it, son. Today knows you are unhappy and says, "Be happy while I am still around." - Just that. Finally, I should like to tell you that Today cannot wait for darkness to come, for that is the time Yesterday and Today shall be married and become one.

With Love,

Yesterday.

PS: Tomorrow is a phantom and cannot hear you; so let me answer your questions. By Tomorrow, if Tomorrow ever comes, Weather shall be the sum of what you have done to Earth when Yesterday was there and what you are doing to Earth while Today is around. Today and I are the authorities over Tomorrow and we cannot promise you friendship of him for Tomorrow may never come.

PS: As usual, I haven't forgotten the last quotation for your edification. Today I have Marcus Aurelius for you. By the way, I am proud that you are reading the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. (Even though he is an Antonine king, Marcus Aurelius is usually known by Aurelius and not by Antonius.) Beloved invention, remember this:

"To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing - here is the perfection of character."

Marcus Aurelius

YESTERDAY,TODAY AND TOMORROW

This is our life on this earth. The only thing that is common for conversation in every language and culture, what is it in these three days that we see and hope for? I guess all we see is good, bad and the ugly- not in this order but in the order of events that take place.

Who cares about yesterday? Shakespeare put it best "All our yesterdays are lighted fool". It is gone and it is not coming again, or is it? It, however, comes in another form to fool us all. Do you readers know, if asked, what happened yesterday?  Many of us do not remember the exact time and place. Winners celebrated and bragged about their achievement, but today their good news or their heroic deeds are history. It is not even written in the books to remind them. And if it did, it will all be full of the remorse.  What all yesterdays reminded you is your failure and agonies that passed you and the scar you still carry from it.  You all gambled your life yesterday. Yes, so did I. There is no ifs and buts, as to the blunders you made.  Or as to the investment you should have thought about. Ah! Yesterday. You were a very cruel day. Why didn't you say something so I could have taken care of all the good things that happen and transferred to today? You are mean and you will never be my friend. All that is left for me is regrets about everything that went by. I should have done this and that. I should have been a little careful. Why didn't I say this and that? You inconsiderate, irresponsible and inconsistent day, get the hell out of my life. Ah! That sure feels better.

I am now here, Today. Why do I feel so careful in everything I do? You have a tendency to slow down when we are down. You have a desire to always put me in hallucination or into dreams that I will never get into. Are you sure you are not in this world to only make me think of what I will be doing ten years from now? OK, I am at that age where I am thinking only in a five-year plan. You communist! That was always your desire, to limit me within one digit number! Don't forget, like yesterday, you will disappear from the face of the world. Thanks for the darkness you will also be covered with your filthy things along with yesterday. Then again, you purposely rush to darken the day and leave me with plans to do this and that for tomorrow.

Sweet Tomorrow, please come and solve every problem I had from your relatives. They never were that nice to me. Don't you want to know what exactly I desire and how I plan to spend you? Yes, to love and to be loved. You like that don't you? Then again, I have no assurance you will come. Can you just give me a clue? Ok! Ok! Let's start with the weather. You know, in here I wasn't asking for myself only? You should give me credit for thinking of other human beings. Is your day warm, sunny and bright? Or are you going to make it harder for all of us to smile and say "isn't this a cold day?" Why are you so secretive like that? In fact,, forget all other requests I made. Just tell me, am I going to be your victim in any shape or form? Why then am I worried with your Silent treatment? I just rather go along with Marcus A Antoninus:

"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present."

So, Tomorrow, do you want to be my friend?

The Face of Courage and Virtue 

Thank You!!

The Thorn in The Horn

Just when you thought it couldn't get any uglier, just when you thought it couldn't possibly get any more gruesome, or the hubris couldn't get any bolder, it does. It appears that Mr. Meles' tyranny knows no boundaries...literally. The thorn in the horn, Meles Zenawi, has gone and invaded a sovereign nation. And for what? Well, the consensus seems to be that it is nothing more than a desperate attempt to divert attention away from the growing turmoil he faces inside the country. It is the classic example of a desperate dictator trying to rally support from the people using a scare tactic. The Jihadists are coming! You'd have thought Bin Laden was approaching the border.

"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders . . . All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism."

Unfortunately, the blowback to this irresponsible and senseless war will be felt for years to come. And who will be the on the receiving end of this reckless act that was done in the name of self defense? Once again, it is the innocent people of Ethiopia, whose only desire is to live in a peaceful democratic country, which respects the rights and sovereignty of its neighbors.

Mr Zenawi, in his infinite wisdom using his own version of mathematical logic, and a tinge of his infamous arrogance, declared: "We have done more than half of our mission already. As soon as we complete the other half, and it won't take us long, we will be out of there. So, they won't have a target to fight against." It reminded me of a quote by a professional baseball manager who said, "Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical." So, when will Mr. Meles start saying ‘we will stand down when the Somali Army stands up' or ‘we will not withdraw until our mission is accomplished'?

There is no justification whatsoever for this outrageous act. Even if one was to play along with this sick escapade and entertains Meles' twisted notion of national interest, the invasion is as bizarre as the reason itself. Coupled with the weak rational that a few Moslem fundamentalists are a serious threat to the most militarily powerful county in the region, the idea of defending Ethiopia from the other thorn in the horn, the dictator in Eritrea, can hardly absolve Mr. Meles from the fact that he invaded a sovereign nation. If that were the case, the logical place to launch this mad attack would have been in the Badame front where everything started. Furthermore, if that was really the case, why didn't Mr. Zenawi march all the way to Asmara when he had the chance? I mean the goal is pretty much the same, to protect Ethiopia's interest right?

Chereka