It was totally by accident that I found it. Here it is: I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.
It seems apparent that I will die in exile. I am obviously not going back to either the US or Canada. What is exile (by the way)
It is the state of being barred from one’s native country, typically for political or punitive reasons. These synonyms describe me: : émigré, expatriate; displaced person, refugee, asylum seeker, deportee; outcast, DP, expat.
Never thought I would ever be a displaced person, an outcast, an asylum seeker, a deportee or a DP – but I became one when I reverted to the Islamic Faith. Do I regret it??? Absolutely not!! I am joyous. Allah (SWT) saved me. The United States and Canada have become dens of iniquity. This was not always so – but definitely this is so now. It is kept from the world but it is definitely and decidedly true. Palestine has exposed the sins of the world. They were always there, but were hidden. No hiding anymore. They have been exposed – Israel, the US, the UK and all of their feeble partners in crime.
This is why, in the words of Jean Rostand. “Stupidity, outrage, vanity, cruelty, iniquity, bad faith, falsehood – we fail to see the whole array when it is facing in the same direction as we.”
I was forced to point in another direction and when I did I could see the vanity, cruelty, iniquity, bad faith and falsehood that characterizes the country of my birth and my adopted country, the USA,
Jean Rostand also said: “A man is not old as long as he is seeking something. That is the secret of eternal youth, if I have ever heard it.” Throw in a quote by George Eliot and you are on the winning team. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
Scores of people call me a strong woman. This is why, Mark Twain explains my power. It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.l:
However. Khalil Gibran must have seen my body when I was not looking. “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars” .
I follow Walt Whitman’s advice, even though I just read it:” Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”
Back to the proposed book, the embryonic book, the yet to be written or even titled book. That one. I borrowed three books from the Ithra Library yesterday. The cover of one was pictured in the January 30, 2024 blog. The second one, chosen almost randomly is Rudyard Kipling: Something of Myself and Other Autobiographical Writings
We could, for a few minutes anyway, do a using the title. A parody on the title. A parody is a an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect. It is a pastiche, caricature, takeoff, skit, imitation, mockery, spoof, sendup.
I could do a spoof and a take off. Alexis McBride: Very Little of Myself as That is All You Really Want to Know, for example. Or Alexis McBride: A Little Tiny Bit of Me Because There Isn’t Enough to Go Around.
However, I did manage to open the book, and start to read .It was engrossing, it absorbed all of my attention and interest. This from the Introduction.
“The first reaction to Kipling’s autobiography was summed up by one wit among the reviewers who that it was not Something of Myself but Hardly Anything of Myself. He might have gone on to say that it was not only thin on the facts of life, it often got them wrong as well.”
The editor, Thomas Pinney then provides a life story, one would say a biography,of Kipling’s life and times. I shall define autobiography and at a later time again quote from Thomas Pinney.
Autobiography is an account of a person’s life written by that person. It is a memoir, life story, account of one’s life, personal history; diary, journal. Needless to say, Wikipedia has a great deal to say about the subject.
The word “autobiography” was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English periodical The Monthly Review, when he suggested the word as a hybrid, but condemned it as “pedantic”. However, its next recorded use was in its present sense, by Robert Southey in 1809.
Despite the fact that it was named in the 18th century, it had been around for a long time, since antiquity actually.
Been thinking about autobiography for many-a-year, deciding that my blog – which is actually a diary-in-disguise (hahaha) would serve as my autobiography. Wikipedia addressed the issue, just now.
There are dangers with autobiography as noted by Wikipedia and also by Pinney.
“Autobiographical works are by nature subjective. The inability—or unwillingness—of the author to accurately recall memories has in certain cases resulted in misleading or incorrect information. Some sociologists and psychologists have noted that autobiography offers the author the ability to recreate history.”
Oops. definitely would like to recreate history. Before my discovery of the Islamic Faith my life could aptly be described as a mess. Some of the most dreadful synonyms can, and does, describe it: muddle, mix-up, imbroglio, pickle, fine kettle of fish, botch, bungle, car crash, snafu.
Before becoming a Muslim my life was a pickle, a fine kettle of fish, a botch, a bungle, a snafu and a car crash. There certainly are a number of fine book titles to be found using those words.
But instead of that, I shall finish the blog with a touch of humor, moving onto another more serious discussion of autobiography on another day.
AMA were texting the other morning. Laughing about the unusual circumstances under which we met each other at the Bahrain Ritz Carlton. Most unusual . .
Me: So unusual we should meet. Thousands of things had to come together At exactly the right moment.
He; Yes, Indeed.
Me: I think I remember what I said to you and your son. Brazenly I said laughingly; “What are you staring at?? You should be staring at me.It took at least a half an hour before I called you stupid.
He: You are quite perceptive.
Me: Not that perceptive. It took me thirty minutes. Hahaha I am about to write. I put a new screen saver on my computer. Wait until you see it. I found it yesterday in my vast collection.
Gentle reader, you shall see the screen shot at the conclusion of the blog.
Me: That is me as a baby. I think it heralds a new beginning in my life. I have no idea how I have managed to have this photo ‘with me’. I have no possessions with me at the moment, You gotta admit I was cute. I remained bald for the longest time. When I finally grew hair I did it exceptionally.
He: MaShallah. You’re still gorgeous. This child’s laughter is contagious.
Me: How sweet of you. I did not notice until you said, I was sort of laughing way back then. And look at the pose. I have grown convinced that Allah (SWT) was with me from the womb. This seems evidence, it truly does.
He: Faith and believe.
Me: Wise words yet again. Wondrous wise words. Alhamdulillah. With that pose cannot you hear me say Stupid I do not think so. Hahaha
He: No that was an acquired taste later. Hahaha
Me: I am totally laughing. An acquired taste indeed!
He: Are you in Bahrain?
Me: No it is not Tuesday, stupid, so I am not in Bahrain.
He: It was yesterday genius
Me: Well, next Tuesday I meant. Slightly Intelligent Man.
He: Bully.
Me: You bring out the best in me. Or is it the worst?
He: No comment but you got plenty of both. But they are adorable.
Also conversations with my Malaysian friend this morning.
Me: Look at the coffee the Marks and Spenser Food guy made for me. This is your morning greeting.
She: Wow. That looks so nice. It must’ve tasted good. Is there a word written in your coffee?
Me: Maybe it is but it is Arabic. How clever of you.
She: Heee
Me: Another good morning to you. Today is February. My Ithra calendar theme for the month Is Unlock the Possibilities. I shall. Plan on going to Ithra later today.
She: Good morning my sweet sister. What a great motto for February. Shall I do the same thing and unlock the possibilities?
Me: You must make it your motto. It is most inspiring.
She: Ya Ya Ya,
She also sent me an inspiring Good morning greeting, sent from a friend which I passed on to my friend. I shall attach it to the blog as well.
Photographs are of my screen shot. The coffee, which was bought for me by a new friend.
And two shopping bags. One from Ithra, so beautifully designed. The other from Marks and Spenser. Went there last evening. It is SO unusual to have a Marks and Spenser across the street in Saudi Arabia. Went shopping before meeting a n interesting woman who lives in Khobar. I purchased a reversible sleeveless on sale vest. It shall definitely get me through these winter months. My winter clothes were left in Canada. I will not miss them with this new addition to me wardrobe.
I have eaten breakfast and soon shall leave for Ithra. Mashallah
