A Message to Back-Stabbers

Dear Coward,

Your actions are devious and you sadly don't know it. You prey on innocence and naivete. You admire with yellow eyes when I am strong and sharpen your knife when I am weak. You bask in my light when I shine and do not hesitate to take a stab at my back as I look the other way. You lie, plot and scheme when I have left the room. When I return you present a false facade to manipulate.

You play by the rules in a world of slanted mirrors and smoke screens where the truth is there, but distorted to suit your reflection. You present that reflection to 'those that matter' in order to achieve your dirty goals. You believe that concealing the whole truth is not the same as lying. I look forward to the day when you learn how wrong you are - the hard way.

What you do not know is that Time is right behind you, watching your every move.

There is a light that shines through actions, words and thoughts. It is the dividing line between my noble heart and your reptilian blood. It is that sparkle in my eye you cannot look straight at for long. You look away because you can see the fire inside that will one day swallow you whole. You quiver at that split second thought. True, you may bask in your oasis and think you're on top of the world. Rest assured I will never harm you. In fact I'll even let you do as you please. Just remember that one day the clouds in your sky will relentlessly part and reveal that everything you lied for and stole was just a silly mirage. At that moment your heart will start to shake. Your temples will drip with sweat. You'll look for help but realize there is no one by your side. You'll fall on your knees with tears of self pity.

May you have mercy on your own soul because when you need me I will not forgive you. Why not? Because I have been forgiving you since the beginning. You thought of it as 'getting off the hook' if ever I seemed indifferent to a situation you tried to weasel your way out of - in the hope that I would out find out. Nope. That's another benefit of another doubt I generously yet silently handed you - and was ultimately left disappointed. So no forgiveness. I am not as great as God. You can speak to Him about that. That is, if you remember how to.

So keep doing what you do, dear Coward. I am at peace with my soul. My light will always shine whereas yours will eventually crumble - never to be whole.

Sincerely,

J.F

Wake up and smell the solar cells!

He took the words right out of my mouth! Alternative Energy IS the industry that will save the world. All global leaders to need wake up and smell the solar cells and make a unanimous effort to centralize the process of capturing, storing and distributing the many God-given sources of alternative energy. This energy is clean, renewable and continuous as long as the sun rises from the east and sets in the west. If we can do this, we will be contributing to an excitingly new level of economic prosperity built via the foundations of a healthy, guilt-free source of energy. Lastly, Saudi Arabia should not aim to be the petroleum capital of the world but the energy capital of the world and it has the money to make it happen.

Words of wisdom by General Bonaparte

• A leader is a dealer in hope

• Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.

• He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.

• History is a set of lies agreed upon.

• I have only one counsel for you - be master.

• Imagination rules the world.

• Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.

• It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.

• Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

• The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.

• The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.

• There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.

• Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.

• Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily

If it's a 7-hour flight or a 45-minute drive

Music has always been food for my soul. I love it. I feel it. I think it. And I spend at least an hour a day playing it. It cathartically relieves my stress and goes the extra mile by transforming it into what I can only describe as a smile in my heart.

Anybody who has ever been in love has had a ‘505’. It’s that time and place you always go back to. Usually it is in the formative stages of an affair when you realise that you are genuinely happy with the other person. They complete you to some extent and you know then and there that life is not just good, it’s beautiful.

However, as it is with life, things don’t always remain beautiful. That smile in your heart fades. The magic dust loses its magic. You look for the fairy that sprinkled the dust on you in the first place to get a refund but the bitch disappeared. So now what? Oh yes, that’s when the memory kicks in. As if by your own self-induced trance you go running back through the cerebral neurological fibres of space and time in search for that pure essence. You know, that time when the colours of your world were more vivid; and when you close your eyes you see white, not black. Then you find it: the 505. It’s right there staring your subconscious in the face. Gorgeous. Painfully perfect.

So what now? This is where the grandmaster of life throws a trap in your walk of destiny. Naturally, you go back to your 505. But do you do so blindly with the intention to never leave it? By this I mean, do you continue to go about your existing relationship based on the memory of how brilliant your 505 was while ignoring the contradictory situation of the present where, you know what, things are not okay? Or do you take the initiative of letting go of your 505, living in the now and seeking to make better 505s in the future? Believe it or not but I am 99% sure that: a) The fist scenario is the trap and b) A lot of people who know that things in a relationship are not going so great insist on living with the first scenario rather than breaking free from the relationship early. In the latter case you are virtually digging a coffin to inadvertently bury your relationship one day.

This is the approach the singer of this song took, and I can relate. Alex sings “I crumble completely when you cry, it seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye”. Rather than cutting the relationship he is dragging this girl with him mentally. She can’t take his absence. He survives away from her by visiting his 505 and feeling comfort from that deceitful spark in his heart. She adopts a different approach. When she cries he breaks down because he knows there is nothing he can do except visit his 505.

The contrast? In the song, Nothing Else Matters, Metallica’s James Hetfield said it best: “Trust I seek and I find in you. Everyday bring us something new. Open mind for a different view. And nothing else matters”.

I think that is what we should all strive for. If either party blocks the progression towards that ideal then I don't think it's meant to be.

Everyday should either be a 505 or seed a new one for tomorrow.