Walking around this latin american city, watching the empty shops, sad faces in the streets, I felt a sadness which can be due to a combination of emotions and as my friend in KL would say, my own inability to overcome attachments!
a saudade, of the times remembered, which in the context of the world economy may not return
to see the sadness in the face of these european descendants. I mentioned this to Claudio at the Hotel and he said: we are not Cubans and not prone to expressing our emotions outwardly. Cuba with all its troubles and tribulations, presents itself to the every day world, a cheery face, an eagerness to dance and enjoy oneself.. a fortitude and a desire not to loose the time to snatch a bit of happiness.
Then I remembered a line from a book I had read as an adolescent, Agnary Mykles Lasso Around the Moon..
the young hero contemplates
please dont throw compassion on my way, it is not love. compassion is what you would feel for a blind beggar in the street.
once in the throes of my youthful ignorance and frivolity, I had fallen in love with a post suicidal young physician in Jamaica and now looking back I realized that I should have listened to the hero in Lasso Around the Moon,
Compassion is not Love..
I longed to be back in Asia, where I can distinguish between Compassion and my eager sense of wanting to do something about it. and letting it affect my world of emotions.
Here I am helpless, amidst the beautiful faces of these people, who are sad, at the prospect of a world not going to get better anytime soon...
I am a traveller, always looking forward to my next destination
Miami tomorrow where Jamaican affections, Lebanese food and Cuban coffee await me..
then on to Bruselas where the affections are innocent and love given without strings and in its purest form...
Malaysia, Bali and Phnom Penh are all waiting in the wings to greet me with affectionate arms and always with a taste of the orient, which I will never get tired of...
a saudade, of the times remembered, which in the context of the world economy may not return
to see the sadness in the face of these european descendants. I mentioned this to Claudio at the Hotel and he said: we are not Cubans and not prone to expressing our emotions outwardly. Cuba with all its troubles and tribulations, presents itself to the every day world, a cheery face, an eagerness to dance and enjoy oneself.. a fortitude and a desire not to loose the time to snatch a bit of happiness.
Then I remembered a line from a book I had read as an adolescent, Agnary Mykles Lasso Around the Moon..
the young hero contemplates
please dont throw compassion on my way, it is not love. compassion is what you would feel for a blind beggar in the street.
once in the throes of my youthful ignorance and frivolity, I had fallen in love with a post suicidal young physician in Jamaica and now looking back I realized that I should have listened to the hero in Lasso Around the Moon,
Compassion is not Love..
I longed to be back in Asia, where I can distinguish between Compassion and my eager sense of wanting to do something about it. and letting it affect my world of emotions.
Here I am helpless, amidst the beautiful faces of these people, who are sad, at the prospect of a world not going to get better anytime soon...
I am a traveller, always looking forward to my next destination
Miami tomorrow where Jamaican affections, Lebanese food and Cuban coffee await me..
then on to Bruselas where the affections are innocent and love given without strings and in its purest form...
Malaysia, Bali and Phnom Penh are all waiting in the wings to greet me with affectionate arms and always with a taste of the orient, which I will never get tired of...
