para la rosalinda, role model per se - in searching for what might expand our roles and rights, we do not have to look far
09 September 2007
from where i'm standing - meet me halfway
Bridges
Sergio Mendes, Kevyn Lettau
I have crossed a thousand bridges
In my search for something real
There were great suspension bridges
Made of spiderwebs of steel
There were tiny wooden trestles
And there were bridges made of stone
I have always been a stranger
And I've always been alone
There's a bridge to tomorrow
There's a bridge from the past
There's a bridge made of sorrow
That I pray would not last
There's a bridge made of colors
In the sky high above
And I'm certain there must be
Bridges made out of love
I can see him in a distance
On the rivers of the shore
And his hands reach out in longing
As my own have done before
And I call across to tell him
Where I believe the bridge must lie
And I'll find it, yes I'll find it
If I search until I die
When the bridge is between us
We'll have nothing to fear
We will run through the sunlight
And you'll meet me halfway
There's a bridge made of colors
In the sky high above
And I'm certain there must be
Bridges made out of love
La, la, la...
Something you should know about
As Told By Ginger Theme
Tune LyricsTitle: Macy Gray
Someone once told me the grass is much greener
On the other side
And I paid a visit well, it's possible
I missed it
It seemed different, yet exactly the same (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Til further notice (til further notice)
I'm in-between (I'm in between)
From where I'm standing (from where I'm standing)
My grass is green
Someone once told me the grass is much greener
On the other side
silver linings
- a consoling aspect of a difficult situation
- a hopeful or comforting prospect in the midst of difficulty
Picture me as a young woman in her twenties unperturbed by a major career move in credit information. In five years I moved from editor to analyst. I ventured to work in a world of office politics, of difficult bosses and of personal ambivalence ..... was the marginal little fish in an ocean where the liberal inhabitants were unshackled from cultural sensitivities. And, I was the one burdened with labels. First of all, I was Muslim, and second, I was a Woman. I was in a sense tied up with my identity. I also had an authoritarian father whose interest was to further the family's political ambitions - daughters and sons must match his achievements. Can you believe the feudality of it all? But here was the silver lining - in my restlessness and with the first, rudimentary, beginnings of a rebellion, I went out to see more of the world, just in time to rescue myself from the great plunge - depression - did what others will not dare - give up the job that did not bring me to my real self. I went back to school in the hope of understanding the religion I was born to and devoured Islamic literature, history, political thought and learned Arabic. Thanks, Rosalinda for being so generous and understanding. In the process, self-acceptance was in order. Things came to stack up nicely and the world made sense.
And then life went on - gained some and lost some. But the silver linings were always there to the rescue.