Forever Young....

"Let's dance in style, lets dance for a while Heaven can wait we're only watching the skies..... Let us die young or let us live forever, we don't have the power but we never say never, Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip.."

Life looks like a long trip along the beautiful sandy beach in the region of Okinawa. In a small village on Japan's southern island, people are living one of our dreams: Live healthy and longer. With an average life expectancy over 80 years and 86 for women, the village of Ogimi is the house for hundreds of centenarians and enjoys with the whole country, the world's longest life expectancy.

On the beach of Ogimi, you can read a sign that says: "At 80 years old, you are still a kid....." Here people live life like a video- When the sun is always out and you never get old... Forever young, I wanna be forever young- Do you really want to live forever- Forever young."


Their secret resides more than anything else in their lifestyle: their good diet, physical activities....."Hold up! Life is for living, not living uptight, so let's just stay in the moment, smoke some weed, drink some wine..."

Nooo! (alcohol and smoke are not considered a good diet...sorry!), so to this diet and sports, you add doctor check-ups, good social and family life, and as a result, in the Region of Okinawa disease is less than anywhere else in the world. These ordinary people are enjoying life and life is loving them back.
So if you love me baby this is how you let me know, don’t ever let me go, that's how you let me know, Forever young I wanna be Forever young.

A 15 hours flight from the Land of the "Rising Sun" , is Luanda! Here, it seems like heaven cannot wait and People are Hoping for the best but expecting the worst, "are you gonna drop the bomb or not"?


Yeah! Luanda is the capital of Angola (in Africa, not Texas!), where life expectancy is barely 38 years!!!, "Life is a short trip, and the music’s for the sad man." People are young but "forever" doesn't exist in their vocabulary. It seems that a 15 hrs flight from Okinawa has taken 50 years off people's lives.



In the slums of Luanda, like the majority of the country and bordering countries, if you manage to survive past 5 yrs old, chances to be young "forever" are slim. One will expect you to be gone by 38, taken away either by disease, war or poverty. In some cities, life expectancy can be in the lower thirties...

Here, no one dies from excess of calories or obesity (oh well, there is no food!), no one thinks about tomorrow, there is no sign on the beach to tell you how long you can live, no ipod to listen to Jay Z, but life goes on and you can hear from a cassette tape player, Bob Marley singing:
"life is one big road with a lot of signs so when you ridding thru the ruts, don't complicate your mind and all together now, Wake up and live now, wake up and live."!


My songs:

Forever Young : JayZ & Mr. Hudson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1nbvplgElw

Wake up and live: Bob Marley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nR2vsnH4Is

Ous

Mandela !

Today, feb 11th marks the 20th anniversary of Mandela release. I wasn't born when Mandela was imprisoned in 1962, and was still a young boy when In 1990, the world watches his historic walk to freedom. When he came out he represented not only a hope for south Africans but for the whole continent that is struggling to find it path, where Hope and compassion still thrive in the middle of ravage and horrors.

Known as "Madiba"(clan name) by his friends, the leader of the "Zulu nation", who strongly believed in the Golden Rules and fought all his life against injustice is sitting on the same platform as Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Mother Theresa... he is today, "The Last of the Mohicans".


He fueled the last hope for Black south Africans struggles, for shanty towns residents from Pretoria to Cape Town ....He was the last hope, not like the " last Man " but the "Übermensch": courageous enough to lift them from the quick sand of injustice, strong enough to make their dream come true and to embrace a new vision as the ultimate reality.

Even though the wall of Apartheid has fallen, new walls have risen since, between poor who die early and riches who live longer, between Muslims and Jews, between Third world and developed countries.... South Africa is Diamonds filthy rich country but murders and rapes are among the highest in the world. The country is the image of Africa where Big money mixes with extreme poverty and high unemployment rate.

The Ultimate reality is that , i don't believe one man alone can solve all these problems, but Nelson Mandela's 27 years spent in Jail for his courageous fight against apartheid make me believe that maybe, with Faith, courage and hope one can accomplish the unthinkable and maybe, Life is worth living for when you have something to live for, something you believe in, bigger than yourself, something for which you will be forever remembered, after all, only our legacy will stay.

For this, my Songs :

* Asimbonanga from Johnny clegg (A Tribute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGS7SpI7obY

*Vulindlela from Brenda Fassie (A welcome)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrinswnda3Q

Ous

Why is the World Helping Haiti?

January 12th, 2010 will be forever remembered as one of the worst day in our history, specially Caribbean history, as the earthquake struck the capital of Haiti, Port au Prince. Hours later, horrific images have invaded the media all over the world and days later the death toll still rising. How many have died ? Who cares about the number! It's already too many!

The good thing (if any) is the response: within 24 hours, "the world" has responded like never before, from public institutions to private ones. Non-profits to Athletes and Hollywood have responded one way or another .. not even in the US was there such a fast response for Katrina disaster victims in the first days following their tragedy. A massive economic, social and military response orchestrated by the US, for a poor country with no oil, diamonds or any other precious resource, a poor country impoverished by political instability, health crises , natural disasters and weak governance. A highly dependent foreign aid country !

So why did everyone rush there to help? What is going on? What happened to the heartless, cruel and inhuman world that watches kids die everyday from hunger in India or from the HIV pandemic in Swaziland or contemplates 2 million people dying every year from malaria in Africa?

_Maybe because this is the deadliest catastrophe in the western Hemisphere, worst than Katrina, and it destroyed the bit of infrastructure this island had and even killed rescuers and leaders?

_Maybe the US was so ashamed of the poorest country in the region so close to its borders and abandoned by all and this is the opportunity to show Haiti's neighbor Fidel Castro and the Cuban people how great is the USA?

_Maybe the US wants to repair it image damaged by it support year after year for dictators who committed atrocities in Haiti, or France for enslaving the Island and killing numbers of Haitians including their hero Toussaint L'Ouverture in it attempt to retake their lost colony?

I know politics can be very misleading and dirty but I want to be naive and believe this time it's different. When aid is pouring in from Venezuela, Iraq, Saudi, South Africa, Israel, Russia...there is something new in the air and "if you listen carefully, you can hear it" !!

A combination of a new dawn with Obama's leadership, the crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hurricane Katrina and earthquakes in Italy. All these events taught us that no one is invincible for we are all humans. We came to realize that first and foremost among human attributes are compassion, mercy and love and those attributes are not only for ourselves, our entourage or community but for all of humanity.

Besides the fact that life is very short and we should be happy for the survivors, one thing I'm learning from this tragic event is, when the world stands together, there is no problem we cannot solve and no obstacle we cannot overcome, so let's not wait for Catastrophes and disasters to happen before we help those in need or less fortunate!

Ous.

Decade

Bonjour ...


This is my Blog, ...ahaha..nothing fancy ..i just write whatever goes thru my mind ...sometime in English , sometime in French ...i speak either good so ...i just type, if u ever read this and dont understand anything, its okay...cause i dont understand myself either...feel free to correct anything you want..good luck!



Despite the fact that the millennium will not end until December 31, 2010, millennium celebrations take place all over the world.

10 years ago I was in Granada, Spain celebrating with friends....that New Year Eve (Dec, 31, 1999) was just another excuse for Everyone in Spain to party , dance and drink on the streets .

Year 2000 went by pretty fast, everything seems pretty good, everyone is happy, besides the beginning of the Second Intifada...you know the Palestinian uprising against Israel in the Israeli-occupied territories: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills Israelis and Israel launches a series of retaliatory air and ground military strikes killing and destroy whatever is on their way....pfff, irrelevant huh! who cares anyway, its not in Europe or in America..and its the same o since the eighties!
Another irrelevant event: A Texan cowboy had won in a disputed votes( like in Africa) the USA presidency election.

By September 2001, i was horrified from Broadway, seeing the twin towers on fire from two airliners that just crashed into them. I was witnessing an event that killed almost 3000 people..I was shocked, so was the world! ( still wondering how the world was witnessing almost a million innocents dying in Rwanda years earlier without doing anything!!).


In those past ten years, so many things had happened : My friend Vladimir Putin became president of Russia(2000) , Slobodan Milosevic was arrested (2001), The Euro entered circulation, the crash of a Concorde (2001) was the beginning of the end of the safest and fastest passengers aircraft ever created .

In France, The extremist Lepen was almost elected president,(2002) , couple years later the uneasiness among youth and discrimination against immigrants will result in weeks riots in the same country . Ivory Coast starts their own civil war that will end 5 years later.

Oh yeah i forgot, The United States responded to the Sept 11 attacks by launching a War on terrorism in Afghanistan: then my two first news in 2000 ( the irrelevant ones in the first paragraph ) become relevant: The Texas Cowboy (Bush) running after the Donkey boy (Bin Laden) who s supposedly was standing for the Palestinians people cause.. 8 years later the horse will go back to his ranch without finding the donkey...u got it? While his ability to scare people was still popular, he launched an military invasion against Iraq although there was a global opposition to the war. What? did u say GLOBAL opposition? ? what do the whole World know about war anyway? Lets make people forget about the donkey we couldnt catch and do the Calf Roping:
We throw the rope around the calf s neck, run and restrain it ..easy! .. matter of seconds and mission will be accomplished.. but it looks like someone release a buffalo out there instead of the regular calf and 7 years later we still trying to tie it down. By the way we found the owner of the Calf, we tied him down even hung him, HOW ABOUT THAT?? Texas Style!

The reasons behind the installation of this democracy with armored tanks and war planes? hum, good question, maybe in Texas library i can find a book untitled "Fundamental principles of the democracy of Morals".

So in 2002 ..i was then living in a real Dutch city , Wassenaar. A suburb of Dan Hague, between Amsterdam and Rotterdam (45mn from Each) ..For all you ignorant, its in Holland or Netherlands or whatever u wanna call it but not its in Africa!.. Wassenaar and Dan Hague are very interesting cities, very nice but the people not really, very old school and conservatives , so different from the good vibe in Amsterdam or Rotterdam ..cities with no limits or boundaries and people are great! ......

In 2003 , im now in Äänekoski , 2 hours away from Helsinki...never seen that much snow in my whole life, crazy! not too far from the North pole but very good and down to earth people, looks like they have no problems at all! they just wanna drink and drink and goto Sauna!
Anyway the Texans is reelected in the USA in another controversial vote , The Tsunami will kill over 300 thousands people....Brenda Fassie passed away with her beautiful African voice, Yasser Arafath is gone as well. The US went on to kill innocents Iraqis, looking for Weapons ! oh well, im sure Sarah Palin will find them
By May, i moved back to Spain in Coruna.


In 2004, what happened? i forgot..oh yeah , i was in Aalst in Belguim, about 20 miles outside of Brussels...with the Flemish...they speak Flemish of course ..the city is okay, the chocolate is great, but the people not nice at all ( probably their Dutch origin! Aha! ) ..oh well , didnt do that much ....and probably nothing happened in the world.

With the 2005.... Im in Extramadura ( Spain) and...not fun at all !..oh well, with Hurricane Katrina, the world is talking more and more about Global warming, the Pope J Paul II is gone as well (not with the Hurricane tho..).

in 2006 nothing has changed, the innocent civilians are still dying in Darfur and no one really cares ...why should they? its in Africa!!...Neighboring country Kenya is hosting the UN climate change conference and as usual the white house s " Cowboy" opposes the " emission cap" !! of course we need to put a lot of fuel in all those war planes and tanks to look for Bin Laden!

An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore came out, about the danger of global warming.
Mel Gibson was drunken driving and realizes that freedom of speech stops where the Jews community starts..Ahaha..!!Welcome to America my friend..Jews are "lethal weapon100" two powerful...the truth is, One cannot generalize a bad statement!! Mel.

by June, "Fenchie" Zinedine Zidane Headbutted Italian "Materazzi"... in the soccer world cup ..at least something FUN!

2007..Bulgaria and Romania became part of the European Union (OMG!)...it looks like 2 Africans countries to me,,(Aha)...The UN says bye to Koffi Annan to welcome Ki Moon... ...French people say no more smoking in public places..and Welcome " Stupid" Sarkhozi as president , Frenchie Tony Parker married a desperate housewife.......people discover they can now phone call, surf the net and listen to Ricky Martin with 1 device ..(Iphone)...AL gore gets the Nobel Prize...And another UN conference on Climate change in Bali.

Malta and Cyprus integrate the European Union in 2008 and the world plunges in a Big Economy Crisis...( both events are not related)....I dont care about crisis.. i ve been going thru personal financial crisis since i was born anyway .. so welcome to my world!...Madoff crooks all the riches motherF......and says " Sayonara" ( for all ya ignorants , it means "goodbye " in Japanese) ..oh yeah , i can speak it when i see beautiful Japaneses girls( sorry Etienne) !..Lehman Brothers "Sayonara" as well.

And... the Beijing Summer Olympic games says "Konnichiwa"" means Hello!!...oh nooo..Beijing is China..too bad! ..Anyway, U have to love Usain Bolt! he is faster than his own shadow..Flashy and Flamboyant, how about the Acher gesture? Priiiiceless! ..there was another guy who swims and won 7 golds..i forgot his name..he s not flashy and smokes too much!!...
The Last but not least ...The best political event i ever witnessed , from Kenya(aha!) ...BARACK OBAMA! i was too young and the internet was still at early stage for NELSON Mandela event ...but this 2008 event says a lot about the people in the USA and was a teachable moment for Europeans and the whole world.

2009? who cares? oh well ..Obama Swore in(Waow) ! ...The crisis still here..but Big Year for Climate Change , HOME was released globally and hits big. (u have to see it..free on youtube).... Annual conference in Roma on the World HUNGER problem, that is ONE thing that really hurts me..i loose sleep just thinking that every 6 seconds a little boy dies because he is hungry!!!! By the time i finish writing my sentence couple kids already died, it brings tears to my eyes. Its a problem which concerns us all.. (http://www.1billionhungry.org/).

Silvio Burlusconi ( Italian Prime Minister) got a sex scandal going on ...this guy is the biggest Italian Pimp ever just like Tiger Wood! i think they r Brothers! ..The Copenhagen conference on climate reaches a " deadlock" .......Suzane Boyle is the new Madonna in England...Michael Jackson left too soon to see the jubilation in RIO de Janeiro after winning the 2016 Olympics bid.....

My three favorites songs of this decade are from three legends gone too soon in this past decade ! more than just music , their talents, songs and causes transcend races, religions... you ll love the songs...

_ They dont really care about us (Michael Jackson) USA
_ Vulindleda ( Brenda Fassie) South African
_ Pata Pata ( Miriam Makeba) South African


Happy 2010..Luv always!

Ous