QBLOG #11 WORDS

Q-BLOG 11, WORDS

Oh happy day!

It has been an incredibly busy two weeks. The week before last I was in Turkey on business for a few days. We are setting up local items to be delivered out of Turkey for our stores in northern Iraq. Logistically, we are unable to properly service our stores in the north out of Kuwait, where we have a Distribution Center and local vendor contracts. The roads are still very dangerous. Being in Turkey was somewhat surreal. Part of it was because we had been up for 36 hours. Our 36 hours started out at 6:00am on Monday. We were able to get manifested (booked) on a Brit C130 flight to Kuwait, arrived in Kuwait around 12:30pm and then were taken to the Kuwait airport around 10pm for our flight to Turkey at 3am. Tuesday. We arrived in Ankara at 8:30 am and conducted business until about 8pm. We finished dinner at midnight.

The surreal part of this was that the only clothes I've worn for the past 3 months have been military desert camouflage uniforms (DCU’s). I had one pair of civilian pants, and they were casual. I had two civilian shirts. Here we were with Turkish, Iraqi and Kuwaiti business people dressed in tie and coat, and we are in casual dress. I felt more uncomfortable just being out of my uniform and seeing other people in civilian clothes. It was, well, weird. By the same means, we, dressed as we were, could have easily been brushed off by most business people. Instead, these business people took the time to get to know us individually, and allow us to get to know them.


The way business is conducted in the mid-east is totally different. In Turkey it is customary to meet a business person’s male family members. With each introduction tea was served. More than half our time conducting business was meeting people. We were establishing a relationship first. They wanted to make sure we were people they wanted to conduct business and that they were people we wanted to conduct business. A good sign in establishing that relationship and completing some business was dinner that evening. Dinner lasted over 3 hours. We established a business connection, conducted our business and began our return journey to Iraq. This brief visit to Turkey was a reminder of how perceptions can get in the way of relationships. My colleague had expected Turkey to be somewhat like Iraq, a bit dangerous and somewhat third world. Even though Turkey is 99% Muslim, you would never know, because they have a separation of church and state. Both Istanbul and Ankara are a mixture of modern and ancient cities, with shopping malls, transportation systems, historical monuments, fine hotels and a plethora of activities from which to choose. Of course, if these Turks, Iraqis and Kuwaitis not taken time to get to know us, our clothes for a business meeting certainly could have given them a different perception of who we were.

On a different note, this week has been filled with thoughts about aloneness. Not being alone, but the feeling of aloneness, even as people, friends, family, co-workers, surround you.

Here in the desert, in this ancient land, you can easily relate to the statement people make when they speak of their ‘emotional deserts’. These ‘deserts’ seem to signify a period of trial, of testing of ones will or of ones faith. Even of ones sanity. I grew up in the desert southwest of the United States. Santa Fe, New Mexico. I have always found beauty in the desert and awe in the silence and colors that are generated as the sun takes its daily journey past the horizon. Deserts, in my mind, are opportunities for rest and rejuvenation. They are opportunities to gather energy and face the new day with a different outlook.

I believe that is why I am in Iraq. I’ve needed this desert time in my life to be rejuvenated. It has been a time of longing for a partner, for a family of my own. It has been a time of longing for an increased presence of family and friends in my life when I return to Dallas. It has been a time of recognizing that I need to let go of the past and move on. This has been a time discovering that I also need to let go of relationships that I’ve held on to out of fear. Letting go is really about over coming the fear of the unknown. It is also about having faith in oneself. It is about believing that you are good enough and more.

Before I left Dallas, several friends and I saw a movie entitled, “What the Bleep Do We Know”. It is a movie about Quantum Physics, if you can imagine. There is one part of the movie that talks about how a scientist put different labels on bottles of water and then looked at their molecular structure. The labels consisted of words like, Love, Hate, Beautiful, Ugly, etc., you get the point. When he looked at the molecular structure, the water with labels like Beautiful and Love had these incredible and beautiful crystal structures similar to snowflakes. The molecular structure of the water with the other labels was not as spectacular, not as incredible. In fact, they looked deformed. The point was to prove that our thoughts, our words can create change at a molecular level. The question then, 'how do we label each other or ourselves?' Since we are 98% water, what kind of molecular change do we cause in ourselves or others when we label? It certainly makes you think about what you say. It makes me think of my youth when you would hear kids always saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” It’s funny, but some how, just saying the statement was proof that indeed words hurt. In fact, words can kill. They kill all the time, but we don’t always recognize it because sometimes the death occurs in the soul. How many times have we called someone ugly? How many times have we called someone a f*$%ing faggot, Mexican, Arab, White trash, a tramp, a worthless, good for nothing… You get the point. Words do hurt. Words can kill.

Choose words that give life and take away fear. Choose words that provide you with an outlet for your soul to touch another.

I wrote this poem last year after attending a dance performance. During one number, the dancers came out with words on placards. It was incredibly moving.
I do not remember all the words presented, but the producers of “What the Bleep Do We Know” would have been proud. There were molecular structures changing in each member of that audience.


WORDS.

Words of a letter,
Put together…
Sometimes mixed up,
Sometimes perfectly still…
Always meaning something different,
To the reader, to the writer.
Touching the alphabet of our soul.

Sometimes damning us, killing us,
With and without intention.
Always speaking silently through our
Minds eye to our heart, our soul.
Seeing meaning in letters of words
We forget and remember forever.

Words…

Speak so clearly!
Saying everything we feel,
Giving meaning to our thoughts.

Words…

Creating confusion…
Distorting fact from fiction,
Making thoughts without thinking.

Words…

Of life and death…
And scheming and dreaming,
Peace and Love…
And Hate…and Freedom?
Weapons of Peace?
A Holy War?

Words…and meanings…
Sometimes so deceiving!
Believing in words of
Healing!
Drowning in words of
Hate…in the name of Love.
Words.

Words do not hurt.
They kill you in a moment of thoughts without feeling.
Words.
Words.
Words.

Robert Quintana, 30 Jan 04

What words will you use today? Will you choose words of fear or words of love?

Love to all!

Robert

And a bonus…some interesting facts about Iraq that was sent to me. I thought I would share.


IRAQ - VERY INTERESTING - DID YOU KNOW?
1 The garden of Eden was in Iraq.
2. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, was the cradle of civilization!
3. Noah built the ark in Iraq.
4. The Tower of Babel was in Iraq
5. Abraham was from Ur, which is in Southern Iraq!
6. Isaac's wife Rebekah is from Nahor, which is in Iraq.
7. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq.
8. Jonah preached in Nineveh - which is in Iraq.
9. Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel.
10. Amos cried out in Iraq!
11. Babylon, which is in Iraq, destroyed Jerusalem.
12. Daniel was in the lion's den in Iraq!
13. The three Hebrew children were in the fire in Iraq (Jesus had been inIraq also as the fourth person in the fiery furnace!)
14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon saw the "writing on the wall" in Iraq.
15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive intoIraq.
16. Ezekiel preached in Iraq.
17. The wise men were from Iraq.
18. Peter preached in Iraq.
19. The "Empire of Man" described in Revelation is called Babylon,whichwas a city in Iraq!And you have probably seen this one. Israel is the nation most oftenmentioned in the Bible. But do you know which nation is second? It isIraq! However, that is not the name that is used in the Bible. The names used in the Bible are Babylon, Land of Shinar, and Mesopotamia. The word Mesopotamia means between the two rivers, more exactly between the Tigris andEuphrates Rivers. The name Iraq, means country with deep roots.Indeed Iraq is a country with deep roots and is a very significantcountry in the Bible. No other nation, except Israel, has more history and prophecyassociated it than Iraq.