UTHRT- HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021!

 Dear Friends,

 

Happy New Year 2021!

 

A year is gone; another year is here. The year 2020 has been a great year in which I learned a great deal, traveled, and grew. Yet, 2020 has been challenging due to Covid-19.

 

On January 1, 2020. I arrived at the city gate and knocked at the doors. Two guards opened the gate, and they asked me for my passport. As a sign of protest, I said no to their demands because I feel that the world is a village, countries are neighbors, and I am a citizen of the world. They told me that they didn’t care about how I felt; borders were made for a reason, and if I didn’t show my passport, I wouldn’t enter the city. After a few days at the border, reason made me accept that the world is divided into countries, and countries are separated by borders. Therefore, I realized that I should submit my papers and enter legally; otherwise, it would be an insult to reason. So, I gave the guards my passport, and they gave it back to me with a stamp that said, “A nation that cannot control its borders it is not a nation” (attributed to Ronald Reagan). As I entered the city, I learned that a life of dreams without a dose of reality is a recipe for disaster.

 

Early that morning, I wandered around the city, and I decided to have breakfast. At the market, I found a place called Coffee Served with Love. There, I asked for a cup of coffee in order to wish good morning to the day. The taste was terrific, so I asked the owner what the story behind it was. He told me that, as a young man, he traveled around the world tasting coffees. One day, he realized that his life’s purpose was coffee. So, he decided to come back home and open a shop to sell coffee. Then, he decided to share his life’s purpose with love whenever he had the opportunity to meet another human being. As I enjoyed my coffee, I also learned that life is about finding your life’s purpose and acting on it with love. 

 

At 1:30 pm, after a long day of walking and sightseeing, I decided to have lunch. I arrived at a restaurant called Objectivism, owned by a lady with a Russian accent named Ayn Rand. She seated me on the highest pedestal of knowledge. She gave me a menu with the daily specials, which were “Fountainhead” as an entree, “Atlas Shrugged” as the main course, and a dessert called “Objectivism”. I also enjoyed a mixed cocktail drink of reason, purpose, and self-reliance. The whole experience was fulfilling, and it allowed me to form a new perspective on the world.

 

Afterward, I started a conversation with fellow travelers. One of them told me about her trip to the far eastern region where an invisible enemy was turning people’s lives upside down, locking them up and killing them. Yet she told me that I should not worry as our borders were well guarded. I responded that we should be alarmed and offered to help before it was too late. Another person jumped in the conversation to say, “let them deal with their mess.” 

 

As I was getting ready to leave, Ms. Rand gave me a red envelope as a gift. I thanked her, but I did not open it. I was worried about the Russian collision that plagued our lives for four years. It cost us $32 million and ended up being fake news. I left the restaurant a little worried. I walked in the street with the thought of the invisible enemy in my mind, because I learned to view the world in the eyes of Neil Armstrong, who was struck that the planet Earth was a tiny pea- pretty and blue.

 

At night, I went out for dinner. Then, I decided to go and see a play called the Apocalypse Next Door. The first act took place on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As I sat in the center aisle section in silence, I watched the drama unfold. I saw a forty-six-year- old man pinned on the ground while a policeman kneeled on his neck. The man begged for his right to life, yet the policeman refused to hear his cry, "I can't breathe!". Later, he died in a nearby hospital. The whole event lasted eight minutes, forty-six seconds. The sequence was so tense that the world erupted and called for justice. The audience seated in the left aisle section started shouting "Black Lives Matter!" and "Defund the Police!". Soon after, the drama shifted with a new plot. At a funeral home in Auburn Gresham, Chicago, while people honored a victim of gun violence, a car passed by, and fourteen people were shot. Later at midnight cars drove in the downtown area, and people started breaking in and looting stores. The audience seated in the right aisle section responded by shouting, "Law and Order!" Finally, a teenager armed with a rifle drove to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to protect the businesses and ended up shooting and killing two men in front of the police and media. Some in the audience called it “Self-defense”. The curtains closed in the hope of calming down the audience.

 

In the second act of the play, Covid-19 took center stage as main character and started smashing the scenery, causing damages that killed 1,827,941 people around the world and 354,233 in the United States. The virus also closed businesses and schools. The theater’s executive director stepped in to stop the play. He asked the audience members to go home, wear a mask, and socially distance. Yet, he refused to remind them that they had a right to the same health insurance that their congressmen had. In his final remark, the director advised the audience to connect via Zoom to watch the last act of the play. 

 

The last act, called “Election Day”, started well and ended with technical delays. An event that supposed to be a one-night show with a winner and loser ended up as an ongoing process. I thought it was my Zoom connection, and I decided to turn on CNN and FOX to get a sense of what was happening. Yet I went to bed wondering whether the channels were talking about the same election, as it was hijacked by censorship and conspiracy. I did not know what to believe. The next day I went for a run, and I had a healthy breakfast. While I reflected on the election, I concluded that I would be fine, as long as the winner guaranteed people their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

My travels this year took me to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida. On January 9, 2020, I arrived in the Sunshine State; I spent my time walking and relaxing near the Ocean. I also visited the everglades on Captain Jeans’ Airboat, and I saw some wildlife. At the weekend, I went to Little Havana. There, I enjoyed delicious Cuban cuisine, and I ended up at a live band concert. I danced to the rhythm of the salsa until around 3 am. As I was getting ready to leave, a middle-aged lady grabbed the mic from the singer and started yelling "Cuba libre! Cuba libre!" Reality set in; I understood that the culture was Cuban, yet we were not in Havana, and I learned not to hide from politics as it is all around us.

My other trip took me to the Wild West. I left Chicago on September 6, 2020, and I spent the night under the Arc of Dreams in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The next morning, after breakfast, I went for a walk in Falls Park and met James, a Native American, who was the self-proclaimed river's guardian. I continued my journey and visited the badlands Parks, Custer State Parks, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, and the Crazy Horse Memorial. At a small western town called keystone in the Black Hills, I rested and read about the legends of Commander George Armstrong Custer, Crazy Horse, and the dream of Korczak Ziolkowski. I visited also the Devils Tower National Monument and stayed at a ranch. I went to Cody, Wyoming, for a week to immerse myself in the cowboys' lifestyle and to visit Yellowstone National Park; they were both beautiful experiences. The tale of the trip was, when one door closed, another opened. As the invisible enemy closed international borders, the Wild West of United States America and the country’s beautiful places, national parks, and countryside opened to whoever dared to travel and seek. When I returned to Chicago, I learned there were many Americas, and I learned to love them all. 

Finally, my travels took me through the empty streets of Chicago and to Illinois parks. I carried my camera as my only weapon. Whenever I witnessed life's wonders, I sat in a Zen position to capture the moments and share them with my friends in my Instagram and Facebook page. 

 

I grew in 2020. The year confirmed my life's purpose, which is to advocate and share stories of Human Rights “Under the Human Rights Tree” www.underthehumanrightstree.orgBecause, I believe, the respect of human rights values can help us to build a better world. This year also sharpened my new views on human rights advocacy, which stands on the premise that human rights' claims trigger the acceptance of human duties, as they walk hand in hand. There is a Fulani's wisdom that says, "If God helps you to clean your back, make sure you clean your front." Today, whenever I advocate for the value of human rights, I will make sure to voice our duties as humans, as life is a balance.  

 

The journey of 2020 is coming to an end. The year 2021 is here, despite the dark cloud of incertitude that hangs over our heads. I hope you find a window of hope for which you are grateful. In 2020, I was grateful that I had three meals a day, a roof over my head, and I was healthy enough to travel around the country. In 2021, I look forward to better days, so we can meet again on the dance floor, at artistic gatherings, or at the battlefield of ideas. Before then, I want to take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones Happy New Year 2021!

 

Sincerely,

Alpha