DisIntegration Experiences: 5

I convey my journey in countries and societies, based on my perspective and only my own experiences. I encourage you to contribute, ask questions and offer your own views. This platform is not complete without your contribution. Posting extracts from my upcoming book.

Sites were full of colorful online reviews about the Paris, their airport plus their service and attitude:  "You cannot have a world class airport with third world transport to the city center”  “One simply grits one's teeth",  “Zero out of ten impressed”, “Wondering if terminal 2D could be the worst airport terminal in Europe". "Crowded, dirty, terrible shops, no catering, and the only lounge is airside, meaning that you have to leave the (admittedly poor) lounge one hour before the flight departs “This terminal requires immediate demolition!" "Certainly unlikely to bother visiting Paris again as not worth the unpleasant experience of the airport"

Knowing now what I know about the hideous shit I would dip my fingers into during the next ten years after my arrival to Charles de Gaulle airport – I just hope I would have had some sense and taken the next plane out of the country right there and then. Hell, I wish those canister throwers would have reached the airport and chased me to Germany, or anywhere else for that matter!

Photo by Skyler Smith

Be True to Yourself – Speak Up Now

Are you somebody who sits back and says nothing when something really needs to be said? It could be an idea, a suggestion, an observation, a criticism ... but for some reason you don't want to speak up. Well, I was.

Some people might say like staying silent is the wiser choice – and it does apply to some situations.
But there are a few reasons why despite the risk, standing up is a good choice.

‘You must feel the fear and speak your mind anyway. Then act in spite of fear. Act in spite of anything.
So often people sit back and say nothing when something really needs to be said. Speaking up is an important form of honesty – for yourself’

 

gandhi

Think about fear. Why are you frightened? Imagine you feel in your guts that you want to say what you think. Say it, and it will bring you relief and release your emotions.
- If you stay silent it is usually taken as if you would agree. And if you don’t say what you wish, what could be further from the truth – it will later frustrate and create resentment in you.

You may not be alone in your thinking. Others may share your thoughts and opinions, but may be also unwilling or fearful to speak up. By speaking your mind you also encourage them to voice their opinions. If you say something that is considered irrelevant and unimportant then you voiced your opinion anyway: and if this is criticized in the group – it is a sign that the dialogue is not open.

Speaking up demonstrates that you will be truthful not only with other people, but with yourself. And when you practice this – it will flow naturally to speak up as your confidence improves, even if you would be an introvert.

 

Photo by Ricardo Mancía

Journalists Packaging it All For You – Meet the Press

The world is in chaos, but luckily the all-knowing, wise, reliable, transparent reporter is here to hold your hand.

You don’t even have to think for yourself – they will do it for you. And give you

  • The way you should approach the issue
  • The underlying problems
  • What the solution is

Ain’t that nice.

But hang on…do you think Brexit is working? You can’t mean that surely. And what about Trump?! Get a grip on yourself. You don’t mean to tell me that guy has some point in something he is uttering.

Don’t you dare … you must surely be

  • Combative
  • A Nationalist
  • A Populist
  • Confrontational
  • Anti-EU
  • Anti-Establishment

 

The Roman Character: Confidently Facing the Future, Conserving the Past

ROME NEVER FOUGHT TO IMPOSE a political idea or a religious creed. On the contrary, she left local institutions and manners of thought untouched.

In Rome's imperial expansion, self defence was accounted the first motive; but trade inevitably followed and the first motive was mingled with that of commercial exploitation. True, reasons of safety safety were sometimes alleged in order to hide greed and ambition.

Rome fought to 'impose the ways of peace' and by peace she meant the positive blessings of settled order and security of life and property.

We can't say that a religion such as the old Roman religion promoted greatly the religious development of man; it carried no intellectual appeal and was therefore unable to contribute a theology. But it is certain that with the associations and habits which clustered round its contribution to Roman character was great. Great men were almost canonized for their characters or for their achievements.

To the beliefs and manners of these days we must ascribe that sense of subordination  or obedience to exterior power, whether a god, or a standard, or an ideal, which in one form or another - marked the Roman to the end.

To the same source must be traced the feeling for continuity which preserves the constant, assimilates the new and refused to break with the past. For the future could be be faced with greater security if the values of the past were conserved.

 

Photo by Vek Labs