Safiya Al-Sayegh is a professional cyclist from the United Arab Emirates.  She is Muslim, and the only one in the peloton who wears a hijab.

In her twenty-five years, she has accomplished much as a cyclist and as a person.  And now she is at a crossroads.  Her sport and her religion.  How to balance them.  Does she choose one … or the other … or both?

We all face moments where different values collide.  And there are no easy answers.

But now Safiya has decided.

Being a Muslim first

Being a cyclist second

She has decided to retire as a professional athlete

Hear her words:

The past couple of years have been tough mentally, not because this sport is tough, but because I found myself in an identity crisis.  Being a Muslim woman that fully believes in covering and dressing modestly, and a girl that just loved racing, riding a bike, and that loved sports.

Can you feel Safiya?  Can you see yourself in her, whatever your religion, or even if you don’t have one?

As soon as I heard about Safiya, she immediately joined my short list of human beings I’d love to have coffee with (or whatever she chooses to drink).

For a while I have thought deeply what I’d like to be remembered by and I hope it can be good manners, smiles, trying my best to spread joy to the people around me, and a Muslim woman that tried her very best to show, wherever she went around the world, how lovely Islam is and that it is a religion of peace, balance and obedience to our creator, Allah.

Well said, Safiya

Fare thee well

If you look carefully at the photo, you’ll see the word “Unsplash” spread across.  It’s a marvelous website that has paid a global copyright license for thousands of images, so that we members can rest assured we’re not breaking the law.  Yay!

***

I love the picture.  It speaks so profoundly, beyond countless paragraphs of “meaning”.  After all, my insights probably are different than yours.  So I won’t add to the world’s verbal outflow.  I’ll just tell you a story …

About forty-five years ago, I was climbing a wooded hill on Canada’s Vancouver Island, close to the Pacific shore.  The trees opened to a space of grass.  The peak felt close.

And then the sound, muffled but real …

What is that?

…

Waves breaking on a beach!

Close … closer … almost there …

There!

The Pacific Ocean suddenly spread before my eyes, rows of white disappearing on the sand, one by one.  And the sky was smiling.

Me too

In the aftermath of Saturday morning’s bedroom ceiling collapse, there was a lot of clean-up.  Bits of plaster had invaded the cracks of my old wooden floor.  I scraped and vacuumed and mopped.

My bed was piled high with objects of my affection.  And there was only so much room.  So my lovely green fabric chair ended up in the living room.  I placed it haphazardly near a white chair.  I’d return it to its rightful spot in a day or two.

In one of my pauses, I looked at the two chairs.  And strange words formed in my brain:

They can’t talk to each other this way

So I arranged the environment to allow for connection …

You may doubt that chairs talk to each other, but I don’t.  There are mysteries in this life beyond my puny mind.

“Face-to-face” seems like a fine life principle.  Not at a slight angle.  Direct.

***

I’m a strange duck

I told my friend Dirk and my daughter “Alison” that I was going to Bruges today in search of a gigantic tree stump.  I had walked by it a few weeks ago and was stunned by its size.  I’d guess that it would take five adults with their arms spread to encircle it.

Here’s what I imagined the top would look like:

Last week I sought my large friend in the park where I remembered it stood.  No luck, probably due to an insufficient memory.

So I tried another park today … a long one by the river.  I realized that I’d come to the city on a single mission:

Find the tree!

Beholding other beauties of Bruges would be fine … but I needed!  I wanted!  I had to have!

Ah yes … another fine period of obsession.

…

And so I walked the path, hoping that all would be revealed.

Nothing … nothing … and then …

Something

There to my right was the stump – except it wasn’t.  It was a fully grown tree.  Very fully.

And indeed, it would probably take five people to do the job:

I sat long and long on a nearby bench, watching the sun come and go on the bark.  I smiled to know that this dear tree was alive and well and tall.

I shall return for further conversations

It rained a lot in Gent yesterday evening.  Water was dripping aggressively from my bedroom ceiling when I went to bed.  And running down one wall.

All summer I’ve been sleeping in my guest bedroom at the front of the apartment so I could have the windows open and try to cool the place down.

My bedroom is at the back, facing the Leie River … also facing many families of mosquitoes.  Opening those windows would invite a lot of itchy red bumps in the morning,  plus a lot of swatting overnight.

High temperatures are finally dropping down into the high teens Celsius, and I’ve had vague thoughts of moving back to my purple walls.

I’m here to recommend that you too hone the fine art of procrastination.  If I’d been sleeping in my bedroom last night, that piece of plaster you see might have broken my leg.  This morning I felt how heavy it was.

So thank you … whoever you are

For your divine guidance

I have two fully functioning legs today

It pleases me

Facebook stories often teach me … such as the one I read today about Jack Smith.  I’m not going to tell you his story.  Our friend AI can assist you here.

Jack is a remarkable human being … just as all of us can be.  Millions of people know what he stands for.  Very few know the same about you and me.

This morning Facebook is full of praise for Jack’s courage.  I invite you to replace his name with yours.  Imagine the world smiling at you, saying that you’re a good person.

You’ll often see the words “man”, “he”, “him” and “his” in these reviews.  Please add “woman”, “she” and “her” every time.

I’ve replaced “Jack” with “A” …

A takes every hit on the chin and never flinches.  His objectivity, research and application of our rule of law is flawless and irrefutable.

I think A is a man of experience and integrity.  The fact that he has not once “plead the fifth” and has answered every question asked of him says what kind of man he is.

[To plead the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution in US law: “refusing to answer questions or give testimony in order to protect yourself from self-incrimination”]

Thank you God for the courage of this man standing and speaking the truth.  He is so brave.  I know he has been persecuted for doing the right thing.  God bless him.

I think A’s unwillingness to charge ________ with something that A could not absolutely prove speaks to his integrity and how he conducted the business of his office.

It is so awesome to see one man stand before the wolves, the worst of humans, and still speak the truth.  A man with no skeletons in his closet, a man of integrity and one who can face the devil and walk out with his soul intact.  This man is a true patriot for his country and for justice.  I only watched a bit of the hearing and I have to say I could not have sat through the attacks with the calmness and integrity this man displayed.  A, you keep being true to who you are.  The Truth will be your victory.

I learned as a young person (now I’m older) that when someone calls you names it means they lost the conversation, and now are trying to bully the other person.  I also learned the person that is the loudest voice is usually the person that knows the least.  I’ve found these statements incredibly true.

Thankfully there are people like him.  He won’t bend a knee, grab his ankles or genuflect on command.  “I will not be intimidated” should be the battle cry …

If you listen and watch carefully when someone is speaking, there are many clues to truth or falsehood.  Toxic speech is a tool to cover deceitful distraction.  A’s background and integrity … exemplary.

I like my brain.  I don’t really know what it is, but that’s okay.  And then there’s my mind … a deeper mystery.

I’ve been on the planet for 77 years.  That’s a lot of moments.  Some of them return, in random fashion.

I’ve just decided to sit here in Izy Coffee and see what images bubble up over the next half hour.  Maybe lots.  Maybe none.

In the spirit of analysis, I’ll time myself.  It’s 10:22.  See you in thirty minutes.

***

10:52.

Here’s what entered me:

Pole vault

Bill Crothers running the 800 metres race in the 1960’s (I was there)

A girl laughing at me when I fell on the ice

Standing up Jean Deeth on a date when we were teenagers

Wearing my Superman outfit as I drove from Lethbridge to Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Two burning candles near each other

Shimmering down … from head to toe

My mouth opening now (it is)

A red coat

Couples holding hands

A waterbed, sinking into it

People with their heads down, frowning

Pulling the covers up to my chin

…

At this point I started meditating, even though I was in a coffee shop, with the sounds of a coffee machine, background music, customers and street noises.

…

Gentle raindrops

The skin of my face melting, dripping off my chin

Downward, sinking into

My arms growing longer to the sides

Leaking from the corners of my mouth

Singing “The Sound of Silence”

A snake slithering

My arms going limp

Bowing

Someone speaking Turkish?   Just the flow of sounds

Lying on my back, dying

Yannick, my mailman

Bruce Springsteen

Anne With An “E” TV series

Anne’s face

“Kindred spirits”

The sound of a tram … a past train journey

Grandpa’s farm, a train in the distance passing from right to left, billows from the steam locomotive

Grandpa’s cigar

Grandpa’s stories on the stone porch

Lips

Floating on my back on a river

A long waterfall

…

Quieter now, deeper into the meditation

…

A tiny brook in a Canadian mountain meadow

A cell phone ringing … A faraway voice saying “Go away”

Skin cells falling off

Falling face down into an abyss, smiling

Travelling down a blood vessel as it becomes smaller

My head falling backwards

People laughing far away

Someone hammering

Coffee machine

Pop music in the background

***

Well, that was fun!

Thank you, dear mind

Let’s do it again sometime

I sense that years ago I wrote about what I’m about to write about.  A little voice says “That’s bad.”  But I don’t trust little voices.

Contact between human beings is either there or not there.  I can feel in my guts its presence or absence.  I’m talking about a spiritual connection, not necessarily skin to skin.

I often make people laugh.  And instantly there it is … contact.  Easy.  Natural.

Words shared together from the heart yield the same smile.  You and me.

I write this blog almost every day.  I average thirty views a day.  Are those folks connected to me, or is it just a glance at a photo and lots of words?  I trust that for some of those thirty, there is a coming together with me.  But I don’t know.  I get very few “Likes” or comments.

After all this flow of language, I’m left with a usual question:

Should I keep score?

As I now sit quietly, sipping my cappuccino, the answer floats towards me:

No

No stats.  No “more contact yesterday, less today”.  Such a waste of energy.

One more time, I promise to let go of an insidious question:

How am I doing?

Goodbye, self-reflective mind.  I know I’ll see you again … and I’ll say goodbye again.

And another wayward thought:

Look at you.  You’re such a good person

***

Give it all a rest, Bruce

Merely open yourself

To the next person coming your way

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada spoke to the European Parliament recently.

Does his choice of words reveal the heart and soul of the man?

Yes

Thank you for granting me the honour of addressing you all at the beginning of this decisive session.

Today I will speak to you about how our response to the current geopolitical rupture should incorporate a new dimension.

…

The depth of our bonds, those which unite us, cannot be measured by trade or what is written in treaties alone.

…

Goethe understood that ideals must be fought for, that values do not defend themselves.  Indeed, at the end of Faust, the old man’s last vision is of a free people on free ground.

…

It [freedom] was nurtured by the founders of the European Coal and Steel Community in the aftermath of the war.

It was fostered by the creation of the European Community.

It was preserved through the establishment of the European Union.

And it grew through its expansion following the fall of the Berlin Wall.

…

This is the essence of the Canada-European Union partnership.  Seeds, values, ideas, trade, people and progress carried back and forth across the Atlantic for centuries.

…

Our commitment to the rule of law, and our unyielding defence of human dignity, individual freedom and democracy share the same deep roots, the same unwavering dedication.

We hold common values, for which we have always fought, and in whose defence we must always remain vigilant.

We believe that a strong economy is not an end in itself, but the means to a just society.  We are committed stewards of our natural heritage.  We believe that our prosperity grows when it is shared.

…

We are bound by an affinity – elective, chosen and renewed, and stronger for being so.

…

Beneath the forest floor, the roots of an oak intertwine with those of its neighbours, exchanging nutrients, adding strength to strength, creating a resilient, self-sustaining ecosystem.

***

It was a long speech.  There’s plenty more to come … but you get the idea.

Our words have power

For good or ill

Let’s go for good

It’s a document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.  It speaks the truth of a world we know is possible.

Articles 1 and 2 (Core Principles):

Proclaim that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, strictly banning discrimination based on race, sex, language, religion or background.

Articles 3 to 11 (Individual and Legal Protections):

Safeguard the right to life, liberty and security.  They ban slavery, torture and arbitrary arrest, while guaranteeing a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.

Articles 12 to 17 (Civil Freedoms):

Enshrine the right to privacy, freedom of movement, the right to seek asylum, nationality, marriage/family and property ownership.

Articles 18 to 21 (Political Freedoms):

Protect freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of opinion and expression; peaceful assembly; and the right to participate in government.

Articles 22 to 27 (Economic and Social Rights):

Guarantee social security, the right to work and equal pay, rest and leisure, education, an adequate standard of living (including food, clothing, housing and medical care) and cultural participation.

Articles 28 to 30 (Framework and Duties):

Outline the social and international order needed to realize these rights, balancing individual freedoms with duties to the community.

***

It’s a piece of paper … an important one

It guides the actions of nations

Perhaps we should carry it in our purse or wallet

Because most essentially …

It’s about you and me