Monthly Archives: March 2018
Reflecting on National Walkout Day
“I have never let my schooling
interfere with my education.”
—Mark Twain
Regardless of your politics, your allegiances or your stance on guns, we should all recognize the importance of this act by students across the country.
I hope we can all take a moment today, if not more, and watch those who are marching, walking out, pouring from their schools and classrooms to protest against those who have refused to listen. Watch them, hear them, listen to what they are begging for. Do not dismiss them.
Do not dismiss that the role of education and the point of our schools and teachers is to teach the next generation to think for themselves, to recognize problems and discover solutions; to act in a way that will spur the evolution of our culture and society.
Do not dismiss these protests or infer they are the temper tantrums of children while criticizing those same individuals as spoiled kids who expect things to be handed to them. They are refusing to let their schooling and the failures of the school system and the politicians meant to advance it define their education any longer.
Do not dismiss this protest or those to come. Do not dismiss this generation that you have created.
Do not dismiss this moment…
Watching the Short Film, “The Funeral”
You may remember a while back when I shared an episode of the podcast Actsiders that featured an interview with Ali Nasser. He discussed being an international actor and having a multifaceted career that spans cultures as easily as it does genres and artistic mediums.
If you haven’t listened to Ali on Actsiders, check it out, and then subscribe to and listen to the rest of the episodes. When you’ve finished all that, jump over to YouTube and watch a short film by Ahsan Minhas that Ali recently starred in called “The Funeral.”
In a very brief glimpse into his character’s life, we are able to see a man struggling to balance the success that will define his future and the relationships that represent his past. Having listened to the Actsiders interview and knowing Ali as an Egyptian-born/New York-based actor who is so rooted in both worlds by the relationships and career paths he’s cultivated, I may be seeing a deeper duality than was intended by either actor or writer/director. More than likely however, that was precisely what was intended, as this film sought to convey not only the intimate grief of one man, but the constant struggle between the almost split personalities our modern lives break us into.
In everyday life, even when there isn’t a death or culminating milestone event, aren’t we all constantly being pulled in different directions, whether by responsibilities, expectations, promises, dreams?
How can we balance it all? The mantra of ‘work hard, hard’ that was meant to symbolize a hard day’s work to pay for a fulfilling personal life has been cast aside in today’s world as we find ourselves always working, always connected, always moving. And always falling short.
How can we be good men and women, good mothers, fathers, children and siblings, good friends, good bosses, coworkers, good Muslims, Christians, believers of any faith, good creators and consumers? How can we balance what we give with what we receive? How can we be good people and good enough? And how do we keep up the strength to be all of those things that we expect of ourselves when we have failed at one of them.
I hope you’ll watch the film, and if you have the time, check out Ahsan’s other work, which I found just as interesting and thought provoking.
Gas Station Burrito 