Maybe it’s me but there must be better ways to manage foreign relationships!
Ahmet Oguz Celikkol
Most people in their private and business lives find that a genuine interest in, and respect for, those that one engages with leads to better outcomes. Surely that is just common sense.
So a recent report from Stratfor telling of an ‘incident’ between Israel and Turkey leaves me, frankly, speechless. Here’s how the report reads:
Last week a small crisis with potentially serious implications blew up between Israel and Turkey. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon summoned Turkish Ambassador to Israel Ahmet Oguz Celikkol to a meeting Jan. 11 to protest a Turkish soap opera that depicted Israeli agents kidnapping Palestinian children. When the ambassador arrived, he received a lower seat than Ayalon — and was photographed in that position, making it appear that Ayalon was speaking to an inferior. Ayalon wouldn’t shake hands with him during the televised parts of the meeting, and had an Israeli flag visible on the table. Topping it all off, Ayalon told an Israeli cameraman in Hebrew that the important thing was that people see Celikkol sitting down low “while we’re
Danny Ayalon
up high.”
Turks saw the images as a deliberate Israeli insult, though Ayalon argued that the episode was not meant as an insult but as a reminder that Israel does not take criticism lightly. While it is difficult to see the relative height of seats as an international incident, Ayalon clearly intended to send a significant statement to Turkey. The Turks took that statement to heart, so symbolism clearly matters. Israel’s intent is not so clear, however.
Actually I don’t watch the television at home, so when I am away and staying in a hotel it is novel to turn on the TV.
I am amazed at the similarity between productions, whatever country you are in. The practice now seems to use 4-second clips, with movement across the screen, together with a moving strip, rotating bill board, and a moving back drop, moving camera, and to cap it all constant music.
I have no need for this, in fact I have little use for any of it! Am I informed? – well yes to a point, but beyond a certain amount of scrambled information my own brain becomes confused.
Shopping is another area where a wealth of choice confuses me, but yet I lack nothing.
So often we are faced with pressure to have something. Well I have found that the less I have, the less I have to worry. Indeed, more to the point, I work on the principle: if it hasn’t been used for two years it can go. I have made a conscious choice to keep certain items, those which I believe are of use, but the rest is sold, given away, or recycled.
In this modern world, we have so much thrust upon us forgetting however that our parents were happy with what they had. I am also learning that our children are far more healthy, as a result of having love and time to do all manner of things together, being free of modern extras.
It is interesting to write down what you think you need, or what you would take with you if you had half a day to vacate your house.
Health and happiness come as a result of different things, but keeping up a program of work, or living a lifestyle that is gruelling will take it’s toll.
An expression that I recall being said by a friend once was: ”It was time to stop and smell the roses.” Well of course they will always smell, but it takes time to throw away other time consuming things to realise simple pleasures.
A quiet walk, time for a chat, slowing the pace down, some reading, music: I am happy.
that Christmas for young children is a wondrous place.
Here we are on the verge of the first full week of the New Year and soon busy lives will engage with all that 2010 is bringing. So I wanted to share with you something truly magical that happened early on Christmas morning in the Derham house.
Our little four year old woke us at 4 o’clock Christmas morning crying.
“Father Christmas hasn’t come”, he struggled to tell us through his tears.
Recently while busy in the garden our two dogs started barking. This in itself is not unusual because they sit at the front gate waiting for passers by to stop and talk to them. It can be a horse, or cyclist that sometimes causes them to bark, and our children have grown to show the same awareness as the dogs in who is passing. I didn’t see the cause this time but our young daughter did.
“Don’t worry, Daddy, it’s only an old man!”
Stephanie is only 8 years old, but without meaning any harm had given sufficient information to explain the risk to us and paint a quick picture in a few words as to why the dogs were barking.
Of late for some reason I have been more aware of people who are ageing. This generation do not normally stand around telling stories, this is left to the young who always seem to have something to shout about.
However all older people will have many interesting tales, often almost unbelievable, yet true. They have lived through war, happy, sad, interesting, and hard times. Each has learnt about life through experience that we can not buy.
Recently my ex Mother-in-law passed away. I thought I knew her very well, but it wasn’t until family stories started coming out that we all found out there had been much more in the life of this modest lady.
How it should be.
Christmas is coming and probably there will be family gatherings. This year I am going to try and turn the attention to the older generation, and see if they will open up and give us an insight into their childhood days and memories so that we can give them the respect they deserve, ask them to read stories to the children, ask them to tell their own tales.
Oh and the old man? Yes I did see him again, in church at a Remembrance service, and he had some medals under his coat, so did have a story to tell!
Recently there was an event at which Bill Gates and Warren Buffett answered questions from students of the Columbia Business School in New York. I referred to the event recently when writing about Warren Buffett.
So why were these students interested in Messrs Gates and Buffett? It is, of course, because they are successful.
While different people define success in many different ways, we can be reasonably sure that, in the context of a business school, most of those business students would categorise Gates and Buffett as being among the most successful people alive.
So what did the students ask about? Well, of course, they asked about success! The questions were of two main types.
[I owe Chris an apology as this Post was prepared for publication on the 20th August and somehow got lost in the works. I believe it is still a relevant and important topic and has not lost any impact from this unintentional delay. Ed.]
The swine flu “pandemic” is to me a very interesting phenomenon. Sadly, it seems typical of the sort of combination of marketing hype and hysteria that is all too common.
I am principally interested in seeing beyond all the media lies and spin to know the TRUTH about what is going on. From what I have so far read the following seems to be true, but if anyone is able to correct me on some issues I would be most grateful.
One man’s mission to stop the killing and capture of dolphins.
A dolphin is one of the most beautiful creatures on this planet.
I was going to write a very long Post setting out the reasons why everyone who cares for these creatures needs to get involved. But, in the end, a few links and extracts achieve that much more effectively than several hundred words from me.
Recently, the children from our small school in Breamore started their day with a Harvest Festival service in the old Saxon village church which is over 1,000 years old.
Rural life has not changed much for generations.
The Breamore Estate, set in beautiful Hampshire countryside has some 300 inhabitants, many of them living in old thatched cottages. The main Breamore House is where General Patton stayed in the run up to the D-Day landings.
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves what is really important.
We went to a funeral last Monday. It was special in that a friend of ours had died and her husband had phoned to tell us.
They had emigrated to Spain 12 years before to become self sufficient in growing their own food, putting on workshops and working with ‘holistic management’ techniques. I have the feeling that it was quite tough as the climate was becoming more and more arid in the mountain area that had moved to.
She had decided to come home to Totnes (Devon, SW England) to die and had obviously planned the whole thing.
The service was lovely and relatives and friends had written poems and the vicar had been briefed on her life which was quite amazing. Born in Africa, boarding school in the UK, rose to be high up in a large company and then had decided with her husband to follow a completely different holistic route to self fulfilment.
The vicar had asked her how she wanted to prepare for her death and he she had answered that she wanted to saviour every moment whilst she was still alive and had asked him to recount this tale at the service.
A man who was being chased by a tiger and had fled up a tree to escape. He looked down to see the tiger pacing up and down, looking longingly up at him. After many hours, the man must have fallen to sleep and awoke as he found himself falling towards the tiger, waiting eagerly below. As he dropped, he noticed a beautiful fruit and grabbed at it focussing intently on every fine detail of it.
After the church service we retired to a nearby woodland where we all took it in turns to carry her wicker coffin up a hill, into the woods and after music and a blessing, we buried her.
It was a truly beautiful day and one that had echoes back through the millennium. It touched me deeply, not because of sadness but about putting things into perspective – what’s important and what isn’t.
Saxon village church which is over 1,000 years old.
Learning from Dogs 