Jobs

"My ideal job versus the worst job I can think of"

Well, if you ask me which would be my ideal job I would have to say it’s the one where I can travel the world, play music, party all night long, meet new people, experience extraordinary things. My ideal job would be a lawyer! Nah, I’m kidding, I always wanted to be a rock star, a musician. I enjoy playing music, but something I love the most is being lazy, being able to just relax and think for myself and not for someone else. What can be better than thinking for yourself, and creating music in the meanwhile? Of course, if it is ideal, I’m thinking in a famous rock star, being internationally famous, and of course, being rich and being able to spend money in unnecessary things like, I don’t know, a helicopter or a race car or maybe just travel to Paris with your girlfriend and spend a romantic night, then travelling back. Just imagine, the world in your hands. And of course, the most regarding feeling of being idolatrized by your fans, and knowing that your music is changing someone’s life.

And if you ask me which the worst job I can think of is, it would be the opposite of my ideal job. A job where you don’t travel, don’t experience new things, a boring, static and tedious job. A toll man. Every time that I see a toll man I suffer for them. Just imagine being stuck in a box for hours just receiving money, calculating the change and giving it to the client with a mundane “thank you”. It’s awful. How can you be happy with that job? I don’t know, for me at least, is the worst job I can think of.

London

Manal AlSharif

Manal AlSharif is a wowen who fought for her believes. That’s how I want to start this. Why? Because no matter what the story is about, that is what it is important.

Now I’m going to explain this story. Manal is a Saudi Arabian women, and women in this country can’t drive, but not because it’s illegal, but because it’s against social norms. So, when Manal was arrested for posting a youtube video where she was driving, she have done nothing wrong, it was just not accepted in her country.

Saudi Arabia is the only country where driving is prohibited for women. Manal spend 7 days in prison with no reason at all, just because “women are not supposed to drive”. After she was released, she started a movement to express her rights to Saudi Arabian government. With internet and social media, she became an activist for women rights.

In her own country, most of the people thought that she was wrong, and that she was a traitor. But according to the rest of the world, at least the parts of the world where women are not as oppressed as in Saudi Arabia, thought that she was brave and kind of a hero for all of us.

After several discussions and even death threats to her person, Manal achieved something that was almost impossible to think. She pushed the government to a point where women can drive, and it’s not illegal for them to do it.

I started saying that her believes where important, because in this case she was fighting for the right to drive, but no matter what the reason was, her believes, her strength and values, led her to achieved that historical change in Saudi Arabia. So, this history teach us, that nothing is more important than your right to express yourself and fight against the injustice. Manal won this time, but daily there are thousands of cases where people are not listened, and one step at a time, changes can be made.

What's art for me?

If we are going to talk about art, I automatically think in music, and if you ask me which object of my house represent art, for me is my violin. Why? For many reasons, first is the physical aspects. When you see a violin, you see it as a whole, as an instrument, as an object, just at it is, and is perfect, at least to me. Then you go further, you see each part individually. The curves of its body, the waist, the size and shape of the neck, the detailed construction of the fine tuner, the beautiful scroll that the peg box has, and so on. Every part separately is made to be a piece of art, but when you put them together, to make an instrument, everything fits like it’s supposed to. One of the parts that I love of the violin is the bridge. In guitars, the bridge is fixed to the body. In the violin the bridge is only attached by the tension of the strings and that is art for me, how everything works. Only when you already see the violin as art itself, you can talk about its music. The violin makes one of the most wonderful sounds in the world, and its music continues through time as one of the oldest and richest music culture of our society. That’s art for me.