Traveler's Bliss

Each day is an opportunity to die meaningfully. Morbid! You might think this thought - this statement is out of bounds, unacceptable in our society that considers talking about our own death as taboo. Yet these past months, we have listened and read news about deaths happening mostly in the slums, in poor communities. And some of us expressed satisfaction over the spate of killings as a way of cleansing and cleaning up society.   Have we lost our fear of talking about death? Our own death? Or are we not afraid to think about other people’s death, as long as it is not oneself or one’s loved one who is facing the prospect of dying or has died? I do not intend to write here about the recent depressing snuffing out of lives but I could not help but wonder why many of us have all of a sudden become so accepting of the death of others. Perhaps because it makes one feel not so deserving of death – unlike all the “others” whom we have judged coldly as worthy of an execu...

(An unexpected take away from a course. Timing could be everything.) The past week was spent sharing, discussing, reflecting on peace practice, conflict sensitivity, do no harm in Barcelona, Spain, together with participants from different parts of the world who are working in different peacebuilding and conflict transformation programs and projects or implementing humanitarian assistance interventions. I will not be telling you something about the training. Rather, allow me to share about some discoveries and inspiration I got from the training venue. Our training course information sheet describes our training venue, Sant Felip Neri House as “a convent, training venue and retreat located in a beautiful and quiet setting within the ever active city of Barcelona. Surrounded by a garden, it is one of the Modernist buildings giving name to the neighbourhood of Tres Torres de Sarrià, in the northern part of the city.” I found it strange that on my first night in Sant Felip Ne...