Entries by Zee McHadd

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Is it OK to be filthy rich?

I take great joy in beautiful art, well designed architecture, smart design, in addition to luxurious pampering services such as 4-handed full body massages with essential oils that I think should be a human right :) But when does it all get to be unacceptable? Is it ok to be getting a massage, let alone a luxury car, when someone cannot afford a meal next door?
There is a difference between reasonable luxury and tasteless ostentatious decadence.

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Travel Alone!

Travelling alone, even if occasionally, is the most precious gift you can give yourself. Most people won’t even consider the thought, and yet are unaware of the enormous benefits. Unless people find their own company very boring, in which case, that is and even bigger reason to do it :)

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In communities hosting Syrian refugees, how bad are the Lebanese, really?

This project was a good opportunity for me not only to get to know the target beneficiaries up close, but to also get my own answer to the question of how much tension was there really between Syrians and their Lebanese host communities. Is it an exaggerated story amplified as an excuse to receiving funding and implementing development projects? Or is it real?

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Mr. Snowtank and the Aurora

Half way through our dinner on the first night, someone screamed “Aurora” and we rushed outside frantically. There they were, faint greenish halos in the night sky. It was the first time any of us had seen them so of course we were quite excited, but rather underwhelmed. It wasn’t spectacular. We felt the Gods can be a little more giving.

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Where is the joy we used to feel?

Coming out of 2016 feels like coming out of a battlefield. I suspect the feeling is shared by many others: the feeling of a warrior happy to have come out alive, and looking forward to, hoping for (perhaps naively) a less cruel and violent 2017. But at this point the scars and bruises of battle are still feeling heavy, and one feels there is a need to hide and nurture body and soul before facing the new year. How does one find joy again in this context?

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Religion, atheism, agnosticism

When it comes to religion, atheism, or agnosticism, it seems there is a wide majority of people who do not understand basic concepts that some would take for granted or as common sense. Here’s a few of those misunderstood ideas that occurred to me as I was watching recently a TV show on Atheism.