Au Cochonnet Marin

Contrarily to what would-be refugees might think, life in the West is not a bowl of cherries.

The first obstacle preventing newcomers from feasting on “cerises” is language. If they are over 45 (even younger), they will probably never speak English (or any other language) properly.
Or if they do, they will speak it in a heavily accented English that will set them immediately apart. This in turn might lead to discrimination.

The second hurdle is finding a job.
Finding a job today is tough, not only for refugees but also for college graduates.
Jobs will automatically go to competent candidates and few refugees will qualify.
If they do find a job, it will be a menial, low paying occupation.
Difficult to buy cherries with that.

The third most formidable stumbling bloc is culture.
In the West, social mores are vastly different from those of the Muslim world where religion permeates everything.
When opting to emigrate, refugees need to cast aside the straightjacket of religion and adapt to their new secular environment. Islamic clothing and sectarian beliefs have got to go, for men and women alike.
For some people wearing a “niqab” in a secular country is as offensive as wearing a miniskirt in Saudi Arabia. And a miniskirt would certainly not be permitted in Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia or any other Islamic country.
Refugees will have to shed their previous way of life and adapt to the (sometimes questionable) western ways.

Let’s not forget that it is not up to the welcoming country to adapt to newcomers, but vice-versa. We don’t owe them anything. They owe us everything!

So, life is not going to be easy for the newcomers.
After a while, resentment might settle in. And resentment is a fertile ground for radicalization.
As amply proven before, even second generation immigrants are highly susceptible to extremism. So, any country willing to admit some refugees has the duty to rigorously screen the people they let in.

Religion and sectarian customs are the bane of Muslim countries.
Let us not allow “politically correct” do-gooders to coerce us to accept (without exhausting background check) large amount people who are inherently violent and who have been raised to react murderously to any perceived offense.
The European countries with large Muslim populations (e.g. France) are in big trouble.
Let’s not repeat their mistakes. The pro-guns and pro-life fanatics are troublesome enough without allowing another large wave of potential troublemakers to disrupt our way of life.

Thoroughly screened refugees will probably have to eat crow before tasting cherries.
But the world is still far from being perfect.

It is rightly the people who are the most adaptable that will succeed.
So girls, you can keep your bras but you have to burn your niqabs.

Alain aka Iznogoud

PS: If you read an article on WordPress and want to see it in its original format, click once on the title of the article (in blue).

For you ladies:

 

♫ If you go to San Francisco, be sure to wear flowers in your hair…♬

 

So what happened yesterday in San Francisco?
Did we play?
Did it rain?
Did we wear flowers in our hair?
What exactly took place in the City by the Bay?

Well my friends, yes we played –all the 16 of us– and yes it rained, and no, nobody wore flowers in their hair.

The (plucky) players who showed up to compete were as follows:

1. Alain Efron
2. Paul Kos
3. Scott ?
4. Mike M. ?
5. Henry Wessel
6. Jack McKinnon
7. Christine Cragg
8. Joss Krauer
9. Chris Farris
10. Tamara Efron
11. Claudie Chourré
12. Noel Marcovecchio
13. Jean ?
14. Charlie Davantes
15. Liv Kraft
16. Calvert Barron

The Marinites (9 of us) really saved the day. Without our mighty contingent no tournament could have taken place.

The format of this particular Concours was “doublettes” “carrousel” style. We changed partners each game.

We played 2 games in the morning under fair conditions. Just a light drizzle.
We were scheduled to play 2 additional games after lunch, but the rain gods decided otherwise.
Just as we finished our second game it started to rain… rather substantially.

We stopped for lunch hoping that the downpour would stop. But it did not.

Large puddles of water started to colonize the field and it was wisely decided to postpone the rest of the tournament and complete it the following Sunday.

So weather allowing, the tournament will resume next Sunday.
The scores of the 2 first games will be kept and the same players will compete again.

Was it a miserable day? Not at all.
In spite of the rain, it was rather pleasant and I don’t mind coming back to a picturesque (with shaggy bisons in the next meadow) pétanque field.

Thanks  to the organizers who worked hard to make this tournament possible.

See you all next Sunday.

Alain

To look at photos of this event and listen to the accompanying background music, turn your computer’s sound on, and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of this page. For best viewing, go Full Screen.

When you are in the rat race you have very little time to stop and smell the roses.
But when you disengage from work, you can look around you and reflect on what you are seeing or reading.

One of my guilty pleasures is reading. I am a voracious reader who goes through any kind of writing I can put my hands on.

In the past, I have frequently come across the “original sin” expression without ever pausing to think about it; but recently, bumping into these words again, I suddenly stopped and reared like a startled horse.
What the heck is the “Original Sin” anyway?

“Original sin, also called ancestral sin, is the Christian doctrine of humanity’s state of sin resulting from the fall of man, namely the sin of consuming from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, stemming from Adam’s rebellion in Eden. “
Wikipedia

I am ready to wager a bundle that very few people could give me a clear explanation of that conundrum.
Even though I am a sworn atheist I always was under the impression that Adam and Eve were chased from Eden for doing the Nasty.
It seemed like a reasonable assumption. Two attractive, bored young people with too much time on their hands…

But why would that be a sin?
Why is it that for some people everything linked to copulation is a sin?
Whoever ever came up with this absurdity?

By the same token, are breeding animals also sinners? I wonder…

And what about “the tree of knowledge”?
“In Western Christian art, the fruit of the tree is commonly depicted as the apple.”

It looks good and appetizing. Why shouldn’t we eat it?
And why is “consuming from the tree of knowledge” verboten?
Don’t you want people to be educated and knowledgeable?
It does not make any sense to my Cartesian mind.

Geek mythology sounds so much more logical to me. The Gods had numerous affairs, fought, and engaged in vendettas just like regular couples.
Their way of life sounds so much more believable than the “original sin” saga.

But I am not a learned person, especially when it comes to the convoluted history of humankind explained by highly partisan individuals.
And who cares anyway about what happened two, three or four thousands years ago?
Is it relevant today?
Can any sane person keep any grudge that long?

Looking at what is happening in the murderously sectarian Middle East it looks like it.

Morons, f***ing morons!

Excuse my outburst. Connerie ignorance lunacy bigotry makes me go off the deep end.

In this life, you choose what you want to believe.
I choose to believe that there never was any Original Sin.
Maybe, just maybe, two bored teenagers.

Alain