He’s just not that into you.

E Advanced White Lies

Debating Hope

Today’s passionate debate flowed from the following quote …

“I’m not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the road blocks that stand in our path. I’m not talking about the wishful idealism that allows us to just sit on the sidelines or shirk from a fight.

I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.”

– President Obama, 2012 Victory Speech

We discussed the hope, happiness, and positivity … as well as the lack of hope, unhappiness, and negativity … in our lives. A passionate debate ensued about finding happiness in a hard life — and whether or not Arabs, in general, and Jordanians, in particular, have a negative outlook on life.

 

 

The conversation could have had us talking for hours…

Does your environment define your happiness? Do your circumstances, and factors outside of your control, shape your attitude?

or does your attitude color your environment? Can you make up your mind to be happy, and maintain positivity no matter where you find yourself?

…. what effect can we have on our own lives? our own futures?

Needless to say, we didn’t come up with any answers.

But that wasn’t really the point, was it?

“It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.”
– Joesph Joubert

“Time spent arguing is, oddly enough, almost never wasted.” – Christopher Hitchens

Spoken Word – “I died last year in a car accident”

Conversation: Highs, Lows, Weirdos.. and more!

 

Today we had conversation groups (10:00-11:00 and 1:00-2:00).

In our first group, we did our Highs, Lows, and Weirdos.  In this game, we each talked about 1 “High” from our week (a high is anything that made you feel “high” or good), 1 “Low” from our week (a low is anything, on the contrary, that made you feel “low” or bad), and 1 “Weirdo.” Weirdo was the most fun to define together… using weird as an adjective (3’rib) and then weirdo as a noun — a person, place, or thing that is weird… In this case, each “weirdo” was a “weird” moment from our week.

After wrapping up our game, everyone demonstrated their knowledge as they teased eachother… “I feel low.. because Ebrahim loves me” … weirdo!

 

In our second group, we made up our own questions to ask eachother!

What do you like to do in your free time?

What do you do in your daily life?

What are you studying, and why?

What are you planning to do in the future?

Where do you like to go for fun?

What is your dream job?

If you could go back in time, what century would you chose?

If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?

Some great questions! Kteer helu 🙂