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April 23, 2012

Le temps qui passe

Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1, James Whistler,  1871
Il y a de cela quelques temps que j'ai cette peinture en tête. Elle illustre merveilleusement la vision générale que nous avons de la vieillesse. Les couleurs sont austères, la femme dépeinte est immobile et a le regard fixe, ou bien vide.

Bien évidemment, ceci est une vision très pessimiste de l'avenir! Cependant le peintre a, selon moi, réussi à attacher à son oeuvre une émotion particulière que je ne saurais décrire, mais qui m'effraie et me fascine (remarquez la similarité avec ma photo de profil)

Je veux parler un peu de la vie en général, et tout spécialement du temps qui passe. Je suis consciente que je ne suis probablement pas très bien placée pour me prononcer sur le sujet, puisque je suis relativement jeune. Mais ma courte expérience de la vie me démontre que l'on donne souvent trop d'importance à l'âge et que les plus jeunes et les plus vieux ont parfois beaucoup plus en commun qu'ils ne le pensent.

William Penn, un des pères fondateurs des États-Unis, a écrit, «Time is what we want most, but what we use worst».

Ou si vous voulez la version longue,
There is nothing of which we are apt to be so lavish of as Time, and about which we ought to be more solicitous; since without it we can do nothing in this World. Time is what we want most, but what, alas! we use worst; and for which God will certainly more strictly reckon with us, when Time shall be no more. (Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims, 1693)


Nous voudrions avoir toujours plus de temps, mais nous en faisons souvent mauvais usage.
Nous réalisons à quel point c'est vrai à mesure que le temps passe et que nous ne rencontrons pas certains objectifs que nous nous étions fixés, ou lorsque nous nous rendons compte que nous ne sommes pas exactement ce que nous voudrions être.

Il est difficile et douloureux de penser que le temps passe et ne s'arrête pas pour nous. Nous savons que nous sommes nés à un certain moment (bien que nous ne nous rappelions pas ne jamais avoir existé), nous savons que nous mourrons un jour, et que le temps entre les deux est limité.

C'est encore facile quand on est jeune. On vieillit, certes, mais on reste jeune jusqu'à un certain âge. Mais chaque jour vécu de plus est un jour de moins à vivre, quand on y pense.

Le temps qui passe, ça veut dire que tout ce qui est en arrière ne sera jamais revécu (du moins pas de la même façon), et ce qui est devant nous est absolument inconnu.

Si le temps est précieux et limité, alors il faut en faire bon usage. Mais qu'est-ce que le bon usage du temps? Un charpentier, un courtier immobilier, une élève de maternelle et une grand-maman à plein temps  ont probablement des opinions bien différentes à ce sujet.

J'aime beaucoup les Psaumes. Les Psaumes sont des poèmes et des chants écrits par différents auteurs à différentes époques, et que l'on retrouve dans la Bible. Ils sont une source de sagesse, et les lire me donne une perspective plus globale de la vie.

Le Psaume 90, par exemple, a été écrit par Moïse, il y a de cela plusieurs millénaires. Il écrit ceci à Dieu: «Enseigne-nous à bien compter nos jours, afin que nous appliquions notre coeur à la sagesse».

C'est très étrange pour moi de lire ces lignes écrites par quelqu'un qui est mort. Son poème, transmis des millénaires plus tard, m'inspire moi, au XXIe siècle.

Notre époque ne cesse de nous encourager à vivre notre jeunesse (c'est-à-dire nous plonger tête première dans l'hédonisme, ne se refuser aucun plaisir et aucune dépense, et ne pas se soucier des conséquences). Nous sommes encouragés à être centrés sur nous-même et à ne penser qu'au moment présent.

Mais la vie passe, le temps s'évapore, et beaucoup est en jeu. Personnellement, j'ai besoin qu'on me rappelle que la vie est courte, parce que je la prends plus au sérieux. Je veux apprendre à compter mes jours. Pas littéralement, puisque je ne sais pas combien de jours il me reste à vivre. Mais être humble et réaliser que je ne serai pas toujours là. Et m'occuper à la poursuite de l'essentiel.

Et pourquoi se soucier de telles choses, pourquoi compter nos jours?

Pour rechercher la sagesse. Ça sonne bien «plate», n'est-ce pas? C'est pourtant ce qu'il y a de plus important, ce me semble.

«La sagesse vaut mieux que les perles, elle a plus de valeur que tous les objets de prix». Le temps qui passe, et qui ne s'arrête pas pour moi, me fait vouloir connaître davantage la sagesse de Dieu, et vivre selon elle.

Parce que je sais que la vie ne dure pas longtemps, et que si je n'ai qu'une vie à vivre, je veux l'utiliser à bon escient.
Et rechercher ce qui est vrai. Ce qui, contrairement au temps, ne passe pas.

April 15, 2012

Bossa Nova Love

Astrud Gilberto, ''a rainha da bossa nova''
Last week was warm, beautiful and sunny, and so I played my Bossa Nova playlist. As soon as the music was on, I was nostalgic of/looking forward to the summer. Let me tell you a little bit about Bossa Nova, and why I like this music genre so much!


Bossa Nova is a subgenre of Brazilian Jazz that emerged and was most popular in the fifties and the sixties. It's kind of a mix of Brazilian Jazz and Samba.


Most people would agree that Stan Getz, Antonio Carlos Jobim (a.k.a. Tom Jobim), João Gilberto and his (ex-) wife Astrud Gilberto were some of the most influential Bossa Nova figures.


The album Getz/Gilberto features all of the artists mentioned above, and is widely considered as incarnating the ''finest hour'' of Bossa Nova. Oh, and this album won the 1965 Grammy for Best Album of the Year. Everyone was nuts about it in the U.S. and South America.

The Girl from Ipanema (1965 Grammy for Record of the Year) is on that album. Listen to Astrud's gentle voice as well as the piano and saxophone solos. A masterpiece!


Garota de Ipanema (The Girl from Ipanema)  
Oh yes, and I forgot to talk about how profoundly Portuguese-speaking Bossa Nova is. And when you listen to it enough you realize that it couldn't be English, nor any other language for that matter. Portuguese excels in conveying emotions and moods while keeping an aura of mystery around the song.
The poetry in Corcovado, fifth track on the Getz / Gilberto album, is mind-blowing. 


Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)
Um cantinho um violão
Esse amor, uma canção
Prá fazer feliz a quem se ama
Muita calma prá pensar
E ter tempo prá sonhar
Da janela vê-se o Corcovado
O Redentor que lindo!
Quero a vida sempre assim
Com você perto de mim
Até o apagar da velha chama
E eu que era triste
Descrente desse mundo
Ao encontrar você eu conheci
O que é felicidade
Meu amor

It feels like it would be criminal to translate this, so I'll leave it to your imagination. You can probably guess the meaning of some of the words... And decide what you think it means!

Bossa Nova is not only beautiful music; in my mind, it is associated with beautiful memories. 

Warm summer evenings in the backyard. A soft wind, a sunset. It is dark but not quite. The air is warm but the grass is cold. Sipping a glass of wine with friends. Closing our eyes and delighting in the beauty of our favourite jazz songs. Talking about the past, the present, the future. Hoping that someday we'll be all together in Brazil, on the beaches of Ipanema, at night, closing our eyes, and listening to the same songs.

April 7, 2012

On Being Young, Traveling and Escapism



Luncheon of the Boating Party, Renoir, 1881

I decided on the title of this article before I even started writing it. I wonder if the article is necessary at all; "Being young, traveling and escapism" sums up everything I have to say. (After a thorough reflection on this matter, however, I came to the conclusion that summarizing is what titles are for, and so I should still write this article).

I am not writing about being young in general, but about being a young adult in Western society. It seems that in this society, there is a transitory stage between the teenage years and "full adulthood."

In some other parts of the world, people get married and start having children earlier than in the West. In 2009, the age at first marriage in the United States was of 28 years for men and 26.5 years for women. In Germany, it was of 33 years for men and 30 years for women. (Source: UNECE)

Now, this post is not an analysis of marriage trends. I do think, however, that getting married and having kids is related to the topic of being young, travelling and escapism. When you get married and have kids, you usually start to settle down.

As a North American, when I think of being young, I think about a certain Western conception of being young and a student:

1.       Graduate from high school, and take a gap year to travel the world (or go straight into university).
2.       In university, have a part-time job. Make a couple grants a year, and travel in the summer.
3.       Do a semester abroad
4.       Repeat steps 2 and 3 until graduation.
5.       If you graduate and still don’t know what you want to do in life, do a Master’s degree.
6.       Repeat steps 2 and 3 until graduation.

I admit this was a little extreme! Mea culpa. This sequence of events was meant to be caricatural. I am aware that a lot of students do not have the money to do all this, and many do not choose this path.

There is some truth in my caricature, nonetheless. Many students work during the year and travel in the summer, and many do semesters abroad.

I would venture to say that this is a relatively new phenomenon: students nowadays are richer and more comfortable than their parents, it seems.  And they travel more.

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, Frederick Childe Hassam, 1888

Why do young people travel?

The quick answer is: "To see the world!"
And it is true. We live in an integrated and cosmopolitan world; reading about other nations and cultures is not enough to satisfy the thirst of our curiosity. And even seeing is not enough: We have to go, feel, touch, taste, live.

The second quick answer is: "Because we can!"
The World is becoming more and more accessible to students. Universities make it easier for their students to go study in another country for a couple of months. And although in debt, students are willing to spend money on traveling.


I’m wondering if there is another reason why young adults travel, or want to travel so much. I do believe the reason sometimes is escapism.

Escapism is probably one of my favourite words in the whole world. I like the way it sounds, the way it looks on paper, and the idea it conveys. But let’s rationalize and look at what this word actually means:

Merriam-Webster: Habitual diversion of the mind to purely imaginative activity or entertainment as an escape from reality or routine.
Oxford: The tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy.

Traveling is not included in the definitions above, but my idea is that it can become a form of escapism. But escapism from what?
How would I know? Different people want to get away from different things.

Even if there is nothing in particular we wish to escape from, traveling gives us the opportunity to escape from our familiar environment and routine. Everything abroad is exciting, because it is new.
Traveling provides the novelty and excitement we sometimes cannot experience as much in our normal environment. 

The people are friendlier. The food is better. The buildings are nicer. The nature is more beautiful.
Life is better.

For the time our travel lasts, life is amazing. It seems like we live life at its fullest: we make the most of every smell and taste.
The days seem to last forever, and it’s like our entire life is on hold.
Every day is the fulfilment of a dream.

We are so fully human. 
Cafe Terrace at Night, Van Gogh, 1888

It never lasts. Ultimately, the trip comes to an end, and we return home, though we’re not sure where home is anymore. It seems to me that coming home is always hard. Everything seems to be not-as-good-as-it-was-there-and-then. We become intolerant to the usual, the typical. Life could be so much more than what we know!

And the only solution to this First World problem is to go traveling again.

I think that Robert Louis Stevenson put it well when he wrote: ''For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move'' (Travels with a donkey in the Cévennes, 1879). 

In my opinion, this is what traveling is about for many young people nowadays.
Whether or not we are conscious of it, escapism is probably one of the reasons why traveling is so amazing, and so addictive. Escapism is not bad in itself! It can be very positive.

My concluding thought is more of a question: I wonder how the culture of traveling will influence this generation in the long term. I wonder if this generation will ever be able to be satisfied and settle down, or if it simply never will.


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