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The list is life: O Schindler

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Omar Omar | 10:16 UK time, Friday, 14 September 2012

I love lists. I'm always compiling lists, I have a list of the lists I have, and I've a list for everything.
Some of them are useful, other are inspirational, others are just for fun,

There is a list of the things I will never know how to do on Facebook (I hate it, and I think it hates me too!)
the list of the signs the world Is going to end soon,
the list of the experiences i hope my daughter will have done at twelve years,
the list of things to avoid if you're on holiday in Italy,
the list of shots I'd like to see in a movie,
and so on.

I also have a list of the businesses I'd like to start and one item of this list is to set up a web service to provide lists for everyone who need to check if he is ready for something (camping for a weekend, buy a new house, having a child...)

Well, ok, I love lists. I think you got it :-)

Yesterday, at work, we were attending a training course, and the teacher asked us to write a list of our guides, our life's teachers, a list of the people from whom we learned the most important lessons in our life. We were told that next time we would make some consideration about it.

So I'm compiling this list in English, as a way to kill two birds with one stone!

The short list of my life's teachers

1) My father. Very easy answer, I think many of us would put a parent, or a relative, in such a list. So do I. I'm quite different from my father, although the more older I become, the more similar I become to him in many things. But when in trouble, and I need to examine myself, thinking about what he would do in the same situation really help me in making the right call. And the right one doesn't always mean the more profitable to me.
My father doesn't speak English, so I can write it here, without being too much embarrassed.

2) My friend Pier. I know him since 2003, I think. We didn't share childhood, I met him when I was nearly thirty. He is always active, lively, positive, always ready to help you, and he is always talking too. He really talks a lot. he's humble, and he is one of the most munificient people I've never met. So there are many sides of my character i can improve learning from him (but I'm not telling you which ones! )
Here is a picture of him, in one of his unusual bad moments.


Pier



My friend Anna. She's catholic. I'm not. She is careful to other people, she is careful to everyone. She remembers every birthday, every name day, apparently without effort. She lives every experience, even the toughest ones, without any complaint. She never complains, she is a hero in finding the good side in every situation, and I mean the she really finds it, she's not just trying to believe there is always a good side. Every time I talk with her, she always shows me another point of view, she resets my guiding principles, and I can see more clearly what happen around me, and where I'm going.


I know this list could be longer (hello Mum!), but it's just a starting point, I will be working on it from now on.

Who are your life's teachers? They could be also poets, historical figures, or the old lady that lives near you. And if you are fanatic about lists like me, please tell me, we have a lot to talk about!

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    If I say my life's teacher is time, it can be very abstract answer but it could be difficult to understand what it means.

    Let define y=f(t); y is the real valued function of time paremeter t, y is belongs the multi-dimentional real space, and t belongs to one-dimentional real closed subset of L=[birth,death] . Then, it is obvious that f is a continuous function over L and differentiating the life function f by the time parameter t, you can obtain your life performance at the any time instant of your life span.

    I like very much generalized idea and abstract stuff than some single example, person or any country.

    Note:1) My comment was relating to your essay. Because, you were talking about the problems of an African nation over Olympics. It is may opinion that UNESCO is more related han Oliypics to that kind of problem.

    2) Anyone also can be suggest that L is a open space and t is multi-dımentional.

    Greeting from Japan

    Ali ÖZÜRK

  • Comment number 2.

    Hello Omar,
    An interesting topic yet again :)

    I think as 'life teachers', you actually meant 'role models' in life .
    Everybody we meet in life, has something or the other to teach us. Well, talking about role models, apart from my parents, I look up to people who rose against all odds, for example, Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, to name a few. I admire their will-power, sacrifice, never-say-die attitude and the passion to follow their dreams.

    Talking about lists, even I do make lists, particularly of things to be done the following day, it helps you organize and manage your time efficiently.

    And aliozturk, that is an interesting concept you have explained, though it took me a little while to grasp.

    Regards,
    Sumayya, India.

  • Comment number 3.

    Dear Sumeyya;

    if you could grasp it finally it is not problem/

    Cheers:)

  • Comment number 4.

    I have also recognized that we can not say f is continuous.

    It depends on the subspace L.

    For instance, for you, Sumeyya, the time for which you consumed to understand it, there is one value if you understand it . For someone there is no value at that time, and the life function has not any value at that particular time. Therefore, we easily see that topology of the L depends on the person and continuity of f depends on L.
    (We say a function is continuous if function takes one value for each elements of its domain)

  • Comment number 5.

    Hello Omar,

    Well done, Omar. It's a very interesting topic that you raised here. I think everyone have their lists. I myself have my lists. Sometimes just by memory, but very often written lists. I even jot down some important dates, events, things, people, etc.

    For me everything in one's life deserves to be listed because what happens to us is there for a reason. We should live fully our lives and memorise things and this is what you are doing, Omar.

    Life is composed of the past, the present and the future. Past is experience, present is experiment and future is expectation. Albert Einstein said:"learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."

    Dear Omar, your English is excellent. But please pay attention to spelling mistakes and particularly to capital letters. I myself make a lot of mistakes, but I'm here to learn. This is why we should check our spelling carefully and correct each other. The best teachers cannot spot all our mistakes. Please do not hesitate to correct my mistakes; I'm sure there are too many.

    All the best,

    Elmansour, from Casablanca, Morocco.

  • Comment number 6.

    Hi Omar,

    Well, to be honest there are several people whom I think are role models for me. Of course, first and foremost are my parents and a couple of my school teachers but there are other people as well who are role models for me. It is probably strange for some people if I say my husband is a true role model for me but it is a fact which can’t be ignored. My husband is a very self-made and confident person and he made me believe in myself and supported me throughout in everything I have done. I would also like to say that I have learnt a lot from my children as well. There are times when children become your teachers especially when they are grown up. Finally, I must say that my friends inspired me as well and I think I have adopted some of their good qualities. This learning process is a life-long process. Even though I wouldn’t call the around me teachers but I am still learning from them. Looking forward to your next post.


    Kind Regards

    Varisha

  • Comment number 7.

    Hi omar,
    Its a plesure to be here, and its my first comment on bbc LE blogs :)
    omar I've been reading all your blogs and once again you've blogd about some kind of a different topic which we are not really aware of. in my opinion 'our lives teachers' is a really good topic to share and discuss our ideas. first of all I want to apolagise for my bad english :( I'm still 20 years old and I'm trying my best to improve my english language skills and hoping to be fluent in english just like omar :)
    A teacher is the one who corrects you and show you the correct path, so in my life ; my life's teachers list ,first place goes to my ever loving father :)

  • Comment number 8.

    Hello Aliozturk, i found difficult to understand your explanation, but finally I got it. then I have to say you lost me when you added the other detail. Maths is like a foreign language, I don't know the vocabulary, and the grammar, so I can't understand you.

  • Comment number 9.

    Hi Sumayya, yes, maybe role models is a better expression than life's teachers, i thin we both mean the same thing, I hope the teacher could help us showing us the correct expression.

  • Comment number 10.

    Hello Varisha, a very interesting commente, I love the fact you learned a lot from your children, i'm sure i would learn a lot from mine too! And the best thing is you can learn something new every day because they grow up so quickly, and there is no day lie another one for them.

  • Comment number 11.

    Hello Elmansour, i loved your Einstein quote, here is my favourite one in this period (i hope the meaning won't be lost in translation): "People are always trying to lenghten their life, while widen it would be easier." I think we both are trying to enlarge our lifes also writing on ѿý LE!

  • Comment number 12.

    Hello saharacssp, welcome to ѿý LE! and I can tell you, when I was twenty, I barely spoke few words of english. you've plenty of time to improve your level!

  • Comment number 13.

    I wanted to say if you do not understand some think than you can not say it is out of the topic.

    you should say i do not understand it

    bye-bye

  • Comment number 14.

    hi again omar :)
    I do like lists just like you. usually I jot down all the things which i think that is really important to me. as sumayya said, I believe it's really helpful to manage and organize our work.
    back to your topic omar ;
    as i mentioned earlier my father is the first person in my live's teachers list :)
    my father is a warm hearted,sociable, strong, intelligent ,nice loving charactor whom can be rarely seen among others. he's having a tremendous will-power,even the whole world get crashed down , he'll stand still. he really dosen't care about what other people say about him. he always used to say "try to find the truth and live with it" :)
    now i've been living with him for 20 years and the lessons and the experiences he taught me was really amazing and helpful :) I'm seeing the world through his eyes and he's the greatest teacher as well as my super hero :)

  • Comment number 15.

    (this is the last part of my above comment,this part has dropped down :( )
    In my opinion we really don't need some one to correct our selves, as human beings we all have got a brain to choose the right from wrong, that's the difference between a human and an animal.
    If we examined closely, we can take lessons from everything which we meet in our day-to -day life.. either from a small baby or a tree etc.. learning is a life time process it will end up in the coffin.
    if so everything could be added to the list of teachers :)
    hope you'll agree with me :)
    regards,
    saharacssp.

  • Comment number 16.

    Hi Omar and others
    My brother and I used to make lists when we were kids: sports teams, singers, movies... many things! The fun part after making the list was to ORGANISE the lists, for example: "Best to Worst". We still have many of these least to this day!

    Cheers
    Davoѿý

  • Comment number 17.

    Hello Omar,
    I'm very prosaic and so I'm always compiling only two lists: the shopping list and the English words' list.
    Sometimes I also compile the list of debts :-(
    Bye,
    Marina

  • Comment number 18.

    Hello Saharacssp, yes, I totally agree with you, I'd just like to add that put someone on a list like that, and let him know it, is a way to say thank you to people that are so important to you and that maybe don't even know it.

  • Comment number 19.

    Davoѿý, to me it was the same, the listmaniacs usually starts to show their obsession quite early! :-)

  • Comment number 20.

    Hello Marina, I will put you an the list of those who don't compile enough lists!

  • Comment number 21.

    Hello omar
    I can't tell you how much appreciated your writing on list of life .I think it is my first list of my family .
    Father, he was a straightforward person . He was always very strict about us , and also obeying the rules of our religion and belief etc . He was always strict vegetarian . He wants his children should become as a doctor or engineer . That was his burning ambition . But unfortunately , we could not fulfilled his desire . My bad time he expired in my earlier age .
    Mother, she was always thinking our goodness . She gave most of her time , energy , attention , etc , to us . She devoted herself to our family .
    Sisters, they are very affectionate towards us and our children . They are very loving and liking very much and caring about us .
    Wife, she also devotes herself to me and our children . She is very loving and caring person .
    Sons and daughter , as a father I am proud of my children . I have so many family disputes and finance problems past years . They understand the problems and adapt with us . In any situation they never give up their faith and respect on their parents . They are growing slowly but steady .
    Manoharan. India.

  • Comment number 22.

    Well, i scrolled down and found the whole article pretty interest. But i think instead of 'talking with her', there should have been 'talking to her'. Rest I am not sure. I just spotted it over there and felt i should suggest as one of the bloggers posted sometimes children happen to be teachers. :)

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