{"id":147606,"date":"2019-11-18T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=147606"},"modified":"2019-11-14T10:45:32","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T10:45:32","slug":"becoming-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/11\/becoming-89\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming 89"},"content":{"rendered":"

— Istanbul, 13 Nov 2019 [From TMS editor: Richard was born on 13 Nov 1930]<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Somehow as the sun sets
\nThe thrill of being alive startles<\/p>\n

Is it love alone
\nOr your starlit smile<\/p>\n

The play of Istanbul
\nThe<\/em> enchantment of kediler<\/em><\/p>\n

This thrill of life persists
\nDespite the world<\/p>\n

Despite unimaginable
\nAnd hideous atrocities<\/p>\n

We must not avert our eyes
\nOr escape to the suburbs of the mind<\/p>\n

The faith of this hour
\nIs anxious patience<\/p>\n

Panic prescribed as sanity
\n\u2018Thanks Greta\u2019<\/p>\n

Remember to observe bravery
\nAlong the Gaza fence<\/p>\n

Remember refugees
\nHuman and desperate<\/p>\n

And those killed and maimed
\nBecause their skin is darker<\/p>\n

Or their god(s) differ
\nDespite being the same<\/p>\n

Then and only then
\nSuccumb to flowers and maidens<\/p>\n

Only then visit forests
\nTo bless magical animals<\/p>\n

While living and dying
\nKeep your gaze, affirm<\/p>\n

This impossible faith
\nBy smiles, by tears<\/p>\n

This forever fervor
\nKeeping birthdays precious<\/p>\n

To be old and engaged
\nIs to be truly young<\/p>\n

To be old and enraged
\nIs to be truly young<\/p>\n

To affirm the affirmable
\nAnd fight the abominable<\/p>\n

Is to be truly young
\nGreat fortune at 89<\/p>\n

__________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network<\/a>, an international relations scholar, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University,<\/em> Distinguished Research Fellow, Orfalea Center of Global Studies,\u00a0UCSB, <\/em>author, co-author or editor of 40 books, and a speaker and activist on world affairs.\u00a0In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council<\/a> (UNHRC) appointed Falk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur<\/a> on “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories<\/a> occupied since 1967.” Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies, and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. His most recent book is <\/em>Achieving Human Rights (2009).<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 richardfalk.wordpress.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

— Istanbul, 13 Nov 2019 [From TMS editor: Richard was born on 13 Nov 1930]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":145696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[868,944],"class_list":["post-147606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-poetry","tag-richard-falk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}