personal STORIES

      “what is attachment to a moniker or flag? civilization can't fathom that everything we have rejoiced in -- held dear, found security in, or relied on as a constant -- for the last century is at the verge of being radically upended by dangers like climate change and infectious contagions. technological leaps like life-sciences/biotech, applied quantum-mechanics, and explainable computer-learning are key to our survival. let my stance be resoundingly clear, engineering and design are only tools towards solutions... i am pragmatic and not idealistic in chasing tech as the sole answer for its own sake while oblivious to the suffering endured by people born in the same warstruck hospital i was. many of them did not enjoy my chance to meet with destiny and overcome fate. so with lifetimes of fear and ignorance fomented, it is understandable why entire populations now hate those carrying lofty namesakes. from the nameless Amazonian tribefolk to Poles changing the name of the sick, to FM-2030, generally, society's first and last name conventions must be disrupted for our humanity to evolve further. countless sectarian clashes, discriminatory injustices to otherwise talented individuals who can contribute to the world, prejudices and stereotypes that limit and box in potentials, are rooted in preconceptions of class, privilege, nepotism, and religious creed that have more to do with a neurotic group delusion over someone's name (perpetuating a past that only continues to exist as an illusion in our collective minds) than any factual indicator of what convictions an individual carrying that name has inside their heads. let this belief of mine reverberate everywhere.
     with that out of the way, i can say this about my own. as with western equivalents like Felix, Laetissimus, Der Freudig, Perbeatus… Al-Assaad wasn’t always a 'family name'. it was and remains a title... that today, with a great degree of virtuous self-development, ANYONE committed to unlocking the joy already within them can earn, no matter what moniker they were born into. THIS is true inclusion, better together than apart. rightfully so, because where i’m from, Ibn Batt (the son of a duck) does not float; he is shot at, figuratively... and literally! so i expect no gain from the weight of my name. for i am not exclusively defined by family… i am me; I am you; and i love us, denizens of this pale blue dot called earth.

     today, notwithstanding the profound social, cultural, and historical significance of my family’s prominence, the equally profound diminishing percentage of one's genetic image going back one degree is just one reason why it's so insignificant to have distant illustrious ancestors . in today's para-martial law — dominated by nepotism favoring those born into sectarian families agnostic to their merit or integrity — i want to emphasize that my roots are indeed important to me personally, yet I document them in the spirit of honoring their story (not because I'm any kind of physical or mental ‘image’ of my past) . and certainly, not to perpetuate feudal times gone by . with absolutely zero animosity or regret, because of fanatical war i inherited nothing but this proud name, praised by the people until my Republic was corrupted as is the fate of all republics; our wider family's castlegrounds possessed as national artifacts and denying us burial rights, my immediate family’s land irrecoverably squatted on until forfeited. but not all of my ascendants were entirely innocent either, and ego has taken the better of us. all this has been the greatest teacher for me, for it developed in me the virtue of striving to attain any endeavor… charting my own path at new frontiers and not resting on others' laurels in stone towers. such is freedom! i learned: (A) one cannot be the happiest without having strove to overcome sadness; (B) felicity cycles gently, like the tides of Levantine shores; (C) jubilance does not stem from one’s bloodline; (D) the happiest persons have no past to tie them down… it comes from knowledge of the luminosity within; (E) my wellspring of happiness is reflecting on the impact I made on others and the globe, ever-so-little it may be; and (F) given that physiology determines a large extent of one’s happiness [for example, depression due to persistent vagus-nerve infection], the attainability of serenity in longevity (aging blissfully) is relative to one’s bio-psycho-social luck. we do the best we can with the cards we are dealt.

      so i warn all dynastics worldwide against the foolishness of thinking that one lives on in their <children> (since our genetic contribution to our descendants diminishes so rapidly, the idea that bearing them gives one ‘continuity’ is scientifically absurd), and stress that while we do share 99.9% of our genes with other human beings, the variable part we study amounts to less than 1% of our genetic endowment. with much greater challenges faced by our species as a whole, i'm therefore more concerned that humanity itself has continuity . time itself cautions personas seeking power that an unchecked ego inhibits one's continued growth, and —on behalf of our common future— time implores us to apply our gifts toward accelerating the evolution of **all** sentients (persons or non-human) and the ending of warmongering and poverty... so as to unleash a renaissance of mass good and creativity . such is a pillar of the pervasive wisdom that humankind requires to steer an age of ecological transition, digital transformations, and neural media with alternative realities . meaning: battles over justice, ideology, and sovereignty are futile in this prelude to the hive mind… the last theatre now is that for basic needs and one's sense of belonging and conscious in-tuition .

      that’s why, in a changing post-technocratic, pseudo-cybernetic globe, i celebrate the making of way to a next generation of social innovators in my wider family diaspora, such as Nour El Assaad (anti-bullying activist, president of Malta's/Beirut's No Label NGO); Fayruz El Assaad (Sciences Po-trained sustainable development policymaker in Mexico); Niall El-Assaad (British quadriplegic app developer for disabled drivers); the engineer Abdallah Al-Assaad (powering a Tripoli civic group, Akkarouna)… and equally by all genuine purveyors of benevolence whatever family, nation, or belief system they may come from, whom i consider my true tribe and only community . it is lonely to be jubilant alone, so when with the likehearted, we are the happiest believing in something together.

      me, what do i believe in? in taking the right action . this is righteousness to me . if you resonate with what i feel, if you are my crowd, i want to hear from you . it is people like us who wait tolerantly, across generations if need be, to rise again like a phoenix over the ashes of the ignorant and arrogant… same as our remaining grand Cedars — witnessing our barbarity for thousands of years — await the snow of winter, tall and resolute, honoring each other's power. ”

DON’T LOOK FOR A واسِطة .  WORK & BECOME THE واسِطة .