A New-Economy Fish Story

A New-Economy Fish Story

By: Rekha BaluWed Dec 19, 2007 at 12:21 AM

Think you've got problems with motivating workers? Imagine trying to keep a fishmonger happy.

It's 9 AM on a Saturday in Seattle, and, as usual, a big crowd is watching the show at the Pike Place Fish Market. Bear, a boom box of a man clad in fluorescent-orange scrubs, is hurling a 6-pound Copper River sockeye salmon to fellow fishmonger Andy Frigulietti, who snags the fish with one hand, much to the crowd's delight, and delivers it into the arms of a waiting customer. "Sockeye for delivery!" Bear bellows. "Sockeye for delivery!" Frigulietti answers back.

The flying fish are clearly a hit with customers -- and with tourists, who flock to the market to experience the show. Lately, though, Pike Place has attracted other visitors as well -- from companies such as Alaska Airlines, Marriott, and Sprint. Why the interest from the big-name companies? Because the fishmongers love their jobs. Pike Place has established a reputation for having a creative environment that fosters intense employee loyalty as well as customer satisfaction. Pike Place even inspired "Fish!," a best-selling corporate-training video made by ChartHouse International Learning Corp. two years ago that has since spawned several additional tapes. Now, besieged by requests from managers, Pike Place owner John Yokoyama has spun off a new venture, Pike Place Biz Futures Consulting LLC, so that he can pass along some of his fish wisdom.

Not that the market's formula for success is very complicated: "We want to give employees and customers the best experience they've ever had," says Yokoyama, 60, who has owned Pike Place for 35 years. Over the years, the self-described "former tyrant" has learned that a company comes to life when it treats its staff as peers rather than as peons. And when a company comes to life, the customers will follow. Yokoyama, who spent his early childhood in a U.S. internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, says he grew up to be an "angry young man" who drove people away. But some personal-growth seminars a decade ago helped him address his anger, he says. "And I realized that corporate America needs to change the way it acts toward its employees too."

He has succeeded in bringing that management ethic to Pike Place. "They are experts in humanity," says Kathy Crabtree, director of training for Marriott's Courtyard division, the company's line of casual, affordable hotels. Crabtree learned about the market when she saw one of the "Fish!" videos. Intrigued, she and several other Marriott training officers decided to check out the market. An impromptu dinner with the fishmongers confirmed what Crabtree, 34, suspected to be the secret of the market's success: "In the corporate world, we tend to complicate things, but these guys reminded us that business is really simple. Friendly is friendly, whether it's with other employees or customers."

In his new role as fishmonger-turned-consultant, Yokoyama, along with his corporate-training partner, Jim Bergquist, has spoken to employees at Alaska Airlines and at Incyte Genomics Inc., a medical-devices startup in Palo Alto, about how to unite employees around ambitious goals. He and Bergquist have also met with managers at American Airlines to talk about handling stress at work. This fall, they're presenting "The Art of Enlivening Dead Fish," a series of seminars on bringing the workplace to life.

The subjects of the classes may change, but the message is always the same: It's all about possibility. Rather than staying behind the counter and seeing the limitations of employee behavior, sales, or products, step outside, say the consultants. "Employees and customers have to be cocreators of their experience," says Bergquist, 53.

They're not making this stuff up. Just last January, which is typically a slow month in the fish business, Yokoyama suggested cutting back on workers' hours in order to cut costs. The fishmongers balked and took him to task -- not just for threatening to cut their hours, but for thinking negatively. And then they got to work: They dug up the phone numbers of everyone who had mail-ordered fish last year from Pike Place and started telemarketing. Pike Place's January sales hit a record high this year.

But the market's employee philosophy is not just about dreaming big. Yokoyama believes that if you want to keep a lid on employee defections, you have to give people a good reason to come to work. Work ought to be fun, especially if individual tasks are less than inspirational. At Pike Place, that translates into fish flinging.

Of course, that probably wouldn't work at Marriott. No matter: "We have a lot of associates whose personal lives are difficult, but they come to work because it's a positive environment," says Crabtree. During Kentucky Derby week, for example, the front-desk staff at the Courtyard Louisville hotel hung paper horses from wires in the break room and "raced" their horses each day. "Silly as it sounds, staff attendance that week was better than usual," Crabtree says.

Think you've got problems with motivating workers? Imagine trying to keep a fishmonger happy.

Inspired by a Yokoyama seminar, employees at a Sprint call center in Lenexa, Kansas turned their office maze of cubicles into an in-line skating obstacle course. It did a lot for call-center morale, according to Sprint employees and managers.

Creating a workplace in which the staff is valued and respected is what it takes to win in the war for talent. Just ask Doug Strauss, who started working at Pike Place when he was 18. After having put in more than 7 years of 12-hour days at the market, today Strauss has a master's degree and four children, and he just started teaching eighth-grade math in September. He still works at the fish market one day a week during the school year and three days a week during the summer. "I'll never leave, because I have a commitment to John," Strauss says. "He's helped me create these opportunities."

And because employees are so invested in Pike Place, Yokoyama says, he doesn't have to worry about business going astray while he's on his consulting adventure. In fact, he visits the market only an hour a day. "Now the employees coach me and tell me how things work," he says. "It's great."

Ali Baba

Ali Baba is a popular figure in the 1001 Nights, he probably lived in a village near the forests of Northern Iran. Ali Baba and his elder brother Kassim were the sons of a wealthy Merchant. After the death of their father, the greedy Kassim outcasts Ali Baba from their father's inheritance and business.

The young Ali Baba collects valued fire-wood in the forest and happens to overhear a group of forty thieves visiting their treasure store in the forest where he is cutting wood. The treasure is in a cave, the mouth of which is sealed by magic. It opens on the words "Open, Simsim" (commonly written as "Open Sesame" in English), and seals itself on the words "Close, Simsim" ("Close Sesame"). When the thieves are gone, Ali Baba enters the cave himself, and takes some of the treasure home.

Ali Baba borrows his sister-in-law's scales to weigh this new wealth of gold coins. Unbeknownst to Ali, his brother's wife has put a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali is using them for, as it is known that Ali was too impoverished to need a scale for use. To her shock, she finds a gold coin sticking to the scales and tells her husband, Ali Baba's rich and greedy brother, Kassim. Ali Baba tells Kassim about the cave. Kassim goes to the cave to take more of the treasure, but in his greed and excitement over the treasures forgets the magic words to get back out of the cave. The thieves find him there, and kill him. When his brother does not come back, Ali Baba goes to the cave to look for him, and finds the body, cut into many pieces and displayed just inside the entrance of the cave to discourage any similar attempts in the future. Ali Baba brings the body home and, with the help of Morgiana, a clever slave-girl in Kassim's household, Ali finds an old tailor known as Baba Mustafa whom he pays, blindfolds, and leads to Kassim's house. There, overnight, the tailor stitches Kassim back together, so that no one will be suspicious. Ali and his family are able to give Kassim a proper burial without anyone asking awkward questions.

The thieves, finding the body gone, realize that yet another person must know their secret, and set out to track him down. One of the thieves goes down to the town and asks around. He discovers that a tailor was seen leaving a house in the early morning, and guesses that the house must belong to the thieves' victim. The thief finds the tailor Mustafa and asks him to lead the way to the house. The tailor is blindfolded again, and in this state he is able to find the house. The thief marks the door with a symbol. The plan is for the other thieves to come back that night and kill everyone in the house. However, the thief has been seen by Morgiana and she, loyal to her master, foils his plan by marking all the houses in the neighbourhood with a similar marking. When the 40 thieves return that night, they cannot identify the correct house and the head thief kills the unfortunate man. The next day, the thieves try again, only this time, a chunk is chipped out of the stone step at Ali Baba's front door. Again Morgiana foils the plan by making similar chips in all the other doorsteps. The second thief is killed for his stupidity as well. At last, the head thief goes and looks for himself. This time, he memorizes every detail he can of the exterior of Ali Baba's house.

The chief of the thieves pretends to be an oil merchant in need of Ali Baba's hospitality, bringing with him mules loaded with thirty-eight oil jars, one filled with oil, the other thirty-seven with the other remaining thieves. Once Ali Baba is asleep, the thieves plan to kill him. Again, Morgiana discovers and foils the plan, killing the thirty-seven thieves in their oil jars by pouring boiling oil on them. When their leader comes to rouse his men, he discovers that they are dead, and escapes.

To exact revenge, after some time the thief establishes himself as a merchant, befriends Ali Baba's son (who is now in charge of the late Kassim's business), and is invited to dinner at Ali Baba's house. The thief is recognized by Morgiana, who performs a dance with a dagger for the diners and plunges it into the heart of the thief when he is off his guard. Ali Baba is at first angry with Morgiana, but when he finds out the thief tried to kill him, he gives Morgiana her freedom and marries her to his son. Thus, the story ends happily for everyone except the forty thieves and Kassim.

The story of Aladdin

It’s packed with oriental mystique – not one, but two genies, wicked magicians, gold and jewels galore, a palace that is transported through thin air, a beautiful princes, and a poor boy who gets very lucky indeed.Aladdin is traditionally the makings of a Christmas Pantomime. Our version is adapted from Andrew Lang’s Blue Fairy Book(1889). You will find more background on how the Arabian Nights arrived in the English language at Myth and Folkore.

Read by Natasha. Duration 24 minutes.

Aladdin’s Lamp

Hello, this is Natasha, and Prince Bertie has asked me to tell you a story from a book called The 1001 Nights. The stories in this book were first told over 1000 years ago in Persia by a very clever woman called Scheherazade. The king wanted to cut off her head, but every night she kept him fascinated by telling him a story – and leaving it in a very exciting place so that he would want to find out what happened next. Eventually he forgot his evil intentions, and she kept her head. And this is one of her stories. It’s called Aladdin’s Lamp.

A long time ago, in Persia, a poor boy called Aladdin was playing with his friends in the streets of his city. A stranger came up to him and asked him if he was not the son of Mustapha the Tailor. “I am, sir” replied Aladdin; “but he died a long while ago.” When the stranger heard this, he embraced Aladdin saying, “My boy – I am your long lost uncle.” Aladdin ran home and told his mother all about this newly found relative, and she prepared supper for them all.

The next day, the uncle led Aladdin out far beyond the city gates. They journeyed onwards until late afternoon, but Aladdin did not feel tiered because his uncle told him so many interesting stories. Eventually they reached the foot of a mountain.

“We will go no farther,” said the false uncle – for in truth he was not Aladdin’s relative, but an African magician in disguise. “I will show you something wonderful”; he said. The magician lit a fire and threw some powder on it while saying some magical words. The earth trembled a little and a large bolder rolled to one side. Aladdin saw a flight of steps leading down into a dark cave. The opening was just large enough for a boy to pass through, but plainly the magician, who was rather fat, would not have managed to enter the cave himself. “Go down”, commanded the magician, “at the foot of those steps you will find an open door leading into three large halls. Pass through them without touching anything, or you will die instantly. These halls lead into a garden of fine fruit trees. Walk on until you come to table upon which stands a lighted lamp. Pour out the oil it contains, and bring it to me.”

Aladdin was afraid to disobey the magician, and went down the stares into the cave On the ground he found a ring, and despite the magician’s order not to touch anything, he picked it up and slipped it onto his finger. He did not die. Then he passed through the garden where he picked fruit from the trees. Later on, he found the lamp, just as the magician had said, and he went back up the stares to the mouth of the cave. The magician cried out: “Make haste and give me the lamp.” But Aladdin saw through his trick and understood that as soon as he handed over the lamp, the magician would replace the stone and he would be shut inside the cave, never to leave. And so Aladdin called out, “Let me out first, and only then will I give you the lamp”. The magician flew into a terrible rage, and throwing some more powder on to the fire, he said some more magic words, and the stone rolled back into its place.

For two days Aladdin remained trapped inside the cave. At last he clasped his hands in prayer, and in so doing rubbed the ring that he had picked off the ground. Immediately an enormous and frightful genie rose out of the earth, saying: “What wouldst thou with me? I am the Slave of the Ring, and will obey thee in all things.” Aladdin fearlessly replied: “Deliver me from this place!” whereupon the earth opened, and he found himself back at home. “Alas! child,” said his mother when she noticed him, “I have nothing to eat in the house. We will go hungry tonight.” Aladdin soothed her saying he would sell the lamp to get some money for food. As it was very dirty his mother began to rub it, that it might fetch a higher price. Instantly a hideous genie appeared, and asked what she would have. She fainted away, but Aladdin, snatching the lamp, said boldly: “Fetch me something to eat!” The genie returned with a silver bowl, twelve silver plates containing rich meats, two silver cups, and two bottles of wine. Aladdin’s mother, when she came to herself, said: “Where did you get this splendid feast?” “Ask not, but eat,” replied Aladdin.

One day the Sultan who ruled the city ordered that everyone was to stay at home and close his shutters while the Princess, his daughter, went to and from the bath. Aladdin was seized by a desire to see her face, which was very difficult, as she always went veiled. He hid himself behind the door of the bath, and peeped through a chink. The Princess looked so beautiful that Aladdin fell in love with her at first sight. He went home and told his mother that he loved the Princess so deeply that he could not live without her. His mother burst out laughing, but Aladdin at last persuaded her to go to the Sultan and request his daughter’s hand in marriage for her son. She fetched a napkin and laid in it the magic fruits from the enchanted garden, which sparkled and shone like the most beautiful jewels. She took these with her to please the Sultan. After waiting several days at the Palace, she was admitted to see the him. She threw herself down foot of the thrown and waited for several minutes until the Sultan said to her: “Old woman, and tell me what you want.” She hesitated, then told him of her son’s love for the Princess, only at the last moment remembering to open the napkin that contained the magical jewels. When the Sultan saw this wonderful present he was thunderstruck, and turning to the his chief adviser, the grand Vizier, he said: “Ought I not to give the Princess to one who values her at such a price?” The Vizier, who was hoping that his own son would marry the princess, begged the Sultan to delay the wedding for three months, during which time he hoped to make him a richer present. The Sultan agreed.

Aladdin waited patiently for his wedding day in three months time, but after two months his mother, going into the city to buy oil, found every one rejoicing, and asked what was going on. “Do you not know,” was the answer, “that the son of the Grand Vizier is to marry the Sultan’s daughter to-night?” Aladdin, who was stunned when he heard the news. but presently he took down the lamp and rubbed it. The genie appeared, saying, “What is thy will?” Aladdin replied: “The Sultan has broken his promise to me, and the Vizier’s son is to marry the Princess. My command is that that you bring the princess here so that the scoundral can’t have her.” “Your wish is my command” said the Genie, and in an instant the princess was sitting in Aladdin’s room still wearing her wedding dress. He told her not to be afraid, but she was utterly confused and quite terrified. The next morning, the genie took her back to the palace.

The Princess told her mother how she had been carried by magic to some strange house. Her mother did not believe her in the least, and the Sultan ordered that wedding should take place that evening instead.

The following night exactly the same thing happened. The Sultan was furious and even considered having his daughter’s head cut off. He summoned the Vizier’s son. “Plainly my daughter his hiding from you” he said. “Do you still wish to marry her?”

“Well” said the young man who was very proud and arrogant, “If the princess does not obey her father, the great Sultan, what hope is that she will make me a good wife? I give up my claim over her. Better that she marry the poorest beggar if that’s what she wants.”

When the three months were over, Aladdin sent his mother to remind the Sultan of his promise. She stood in the same place as before, and the Sultan, on seeing her poverty felt less inclined than ever to keep his word. The Vizier advised him to set so high a value on the Princess that no man living could come up to it. The Sultan then turned to Aladdin’s mother, saying: “Good woman, a Sultan must remember his promises, and I will remember mine, but your son must first send me forty basins of gold full of jewels. Tell him that I await his answer.”

When he heard this, Aladdin summoned up his genie and soon eighty slaves, splendidly dressed, were waiting in the alleyway outside his house. The slaves were carrying forty golden basins, brimming with jewels.

Aladdin mounted his horse and passed through the streets, the slaves strewing gold as they went. When the Sultan saw him he came downdfrom his throne, embraced him, and led him into a hall where a feast was spread, intending to marry him to the Princess that very day. But Aladdin refuse, saying, “I must build a palace fit for her,” and took his leave. Once home, he said to the genie: “Build me a palace of the finest marble, with four and twenty windows set with jasper, agate, and other precious stones.

At night the Princess said good-by to her father, and set out for Aladdin’s palace, with his mother at her side, and followed by the hundred slaves. She was charmed at the sight of Aladdin, who ran to receive her. “Princess,” he said, “blame your beauty for my boldness if I have displeased you.” After the wedding had taken place Aladdin led her into the hall, where a feast was spread, and she supped with him, after which they danced till midnight.

But far away in Africa the magician remembered Aladdin, and by his magic arts discovered that instead of perishing miserably in the cave, he had escaped, and had married a princess. He traveled night and day until he reached the city of Persia where Aladdin lived. Half mad with rage, he was determined to get hold of the lamp, and again plunge Aladdin into the deepest poverty.

Unluckily, Aladdin had gone a-hunting for eight days, which gave the magician plenty of time. He bought a dozen copper lamps, put them into a basket, and went to the palace, crying: “New lamps for old!” followed by a jeering crowd, laughing to see an old fool offering to exchange fine new lamps for old ones?” One of the Palace slaves said to the princess, “There is an old lamp on the cornice there which he can have.” Now this was the magic lamp, which Aladdin had left there, as he could not take it out hunting with him. The Princess, not knowing its value, went and said to the magician: “Give me a new lamp for this.” He snatched it amid the jeers of the crowd. Little he cared. He went out of the city gates to a lonely place where he pulled out the lamp and rubbed it. The genie appeared, and at the magician’s command carried him, together with the palace and the Princess in it, to far off Africa.

Next morning the Sultan looked out of the window toward Aladdin’s palace and rubbed his eyes, for it was gone. The Vizier put the strange disappearance of the palace and his daughter down to black magic, and this time the Sultan believed him. He and sent thirty men on horseback to fetch Aladdin in chains. “False wretch!” said the Sultan, “Where is my palace and my daughter?” Aladdin had no answer, but begged to be given forty days to discover the cause of the disaster. This the Sultan granted. For three days three days Aladdin wandered about like a madman, asking everyone what had become of his palace, but they only laughed and pitied him. He came to the banks of a river, and knelt down to say his prayers before throwing himself in. In so doing he rubbed the magic ring he still wore. The genie , and asked his will. “Save my life, genie,” said Aladdin, “bring my palace back.” “That is not in my power,” said the genie; “I am only the Slave of the Ring; you must ask him of the lamp.” “Even so,” said Aladdin, “but thou canst take me to the palace, and set me down under my dear wife’s window.” He at once found himself in Africa, under the window of the Princess.

That morning the Princess rose early and opened the window, and at the noise she made Aladdin looked up. She was astonished and delighted to see her dear husband’s face. After he had kissed her, Aladdin said: “I beg of you, Princess, in God’s name, tell me what has become of my old lamp. “Alas!” she said, “I am the innocent cause of our sorrows,” and she told him of the exchange of the lamp.

Aladdin comforted her, and gave her a small bottle containing a certain powder. “Put on your most beautiful dress,” he said to her “and receive the magician with smiles, leading him to believe that you have forgotten me. Invite him to sup with you, and say you wish to taste the wine of his country. He will go for some and while he is gone I will tell you what to do.”

That evening she received the magician, saying, to his great amazement: “I have made up my mind that Aladdin is dead, and that all my tears will not bring him back to me, so I am resolved to mourn no more, and have therefore invited you to sup with me; but let us try some wine of Africa.” The magician flew to his cellar, and the Princess put the powder Aladdin had given her into his cup. When he returned the magician made her a speech in praise of her beauty, but the Princess cut him short, saying: “Let us drink first, and you shall say what you will afterward.” She set her cup to her lips and kept it there, while the magician drained his to the dregs and fell back lifeless. Aladdin came into the room, went to the dead magician, took the lamp out of his clothes, and bade the genie carry the palace and all in it back to Persia. This was done in an instant.

The Sultan, who was sitting in his chamber, mourning for his lost daughter, happened to look up, and rubbed his eyes, for there stood the palace as before! He hastened over to it, and Aladdin received him with the Princess at his side. He told him what had happened, and showed him the dead body of the magician, that he might believe. A ten days’ feast was proclaimed, and it seemed as if Aladdin might now live the rest of his life in peace; but it was not to be.

The African magician had a younger brother, who was, if possible, more wicked and more cunning than himself. He traveled to Persia to avenge his brother’s death, and disguised himself in skirts and veils so that he looked exactly like a famous holy woman called Fatima. Then he went toward the palace of Aladdin, and all the people, thinking he was the holy woman, gathered round him, kissing his hands and begging his blessing. The Princess, who had long desired to see Fatima, sent for her. She showed Fatima the palace, and asked what she thought of it. “It is truly beautiful,” said the false Fatima. “In my mind it wants but one thing.” “And what is that?” said the Princess. “If only a roc’s egg,” replied he, “were hung up from the middle of this dome, it would be the wonder of the world.”

After this the Princess could think of nothing but the roc’s egg, and when Aladdin returned from hunting he found her in a very ill mood. She told him that all her pleasure in the hall was spoiled for the want of a roc’s egg hanging from the dome. “If that is all,” replied Aladdin, “you shall soon be happy.” He left her and rubbed the lamp, and when the genie appeared commanded him to bring a roc’s egg. The genie gave such a loud and terrible shriek that the hall shook. “Wretch!” he cried, “is it not enough that I have done everything for you, but you must command me to bring my master and hang him up in the midst of this dome? You and your wife and your palace deserve to be burnt to ashes, but that this request does not come from you, but from the brother of the African magician, whom you destroyed. He is now in your palace disguised as the holy woman. He it was who put that wish into your wife’s head. Take care of yourself, for he means to kill you.” So saying, the genie disappeared.

Aladdin went back to the Princess, saying his head ached, and requesting that the holy Fatima should be fetched to lay her hands on it. But when the magician came near, Aladdin, seizing his dagger, pierced him to the heart. “What have you done?” cried the Princess. “You have killed the holy woman!” “Not so,” replied Aladdin, “but a wicked magician,” and told her of how she had been deceived.

After this Aladdin and his wife lived in peace. He succeeded the Sultan when he died, and reigned for many years, leaving behind him a long line of kings.

And that was the story of Aladdin’s Lamp from the 1001 nights. Bertie says that if I keep on telling stories as good as that one, he might forget to cut my head off too. Well thanks Bertie. As you probably know, you can find more of my stories at Storynory.com. I’ll be back soon. Until then, from me, Natasha, Bye Bye!

Real Love

Real Love

The Love We’ve All Been Looking For — Unconditional Love

We've heard songs about it, seen it in the movies, heard it talked about on Oprah by relationship experts, and read about it in thousands of self help books. But, what is unconditional love? We all want to feel loved. We think about it, hope for it, fantasize about it, go to great lengths to achieve it, and feel that our lives are incomplete without it. The lack of unconditional love is the cause of most of our anger and confusion. It is no exaggeration to say that our emotional need for unconditional love is just as great as our physical need for air and food.

It is especially unfortunate, then, that most of us have no idea what unconditional love really is, and we prove our ignorance with our horrifying divorce rate, the incidence of alcohol and drug addiction in our country, the violence in our schools, and our overflowing jails.

Our misconceptions of unconditional love began in early childhood, where we saw that when we did all the right things—when we were clean, quiet, obedient and otherwise “good”—people “loved” us. They smiled at us and spoke in gentle tones. But we also saw that when we were “bad,” all those signs of “love” instantly vanished. In short, we were taught by consistent experience that love was conditional, that we had to buy “love” from the people around us with our words and behavior.

So what’s wrong with conditional love? We see it everywhere we look, so what could be wrong with it? Imagine that every time you pay me fifty dollars, I tell you I love you. We could do that all day, but at the end of the day would you feel loved? No, because you’d know that I “loved” you only because you paid me. We simply can’t feel fulfilled by love we pay for. We can feel loved only when it is freely, unconditionally given to us. The instant we do anything at all to win the approval or respect of other people—with what we say, what we do, how we look—we are paying for the attention and affection we receive, and we can’t feel genuinely loved.

A New Definition of Love: Real Love

There’s only one kind of love that can fill us up, make us whole, and give us the happiness we all want: unconditional love or true love. It is unconditional love that we all seek, and somehow we intuitively realize that anything other than that kind of love isn’t really love at all—it’s an imitation of the real thing.

Unconditional love—true love—is so different from the kind of love most of us have known all our lives that it deserves both a name—Real Love—and definition of its own: Real Love is caring about the happiness of another person without any thought for what we might get for ourselves. It’s also Real Love when other people care about our happiness unconditionally. It is not Real Love when other people like us for doing what they want. Under those conditions we’re just paying for love again. We can be certain that we’re receiving Real Love only when we make foolish mistakes, when we fail to do what other people want, and even when we get in their way, but they don’t feel disappointed or irritated at us. That is Real Love (true unconditional love), and that love alone has the power to heal all wounds, bind people together, and create relationships quite beyond our present capacity to imagine.

What we Do Without Real Love: Imitation Love

If we don’t have enough Real Love in our lives, the resulting emptiness is unbearable. We then compulsively try to fill our emptiness with whatever feels good in the moment—money, anger, sex, alcohol, drugs, violence, power, and the conditional approval of others. Anything we use as a substitute for Real Love becomes a form of Imitation Love, and although Imitation Love feels good for a moment, it never lasts and never gives us the feeling of genuine happiness that Real Love provides.

Most people spend their entire lives trying to fill their emptiness with Imitation Love, but all they achieve is an ever-deepening frustration, punctuated by brief moments of superficial satisfaction. All the unhappiness in our lives is due to that lack of Real Love and to the frustration we experience as we desperately and hopelessly try to create happiness from a flawed foundation of Imitation Love. The beauty of Real Love is that it ALWAYS will eliminate our anger, confusion, and pain. So how do we find this universal cure?

Finding Real Love

As people learn the principles of Real Love, they almost uniformly ask how they can find and feel the real thing. They want to feel the actual power of Real Love.

Fortunately, there are so many course of actions we can take to find Real Love and experience its healing power.

1. Study. Read the book Real Love. Watch the Essentials of Real Love online or on the six-DVD set. The more we study these true, lifegiving principles, the more we tend to feel the power that emanates from them.

2. Participate in the chat rooms and forums offered here on RealLove.com. There you can tell the truth about yourself and feel the acceptance from those who can see, accept and love you. At pre-specified times during the week you will have free access to trained Real Love Coaches in the chat rooms. This service can cost over $100 on other websites, while we provide it to you, FREE. We want everyone to experience the life-changing benefits of Real Love Coaching. This unique benefit will help you find the answers to the important questions in your life and relationships.

3. Participate in the weekly Live Video Chat with Greg every Tuesday night at 9 PM EST for one hour, and every Thursday night at 9 PM EST for one hour with a Certified Real Love Coach.

4. Hire a Real Love Coach. Many people have found the guidance of a professional coach indispensable as they learn and apply the principles of Real Love. You can learn more about coaching at RealLoveCoaching.net.

5. Join a Real Love Group. If one is not available, take the steps to form one. Share the Real Love book or the Essentials DVDs with friends, and as you do that, you will naturally find people who express an interest in the principles of Real Love. Gradually, you can ask these people if they have an interest in joining you in a Real Love study group.

6. Gradually accumulate a group of people that you can communicate with by phone or in person every day. Make a habit of communicating with at least one person every day who is capable of loving you unconditionally. You will find these people as you take the steps described above.

7. Attend the Real Love seminars you find listed on the website under Events and Seminars .

As you take these steps, and tell the truth about yourself to other people—especially about your mistakes, flaws, and fears—they can finally see you as you really are. They can accept you and give you unconditional love, as indicated in this simple diagram:

Truth Seen Accepted Loved

When you feel enough of the unconditional love of others, you'll have the most important treasure in life. The wounds of the past will heal—wounds caused by insufficient Real Love—and you'll feel whole and happy. As your emptiness and fear are eliminated by Real Love, you'll simply have no need to use Getting and Protecting Behaviors. Without those behaviors, you'll find relationships with others relatively effortless and will begin finding the happiness you've always wanted.

We have now seen the powerfully healing effects of Real Love in the lives of tens of thousands of individuals. Impossibly unhappy marriages now thrive, angry and rebellious children now turn to their parents for love and guidance, singles are finding partners interested in a relationship based on Real Love instead of trading in the sure disappointment of Imitation Love, and divisive and unproductive corporate cultures are become nurturing and supportive. Visit RealLove.com daily to get the relationship advice and tools that will help you replace your anger, confusion and addictions with peace, confidence, and happiness.

Junaid Jamshed

 Junaid Jamshed is a famous Pakistani recording artist who came to the limelight as frontman of the pop group Vital Signs in 1987 with the hit song "Dil Dil Pakistan" and remained in demand through the 1990s. In 1994, he released his debut solo album Junaid of Vital Signs which also quickly became a national hit, followed by "Us Rah Par" in 1999 and "Dil Ki Baat" in 2002. Since then he has focused on religion and concentrated on singing hymns. His debut album Jalwa-e-Janan in 2005 was followed by Mehboob-e-Yazdaan in 2006, Badr-ud-Duja in 2008, and Badee-uz-zaman in 2009. All three of his albums have been available for download. All 3 Nasheed Albums]. He also runs a boutique with the name "J.", read as "Jay Dot", which has several outlets all over Pakistan.

Early life and Family

Junaid is the son of Jamshed & Nafeesa Akber Khan. His father was a Pakistan Air Force officer. Junaid Jamshed studied in boarding school before joining UET, Lahore. Though he applied for the Pakistan Air Force but could not qualify due to eye sight weakness. His siblings include: Humayun Jamshed, Omer Jamshed and sister Muneeza.^[1]

Devotion to Islam

Junaid Jamshed has currently given up singing songs with musical instruments. The use of musical instruments other than the voice and the drum is an area of strong debate in Muslim jurisprudence, considered harām and this is the primary reason Junaid has given for retreating from the pop music spotlight. The Secondary reason is the concert incident with the sister of Junaid Jamshed which made him feel guilty and responsible for other women. He now limits his singing to songs that praise God, and focuses on the practice of Islam and its pious personalities - somewhat along the lines of former Cat Stevens now famously known as Yusuf Islam.

Junaid is now an active member of the Tablighi Jamaat^[2] (The phrase "Tablighi Jamaat" translates to "Preachers Group"). He frequently travels the world and inspires Muslims to improve their practice of Islam.

He is also noted for opening a clothing store selling Khaadis (a fashionable form of Kurta Shalwar). This business venture has not fared too well in the economic climate surrounding 2008, and is through to be in talks for liquidation.

Vital Signs

Though the Vital Signs were launched in early 1986 in Rawalpindi by Rohail Hyatt and Shahzad Hasan (Shahi), it was a while later when Junaid, then a young engineering student from Lahore, joined them as their lead singer. Though their hit debut single "Dil Dil Pakistan" skyrocketed them into fame, the song's success was not seen by him as something that would turn him into a professional musician. Junaid who wanted to become a professional engineer, initially didn't want to have anything to do with music other than just treating it as a hobby. However, Rohail and Shahzad soon managed to convince him otherwise.^[3]. In 2003, BBC World Service conducted an international poll to choose ten most famous songs of all time. Around 7000 songs were selected from all over the world. According to BBC, people from 155 countries/islands voted Dil Dil Pakistan was third in top 10 songs.^[4]

Haamd-o-Naat Albums

• 2009 - Badee-uz-Zaman (English: The wonder of the age)
• 2008 - Yaad-e-Haram (English: Remembrance of Haram)
• 2007 - Badr-ud-Duja (English: The night's full moon)
• 2006 - Mehboob-e-Yazdaan (English: The Beloved of God)
• 2005 - Jalwa-e-Janan (English: The sight of The Beloved)

Discography

• 2001 - Dil Ki Baat
• 2000 - The Best of Junaid Jamshed
• 1999 - Us Rah Par
• 1994 - Junaid of Vital Signs
• 1995 - Hum Tum
• 1992 - Aitebar
• 1990 - Sanwali Saloni
• 1986 - Dil Dil Pakistan
  

Music videos

• Guitar 93(directed by Shoaib Mansoor)

Play Acts

• Dhundle Raste (Television mini-series)

Vital Signs

• Us Rah Par
• Woh Kon Thi
• Hum Rahay Raahi
• Chhupa Lena
• Dil Maangay
• Sanwali Saloni
• Hum Tum
• Yaad Karna
• Aankhhon Ko Aankhhon Ne
• Hum Hain Pakistani
• Mere Dil Tu Hai
• Na Tu Aaegi
• Tu Hai Kahan
• Tum Door Thay
• Tumhara Aur Mera Naam
• Qasam Us Waqt Ki
• Chehra
• Ye Shaam
• Aaj Phir Chalein Dosto
• Ab Jiya Na Jaaye
• Aik Sapna Kho Gaya Tha
• Aitebar Bhi Aa Hee Jaayega
• Baatein Purani Baatein
• Do Pal Ka Yeh Jeevan Hai
• Gore Rang Ka Zamana
• Guzre Zamane Wali
• Jal Na Jaana
• Mera Dil Nahin Available
• Oh Meri Raaton Ke Pehle Sapne*
• Tere Liye Hai Mera Dil

Solo

• Dil Ki Baat
• Us Rah Par (directed by Shoaib Mansoor)
• Qasam Us Waqt Ki original name Junaid of Vital Signs

 

Hit Singles

• Dil Dil Pakistan
• Tum Milgaey
• Goray Rang Ka zamana
• Sanwali Saloni
• Aitebaar
• Tumhara Aur Mera Naam
• Pehli Dharkan
• Jo Kehna Hai
• Mehndi Ki Raat
• Aankhon Ko Aankhon Ne
• Us Rah Par
• Na Tu Aaegi
• Dil Ki Baat
• Yaar
• Tum Kehti Ho
• Yeh shaam 
•   
•  
• See also
• 
  
• Vital Signs (pop band)
• Tariq Jamil
• Tablighi Jamaat
• Shoaib Mansoor
• Nadeem F. Paracha

www.junaid-jamshed.co.uk

• 3 Nasheed Albums By Junaid Jamshed

External links

• Naat MP3 Naats By Junaid Jamshed
• All 3 Nasheed Albums By Junaid Jamshed
• Naats by Junaid Jamshed at Hamariweb
• Junaid Jamshed Naats Collection
• Complete Information about Junaid Jamshed
• An Exclusive Interview with Junaid Jamshed at IBITIANS.com
• Hamd o Naat By Junaid Jamshed
• Jalwa-e-Janan preview
• Mehboob-e-Yazdan preview
• Mehboob-e-Yazdaan By Junaid Jamshed
  

 

The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

The Thief of Bagdad (1924) **½

     Swashbuckling has been rather out of fashion for a couple of decades, so I can’t think of any really recent examples, but for a great many years, the world of Arabian legendry was one of the most popular settings for Hollywood adventure movies. The ones my readers are most likely to remember are probably the Ray Harryhausen Sinbad films from Columbia, but the phenomenon stretches back much further than 1958. Indeed, the earliest of the bunch appears to have been the 1924 version of The Thief of Bagdad, written and produced by Douglas Fairbanks for United Artists.

     Those who know Fairbanks only as the action hero par excellence of the silent age may be surprised to see his name in two of the key behind-the-camera credits, but Fairbanks was always much more than a pretty face and an admirable physique. Indeed, together with Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford, he was one of the founders of the United Artists studio, and so it is actively to be expected that he would play a major creative role in the company’s productions. By 1924, he had already played Zorro, Robin Hood, and one of the Three Musketeers, and he wanted his next project to be something extra-special. Reputedly inspired by a segment from Paul Leni’s dark fantasy, Waxworks, Fairbanks concocted a sprawling epic derived from the 1001 Nights, involving everything from flying carpets to fire-breathing dragons to magic spells that can create tens of thousands of pikemen out of thin air. And despite UA’s position as one of the weakest of the major studios, Fairbanks did not intend to make his movie on the cheap. The total reported cost— $2,000,000— was probably the greatest in history at the time, and it has been said that The Thief of Bagdad was the first film ever made with a seven-figure price tag. All that money bought a new kind of adventure film, and for once Fairbanks’s stunts and swordsmanship would take a backseat to spectacle of an altogether more fantastic strain.

     Fairbanks, inevitably, plays the thief of the title. His name is probably Ahmed, although that may be merely an alias he adopts when he attempts to pass himself off as a prince— we’ll get to that a bit later. Right now, we’re going to spend a reel or two watching Ahmed roam around Baghdad, lining his pockets with other people’s wealth by means of a seemingly endless repertoire of tricks and stratagems. He picks pockets; he panhandles; he cat-burgles. At one point, he even sneaks his way onto the underside of a rich man’s litter, and steals a golden ring right off of the sleeping occupant’s finger. Nor does Ahmed limit himself to coins and jewelry. If he can carry it on his person, he’ll swipe it— it’s all the same to Ahmed. For instance, no sooner has he taken advantage of the muezzin’s call to noontime prayer to relieve a fakir of his magic rope than he uses the instrument’s incredible power in a ludicrously penny-ante gambit to pilfer a handful of couscous from a cook-pot on some stranger’s second-floor balcony. Indeed, one gets the impression that Ahmed steals less out of greed (although he’s certainly got plenty of that) than for the thrill of the taking itself. Whatever his true motives, Ahmed has no use for the strictures of religion or morality as put forward by the mullah (Charles Belcher) of a mosque in which he finds himself while dodging some of his more irate victims, and he can be counted upon to take instead the advice of the somewhat older and even sleazier thief (Snitz Edwards, from The Mysterious Island and The Phantom of the Opera) with whom he shares his secret lair in a tunnel leading off from the main shaft of one of the city’s wells. (Incidentally, Ahmed’s behavior at the mosque is easily the most glaring “don’t try this at home” moment in the entire film. Apostasy was a capital offense in Abbasid Iraq, and telling a mullah to his face that “Allah’s just a myth” would have gotten you decapitated so fast you’d need a helper standing by with a bicycle pump in order to finish the sentence.) Then one day, Ahmed unexpectedly acquires some real ambition. It dawns on him that his snazzy new magic rope has opened up a whole world of thieving possibilities, and in the middle of the night, he attempts to rob the palace of the caliph (Brandon Hurst, of White Zombie and Murders in the Rue Morgue). He gets distracted from his treasure seeking, however, when he hears the sound of three slave-girls singing the caliph’s daughter (Julanne Johnston) to sleep. Ahmed sneaks into the harem, and the moment he lays eyes on the princess, he knows he simply must have her. Now if you’re asking me, this renders Ahmed’s taste in women highly suspect, for the one Mongol slave-girl (Daughter of the Dragon’s Anna May Wong) is incalculably sexier than her mistress, and might realistically be attainable, but that’s never how it works in these things. After a bit of goading from his roommate, Ahmed resolves to abduct the princess as soon as possible.

     He isn’t the only one with designs on her, either. Far to the east in Ho Sho, Chang Sham the Great, Prince of the Mongols (Kamiyama Sojin, from The Bat and The Unholy Night), is plotting the conquest of Baghdad, and when his most trusted advisor (Kunihiko Nambu) mentions that the caliph has announced the opening of his palace to suitors for the princess, Chang Sham decides that the engagement competition will offer him the perfect chance. On the princess’s birthday, Chang Sham is there in Baghdad, vying with princes from India (Noble Johnson, of She and The Most Dangerous Game) and Persia (Mathilde Comont— and you know, it occurred to me while I was watching that the prince of Persia had awfully big tits, even for a gigantic fat guy) for a position as the Caliph’s heir. Ahmed too hopes to exploit the call for royal suitors. With a little assistance from the other thief, he cobbles together an assumed identity as Prince Ahmed of the Seas and the Islands, a deliberately vague title that should keep unanswerable questions safely unasked, while simultaneously going some way toward explaining why a prince of the Orient would be traveling about with one lousy retainer— when you live on an island, riding in at the head of a caravan of elephants is pretty much out of the question. At first, Ahmed has it all his way. The princess has nothing good to say about any of her other suitors, and she falls in love with him at first sight. There are two problems, though. First, Ahmed gets all mushy on us once he’s had a chance to spend a few minutes in his target’s company, and decides that he can’t go through with the abduction after all. Second, and more seriously, Chang Sham recognizes that there is something fishy about this “Prince of the Seas and the Islands,” and that gorgeous Mongol slave-girl possesses enough national sentiment to want to help make sure the khan gets what he came for. Before Ahmed knows what hit him, his secret comes out, and only the clandestine intervention of the princess saves him from being thrown to the caliph’s pet ape.

     It would seem, however, that the princess is as wily in her way as Ahmed himself, for rather than submit to marrying one of her loathsome legitimate suitors, she stalls for time in a way that might just put Ahmed back in the running. The princess has her father announce that each of the three suitors will have seven months to seek out treasures of stupendous rarity; whichever brings back the most glorious prize will have her hand in marriage. Word of this development gets back to Ahmed, and with a little advice from that mullah he treated so rudely earlier on, the soon-to-be-former thief concocts one last, epic burglary with which to elevate himself to nobility. In order to achieve his goal, he’ll have to parley with a hermit, brave the Mountains of Fire, battle his way through the Valley of Monsters, seek assistance from a talking tree and the Old Man of the Sea, resist the blandishments of a tribe of seductive mermaids, and tame a flying horse, but the mullah assures Ahmed that the treasure to be gained from this arduous adventure is truly beyond compare. It had better be, too, because the competition is stiff indeed— just imagine the strutting and posturing back at the caliph’s place:

Prince of Persia:	“Check it out— I’ve brought you a magical carpet that flies!”
Prince of India:	“That’s nothing— with this crystal globe from Kandahar, you can see anything going on anywhere!”
Chang Sham:	“Yeah? Well I’ve brought you a golden apple that counteracts poison, cures disease, and raises the fucking dead. Beat that, suckers!

     Furthermore, it might not matter how impressive anybody’s presents for the princess are, because Chang Sham’s advisor has been very busy in Baghdad during his master’s absence, smuggling in soldiers disguised as traders and couriers. The khan has 20,000 troops within the city right now, and the caliph’s forces aren’t prepared to hold the palace against an enemy on the inside of the city walls. Of course, we haven’t had a chance to see what Ahmed’s treasure can do yet.

     Whatever else you may say about it, The Thief of Bagdad is an often gorgeous film that realizes a fair percentage of its extravagant visual ambitions. No fantasy film on this scale had been attempted in the United States before, and even worldwide, credible competitors (such as the German Siegfried or some of Italy’s more grandiose historical epics) were both few and relatively little-seen in this country. Modern audiences might laugh at the fire-breathing dragon (another early example of the ubiquitous Custom Gator), the giant bat, or the monster sand flea (both of them full-scale puppets), but they must have been pretty incredible in 1924. The flying carpet sequences in the third act, meanwhile, still look good, and the animation effects used to represent the power of one of the magical items Ahmed picks up on his quest are charming, if also a bit hokey. The extreme stylization of the set design doesn’t always work (the caliph’s palace looks cheap and phony), but in the more fantastic locales (the Mountains of Fire, the sirens’ underwater palace, etc.) the effect is evocatively dreamlike. There is an unfortunate side to The Thief of Bagdad’s emphasis on images of the strange and wondrous, however; the film has a pronounced tendency to wander, and never manages to accumulate much momentum. This isn’t so bad when we’re following Ahmed around on his increasingly complicated quest, but it becomes a real problem when he’s just wandering the streets of Baghdad, stealing shit at random from every Fuad, Malik, and Selim.

     Perhaps surprisingly, I think it’s the performance of Fairbanks himself that hurts the movie most during its less adventuresome segments. He looks great in a sword-fight and it’s practically impossible to believe that he was already 41 years old in 1924, but his acting style, with its heavy emphasis on static poses and declamatory gestures, was old-fashioned even back then— notice that nobody else in The Thief of BagdadThe Unholy Night, for example), his prospects in an all-talking Hollywood were probably pretty bleak. Nevertheless, he’d have been the ultimate Fu Manchu, and his turn here as Chang Sham gives some indication of how much his presence could have improved the Yellow Peril movies of the following decade. Considering the imbalance in charisma between hero and villain in most subsequent “Arabian” fantasy films, maybe it’s only fitting that Fairbanks should have to struggle as hard against Sojin for audience attention as Ahmed does against Chang Sham for the hand of the princess. is doing that sort of thing to nearly the same extent. Odds are you’ll rapidly find yourself thinking, “Yes, Doug— we see it’s a treasure chest. You don’t have to do a double-take. Just swipe the key off that eunuch’s belt and open the fucking thing already.” Fortunately, the excesses of Fairbanks are counterbalanced to some extent by the supporting players, particularly Kamiyama Sojin and Anna May Wong. It isn’t for nothing that Wong would rise to become Hollywood’s only Asian leading lady during the early 1930’s. Beyond being stupefyingly beautiful, she has a way of making odd body language look graceful and perfectly natural, and she conveys the impression that nobody could ever put anything over on her. As for Sojin, it’s a shame he moved back home to Japan in 1931, although given the extremely heavy accent he revealed in the few talkies he made in the States (

love stories

& Other Love Stories
by Judith Bronte

Chapter One
No Longer a Child

"For a small moment have I forsaken thee;
but with great mercies will I gather thee."
~ Isaiah 54:7 ~

A hot Japanese sun shone through the white curtains of Izumi Mizukiyo's bedroom. She turned over in bed, ignoring the sun's call to wake up. Not to be ignored, it shone into a mirror standing on the right side of Izumi's futon, reflecting a bright glare onto her sleepy eyes.

"Okay, I'm awake," she said groggily, sitting up. Satisfied with her acknowledgement of the new day, the sun dispersed it's reflection, leaving Izumi to rub her stunned eyes. Though she wanted to move the mirror, the glare served as a useful alarm clock. Sitting up in bed, she began brushing her black hair in the small mirror, talking to the reflection as to a familiar friend. "Did you enjoy my graduation?" Not waiting for a reply, she continued, "I'm so glad you could come! My parents meant to be there, but something came up. I'm sure they would have come, if they could." Her face fell a little, but brightened upon the next thought, "Mrs. Tanaka, our teacher, called us 'young women' at the ceremony yesterday. She never called us that before," Izumi added quickly, as if Mrs. Tanaka's address to her students was proof enough of her womanhood. Izumi picked up her diploma, and read it again, savoring every word.

The Tanaka Young Ladies School hereby certifies that Izumi Mizukiyo has fulfilled the requirements needed to graduate. Izumi has honored her teacher, Mrs. Natsumi Tanaka, by finishing first in her class.

She ran her finger along it's edges lovingly, for this small piece of paper represented long hours of tedious work. A satisfied smile parted her lips. "They will be proud of me now."

Izumi Mizukiyo is pronounced 'E - zoo - me Me - zoo - ke - o'.

Izumi's bedroom was not actually a room at all. Wooden partitions fenced off a small square of space from a larger room, making up three of her walls. The bedroom was just big enough to comfortably accommodate a futon and a small mirror given to her by Mrs. Tanaka. The partitions stood up against the wall, encircling the only window in the small apartment. Izumi loved to set her room up around this window, for at night, she would stare dreamily out and imagine herself strolling through a Japanese garden, inhaling the fragrant honey of the nearby flowers. She would keep this picture in her heart as she slept, and would dream of it as a baby craving for it's mother. A peaceful smile would often creep across Izumi's face, making her look beautiful and serene. What a pity that her parents never noticed this nightly transformation!

Izumi carefully folded up her partitions, taking care to do it quietly. Her parents slept in a partitioned room against the opposite wall.

Quietly, she put away the futon and placed her mirror on the window's ledge. Izumi tiptoed to the kitchen, and knelt next to a small stove with one burner. It stood solemnly beside a tiny refrigerator that sat on the tatami floor. Unstacking some containers in the corner, she pulled out a bag of rice. Izumi measured portions of the white grain into a pan, carefully rinsing it in the kitchen sink. She quietly set the pan on the burner, and turned on the fire. She then went to the closet, and slid open the thin wooden door. Behind the clothes, Izumi pulled out a small table, about a foot tall. Placing it in the middle of the room, she arranged the bowls and tea things on it.

Chapter Two
A Rebellious Daughter

Mrs. Anna Mizukiyo sat down and began eating the rice Izumi had so lovingly prepared. She took no thought to thank Izumi, or God, for her meal. Anna had noticed the omission, however, for the voice of her childhood in America came rushing back, as if it had been yesterday.

"God bless this food ... (in a whisper) did I say it right, Daddy?"

How happy were those memories! Then her mind sped to the day she announced to her parents that she was getting married.

"Guess what? I'm getting married!" Her parents' faces turned grave though, when she told them who she was going to marry.

"Anna, he's not a professing Christian. We forbade you from ever seeing him again. And not because he's Japanese, (her father added, seeing the words on Anna's tongue), but because he openly defies God by his speech and actions. He 'is loud and stubborn;' his 'feet abide not in [his] house.'" (Proverbs 7:11)

"But Daddy, I love him! and he loves me, I know he does! He wouldn't have asked me to marry him if he didn't!" Anna's father sat down on the sofa beside her and looked into the blue eyes of his only child.

"Anna, what did Christ say true love was?" He picked up his Bible and turned it to John 14:15 and 24. "If ye love Me, keep My Commandments... He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me."

"Daddy, where does it say in the Bible that I can't marry someone who isn't a Christian? Where?" Anna's "where" had an unmistakable ring of defiance in it. Her father patiently read Second Corinthians 6:14.

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"

There was a pause of silence before he spoke again. "Anna, you know this verse by heart. I'm not reading it to you for the first time. To marry a non-believer would be sin. For 'To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.' (James 4:17) You know better." Anna shook her head.

"I don't see how it's sin to marry someone I love!" As she said this, Anna left her parents' home, and turned her back on everyone who truly loved her. The next day she got married and left America, to live with her husband in Japan. Anna tried to suppress these painful memories, but they came crashing through her consciousness as a giant wave pounds the sand.

Anna thought of the day Izumi was born. She was so proud of her baby! Anna could still see the abundance of beautiful, black hair crowning Izumi's tiny head . And those wide blue eyes! Nurses from every department of the hospital would come, and gaze at the beautiful Japanese baby with blue eyes. Every feature of Izumi's face was Japanese, except those clear pools of blue staring up at her mother. How special Anna thought her new baby was!

Then Anna remembered her husband's reaction to his new baby daughter.

Chapter Three
The Dishonored Son

"Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days."
~ Psalm 55:23 ~

When Anna woke up that morning, she noticed that Yoichi hadn't come home. This was a common habit with him, and she learned early on not to question his whereabouts. So Anna ate her breakfast, without giving her absent husband one thought. If she had known why he was absent this morning though, she might not have had any appetite for the rice Izumi made.

Yoichi Mizukiyo, (the "ichi" at the end of his name means "firstborn son"), would usually spend his nights and mornings in a smoke filled room in Yokohama, gambling his inheritance away. Sometimes Yoichi won, but mostly he lost. In fact, he had lost more money than he realized, playing the addicting games of Mahjong, and Pachinko. (Popular games of chance in Japan.) For several years, Yoichi led a life of gambling excesses, causing him to sink deep in debt. His creditors had allowed Yoichi to borrow money hand over fist, knowing his father was wealthy. Someday the old man would die, and leave his great fortune to his eldest son. This is what they were counting on, and so was Yoichi.

Today would be different, however. After spending three hours in front of a Pachinko machine's hypnotizing lights, Yoichi felt someone tugging at his shoulder.

"What do you want?" he asked impatiently.

"Your father is dying. Come quickly." Yoichi obeyed immediately.

Toshikazu Mizukiyo had led a long life. Now he wanted to die peacefully, confident in the knowledge that the honorable family name would continue for several more generations. He had disapproved of his son's choice of wife, for he had hoped that Yoichi would choose a woman of his own country. The blonde, blue - eyed Anna, (with a Dutch heritage), was not what he had hoped for. But Mr. Mizukiyo knew how hard his son was trying to be worldly, and thought it was somewhat humorous. Yoichi had a lot to learn before he would be as wise as his ancestors. Years would add wisdom to his son.

However, several hours ago, Mr. Mizukiyo received word of his eldest son's gambling fever and large debts. Many of Yoichi's excesses were told him in great detail. The longer he listened, the angrier he became. This was no longer a laughing matter. His eldest and most honored son had disgraced the ancient family name, exposing it to ridicule. He must save face, (save honor), and do it quickly, for Mr. Mizukiyo knew that soon, he would die.

Yoichi bowed and knelt beside his dying father.

"Weariness fills my heart, for your disgrace has come to the doors of my house. The inheritance that you have so long taken for granted is given to Shunji ("ji" meaning "second son"). From this hour on, I have no firstborn son." A stunned Yoichi stared disbelievingly at his father.

"Father, if I do not pay the creditors their money, they will kill me ... or worse!" Yoichi was visibly shaken. Beads of sweat ran down in rivulets on his face. The "or worse", was in Yoichi's mind, more terrifying than death.

"I have no firstborn son," his father repeated. Mr. Mizukiyo would not even look at his dishonored offspring. Yoichi opened his mouth to protest, but the words would not come. He knew his father would never reverse the death sentence he had just given. This was how Mr. Mizukiyo was going to punish his son. Silently, Yoichi left his father's house for the last time.

"The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked."
~ Proverbs 3:33 ~

"Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end."
~ Psalm 7:9 ~