Thursday, July 16, 2009

Be open minded to everything and respectful, and enjoy food and wine (and art, culture, people, and more especially life...etc)

Be open minded to everything and respectful, and enjoy food and wine (and art, culture, people, and especially life...etc)

As I often say: "Every wine deserves to be tasted, even if not every wine should be drunk! But you can't say that you don't like it, if you didn't try it. And you can't say that you don't like certain wines made with this grape variety or from this particular region, because you'll never know what you might discover or how a wine could surprise you, until you've tried it! And that goes for pretty much everything in life." LeDom du Vin


Consequently, in life as well as in the culinary world, one needs to remain open minded with everything and especially with wines and food, because you may not like a certain type of wine (or dish) one day, but discover a very similar wine (or dish) crafted (with the same grape or from the same region) by another producer (or a chef) the next day and really enjoy it....and that again, also goes for everything.


Thus, be open minded to everything and respectful, and more especially be forgiving, life is too short to let anger, envy, greed, fears and doubts, destroy it. Life is complicated and often unfair in many ways everywhere you will be. Therefore, what really counts is to enjoy all the most memorable happy (and unhappy sometime) moments of your life.
Moreover, these simple happy memorable moments, even if joyful and spontaneous yet ephemeral, often release a smile back to enlighten your face and somewhat contribute to bring you a bit of comfort and happiness (even if brief).

So don't drive yourself too crazy with the little, often insignificant things in life, or even by unconsidered, rude and narrow minded people. They are not worth it and you have way better things to pay attention to and to get yourself busy with, like: your wife or partner, your kid(s), your family and basically your life, your situation and what you will leave behind, your legacy, for you and your family. Don't waste your time, try to be as positive as you can, and despite all the bad things that can happen, live your life fully, respectfully, carefully and extensively with the ones you love. Protect yourself from the rest of what may happen with others, and be practical, logical, sensible, rational and bright regarding your choices in life.

I just became an American, and when I was learning American history to pass the test, I was often stopping on the same sentence from Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, trying to really understand what it means:
"that all men are created Equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

And as I try to reflect on these words, I'm thinking: Liberty is a human concept or notion that doesn't really exist, and perhaps that at the beginning of time all men when were created equal, but in 2009 it is not true anymore (and surely wasn't either at the beginning). One just has to everyday watch TV, listen Radio, read newspaper and magazines or even search on Internet, to realize it. Equality, harmony, balance and equilibrium have disappeared the day we started to give value to things, to control each other's action and behavior, and to gain power and superiority on each other. In short, men invented money, power, politic and religion, and now look where we are... (however, this is too long of a different subject).

What I'm trying to say is that, in this F@#% Up yet still beautiful world, the only things that remain somewhat free are these little, simple, happy moments with the people that really count for you. That is why you should enjoy every single one of them, remember the good ones, leave the bad ones to the past... and forgive if you can. Even if Life is difficult to understand, comprehend or even accept for some of us and totally unfair in too many ways and fashions for many of us. More over, Life is often the luck of the draw, some get the right number but most get the wrong one... so only the little moments of furtive happiness remain for us to enjoy.

Everyday is a battle in many ways and for many reasons, people live and die...we can't do anything about it or against it.... it is a natural cycle and a concept that exist since the beginning of time, and never stopped spiraling since then.... Therefore, Life is a really fragile, delicate thing and we only have one (as far as I know, may be more for some depending on your belief...), so might as well try to make the best of it while we are here. Even if most of the time life is a b%$#@, and that for a good majority of people on the globe, life only corresponds to try to get a pay check at the end of the month in order to survive and live with a minimum of something for themselves and their family, more than 3/4 of this majority don't even receive a pay check and don't even have food on their plate, water to drink or to wash up, a roof to protect them or even a bed for them to rest.....

So if you can, and especially if you are luckier than the millions who are not, leaving in miserable, poor conditions (even in the richest and most advanced countries of the Western world and Asia), please, pursue your dreams and pursue that quest for Happiness (even if it is difficult) and enjoy these little memorable ephemeral yet enjoyable moments. Believe that it will happen and give yourself the tool to reach your goals. It is not easy and often take a lot of time and patience and hard work for most of us, but it is not impossible. Reshape your life with your good emotions, desires and everything else that can convey some sort of happiness. While you there you have to live...so be open minded to everything and respectful (as much as you can) and remember to enjoy these little moments, because at the end of the day that really what counts.

Add a bit of good wine and good food to your everyday life, even if inexpensive and simple, you'll see, it helps a lot and take good care of yourself and the ones you love, 'cause nobody else will.

I get carried away, probably under the emotion of a weird moment thinking about all the people I like and love (and those that are recently gone), that brought me and still continue to bring me a bit of happiness everyday of my life, especially my wife and son, who really keep me going with my life and my dreams. May be you should do the same... take a few minutes to really understand, comprehend and appreciate what drives you and who are the persons that really count in your life....

I wrote these lines listening to Evanescence (not the happiest lyrics you'll tell me...I agree, but it get me thinking...), reflecting on my life, past and present....realizing that overall I'm very lucky and luckier than many people, with my life and my little family....even if it is not always easy...but learn how to move on and to think positively...and live an interesting life full of cheerful memorable moments.

LeDom du Vin

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