Gabrielfc's blog: "Friends are like Roses"

United in grief After the recent horrendous and unbelievable tragedy in the city of Georgia, where 33 people were killed by a fellow student, the American Nation is now in mourning; and thousands of people are now united, united in grief, to mourn and to remember loss loved ones, with lighting candles. It is always the same, people are united only after a tragedy or disaster for a little while only, soon to go their own separate ways. I believe that if people were united like this, all the time, in friendship and in love, the world would be a different place to live in, with much less such tragedies, because everyone would know that everyone care and when anyone has problems, he or she will know that there are people who care and who they can turn to, instead of resorting to some desperate and despairing acts. So, world, let us today unite, not in grief, only for a while, but permanently, in friendship and in love, offering our help and our support to anyone else in our world. It is the only way to live, the only way we are ever going to get that wonderful world that Louis Armstrong sings. Anyone care to be my pen pal? If so, be nice and write to me on my email address, which is: Gabrielfc@inbox.com We can create our own world, our own better world, the perfect world. France Chorley

Why not give me a chance to be a friend? What is Friendship? I am neither a psychologist nor an intellectual, therefore I find it impossible to define friendship and put into words my understanding of it. But what I do know, is that I will laugh with you when you are well and happy and I will cry together with you when you are sad and I will light a candle for you when you are ill or beset by seemingly impossible problems. Friendship is based on understanding and trust; without these qualities, there cannot be true friendship. I believe that true friendship is sorely and sadly lacking in our world today: There too many crimes; too much hate, prejudice, envy and jealousy. I don’t think we can change the world where Politicians and even the Church have failed to find any solution, but we can try and do our bit – create our own world, our own better world, the perfect world. I Love classical music, operas and waltzes, which I just love to conduct. I am looking for pen pals with anyone, anyone that is, who believe in true friendship and who respect others for who they are and what they are, without prejudice and with people who are not judgemental. I live in England, but I was born in Mauritius. I am a 51 year old man, and married. My only quest for writing to pen pals, is to try and find a profound and transcendent meaning to friendship, which, I believe, is sorely and sadly lacking in our world today. Would you care to be my pen pal, please? If you care enough to care at all, my email address is: Gabrielfc@inboxc.com Of course, you don’t have to, if you don’t wish it. I am not being negative here, only trying to be realistic – we cannot like everyone in this world and not everyone can like us. It is a fact of our lives, and we just have to accept it, allowing people to get on with their own lives, without interfering with them, and respecting them for who they are and for what they are, without hate and without prejudice. Thanking you beforehand, with my deepest respect. France Chorley My Email address is: Gabrielfc@inbox.com

Would anyone care to be my pen pal? If so, please be nice and write to me on email address, which is: Gabrielfc@inbox.comn This is me: Gold and Silver waltz by Franz Lehar Shakespeare wrote: If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it. I wrote: In beautiful music there is no sin, only beauty and happiness. From a very early age, I wanted to play the violin and become a conductor. But my parents could not afford to buy me a violin or pay music lessons for me. So, I never played the violin and did not become a conductor. But I spent hours, in my house, standing near the record player and conducting the music with a stick. And when I went to parties at my relatives’ place, for Christmas, New Year and for Birthdays, the music that was always played at that time, was the music of the Strauss family and that of Franz Lehar, especially the waltzes. Instead of dancing with the pretty girls, I stood all night near the record player, conducting the music. I was not at all shy; I just had to do it. This passion for conducting has never left me. I am still doing it today, when I watch music on the television or my music DVDs. When I am conducting these beautiful waltzes, I am truly lost to the world, and see only beauty and happiness. Two of my favourite waltzes are: The Blue Danube by Johan Strauss and Gold and Silver waltz by Franz Lehar. About a year ago, I had a pen pal from Sweden. One day she told me that her aunt was getting married. Of course I did not know the aunt and she knew nothing about me. Do you know what I did? I asked my pen pal to tell her aunt about me and told her that I wish her all the happiness in the world and suggested to her that she should play, at the reception, for the first waltz, the Gold and Silver waltz by Franz Lehar. It is such a romantic and elegant waltz and I thought that having this particular waltz at her wedding, would bring her and her new husband so much joy and happiness. My pen pal’s aunt agreed to play this music as the first waltz at her wedding reception if she could find the CD. Obviously, she did not have it. As I did not have that particular CD myself, I searched for it on the Internet in all the big stores I could find. I found the CD in Paris. I immediately ordered it and asked it to be sent to my pen pal. I then sent an email to my Pen pal telling her that she would soon received a CD from me and that she should give it to her aunt. Alas, the CD got to her too late, a few days after the wedding, so she could not play it on her wedding day. Nevertheless, she got a present from me. You may think that I am naïve to do something like that; especially when I never knew my pen pal’s aunt and that she did not know anything about me. To me, it does not matter if I know someone personally or not; I do wish people to be happy in their lives regardless, whether I know them personally or not. And if I can contribute something, however trivial, to cause them to be happy, I would do it with tears in my eyes, tears of happiness. Why shouldn’t I? Now, I still have an ambition, that to conduct a full orchestra in the Gold and Silver waltz by Franz Lehar, which I would dedicate to everyone in our world, to wish them all happiness in their lives. I am still praying for this wish to come true; perhaps one day it will. The moral here, is that, I only wish people, everyone in our world, to be happy in their lives, regardless if I know them personally or not. Am I being naïve? I don’t think so. Why shouldn’t I wish everyone on this earth to be happy? France Chorley Would you care to be my pen pal? If so, please be nice and write to me on my email address, which is: france.chorley@gmail.com

The way I want to live Human history is not a history of increasing cleverness or increasing acuity of vision. It is just that we change our views. It is astonishing how many people, in this day and age, are still incredibly negative and cannot or will not change their views on certain matters. I think that no one will deny that we, Homo sapiens, are not always guided by reason. I tend to agree with Schopanoer, the German writer and philosopher who argues that human behaviour is governed not by the intellect but by the irrational impulses of the human will – which includes ambition, hate and sexual desires. A central concern in my thought is that man is a being unique on this earth; he is endowed with an essential worth that exists nowhere else in the known world. Man is a being who may easily be degraded, but to degrade him is wrong. If he is debased, man is forced either to succumb or to defend himself and fight for his own human dignity. In some of his Songs, Gustav Mahler says Man languishes in great need Man languishes in great pain I agree, there are indeed great needs and great pain for us human beings on this earth; but I cannot help thinking that there is one kind of pain that we bring on ourselves and as long as there are people who cannot or will not change their views on certain matters, there will always be murders and totally unnecessary degradation of certain people and, in consequence, rebelliousness and retaliation with disastrous results, which is horrible,despicable and totally unacceptable. This is not a way to live! As it is, I feel bitterly, bitterly disturbed and ill at ease. I am referring to the unreasonable question of intolerance on the part of white people against black people and black people against white people. To me, a perfectly ordinary person, I cannot see any sense in this kind of attitude. Even if one does not subscribe to any particular canon or credo in any religious faith, one cannot help – if any one cares to reflect - to realize that people with different coloured skin have always existed and will always exist just like there are different kinds of trees and flowers. To fell down a tree or pluck out a flower just because we do not like them is totally senseless because they do exist in abundance and however much we try we will never be able to destroy every single tree or flower we do not like. People, like trees and flowers, are part of nature and have always existed and will always exist. To kill one man or to bully and harass him until he commits suicide just because he is White or Asian or Black – how does this resolve one's problem? Furthermore, I simply cannot see how, because someone is White, Asian or Black, affect me in any way and that I have to take those drastic actions against them. The fact of the matter is that our profession on this earth is to die and that is irrespective of whether one is White, Asian or Black. It is this mortal life and nothing else that we should consider and reflect upon. We perfectly ordinary people cannot grasp what is going on in the mind nof some people who, though possess with an immensity of a complexity of a brain, with which they can achieve almost anything they want, and yet say absolute barbaric inhumanities. I prefer to say that this is outside my range of outstanding. One cannot listen to Gustav Mahler's music without confronting the question of music as an expression of life. The "Adagietto" in his 5th Symphony is a case in point. And there are so many examples of this in his music. Mahler's music takes one beyond what one is able to bear, because it is the relief and because it is the freedom. Music, like Mahler and Bach' music, help us to touch something that is eternal and greater than ourselves. A few years ago, I witnessed something on television that brought tears to my eyes and it still does whenever I watched this particular programme on my video. It was at a performance of the Vienna "New Years Day" concert and while the orchestra was playing a waltz – "Roses from the South", incidentally, one of my favourites – something happened that I have never seen before, something that touched me very, very deeply: The Vienna Choir boys distributed flowers to members of the audience – European, Chinese, Black people, any one. I thought, that is what I want to see, all the time, all over the world, no crime of any sort, just pure love for every human being. This is the way I want to live! France Chorley Would you care to be my pen pal? If so, please nice and write to me on my email address, which is: france.chorley@gmail.com But of course, you don’t have to my pen pal or friend. I am wise and intelligent enough to realize that we cannot like everyone in this world and not everyone can like us. And if we cannot be friends, that is ok; we don’t have to write to each other or talk to each other, but we don’t have to hate each other. If everyone would think in this very simple but logical way, I think we would have less wars and killings in our world. Would you care to be my pen Pal? If so, please be nice and write to me on my email address, which is: Gabrielfc@inbox.com Thank you, with all my love, kind thoughts and my deepest respect. France Chorley