And suddenly, it is a "Ber" month

How time flies. The last time I remember, it was still January. All of a sudden, we woke up this morning, it is now September. It was Henry Van Dyke who wrote that time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who suffer and too short for those who rejoice. But for those who love, time is eternity. We are not yet done with our 100-day global academic safari, and today is just our 66th day. We are flying from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv, shifting from Europe to the Middle East and Africa.

We are done with 17 countries of north, central and south America, and 19 countries in Europe. We are going to 16 countries in the Middle East and Africa.

This is a mission to conduct focused group discussions, symposia and colloquiums in selected universities in an extensive and intensive academic undertaking, for us 17 professors to jointly write a global framework for benchmarking the 180 countries' politics, history, culture, economy and their peoples. I am assigned to focus on ASEAN member countries and other East Asian and Pacific nations like Japan, Korea and Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand. We have 34 days more to go and 16 countries in the Middle East and Africa plus 12 countries in the Asia Pacific Basin. This is a big project and our output will redefine the future of geopolitics, the global economy and trade and the world culture and outlook.

We started in July and shall have ended by the first week of October. In the northern hemisphere, September is the first month of the autumn season, while in the southern hemisphere, it is the first month of the spring season. We are entering the Holy Land in September which marks Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of the world and marks the beginning of the Days of Awe, a 10-day period of introspection and repentance which culminates in the Yom Kippur holiday, also known as the Day of Atonement. These two Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the two High Holidays in the Jewish religion. The September 11 attacks against the USA were largely blamed on a Middle East figure, Al Qaeda's Osama Bin Laden who was neutralized by the Americans during the Obama presidency.

September is an important month in Middle East history. In 1917, Great Britain defeated Palestine and in 1929, there was a series of Palestine riots. In 1936, oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia. And also the Arab revolt started in Palestine. In 1947, the UN voted for partition and in 1948, Israel became an independent State. In 1951, King Abdullah was assassinated and in 158, Egypt and Syria agreed to give birth to the United Arab Emirates. In 1961, Kuwait gained its independence and in 1962, Algeria became independent too. In 1970, the Black September took place. It was the Jordanian Civil War between the forces of King Hussein and PLO's Yasser Arafat. That was the time that Jordan lost control over the West Bank to Israel. In 1975, King Faisal was assassinated and in 1979, the Israel-Egypt Treaty was signed.

Outside the Middle East, September is remembered as the month when Japan surrendered to America on September 2, 1945. Taiwan also celebrates its Armed Forces day every September 3. September 5, is the International day of Charity and September 7 is Brazil's independence day.  UNESCO declared September 8 as the World International Literacy Day. The World Health Organization also designated September 10 as the World Suicide Prevention Day. The UN General Assembly declared September 15 as International Day of Democracy. September 16 is celebrated as Malaysia Day. September 21, 2022 is the fiftieth anniversary of the Martial Law declared by President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. on September 21 1972.The World Maritime day is September 24 in accordance with the International Maritime Organization declaration on September 24, 1958.

I'm going home to Ronda on September 15, the feast day of our Lady of Sorrows. I hope to see gladness and joy instead of sorrows for the Rondahanons under the leadership of my cousin mayor Terence Mariano V, Yap Blanco. But I should be back after 48 hours to finish our business in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Bahrain. I will also visit South Africa, Libya, the Cameroon Islands and five other African countries. This is quite tiring but I am full of energy and excitement. This is a happy job business with leisure and learning. September brings me to a number of countries I have never been to before. I shall keep you posted.