The world is so dreadfully managed, one hardly knows to whom to complain. ~Ronald Firbank

If you’re yearning for the good old days, just turn off the air conditioning.  ~ Griff Niblack.

For me, the quote has many meanings. I thought it‘s the best one I could use for today s blog. We humans, love to ‘discuss’, discussions on this, discussions on that. Weather has been one of the topics for many of us. But who’s really truly bothered I wonder. At least about one s own surrounding? I guess “saving our own environment” is limited only for discussions. If not then the conditions we face now wouldn’t be there, right? …Money, another topic we discuss every day but we smart ones, find numerous solutions to money matters don’t we? Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said A man is usually more careful of his money than of his principles”, at a speech in Boston, 8 January 1897. I cannot disagree. We can talk big, show off our intelligence (of course, “Human, the most intelligent creature on earth”) but mind you, we are not above the law of nature, destroy the simplest things belongs to Mother Nature and she will bring you destruction unimaginable.

Note the examples, read the following, if one thinks one can challenge a storm and beat it … very well.

 Cold, dark nights ahead in wake of deadly ice storm

From staff and wire reports: USA Today.

 

More than a million households remain without power after snow and ice slammed the country from Texas to Maine, disrupting hundreds of flights and forcing Kentucky state troopers to use four-wheelers to find stranded residents.

 

Warmer weather Thursday was proving to be both a blessing and a curse, as sections of eastern Oklahoma and northern Arkansas began the grueling process of recovering from the latest ice storm.

 

Sid Sperry, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives, said warmer conditions will help crews accelerate the restoration process but the warmth could also lead to more outages.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” he said. “Anytime the weather warms up above freezing and the ice melts off power lines, it causes them to bounce, so you may have a few more outages.

“Another downside is that as the roads begin to thaw, rural roads are not paved, so they become difficult to drive through. Warmer temperatures have a negative and positive effect.”

There were about 20,000 households without power in Oklahoma as of Thursday morning. The numbers soared into the hundreds of thousands from northern Arkansas through Kentucky, where as much as 1 to 2 inches of ice burdened trees and power lines.

In Arkansas ‘ northwest, Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale got more than an inch of ice. At Wal-Mart Stores headquarters, work continued, but a lot of employees had to take Wednesday off. The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said most north Arkansas highways still had ice and travel was slow in many places. All major routes were open by Thursday morning.

Kyle Brashears and his family fled their home in Mountain Home at 3 p.m. Tuesday because he was afraid of sagging branches from the oak trees that surround his house. Brashears, 33, returned that night to find his fears confirmed. The trunk of a thick oak split down the middle: sending half of the ice-heavy timber crashing onto his roof.

“It caved the roof in and ripped the gutter off, although it didn’t penetrate inside,” he said. “I was walking around outside until about 1 a.m., and it was just a non-stop medley of tree limbs cracking off.”

Brashears and the family headed to his father-in-law’s house where there is a gas fireplace to keep them warm. They used butane burners to cook their food and bundled up to stay warm in the house.

In Kentucky, the snapping of utility lines cut off phone service and even e-mail, said Kentucky State Police Sgt. David Jude, commander of media relations. Even cellphone service was being disrupted, Jude said.

More than a half-million customers in Kentucky remained in the dark. Many of the people had no heat and no working phone service to call for help.

“We have places across the state where even state police can’t get their cruisers working and they’re out in their own four-wheel-drive vehicles,” Jude said.

It could take a week or more for utility operators in Kentucky and Arkansas to restore power to everyone.

Late Wednesday, President Obama signed requests from Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe for federal emergency declarations. Crews, even the National Guard in Kentucky, worked around the clock to resurrect power lines downed by thick ice in both states. Officials in states from Oklahoma to West Virginia fought to do the same.

In Ohio, passengers on an AirTran Airways flight were held up to 10 hours before finally taking off. Travelers in Columbus boarded Flight 373 for Orlando at a little before 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. Passengers say it took more than four hours for the plane to push out of the snow at the gate, then were delayed even more when deicing wouldn’t work as freezing rain and snow fell.

People were allowed off the plane at lunchtime, then got back on board and sat for several more hours until AirTran gave up on the deicing and brought in another plane, passenger Tiara Berger said. AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson said the flight probably should have been canceled, and that the passengers will receive free roundtrip tickets.

Kentucky added two to the weather-related death toll, bringing the total to 24. A woman died while an ambulance on the way to her was blocked by impassable roads, and a woman fell on her basement stairs while she was retrieving a kerosene heater. A woman in Indiana died while shoveling snow.

 

‘Extreme heat’ interrupts Australian Open

Wednesday January 28, 2009  : Weatherzone reports

Australian Open organisers were forced to interrupt the tennis tournament for the first time today as temperatures rocketed to a sizzling 41 degrees Celsius.

The women’s singles quarter-final between Serena Williams and Vera Zvonareva was halted for about 45 minutes as organisers enacted their “extreme heat policy” and closed the roof on Rod Laver Arena.

Doubles matches on the smallest of the main stadiums were moved to Hisense Arena, which also has a roof.

The move comes a day after Novak Djokovic pulled out of his quarter-final with heat-related problems, the first time a defending champion has withdrawn in the Open era.

On Monday, Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka became ill and staggered around the court in tears during her last-16 match with Williams, which was also played in baking heat.

Spectators on Rod Laver Arena fanned themselves, sucked ice lollies and held up signs saying “Thank you for closing the roof!” as the policy came into effect.

 

“The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man”

 

Global Warming: A Primer

By Larry O’Hanlon –  Discovery

 

In the simplest terms, global warming is just what it sounds like: the worldwide rise in surface temperatures. The National Academy of Science has put the rise at 1 degree F over the course of the 20th century, but measurements from satellites of both land and sea surfaces are showing that the rate of warming is increasing sharply.

It’s more than just surface temperatures that are going up, however. A lot of research into temperature changes in the upper layers of the atmosphere, as well as the deep oceans, is showing warming. Then, there are the more obvious signs: the rapid retreat of glaciers in Greenland, Alaska, the Himalaya, the Antarctic Peninsula and on high tropical mountains; the thinning and disappearance of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean during summer; the melting of permafrost in Canada, Alaska and Siberia; and the rise of sea level and an increase in extreme weather.

The cause of global warming is what’s called the “greenhouse effect.” That’s shorthand for the ability of gases in the atmosphere to slow down the release of heat into space at night. Some gases are better at this than others. Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are the top three “greenhouse gases.” They are very good at absorbing sunlight and converting that energy into heat – rather like a rock does just sitting in the sun.

Surprisingly, the greenhouse effect isn’t a bad thing. It’s essential for life on Earth – when it’s not too vigorous. If not for the greenhouse effect, the temperature on the surface of Earth would be like that of the airless moon – swinging wildly from 225 degrees F (107 C) during the day to -243 degrees F (-153 C) at night. Not a good place for life.

The greenhouse effect is only troublesome when it gets too strong and warms things too much. And that’s just what scientists say has happened over the last 150 years or so as the people of industrialized nations have extracted Earth’s vast buried stores of fossil fuels and burned them. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has increased nearly 30 percent, methane has more than doubled, and the nitrous oxide concentration is up about 15 percent. All those extra greenhouse gases mean more and more solar energy is being trapped in the atmosphere, exacerbating the greenhouse effect and making things warmer.

The result: 2005 was Earth’s warmest year in a century, according to NASA climatologists. The years 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004 were the next four runners-up. The year 2005 was also a record-breaking year for Atlantic hurricanes in which the coastal city of New Orleans – made all the more vulnerable because of sea level rise – was almost wiped off the map by Hurricane Katrina.

Of course, because the effects of global warming on local climates are very complicated, it remains to be seen exactly how different regions will feel the heat.

“Global warming is a term that’s extremely useful when you’re running a planet,” says John Cox, author of the book Climate Crash. “But it’s regional change that affects people. It’s the wet and cold and hot and dry.”

That’s why climate modelers are constantly refining their simulations, and climate scientists continue to refine our view of past climate changes to create a better idea of what to expect.

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/globalwarming/interactive/interactive.html

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/globalwarming/interactive/interactive.html

Candles – in the Wind ~ Innocence is always unsuspicious

 

Was it a co incident that we got to read about two toddlers’ deaths on media, two high profile cases recently? Apart from the children s age, there was one more thing which I noticed similar in these two stories …

Riley Sawyers: (March 11, 2005 – July 24, 2007), known in the press as Baby Grace, was a girl from Mentor, Ohio who was beaten to death and whose body was subsequently discovered in Galveston Bay, at which point police began a nationwide effort to identify her. Searchers called the unidentified victim “Baby Grace” until Riley’s grandmother, Sheryl Sawyers, called police after seeing a composite sketch. The remains were positively identified through DNA testing on November 30, 2007.

“Riley’s mother, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, a tenth grade student at Mentor High School, became pregnant with Riley at age 16”

Caylee Marie Anthony: (born August 9, 2005, in Orlando, Florida, died 2008) attracted international attention regarding the circumstances of her disappearance in June 2008 and subsequently determined death. Her mother, Casey Anthony, was indicted on October 14, 2008, for the first-degree murder of Caylee. Police found Casey Anthony’s account of Caylee’s disappearance suspicious after learning that Casey had not reported her daughter missing for more than a month. The last time Casey Anthony claimed to have seen Caylee was on June 9, 2008, but the child’s disappearance was not reported to police until July 15, 2008.

On December 11, 2008, skeletal remains of what appeared to be a young child were found by a meter reader. The Orange County confirmed on December 19, 2008, that the human remains found 15 houses away from the Anthony home were those of Caylee Anthony.  

 

“Casey was 19 when she got pregnant with Caylee”

 Two teenage mothers, they were incapable of providing love for two innocent babies, never considered protecting them, those kids were never a part of their lives. Mother – Child bond, it was unheard for them both.  

Was it the teenage pregnancy, which played as one of the reasons for the lack of motherly love they had and the attention these two kids deserved but didn’t receive? If so, what should a responsible society do, to prevent teenagers getting pregnant? Is it entirely the fault of the teenagers’ parents? Is abortion a solution? How could we support a young girl who got pregnant as a result of being sexually assaulted (if it’s the case)?

“The US is said to have one of the worst annual rates of teenage pregnancies in the developed world. According to a report by Population Action International, published at the end of last year (2007), there were 44 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 in the US for 2000-2005. This compares with figures in the UK – itself said to be the country with the worst teenage pregnancy rate in Europe – of 27 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19. Put differently, America is estimated to have some 750,000 teenage pregnancies a year. According to Americas’ leading health agency: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): “About one-third of girls in the United States get pregnant before age 20.”

- Courtesy BBC

 

 

 

 

 

 

My questions will remain for as long as I live, as to how we prevent tragedies happen to children … but what ever it is I repeatedly say, please, have a heart,  protect the innocent, one little girl died, simply because she couldn’t learn to say “ please and yes sir “ even though she was just two years. The other baby dies because the mother needed more “space” for her own self.

Heart breaking …

 

 

 

 

  

 

Shadowed Minds ~ “The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

 

Choosing appropriate child care for your infant or young child can seem as overwhelming as helping your teenager selects a college or university. As a parent, it is your responsibility to ensure that your child is safe and happy in a child care environment that is fun, educational, and nurturing.

The news article appeared on Fox raise alarms of safety even though this type of an incident probably may never occur again. It gives every one the notion,” any thing s possible” … My heart goes out to those who lost their beloved child … Be ware parents, we live among dozens psychopaths!

Do you know who a psychopath really is?

“The psychopath is one of the most distressing problems of human experience.  For the most part, a psychopath never remains attached to anyone or anything. They live a “predatory” lifestyle. They feel little or no regret, and little or no remorse – except when they are caught. They need relationships, but see people as obstacles to overcome and be eliminated.   If not, they see people in terms of how they can be used. They use people for stimulation, to build their self-esteem and they invariably value people in terms of their material value (money, property, etc)

A psychopath can have high verbal intelligence, but they typically lack “emotional intelligence”. They can be expert in manipulating others by playing to their emotions. There is a shallow quality to the emotional aspect of their stories (i.e., how they felt, why they felt that way, or how others may have felt and why). The lack of emotional intelligence is the first good sign you may be dealing with a psychopath.  A history of criminal behavior in which they do not seem to learn from their experience, but merely think about ways to not get caught is the second best sign.” – http://www.hare.org/

 

DENDERMONDE, Belgium —  A young man with a gruesomely painted black-and-white face went on a rampage at a Belgian day care center Friday, stabbing two babies and a female worker to death and seriously wounding 12 others.

Sobbing parents rushed to the scene and to nearby hospitals. Shocked rescue workers spoke of finding crying, bleeding toddlers scattered inside the center. Medical workers at six hospitals sprang into action, performing emergency operations to save the 10 children and two adults badly wounded in the attack.

“This was a particularly violent attack. All the kids had multiple stab wounds on their legs, arms, and all over their bodies,” Dr. Ignace Demeyer, head of emergency services at Our Lady Hospital in nearby Aalst, told reporters.

Click here for photos.

The shocking assault caused panic and outrage in the town 20 miles northwest of Brussels, where the day care center sits on a residential street.

“An act of great brutality has happened here against our weakest citizens,” said Mayor Buyse Piet. “The whole city is united in support for the parents who are in deep grief.”

Prosecutor Christian Du Four said the 20-year-old attacker rode his bike up to the Fabeltjesland day care center about 10 a.m., found it unlocked and went in.

“After he entered he started slashing at everyone he ran into … the day care workers, the children,” Du Four told a news conference.

He said the man wielded one, nearly 8-inch knife and had painted his face white with black patches around the eyes.

One worker tried but failed to disarm the intruder and another was stabbed to death, Du Four said. In the mayhem that ensued, the attacker simply walked out and got back on his bicycle before being arrested in a nearby supermarket shortly afterward.

Theo Janssens, a Dendermonde city councilor, arrived with first aid workers. “The situation was horrible. There were bloodstained babies and staff workers everywhere,” he said on the VRT television network.

Police had to show distraught parents digital photographs of those taken to the hospital, asking them to identify their children.

Demeyer said all the wounded needed surgery but by Friday night, all were in stable condition.

Nine of the 21 children at the center during the attack were unharmed, Demeyer said.

Du Four did not name the suspect but said he had no criminal record and was uncooperative under questioning. The man was to appear before a magistrate later Friday or on Saturday to be indicted.

Residents told The Associated Press the suspect was a local man with a history of mental illness.

Officials opened up a nearby community center to provide psychological counseling to family members and witnesses, and police cordoned off the area. Later Friday, Crown Prince Philippe and his wife Princess Mathilde met with relatives of the victims as well as traumatized first aid workers.

“People are totally in shock,” said Leene Du Bois, a spokeswoman for the regional government of Flanders. “Nobody would have imagined anyone could do so much harm. There is much grief.”

She said the perpetrator had no connection to the day care center.

Veerle Heeren, social welfare minister for the regional Flemish government, said she would be investigating security measures at the center.

Residents were flabbergasted, thinking at first that all the police sirens meant a repeat of the 2007 prison break at a nearby jail.

“(It’s) something you hear about from America, not here,” said bake shop owner Bie Hoornaert.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,481864,00.html

Act out of love ~ “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

 

“When we truly realize that we are all alone is when we need others the most”

we are all afraid of loneliness, if we have a better understanding, then we would know they are just different from us, don’t let them feel alone out there …get to know them, care for them …

Autism – What is it…?

 

Autism is a developmental disability of the brain, much like dyslexia or attention deficit disorder. Autism is not a form of mental retardation, and though many autistic people appear to function as retarded, they are frequently quite intelligent. According to the Autism Society of America, “Autism…occur[s] in approximately 15 of every 10,000 individuals… [and]…nearly 400,000 people in the U.S. today have some form of autism.“¹

The word autism may actually refer to several similar disabilities, including Autistic Disorder, Aspergers Syndrome, and “Atypical” Autism (a type of Pervasive Developmental Disorder, not otherwise specified). Though there are some differences between these conditions, they are quite similar, and those who have them experience many of the same difficulties in life.

What is autism like for those who have it?

The symptoms of autism can vary widely from one individual to the next. Autism is referred to as a spectrum disorder because it ranges in severity across a wide range of conditions, like the colors of a rainbow. In additions, some people may be affected more by one symptom, while others may be affected more strongly by a different symptom. Also, some of the symptoms may have variable manifestations.

Sensory Processing

Autistic people tend to have unusual sensory experiences. These experiences may involve a sense being too sensitive, less sensitive than normal, and/or difficulty interpreting a sense (“agnosia“). These experiences do not involve hallucinations; autistic people have sensory experience based on real experiences, like normal people, but the experience may feel or sound different, or the autistic person may have difficulty interpreting the experience. No two autistic people appear to have the exact same pattern of sensory problems.

It is not uncommon, for example, for an autistic person to avoid being touched. This is usually because of a heightened sense of touch? a gentle touch to most people may hurt or shock some autistic people. Others may experience confusion, due to difficulty interpreting the sensation or insufficient sensation reaching the brain to interpret. Another, not uncommon pattern is to have the strength of the sensation inverse from that of the stimulation, so that a gentle touch may feel like an electric shock, but firm contact may not be a problem. Some autistic people may be insensitive to pain, and fail to notice injuries.

Hearing may also be heightened, so that noises that don’t bother others may hurt an autistic person’s ears. Many autistic people have trouble making out what is said to them, as they have trouble processing sound.

Vision may also be affected. Some autistic people are prosopagnostic (“face-blind”), that is, have trouble recognizing people. This means that learning to recognize someone is hard, recognition may be slow, faces tend to be analyzed rather than recognized automatically, and many normal effects of seeing a person may be absent. The exact effects and severity may vary between people. Other autistic people may have their eyes hurt by bright light or certain flickering or vibrating frequencies.

One common effect of these heightened senses is that autistic people are vulnerable to sensory overload with continued low-level bombardment. This may also result from too much emotional or social stimulation. Autistic people may become overloaded in situation that would not bother (or might even entertain) a normal person. When overloaded, autistic people have trouble concentrating, may feel tired or confused, and some may experience physical pain. Too much overload may lead to tantrums or emotional outburst. Another result of too much overload may be “shutdown,” in which the person looses some or all of the person’s normal functioning. Shutdown may feel different to different people, but is extremely unpleasant.

Misunderstanding

Autistic people have a great deal of trouble understanding things in the social environment. This includes both understanding of social cues and conventions, and understanding language. (The primary difference between Autistic Disorder and Aspergers Syndrome is that those with Aspergers are defined to have less severe communication problems and no speech delays.)

One aspect of autism is that it is like being in perpetual culture shock, no matter where the autistic person goes or how long the autistic person stays. They don’t understand many of the basic social assumptions that others take for granted (often without even being consciously aware of them). In many situations, it’s like being dropped into the middle of an unfamiliar play, and being the only one there who doesn’t know the script, you’re role, or even what play you’re in! What’s going on? What should I do? Why is X crying, Y happy, and Z sneaking around grumbling? Life, especially social life, Can be very, very confusing! Autistic people generally don’t know how to handle innuendoes, either.

Autistic people lack normal non-verbal communication and body language, and may thus seem more literal minded or unemotional than they actually are.

Autistic people also have trouble with verbal communication. This usually involves what is called a semantic-pragmatic component. This means that an autistic person may take a statement or question in a very literal or unusual way; like the comic character Amelia Bedelia² from Peggy Parish’s children’s book series. This could include things like interpreting “I’d like coffee with my cereal” to mean cereal with coffee in it². Another example could be innocently answering “what do you do when you get cut” with “bleed,” instead of describing what should be done about the cut³.

Many autistic people have other communication difficulties, such as trouble remembering vocabulary, or trouble pronouncing words. Some may have Apraxia of Speech, meaning difficulty coordinating speech movements. Others have characteristics of speech disorders called aphasias. Some autistic people may be mute, or may occasionally lose the ability to speak. Some may have odd pronunciation, inflection, or vocal qualities. Many autistic people may pause and need extra time to process verbal comments or questions, and to formulate replies. Repeating things that have been heard (echolalia), is not uncommon, nor is repeating ones own words.

 

Attention

Autistic people have trouble handling multiple stimuli. The problem is that they have very narrowly focused attention, and can’t keep up with more than one thing at a time. Most people have a mind like a flashlight, with an area of high focus, and a larger area of partial awareness; the autistic mind is more like a laser-pointer, which highlights only a single small dot. Also, shifting attention is a relatively slow process, and involves a sort of pause or moment of delay. While Attention Deficit Disorder is primarily a disorder of inconsistent (often short) attention span, autism involves other dimensions of attention call selectivity and shifting speed, specifically, too narrow of a focus and difficulty and slowness shifting foci. (Though many autistic people also have symptoms of ADD as well, not all do.) One result of this is that autistic people tend to not see things as connected.

What are Autistic People Like?

There is great deal of variety among autistic people. Some autistic people may never learn to talk and may not be able work or to live independently. Others may do well in special supportive environments, working in sheltered setting. Still others are be totally independent and function fairly well. The last, or “high-functioning,” group is often not recognized. However, these do exist, and people need to recognize and understand the difficulties they face, and their unique ways of thinking, doing things, and experiencing the world.

Most autistic people seem unusually “reactive and reactive to unusual things”. An autistic person who seems to take major emergencies in stride may become upset over any surprise happening, even a minor one (like dropping pencil). Autistic people may often seem unemotional, but can be very emotional when something is important to them. Many are much more candid and expressive with their emotions than normal people.

Autistic people tend to dislike, or at least be uninterested in, change. Many have strong attachments to objects, places, or routines, and become very upset if forced to abandon these things. Something that seems silly to others may be very important to an autistic person.

Most autistic people have a few very intense interests that may seem almost obsessive. These could be as ordinary as sports, as technical as neurology, or as odd as memorizing train schedules. Autistic people take their special interests very seriously.

Autistic people are often aloof, and may be seen as extremely shy. However, while some may be very socially anxious, others are not anxious about people, but either uninterested, or are unaware of how to interact with or approach others. Some may not notice people, because of being absorbed by other things. Some are very interested in getting to know others, some may not care, and other may actively avoid social contact. However, it is a mistake to assume autistic people lack affection; some can be very affectionate toward those they know and care about. The lack of normal body language may make them seem more distant or unemotional than they actually are.

Autistic people may do strange things, like rocking back-and-forth, flapping their hands in front of their eyes, humming, talking to themselves, spinning in circles, or repeating things. Some of this is just for fun, or out of excitement or distress. Sometimes, strange behaviors are to compensate with sensory problems. The repetitiveness is related to the natural repetitiveness and narrow focus of the autistic mind. Talking to oneself or giggling for no apparent reason is often the result of intense daydreaming or remembering but may sometimes result from deregulated emotion, or be a form of echolalia. (Some estimated 25% also suffer from epileptic seizures of various kinds, some of which may cause strange behavior.) These things are harmless, and do not result from total disorientation or hallucinating. Some may injure themselves with such behavior, but it should not be assumed that such behavior is self-injurious.

Some Things Autism is Not

1. Autism is not mental retardation. Some autistic people may be very intelligent there is a lot of evidence that Albert Einstein may have been autistic.
2. Autism is not “savant” syndrome. Some autistic people are “savants,” (e.g., instant calculator, etc.) but most are not. Other autistic people are “gifted,” however, and have high “general” intelligence. Many autistic people have normal intelligence, and some may be retarded.
3. Autism is not an emotional problem. Autism is a neurological condition which people are usually born with. Psychological trauma doesn’t cause it.
4. Autism is not a psychosis or lack of reality contact.
5. People do not choose to be autistic.
6. Autism is not “a fate worse than death.” Autistic people have some disadvantages, but some live very happy and rewarding lives. Many autistic people wouldn’t want to be “cured,” as this would be like erasing them and replacing them with different people.

 

Children With Autism: A Developmental Perspective - for more information.

 

 

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so, therefore, A pint of example is worth a gallon of advice

Celebrities; what are they, why are they here? Are they here just for our entertainment or to manipulate some of us a little?

Why should one encourage a Celebrity to control other s’ life? So, does that mean media has an equal responsibility of the publicity they receive over their bad behavior?

 

One can argue it’s their right to conduct their private life the way they desire; being famous, do they really have a so called private life anyway?

Is it really them, them only? We parents, do we have more responsibility over the disastrous lives our teenagers end up with?

High time to look for answers…

Poll Shows Adults Worried Celebrity Party Girls A Bad Influence On Young Girls

 By Judy Faber (CBS)

Are images of party girl celebrities like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan harmful to young girls?

In a recent Newsweek poll, 77 percent of respondents said that these celebrities and others have too much influence on young girls. Eight-four percent of those polled said sexuality plays a bigger role in American popular culture than it did 20 or 30 years ago and 70 percent say this is more of a bad influence on young people today than a good influence.

“Our kids are being bombarded by images of oversexed, underdressed celebrities who can’t seem to step out of a car without displaying their well-waxed private parts to photographers.”

Kathleen Deveny, Newsweek

“Our kids are being bombarded by images of oversexed, underdressed celebrities who can’t seem to step out of a car without displaying their well-waxed private parts to photographers,” writes Newsweek assistant managing editor Kathleen Deveny with assistant editor Raina Kelley in a cover article in this week’s issue.

The news isn’t all bad though. “Teen pregnancy, drinking and drug use are all down, and there is no evidence that girls are having intercourse at a younger age,” they add.

Yet, a study published last year in the journal Pediatrics found that kids respond to a repeated exposure to sexual content in television, movies and music.

“Specifically, the study found that 55 percent of teens who were exposed to a lot of sexual material had intercourse by 16, compared with only 6 percent of teens who rarely saw sexual imagery in the media,” the article says.

Photos: Britney Spears
Photos: A Year Of Lohan
Photos: Fashion’s Hall Of Shame

The best defense may be a good offense: parents must realize that they are ultimately the moral compass for their children.

“So watch your behavior; don’t gossip with your friends in front of the kids and downplay popularity as a lifetime goal,” Deveny and Kelly advise. “Parents need to understand and talk about the things that interest their kids—even if it’s what Paris is wearing—without being judgmental.”

Are Hollywood’s Bad Girls a Bad Influence on Teens?

Parents Should Take Advantage of Teachable Moments, Expert Says – abc News

 

Hollywood’s “It” girl Nicole Richie was arrested on charges of driving under the influence. It’s just the latest in a string of scandals and potentially deadly behavior by celebrities whose every move is watched by kids.

So what kind of lessons are they learning?

Young celebrities influence the way teenagers; girls especially, dress, eat, and see the world, according to child experts. “Every parent worries that [their] kid is going to want to be like this idol that they have plastered all over their room,” said “Good Morning America” parenting contributor Ann Pleshette Murphy.

Police say Richie was arrested alone in her car driving the wrong way on a California highway at 4 a.m. to the alarm of onlookers. At 5 feet 1 inches and just 85 pounds, she failed a field sobriety test. Police say she admitted to smoking pot and taking the prescription painkiller Vicodin.

With recent polls showing that so-called bad girls are the envy of school hallways, news of Richie’s arrest spread fast. “She got arrested this morning, I think,” one girl told ABC News. “It was all over the Internet.”

Like most American teenagers, the girls who talked to ABC News already seemed to know every detail about the latest celebrity girl gone bad. They agreed that the celebrities were teenagers’ role models today, but that what they were saying to teens wasn’t good.

This all has some parents concerned.

“It’s so outrageous,” Toni Ann Rinaldo, a mother, told ABC News. “You just hope as a parent they’re going to take what you say and do the right thing.” Richie is following in the high-heeled footsteps of other fallen teen queens.

Lindsay Lohan has been scolded by Hollywood co-stars for partying too hard and working too little. Paris Hilton was arrested on a DUI charge in September. And, of course, Britney Spears has been leaving two kids at home to celebrate her newfound freedom

So with all that glitz and glamour to compete with, what are parents to do? “Whenever anything happens in the news that becomes what we call a ‘teachable moment,’ we really need to take advantage of it,” Murphy said. “It becomes an opportunity to really share your values with your kids.”

Most research finds that drug and alcohol use among kids from eighth grade to 12th grades has fallen from 10 percent to 25 percent, from the peak usage years of the mid-1990s.

Pregnancy, a high risk for teenage girls, has also declined overall.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in 2005 that the teenage birthrate was the lowest in 65 years of record-keeping and marked a 35-percent drop since 1991. However, it appears that the long, steady decline in teen smoking has come to a standstill, worrying health officials.

A report released by the CDC in June found that around one in four teens said they smoked, the first time that the percentage of teen smokers had actually risen.

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Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense ~ Lord Buddha

 

Tolerance in Buddhism

  “He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye”

 

Today, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, nations are more closely connected than ever before. We have news from the opposite sides of the earth as quickly as we get it from the next county. Decisions made in one nation’s capital can affect villagers on another continent in mere hours. Despite this virtual intimacy, an alarming trend in our unhappy world stands out–burgeoning intolerance.Unfortunately, when an increasing distrust of nuance reduces important questions to absolute standpoints of black and white, respect for differences becomes much more difficult to maintain, and the propensity for violence against outsiders grows.  What is tolerance? Tolerance means allowing other people to have their own attitudes or beliefs or to behave in a particular way, even if you do not agree or approve. The United Nations Declaration puts it very clearly

Tolerance is respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world’s cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human. It is fostered by knowledge, openness, communication, and freedom of thought, conscience and belief. Tolerance is harmony in difference. It is not only a moral duty, it is also a political and legal requirement. Tolerance, the virtue that makes peace possible, contributes to the replacement of the culture of war by a culture of peace. Tolerance is not concession, condescension or indulgence. Tolerance is, above all, an active attitude prompted by recognition of the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of others. In no circumstance can it be used to justify infringements of these fundamental values. Tolerance is to be exercised by individuals, groups, and States. Tolerance is the responsibility that upholds human rights, pluralism (including cultural pluralism), democracy and the rule of law. It involves the rejection of dogmatism and absolutism and affirms the standards set out in international human rights instruments.

Consistent with respect for human rights, the practice of tolerance does not mean toleration of social injustice or the abandonment or weakening of one’s convictions. It means that one is free to adhere to one’s own convictions and accepts that others adhere to theirs. It means accepting the fact that human beings, naturally diverse in their appearance, situation, speech, behavior and values, have the right to live in peace and to be as they are. It also means that one’s views are not to be imposed on others.* (From The Declaration of Principles on Tolerance, signed by the Member States of UNESCO on 16 November, 1995) Buddha taught important lessons on tolerance, both by word and by example, more than 2500 years ago, and his lessons deserve careful consideration now. Let us consider some of the forms intolerance can take and the Buddhist attitudes toward them.     Racial tolerance In the United States people used various means to justify slavery and racial domination. Some cited the “curse of Ham” from Genesis in the Bible. Samuel Morton, an anthropologist in the mid-1800s claimed that whites and Negroes belonged to different species. About the same time, Josiah Nott popularized the view that slavery saved Negroes from reverting to their original barbaric state. In its 1857 Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court declared that “the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.” In the sixth century B.C., Buddha clearly delineated the Buddhist attitude toward racial differences and thereby precluded all grounds for prejudice.                 If you observe the trees or the grass, Without knowing it, they exhibit different types and kinds. There are many different species. Then observe beetles and moths or small insects like ants, . . . And in the four-footed creatures, both great and small, . . . Observe creatures that crawl on their bellies, snakes and reptiles, . . . Observe fish and those that have the water as their home; . . . Observe birds on the wing, those that travel through the sky, They exhibit different types and kinds. There are many different species. In these creatures types and kinds can be seen; In humans no such types or kinds can be seen. Not in hair or head, not in ears or eyes, Not in mouth or nose, lips or eyebrows Is there any great difference. Not in neck or shoulder, not in abdomen or chest, Not in genitals is there any great difference. Not in hands or feet, nor in fingers or nails, Not in calves, thighs, or complexion Are there different types or kinds as there are with other creatures. Human types do not differ greatly as other species do. The differences between humans are only differences of convention. –Majjhima Nikāya                       Buddha repeatedly proclaimed that a person should be judged by his deeds alone. “One is not low because of birth, nor does birth make one noble. Deeds alone make one low, deeds alone make one noble.” (Sutta Nipāta)Realizing that rituals encourage a sense of exclusiveness and an intolerance which could lead to distrust and even hatred of members of other groups as outsiders, Buddha de-emphasized the rites, rituals, and ceremonies connected with birth, marriage, and death. He also disdained rituals of initiation and confirmation because these have a tendency to burden the mind and interfere with moral and spiritual growth. Buddha repeatedly taught that racial feelings, feelings of national pride, and pride of self defile the mind and hinder the development of loving-kindness (mettā) and compassion (karunā).Equality is also incorporated into the order of monks and nuns, the Sangha, which is the oldest institution of humankind. Monks are ranked only by seniority, depending upon the date of ordination. Buddha explained that as the great Indian rivers–Ganges, Yamuna, Achiravati, and Mani–lose their names and separate identities when they enter the great ocean, in the same way, those of the five castes–princes, Brahmins, merchants, farmers, and outcasts–lose their names and identities when they enter the Sangha.  Tolerance toward women     Buddha once soothed the great King Pasenadi, who was angry and upset because his queen, Mallika, had given birth to a daughter: “A female offspring, O king, may prove even nobler than a male.” As regards equality of the sexes, in the Sigālovaāa Sutta, Buddha enumerated five duties of the husband toward his wife: respect, courtesy, faithfulness, handing over authority, and providing gifts of finery. He also enumerated five duties of the wife toward her husband: managing the household well, hospitality to relatives, faithfulness, taking care of his property, and skillfulness and industriousness. Buddha made himself readily available to his nuns and female lay disciples. He never discriminated against women in his teaching and praised those women who were outstanding for particular characteristics, such as preaching ability or insight. The devout and generous laywoman, Visakha, regularly visited the Buddha whenever he was in Savatthi to offer requisites, to seek advice, and to listen to his sermons. Accompanied by friends and servants, Visakha scrupulously attended to the needs of monks and novices, offering medicine to the sick and supporting visiting monks. She was foremost among lay women disciples.       Buddha clearly affirmed that women were equally as capable as men of becoming fully enlightened arahats and that they followed the same path as men to get there. Buddha stated that any differences between men and women were irrelevant in the pursuit of liberation.     “The straight way” that path is called, And “fearless” is its destination. The chariot is called “unrattling,” Fitted with wheels of wholesome states. The sense of shame is its leaning board, Mindfulness its upholstery; I call the Dhamma the charioteer, With right view running out in front. One who has such a vehicle– Whether a woman or a man– Has, by means of this vehicle, Drawn close to Nibbana. –Samyutta Nikāya                 When Mara, the Evil One, taunted the bhikkhuni Ven. Soma that no woman could reach “the high ground of the wise” because she had only “two-finger knowledge” of a woman (an allusion to cooking rice where its consistency was tested by pressing it between two fingers), that great nun proclaimed:   What matters being a woman If with mind firmly set One grows in the knowledge Of the Right Law, with insight? Any one who has to question Am I a woman or am I a man And does not oneself really know Over such a one will Mara triumph. –Samyutta Nikāya             Religious tolerance Perhaps there is no more critical issue today than that of religious tolerance. It appears that this new century is witnessing a disastrous hardening of the world’s major religions into rigid fundamentalism, in which each aggressively proclaims its beliefs, zealously proselytizes, and even takes up arms against its rivals. A fundamentalist and intolerant stance, taken by any religion, is offensive to followers of other faiths and to those of no faith at all. Overzealous attempts at conversion disturb peaceful coexistence. In many countries minority groups are under siege because of their religion. Religious strife even threatens to drag us into a cataclysmic Third World War. Against a pattern of increasing fundamentalism, the ethical guidelines of Buddhism encourage an attitude of tolerance toward other religions and their followers. Certainly, Buddha’s teaching disavows aggression of any sort, in word, deed, or even thought. Some philosophers have argued that monotheism is inherently intolerant. As Schopenhauer put it:           Intolerance is essential only to monotheism; an only God is by nature a jealous God who will not allow another to live. On the other hand, polytheistic gods tend to be tolerant; they live and let live. In the first place, they gladly tolerate their colleagues, the gods of the same religion, and this tolerance is afterwards extended even to foreign gods who are, accordingly, hospitably received and later admitted, in some cases, even to an equality of rights. . . . Thus it is only the monotheistic religions that furnish us with the spectacle of religious wars, religious persecutions, courts for trying heretics, and also with that of iconoclasm, the destruction of the images of foreign gods, the demolition of Indian temples and Egyptian colossi that had looked at the sun for three thousand years; all just because their jealous God had said, “Thou shalt make no graven image,” and so on. –Parerga and Paralipomena           When a monotheistic religion sees its scripture as revealed and divinely inspired, it finds a basis for subsequent exclusivity and intolerance. The very nature of a Supreme Being may also provide justification for intolerance, when He is described as a jealous and angry being, who punishes those who defy Him with eternal damnation. Stories in the Bible which describe God as committing genocide on unbelievers with violence toward men, women, children, and even the unborn can inspire intolerance. In the Koran we read: “Slay unbelievers wherever you find them, and drive them out of the places they drove you from . . . Fight them until idolatry is no more and God’s religion is supreme.” Martin Luther wrote, in his treatise Secular Authority, “It is a Christian act, and an act of love, confidently to kill, rob and pillage the enemy. Such happenings must be considered as sent of God, that he may now and then cleanse the land and drive out knaves.” History teems with examples of gross intolerance. By the sixth century, pagans in Europe were declared devoid of all rights. In 782, Emperor Charlemagne beheaded 4500 Saxons unwilling to convert to Christianity. In just the First Crusade (1095-1099) more than one million “infidels” were killed. In 1193, Muslim invaders slaughtered thousands of Buddhist monks in Bihar, India. The university of Nalanda with its great library was left in ruins. Countless ancient Buddhist monuments were defaced or destroyed, virtually erasing the Buddhist faith from India. In 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini, a powerful Islamic cleric in Iran, pronounced the fatwa, or sentence of death, against Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses, a satire on the prophet Mohammad, which raises issues of divine inspiration and the nature of blasphemy. Rushdie has survived, mainly by living in seclusion for more than ten years, but the Japanese translator of the novel was killed, and the Italian and Norwegian translators were attacked and wounded.* Buddhism does not accept an omnipotent God, a Creator, nor any revealed scripture. Because faith in God or a savior is not an issue for Buddhists, there is no reason to judge others, to condemn them for their beliefs, or to feel compelled to convert them. The Buddha Dhamma is described as ehipassiko, inviting one to come and see for himself. There is no concept of coercion or proselytization. Buddhists revere Buddha as the teacher who showed the way to liberation. He is not a god. Repeatedly, Buddha taught the importance of patience, tolerance, and non-aggression, providing a splendid ideal of tolerance for Buddhists to follow. On no occasion did Buddha ever show anger toward anyone, even the most irritating or aggressive. Once when he was cursed and abused, Buddha replied, “He who abuses his abuser is the worse of the two. To refrain from retaliation is to win a battle hard to win. If one knows that the other person is angry but refrains from anger oneself, one does what is best for oneself and the other person also. One is a healer of both.” There is not a single occasion in the Buddhist scriptures of the Buddha being less than compassionate, not only to those who accepted his teachings but also to the followers of all faiths, not only to the good but also to the wicked, not only to humans but also to animals and to all living beings. The oft-recited Mettā Sutta states:           ne should do no unkind thing that wise men might condemn. and one should think, “May all beings he secure and happy. Whatever beings there are, moving or still, tall, middle-sized or short, great or small, seen or unseen, whether living far or near, existing or not yet come into existence, may they all be happy.” One should not harm another or despise anyone for any reason. Do not wish pain on another out of either anger or jealousy. Just as a mother would protect her only child even at the risk of her own life, even so, one should develop unbounded love toward all beings in the world.         When a wealthy man, named Upali, a follower of the Jain religion, heard Buddha explain the Dhamma, he decided to become a follower of the Buddha. Instead of exulting at the conversion, Buddha advised Upali to think carefully before making such an important decision, “Make a careful investigation first, Upali. Careful investigation is good for well-known people like yourself.” At another time, a man named Vacchogatta said to Buddha, “I have heard it said that you say that charity should only be given to you, not to other teachers, to your disciples, not to the disciples of other religions.” Buddha answered, “Those who say this are not reporting my words, they misrepresent me and tell lies. Truly, whoever discourages anyone from giving charity hinders in three ways. He hinders the giver from doing good; he hinders the receiver from being helped; and he hinders himself through his meanness.” This is not to say that Buddhists should remain silent when there is cause to discuss, criticize, and rebut other religions. Buddha made it clear to his disciples that there was no value in the religious practices of asceticism, ritual bathing, animal sacrifice, and caste system of the time. In the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, instructed his disciples: “Teach the Dhamma, declare it, establish it, expound it, analyse it, make it clear, and be able by means of the Dhamma to refute false teachings that have arisen.” Subjecting a point of view to careful scrutiny and criticism has an important part to play in helping to winnow truth from falsehood, so that we can be in a better position to choose between “the two and sixty contending sects.” Criticism of another religion becomes inappropriate when it is based on a deliberate misrepresentation of that religion, or when it descends into an exercise in ridicule and name-calling. Likewise, it is worse than useless for Buddhists to argue about the Buddha’s teaching:             “Monks, if anyone should speak in disparagement of me, of the Dhamma, or of the Sangha, you should not be angry, resentful, or upset on that account. If you were to be angry or displeased at such disparagement, that would only be a hindrance to you. For if others disparage me, the Dhamma, or the Sangha, and you are angry or displeased, can you recognize whether what they say is right or not?” “No, Lord.” “If others disparage me, the Dhamma, or the Sangha, then you must explain what is incorrect as being incorrect, saying: ‘That is incorrect, that is false, that is not our way, that is not found among us.’” –Dīgha Nikāya                 In striking contrast to the spread of other world religions, which are replete with forcible conversions, sectarian strife, and the suppression of heresies, the history of Buddhism is remarkable for the complete absence of bloodshed in the name of the teacher. Tolerance toward homosexuality Buddha taught that, given the workings of the laws of kamma, individuals can be born with a number of characteristics and predispositions, including beauty, intelligence, artistic ability, eye-color, skin tone, and sexual orientation. We know that he recognized homosexuality, for it is explicitly mentioned in the Vinaya, the code of discipline he laid down for monks and nuns. For them, all sexual activity–between sexes, with the same sex, or with oneself–is strictly prohibited. Serious offenses result of in expulsion from the order. Lesser offenses must be confessed before the monastic community but do not require expulsion. Buddhist literature includes a story of a man (married and with children) who became a woman, married, bore more children, and then became a man again. After all these dramatic experiences, he foreswore the homelife, became a celibate monk, and attained arahatship. Of course, lay Buddhists are not required to be celibate, but all Buddhists voluntarily undertake the Five Precepts, the Third of which is to abstain from sexual misconduct. Buddhist ethics, which are based on compassion, suggest three criteria for determining what is right and wrong. All thought, word, and deed can be measured against these criteria to determine whether it is wholesome or unwholesome. According to the first principle, we should act toward others as we would like them to act towards us. In the Samyutta Nikāya Buddha advises against adultery:         A noble disciple should reflect like this: “If someone were to have sexual intercourse with my spouse I would not like it. Likewise, if I were to have sexual intercourse with another’s spouse they would not like that. For what is unpleasant to me must be unpleasant to another, and how could I burden someone with that?” As a result of such reflection one abstains from wrong sexual desire, encourages others to abstain from it, and speaks in praise of such abstinence.               The second principle concerns the consequences or effects of an act. Any behavior which causes harm to oneself and others can be called blameworthy, while any behavior that causes no harm to (and perhaps even helps) oneself and others can be called praiseworthy. “The deed which causes remorse afterwards and results in weeping and tears is ill-done. The deed which causes no remorse afterwards and results in joy and happiness is well-done.” (Dhammapada) According to the third principle, behavior can be considered right or wrong depending on whether or not it helps us to advance toward our goal. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is Nibbana, the ending of suffering, a state of mental peace and purity. For Buddhism, anything that leads us in that direction is good. Someone once asked the Buddha how after his death it would be possible to know what was and was not his authentic teaching, and he replied:           The doctrines of which you can say: “These doctrines do not lead to letting go, giving up, stilling, calming, higher knowledge, awakening or to Nibbana”– you can be certain that they are not Dhamma, nor discipline, nor the word of the Teacher. But the doctrines of which you can say: “These doctrines lead to letting go, giving up, stilling, calming, higher knowledge, awakening and to Nibbana”– you can be certain that they are Dhamma, they are discipline, they are the words of the Teacher. –Anguttara Nikāya         The Buddha specifically mentions several types of unskillful sexual behavior for laypeople. The most common is adultery, which involves deceit and a betrayal of trust. Since homosexuality is never explicitly mentioned in any of the Buddha’s discourses, we must assume that it is meant to be considered in the same way that heterosexuality is. Wherever there is mutual consent, where no adultery is involved, there is no violation of the third precept. In Buddhism it is not the object of one’s sexual desire that determines whether a sexual act is unskillful or not, but rather the quality of the emotions, the consequences, and the intentions involved.* (For a more complete discussion of this topic, see “Homosexuality and Theravada Buddhism,” by A. L. De Silva, at <www.buddhanet.net/homosexu.htm>, from which most of this section has been taken.) Buddhism began in northern India in the sixth century B.C.E., but its spread throughout the Indian subcontinent and to neighboring lands is due largely to the great Buddhist monarch, King Asoka, in the third century B.C.E. Early in his reign, Asoka was cruel and ruthless. He executed his brothers in order to seize the throne. At one point, his army fought an extraordinarily bloody battle against Kalinga. This victory created an empire greater than any India had known, but the bloodshed left the king disgusted and dismayed. Soon afterwards, King Asoka converted to Buddhism. Thereafter, he ruled wisely, justly, and with compassion Today, as people search for a political philosophy that goes beyond the greed of capitalism, the rank intolerance of fascism and communism, and the delusions of tyrannical dictatorships, we ought to consider the Buddhist civil order that King Asoka established more than two thousand years ago. Never have we been more in need of tolerance, the virtue that makes peace possible, to help us replace, as Asoka did so many centuries ago, the culture of war with a nurturing culture of peace. By Ken and Visakha Kawasaki    Picture - www.mahindarama.com/buddha-life/life13.jpg

“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” ~ Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death

There’s one very important thing I have as a habit, which I’d never be able to stop I’m sure (I don’t want to), it started when I was just a kid.

I remember one fine day at school we had our break for our meals. I was having my usual sandwiches with butter and marmalade and I felt some one was staring at me even though my head was bent and I was looking down. I raised my eyes to see one of my teachers (one we feared the most) looking at me, for a minute I wasn’t sure why she had stopped by and was looking at me. It took a few seconds to realize that I have stopped eating, instead I was completely engrossed in an article in the paper which my sandwiches were wrapped (at the time I wasn’t carrying a Tiffin box as I thought it was “un cool for a 14 year old, plastic Tiffin boxes are for kindergarten I have decided).

 My teacher just shook her head and went passing me saying “its fine to read, but don’t forget to finish you meal”. To this day, I do it, I read. I cannot measure the worth of knowledge I have gained so far by reading those books I read. My secret ambition s linked to books, one day it won’t be a secret.

I learnt “The only wealth one cannot steal from you is your Education “. Be educated, read, “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark” – Victor Hugo.

 

Why Education is Important | Your Child Needs a Steady Diet of His ABCs

It really isn’t just the abacus, mathematical cleverness, ABCs or learning flawless speaking and writing of the language, whatever the medium of instruction is. Education goes beyond pedagogical considerations or scholarly aspirations. Education, we believe, should first teach human beings that most essential survival tool: resourcefulness.

Resourcefulness – When you’re resourceful, things happen…very nicely!

When we were under the tutelage of Catholic nuns who ran this private school half an hour away from home, they taught us the rudiments and refinements of writing. “If you want to write well”, one of them reminded us, “you have to read voraciously. And if that means spending your free time in the library, do so.”

The nuns loved to say that consistent research teaches students to be resourceful. The more time you spend looking for answers, the more opportunities stream into your consciousness.

They were right, of course. The amount of term papers assigned to us made us hang out in the library longer than we cared to. Deadlines, however, left us no choice. We called these nuns the machines of torture who probably should be let out of the convent gates more often. To us – oppressed pupils that we were – they needed to see that the world outside was more than just books.

Those machines of torture may have been motivated by only one thing – academic instruction – but it sure ingrained in us the ability to find information in the oddest possible places. If you expand your horizons, they used to say, you’ll be resourcefulness experts. They had it all figured out. If they thought that it was worthwhile to drill us on reciting the alphabet backwards, they would ram it down our throats. Of that we were sure. Thankfully, getting our ABCs right one way was sufficient. It wasn’t necessary to say, ZYX and further backwards until the letter A.

Why Education is Important | It’s Your Passport to the World

Basic arithmetic, reading and writing will get you somewhere, but not everywhere. The higher your educational attainment is, the better your chances of creating opportunities for yourself. And the better your opportunities are, the better your quality of life is. There’s no other way to put it.

What are some of the benefits of a well-rounded education?

• we’ll say it one more time: resourcefulness. This quality will serve you long after you’ve left the walls of academia. With resourcefulness comes a sharpened set of problem-solving skills;
• knowledge is power – schools and universities are logically the first sources of knowledge and we take that knowledge later on to build our careers after graduation. More knowledge is acquired on-the-job, but without an education, that job would not be within easy reach. Knowledge begets knowledge.
• greater understanding of different cultures – while confined within the walls of educational institutions, we openly explore other cultures of the world. We come to know that ours is not the only culture. Other cultures have valuable insights to share, enriching our own. We also learn that different races have different ways of thinking and doing things, and we realize that anything foreign can be an enlightenment of our minds and spirit. Education also makes us want to travel and interact with various cultures. When we understand other people, our tolerance level is much higher for things alien to us;
• quality of life – when there’s a downturn in the economy, those who lose their jobs owing to a downsizing will most likely be the ones who find another job sooner, compared to someone who only finished grade school and has a limited skills set. The more education you have, the more chances you get for improving your lot in life. You have a better job, earn a higher a salary, and if you’re financially prudent, you get to acquire the material comforts (and more) that not everyone can have;
• a good education translates to excellent networking – when you’re skillful and knowledgeable, you get to “rub knees” with people of similar backgrounds and tastes. By building a network of contacts in your field or industry, you enlarge your spheres of influence and hence the circle of people that you can rely on in time of need;
• you can make your conversations sizzle! – when you possess oodles and oodles of knowledge, you become a more interesting person. You can talk about ideas and events instead of just about other people and what’s on sale in stores. An educated person does not gossip, having a preference to discuss ideas and to listen to what other people have to say. An educated person usually doesn’t make a habit of keeping ears and eyes to the latest Hollywood scandal because the lives of famous people aren’t really stimulating topics to begin with;
• healthier lifestyle – when you’re educated, experts say that those who have a university and post graduate education are least likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s or dementia. We’re not sure if this has a scientific basis, but if the medical profession recommends that people keep their brains healthy and active, that means those who pursued higher learning have more opportunities to keep their brains and minds active.

 

Why Education is Important | Start the Kids Young

We’ve heard of some parents who would rather have their children home-schooled rather than send them to school. This may have its merits – except we’re not sure what they are – but we would worry if the child spent all day with one tutor and misses out on the chance to interact with kids his age.

We believe that education is important in a school setting because that education has to be accompanied by social interaction. The child also needs tools and resources (like a library) that only schools can provide. True, there are problems in schools like bullying, drugs and other distractions, but the education and interaction acquired in a school setting are more enriching than one received at home with a single tutor.

Education is important especially for young kids because it is when they are still young that their minds are open and teachable, and it’s a time of life when they view things with innocence and receptiveness.

 

Ways to Encourage Reading Skills

 

 

As every parent knows, reading is an important skill that all children should develop in order to have a bright future. We use reading in almost every aspect of our daily life and even without using it, reading opens up a world of possibilities for everyone.

It can be a world that is filled with colorful characters, amazing vocabulary and spectacular whimsies and it can be a world that encourages learning, and creativity. Reading is so important that many parents are often worried about reading skills before their child has even reached the age of reading.

Surprisingly, reading skills are one of the few developmental skills that can occur over a large range of age groups. At one time, we tended to focus on reading development occurring during the first few years of formal school education. Sure, children enjoyed a good story but they weren’t ready to read, were they? The answer is that some children are more than ready to read at ages as young as three while others tend to wait until they are about 7.

Another important part of that answer is that although formal reading education begins during the early years of school, the foundation for reading occurs from the time your baby is born until that fateful day when she picks up a book and reads it.

So what are some ways that you can encourage reading in your child? Experts throughout the years have had tons of advice on encouraging reading skills and although many of the steps that they promote do work, parents should not have to feel overwhelmed when it comes to encouraging reading in their children. Instead, they should just focus on the three steps outlined below and if they desire, they can build from there. After all, everything needs a strong foundation to be successful.

Provide the material:

One of the best ways to encourage reading is to actually provide the material. A home that doesn’t have books is not going to send a message to the children residing in it that reading is an important part of life. Make sure you have lots of books available to your children and make most of them age appropriate; however, make sure you have a few that are just above their current reading ability and age level. This aspires a continual growth in both interests and skills and your child won’t plateau as much as he would with only age appropriate materials being offered.

When you provide the material, it is important to take the time to actually offer it. Make a habit of reading with your child for about 15 minutes per day. This can be a story at bed time but it can also be a story during unplanned periods of time. An impromptu story time makes reading into a fun and leisure activity that can be enjoyed whenever the mood hits. Make sure that you start reading to your child in infancy to ensure a lifetime love of reading. If you are reading to your child, try your hand at some chapter books. This helps increase attention spans and keeps not only your child but yourself interested in reading.

Read:

One of the best ways to encourage reading in your child is to read yourself. This does not mean reading only magazines and newspapers but it should also mean opening up a novel or two a month. If your child sees you reading, he or she is more likely to emulate you and begin reading as well. It is very important for boys to see their father reading since a love of reading is something that is rarer in boys than it is in girls.

Pursue topics of interest:

Lastly, when you are encouraging reading in your child, it is important to really pursue topics of interest. Children thrive when they are learning and there is no limitations towards cracking open a book to discover new facts about a subject. This also teaches your child many other skills, such as cross referencing, vocabulary building, and researching skills that will aid them in school.

When you are pursuing topics of interest, give and take conversations, especially about facts found in books, will help in raising the interest and this will lead to more research. And we all know what more research means; more reading.

Encouraging your child to read is not always an easy task but if you start at a young age, you will feel confident that your child will have a life time filled with reading.

 

Helping Your Child With Math

 

We all know how important it is to read with our children. In our culture, a story at bedtime has become nearly as routine as brushing one’s teeth. But what about that other very crucial subject in school… Mathematics. What can you do to help your child succeed in math?

Be Aware of Your Own Math Attitudes

The first thing experts in the field of math education will tell you is to explore your own attitudes about math. “I was never good with numbers” is not a comment likely to engender enthusiasm for math in your child.

If you lack confidence in your mathematical ability, or if you were not fond of the subject during your own school years, a valuable alternative to expressing a positive math attitude is to make it relevant for your child. Help him understand how math is important in everyday life.

No need to profess love for geometry if you don’t really feel it. Instead, tell your child how he will use geometry in real life. As you drive over a bridge, point out that the engineers who designed it had to be familiar with the Pythagorean Theorem to make it all work.

The same goes for decimals (needed to calculate a tip when dining out), arithmetic (critical for balancing the checkbook), and fractions (an absolute must in cooking).

Familiarize Yourself with What Your Child is Learning in School

Each grade has a set curriculum comprising learning objectives to be covered during the school year. Find out what those objectives are for your child. Armed with this knowledge, you might be surprised at how you can naturally figure out ways to work practice opportunities into daily life with your child. Your child’s teacher will also be able to offer suggestions of ways you can reinforce at home what she is teaching at school.

It’s the How, Not the What

Being too focused on always getting the “right answer” is one surefire way to extinguish a child’s enthusiasm for math. Instead of immediately saying, “That’s right!” ask instead, “Are you sure that’s right?” or “How did you get than answer?”

It is important to know that there are many ways to get the “right answer” – even for the most straightforward arithmetic problem.

While it is valuable for your student to learn traditional methods for solving problems, it is equally important to affirm that his methodology is correct if his way does indeed help him arrive to the correct answer. It is also valuable to help him understand how his way is not working if it is not. Either way, you are helping your child believe in himself as a mathematician – as a student whose thinking is worthwhile and purposeful.

By encouraging your child to explain his thinking – this is called metacognition in educational circles – you are modeling interest in the process of math. This interest or curiosity is what will keep a child’s enthusiasm for math at a high level, even when faced with a daunting problem or difficult task.

Also, research indicates that a person who can explain how he got an answer is much more likely to remember the information required to get the answer in the first place. Another way to help a child in this manner is to ask him to teach you what he learned that day in math class. Again, by explaining the process to you, he is reinforcing his own understanding of the process.

You Don’t Need to Have All the Answers!

As your child progresses through the grades, even in elementary school, there may be homework problems or entire topics that you don’t understand. No need to fret or be embarrassed. By helping your child look through resources to find the answer, you are teaching him how to be self-reliant. It is just as important to know where to go for information as it is to have it already accessible in your brain.

Encourage Your Child

Many students feel that they can’t be good at something if they aren’t the best. Remind your child that every student is unique. Just because he has not been successful in the past with math does not mean that he cannot become more capable in math now. If you suspect that your child is comparing himself to other students and that these comparisons are stifling his progress, help him set reasonable goals for himself. As he meets these goals, he will build self-confidence and begin to view himself as a capable math student. Oftentimes hearing that someone else (especially a parent or teacher) has faith in his ability is just the inspiration a child needs to restore his faith in himself.

In helping your child foster an appreciation for math’s relevance in his daily activities outside of school, you are doing more than boosting his math grade. You are helping to make math real for him. This will serve him well in the classroom… and in life.

Hunger knows no friend but its feeder – If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one

 

We, humans on earth are unsatisfied creatures, for one reason or another; it’s the nature, we always find that there are things that we ’don’t have’. When some of us, think what we have always s ‘not enough’, some of us have ‘nothing at all’, fulfilling life s basic requirements s a fight for them.

 

Those who feel, “ I’m so damn lucky and I don’t need to worry as my wallet is okay, World in hunger? who cares”, please re think … for humanity… if it’s not for others … save it for your own kin … for their future … please don’t waste food.

 

 

Almost two-thirds of people – 60% – in 26 countries say higher food and energy prices in year 2008 have affected them “a great deal”, a BBC report has found. The study found that many people in the developing world have simply been forced to eat less this year owing to the higher cost of food.

 

US: Food Waste and Hunger Exist Side by Side

NEW YORK – ”Do you want these? They are so fresh,” says Catherine, holding up a bunch of grapes she just pulled out from one of the trash bags piled up on the sidewalk. ”Take this, man. It’s good too,” adds her friend Morlan, holding out a loaf of bread. Though happy to have found something for dinner, both Catherine, 21, and Morlan, 19, wonder why some edible food is thrown out as garbage in New York City ”They only sell this food to the rich,” says Catherine pointing to the upscale grocery store that put out the bags. Inside the store, the manager is visibly upset with Catherine and other young people who are stuffing their backpacks with fruits and vegetables from the trash bags. ”They are picking up garbage,” says the manager. ”I don’t know why they are doing this.” ”I have zero cash right now, and no place to stay,” Morlan told Tierramérica. ”What do you expect me to do?” Such scenes are becoming increasingly commonplace on the streets of U.S. cities, despite the enormous quantity of food that the world’s most affluent nation produces every year. Official surveys indicate that every year more than 350 billion pounds (160 billion kg) of edible food is available for human consumption in the United States. Of that total, nearly 100 billion pounds (45 billion kg) — including fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, and grain products — are lost to waste by retailers, restaurants, and consumers. By contrast, the amount of food required to meet the needs of the hungry is only four billion pounds, according to Food Not Bombs, an advocacy group, which estimates that every year more than 30 million people in the United States are going hungry on regular basis. ”The American government has billions of dollars in surplus money, which could go towards poverty elimination nationally or globally,” Samana Siddiqui of the Sound Vision Foundation, a Chicago-based non-profit group, told Tierramérica. But Joyce Glenn, a novelist who lives next to the grocery store, where Catherine looks for food in the trash bags, has a different take on the wastage of food and over-consumption in her country. ”Americans consume as much as they are able in order to lull themselves into a sense of complacency as long as the need for food, as well as even luxurious food, gives them a sense of well being,” says Glenn, who is in her 60s, and often invites homeless people she sees in the street into her home. Noting that food production in the United States and the world has increased more than the population, food rights groups say they believe more people are likely to suffer from lack of food as long the agri-business firms continue to be driven primarily by profits. ”We don’t have a democratic say in how food is produced or distributed,” according to Food Not Bombs. ”In our society, it is acceptable to profit from other people’s suffering and misery.” The group’s position is based on the assertion that people from the more affluent and middle class sectors of U.S. society are drawn to over-consumption as a lifestyle — validated by a study carried out by the Washington-based World Watch Institute earlier this year. ”U.S. consumption styles have not only spread to other industrialized nations,” says the State of the World 2004, ”they have succeeded in penetrating much of the developing world as well.” The study shows how millions of middle class people across the globe have adopted the diets, transportation systems and lifestyles pioneered in the United States. To some degree, ”rising consumption has helped meet basic needs,” said World Watch president Christopher Flavin. ”But this unprecedented consumer appetite is undermining the natural systems we all depend on, and making it even harder for the world poor to meet their basic needs.” According to the report, the U.S. and Western European consumers, who constitute only about 12 percent of the world population, are responsible for about 60 percent of consumption of private consumer goods. By contrast, the people of Latin American and the Caribbean, whose share in the world population is just nine percent, spend only seven percent on non-essential household goods. ”Agriculture, free trade, and intellectual property policies have become a leading edge of the U.S. corporate push for global economic dominance,” says Kathy McAfee, executive director of the San Francisco-based Institute for Food and Development Policy (better known as Food First). ”But at the same time,” she adds, ”farmers and ecologists around the world have been achieving impressive successes in increasing food production by sustainable methods. We are seeing the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of small farmers from Mexico to Brazil, from India to Thailand to the Philippines in defense of their rights.” By Haider Rizvi Rest of the story goes like …. CHRIS MORRIS, DELHI, INDIA Ordinary Indians are facing significantly increased hardship because of the rise in the cost of food. The rate of price increases seems to have slowed, but many basic foodstuffs like rice and lentils are far more expensive than they were a year ago.   And that means people on or below the borderline – hundreds of millions of people – are struggling to make ends meet. In the most extreme cases, severe malnutrition is a life-threatening condition. There are about eight million children under the age of five in India who are in urgent need of therapeutic feeding and nutritional treatment.   But there are also tens of millions of children who suffer from chronic malnutrition which may not be immediately visible. They are deprived of many of the nutrients they need to lead healthy productive lives. In India, the rise in the cost of food has not created a crisis; it has simply made a bad situation worse. Rising inflation has received considerable attention in the Indian media, but the recent focus has been on the global financial turmoil, and its impact on Indian markets.   That is of little immediate relevance, though, to the vast majority of people in this country. What matters is the price of vegetables, the price of flour, and whether there is any work to be had to buy the food they need. Two thirds of India’s population are forced to get by on less than two dollars (£1.15; 1.47 euros) a day. And the little money they do make now buys less food than it used to. Something has to give.     CHRISTIAN FRASER, CAIRO, EGYPT Inflation in Egypt is at a 16-year high with soaring food prices triggering violent protests in some areas of the country this year, prompting the government to raise public sector salaries by 30%. But the pay rise was soon followed by increases in prices of fuel, which sent the cost of goods and services even higher.   Egyptian economist Samir Radwan says that while the levels of salaries and subsidies may have risen, “the government’s liberalizing of some other commodity prices means the poor are actually worse off than they were before May”. Many poorer families in Cairo – some of whom spend 80% of their household income on food – have been making savings by cutting their meals from three a day to just two. Egypt is also the world’s largest importer of wheat, which explains why the country has been hit so hard by these international price rises. Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali says a large part of the inflation in his country stems from the higher prices of imported goods. But he believes that, as the year progresses, things will start to look better.   The wheat Egypt has, in the past, bought from Russia and Ukraine now looks much cheaper. “Look at international commodity prices,” he says. “Wheat used to be $480 a tonne, it has now fallen to around $200 a tonne. Corn is the same. Soybean the same. Edible oils the same. All of this is bound to translate here. We will see prices fall.     JULIA CAESAR, LONDON, UK Despite the UK’s wide variety of shops competing for custom, many here are feeling the pinch. But, after nine long months of price rises, food inflation seems to be slowing down.   According to the BBC’s Food Price Index compiled by Verdict, which tracks the cost of a typical trolley of UK food items, meat and fish products rose by 22.9% from January to August. General store-cupboard items, such as tinned foods, registered a 15% increase and seven items in the survey leapt in price by more than 40%. A pack of four croissants, for example, was 47.4% more expensive and a 125g packet of ham went up by 45.4%.   Another survey shows that fruit and vegetables have seen the biggest price rises – up by 30% at leading supermarket chains in the UK over the past year. Retailers are blaming poor crop harvests and high supply chain costs. But at least the shoppers in the UK have choice and they are making the most of it, according to consumer research. In the last 12 months, 41% of shoppers have switched to cheaper brands, with two-thirds searching for promotions and deals more often than a year ago. Hard discounters have become more popular too, forcing big-name supermarkets to compete more on price than they used to.     MICHAEL BRISTOW, BEIJING, CHINA Those in charge of the Chinese economy received some welcome news this summer – inflation fell to its lowest level in more than a year. Earlier in 2008, prices – particular for basic food items such as pork and eggs – had been rising faster than at any time in the past decade.   Shoppers across the county complained that they had cut back on the kind of food purchases they make every day. It was a worrying time for the Chinese leadership. As in other countries, inflation has sometimes led to street protests in China. In a keynote speech given to China’s parliament, Premier Wen Jiabao said tackling inflation was top of the government’s agenda. But even in the midst of this bad news, Chinese officials said they were confident that they would get inflation under control. They claimed the food price rises were the result of temporary supply problems and not because of long-term shortages.   That confidence now seems to have been well-placed. Beijing shoppers say prices are still going up, but more slowly than before. A senior finance official recently predicted that inflation in China would slow to 3% in 2009 from a high of 8.7% earlier this year. Having largely escaped the worst effects of the global financial crisis, economists are urging China to concentrate on turning that prediction into a reality. And the government will need to, because Chinese people remain acutely sensitive to price rises, particularly for everyday items.   LIZ BLUNT, ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA It is easy to tell when one of the local “kebeles” in Addis Ababa is selling wheat – residents cluster outside hoping to be able to buy a sack of half-price grain and unemployed youngsters hang around hoping to earn a little money by carrying their sacks.   The “kebeles” are a leftover from communist times – part local government offices, part community centers, part instruments of social control. Now the Ethiopian government is using them to distribute subsidized wheat. Food prices have more than doubled in the past year here. It was easy at first to blame world prices, market forces and globalization. But, with wheat prices in Ethiopia much higher than world prices, it looked as if there would be a lot of profit to be made by importing wheat, yet market forces show no sign of bringing down the price.   The government’s attempts to flood the market have cost a lot but have had little effect. If you are lucky enough to be at the front of the queue when the wheat arrives, you can buy a 100 kilo sack for 350 birr (around $35; 25 euros). But the markets are still selling wheat for 600 or even 700 birr per sack. Not surprisingly, much of the subsidized wheat is taken straight down the road to the market where it is sold for twice the price. Perhaps merchants and farmers are being greedy, but more likely there is just not enough food in the country.   JONATHAN HEAD, BANGKOK, THAILAND Rice – the staple crop in this part of Asia – reached record prices this year. Even after falling back from highs of around $1000 (735 euros; £573) for a tonne of good quality rice, to $600-800, it is still double what was being paid last year. Yet the majority of farmers – who farm small plots of land of three hectares or less – have taken home very little of this bonanza. The reasons are complex, and vary from country to country, but they underline a simple fact: whereas driving up the price of other smallholder agricultural commodities such as coffee or rubber often does enrich those who work the land, it rarely works that way in the case of rice.   Many small rice farmers do not actually grow enough for their families to eat so they still have to buy rice at market prices. In Cambodia, for example, despite the government’s pride in becoming one of the world’s ten largest rice exporters, only a third of rice farmers produce any surplus they can sell – and one fifth of the population does not get enough to eat.   This lead to a bizarre situation where the government planned to sell 1.6m tones of locally grown rice on world markets this year, but was also forced to ask the Asian Development Bank for a $38m food security aid package for Cambodians who could not feed themselves. Thailand – the region’s largest exporter – has done well out of rising prices, but its farmers have not as most of the profits have gone to the middlemen. Farmers usually have no storage facilities, so they need to sell their rice the moment it is harvested. As prices started to ease from their highs in May, almost everyone in the region breathed a sigh of relief.     DANIEL SCHWEIMLER, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA There is no doubt that food prices in Argentina are rising – you just need to ask any shopper. But to get an idea of just how much will depend on who you talk to. Argentina’s official statistics office, the INDEC, says inflation is under control, at around nine percent a year. But shoppers, independent economists, newspapers and even some staff at the INDEC say those figures do not reflect the reality. Prices, they say, are rising at more than 20% annually.   About one third of the Argentine wage goes on food, and meat takes up a fair amount of space in the basket. Argentines are the biggest per capita consumers of beef in the world and the government has worked hard to keep the price down – negotiating with producers and restricting exports.   But soya has become the new Argentine beef. They aren’t eating it but exporting it – mostly to China and India. The little cream bean was, until recently, fetching high prices on world markets and has been the driving force behind Argentina’s economic recovery from the crisis it suffered seven years ago. More and more land previously used for other crops or for pasture is being turned over to the lucrative soya crop, reducing supplies and pushing up prices. Earlier this year farmers nationwide protested against government plans to increase export taxes, mostly on soya. The four-month protest and the worst drought in a century in Argentina’s northern provinces have both had an effect in a country which produces nearly all its own food and imports little Courtesy of BBC. Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires

Time – It’s free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” ~ Harvey MacKay – Happy New Year

5^th of January of Year 2009, I just said Adieu to 2008 didn’t I, pretty amazing how the time flies. Isn’t it Time that we have and we don’t have? I sat at my desktop, thoughts, memories flashed across my mind; I have to start my very first Post for the Year and it’s the first for this month as well.

 

I looked for a place to start and then I started wondering about how my life has passed by. Did I really accomplish those things that I wanted to accomplish, my Childhood Dreams? Well, I can give both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers and I’m certainly not proud about my ‘NO’ s … yet I’m no super human I thought to my self, how can I accomplish every single dream I had? I thought, well may be I’m too harsh on my self, it’s not realistic to see all my dreams come true or may be I didn’t dedicate my time enough, believed in myself enough, not enough effort or I wasn’t that enthusiastic after all to pursue some Dreams or is it really me ….? What about the other factors contribute one s failures? I’m not looking for excuses for myself but I can’t really blame my self alone for re directing my life at some points or rather not living my Dreams.

 

Ok, now, do I still have time to accomplish them? Good question …. But I do not know the answer …. Still I can give it a try, can’t I? Wasted time … it will never return … but we must not waste any more of it …. Time is precious

 

 

 Acharya Shubhendu Tripathi –  says …

 

 Time is such a cart on which the man’s life travels from birth till death. Time is the most precious thing in a man’s life because each and everything in life can be achieved again and again but time is such, it can’t be found again. The time which is lost once, it’s lost for ever. A man can’t fail to reach his goal if he manages his time wisely. The wheel of time revolves at the same speed in life for every one, with days and nights. One person make full use of their time and climb up the steps of success, whilst others waste their time in useless things or in wandering here and there to repent afterwards. To get full benefit of time, it is necessary to distribute your time according to you are involved in and complete it at a fixed time.

Besides taking care of our time, take care of others’ time too, ex: If somebody gives us time for a meeting, it is our duty to reach there in time. If we don’t do so, we make our own loss and also cause a loss for another person by wasting his precious time as well.

A person who distributes his time according to his work, he performs his work in time perfectly without any haste. A person remains free from tension and also he makes his economical status strong. A person with strong economical position can fulfill his family responsibilities well. If you manage your time properly, you will have more time to do extra work. This time saving will enhance your productivity. Productivity is directly related to your income.

                     “Kal karai so aaj kar, aaj karai so ab,  

                      Pal mein parlai hoigi, bahuri karaigo kab.”                  

The above poem means that we should not postpone our today’s work on tomorrow. Time is non-returnable and nobody knows what the next moment will bring for us. Those who plan to complete their tomorrow’s work today and their time on the same pattern; they live a happy and prosperous life.

Okay point taken.