tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14307612103562996372024-03-19T01:52:02.620-07:00Sound Sans SenseSpeak not to me in "alien speak". Until your sound touches my senses and engages my mind, we will remain an alien in each other's world.Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-86109402502233042242011-10-05T19:22:00.000-07:002011-10-05T19:22:49.443-07:00“‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ Jobs says”<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 12.5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.</div>
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The first story is about connecting the dots.</div>
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I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?</div>
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It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last-minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.</div>
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And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.</div>
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It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:</div>
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Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.</div>
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None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.</div>
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Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.</div>
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My second story is about love and loss.</div>
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I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.</div>
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I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.</div>
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I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.</div>
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During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.</div>
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I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.</div>
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My third story is about death.</div>
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When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.</div>
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Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.</div>
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About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.</div>
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I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.</div>
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This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:</div>
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No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.</div>
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Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.</div>
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When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.</div>
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Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.</div>
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Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.</div>
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Thank you all very much.</div>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica, arial, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Full text via: <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html" style="color: #0a9600; font-weight: bold; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Stanford</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica, arial, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"><div style="font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 12.5px; margin-top: 12.5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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</span>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-48294166863316370232010-03-04T18:34:00.000-08:002010-03-04T18:45:31.140-08:00How The Ego Dominates And Hides Your True Self<div class="articletext"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKgUpqcMpaN7FIomNcWAcKBm3z4Bn00z7MNlIB0gVu1bYvO7kFbqim-WJPYrHA84LIA4REeX1IgdhP6mjTUzJINX8aQylmP6QuGhgBzbBwYZ6dMQozptIZn-EyeVFF0Kw-nQGe_kTc4R8/s1600-h/nn3606031b+Ego.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKgUpqcMpaN7FIomNcWAcKBm3z4Bn00z7MNlIB0gVu1bYvO7kFbqim-WJPYrHA84LIA4REeX1IgdhP6mjTUzJINX8aQylmP6QuGhgBzbBwYZ6dMQozptIZn-EyeVFF0Kw-nQGe_kTc4R8/s400/nn3606031b+Ego.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What is the one reason that most societies don't work very well, since the start of Sumer, the cradle of civilization?</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Why is the history of humankind a miserable one?</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What keeps us from living lives full of hope, harmony, and flourishing success?<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is domination.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Western Civilization started in the squabbling little islands called Greece. This birthplace of democracy enforced its ideas through war and strife. Since then the history books have been written by those who won the wars.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The history of humanity is generally a miserable one because it is a history of domination. It's supreme accomplishment will be the destruction of the world with nuclear technology. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Domination, at it's extreme, is through the military powers. But it also trickles down through politics, the science of force and control, economics, the art of manipulation of resources, and many other agencies of any society.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What domination has always contributed to human welfare is misery. The more domination, the more aggressively it is enforced, the greater the amount of misery </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">you will find.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Domination is what has been invented by the ego to keep itself highly insecure. The ego thrives on fear, enjoying experiencing it and imposing it on others.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Domination stems from egoism. It's opposite is partnership with all. This arises from</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">spirituality. However, the main models of spirituality, the major religions, have also been subjected to the desires of the ego and become instruments of domination.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The only way to develop true spirituality is to find the force of love within yourself and extend it to others in the form of a partnership.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Why does the ego seek fear when the real nature of consciousness is pure intelligence, love, and harmony?</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is because it is a veil that covers your Self, the deathless part of you.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The ego is that part of you that believes that your mind and your body, your life and all your experiences, are extremely limited and survival is the purpose of life.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yet human life is fugacious. It does not last long. All models of domination crumble under the weight of time. The effort to survive forever in a human form is doomed from the start.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Would it not be better to begin a search for the best part of you, the deathless part, that came into this realm of experience to know more, love more, and experience itself more fully?</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The deathless soul once it learns to move beyond fear into love, once it learns to shrug off its self-created nemesis, the ego, will see that only by living in a spirit of partnership with all life is anything worthwhile.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What can you do to change your life?</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Stop living out the dictates of your ego and start to come from your heart. You will then find the right work, the right relationships, and the right way to experience the happiness hidden within.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">All models of domination are egoic. They come to grief sooner or later. But who you are is more than you believe yourself to be. You are consciousness exploring itself in a world of infinite possibilities.</div></div><br />
<span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="color: navy; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></span><a href="http://www.keywordarticles.org/profile/Saleem-Rana/53">By Saleem Rana</a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <b>Original Art </b><b> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> courtesy of <a href="http://ads.shoppingads.com/pagead/link_e115bd6e9b1344f5694e_default_http%3A//search-desc.ebay.com/search/search.dll%3Fsofocus%3Dbs%26sbrftog%3D1%26dfsp%3D32%26catref%3DC6%26satitle%3D%2528wacky%252C+test%252C+code%252C+art%2529%26sacat%3D-1%2526catref%253DC6%26fts%3D2%26sadis%3D200%26fpos%3D41017%26sabfmts%3D1%26saobfmts%3Dinsif%26ftrt%3D1%26ftrv%3D1%26saprclo%3D%26saprchi%3D%26seller%3D1%26sass%3Dthetoppsvault%26fsop%3D32%2526fsoo%253D2" target="_parent">The Topps Vault eBay Auctions</a></span></b></span>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-65682978256668019052010-02-27T18:22:00.000-08:002010-03-04T18:28:59.080-08:00Mind Mapping Basics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-R-6G_6wOam3mGy0JefWyq47O0y9W6w7lFKK9EXDI6Lrs_iPIqmkF3i8W68NYW9ghYhmin4yhJb6Drulq1vj2fX5WxqMth5a0El7okCeGGojLlRlpUymZMbGHNlAyPA5BR4mLrU08RI/s1600-h/thinker_lg1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-R-6G_6wOam3mGy0JefWyq47O0y9W6w7lFKK9EXDI6Lrs_iPIqmkF3i8W68NYW9ghYhmin4yhJb6Drulq1vj2fX5WxqMth5a0El7okCeGGojLlRlpUymZMbGHNlAyPA5BR4mLrU08RI/s400/thinker_lg1.jpg" width="395" /></a></div><br />
A creative alternative to an Outline is a Mind Map. Mind maps work the way the brain works, which is association driven not linear. When you think of an idea, your thoughts and feelings around that idea may be in the thousands. Each thought may be linked to images, words, or even smells. A mind map helps you explore those linkages and reinforce the relationships that are supportive to your goals. Also, your mind generally thinks in concepts and images not complete sentences. <br />
<br />
Since a mind map is visual and shows the connections between key words and concepts, the information is stored in a way that makes it easier to recall later. Additionally, since a mind map starts from the center and works out, it opens avenue of thought that are closed off in an outline. You have freedom to consider more than the one previous thought written on the page. You will find that your mind guides the organization of the ideas rather than the structure of the outline; thereby, encouraging creativity. <br />
<br />
MIND MAPPING TIPS <br />
While mind mapping is very individual, here are some of tips that have been proven to work over time: <br />
<br />
1. Use just key words, or phrases <br />
2. Start from the center of the page and work out. <br />
3. The center should be a general theme of the map. (I prefer to use a circle for the center theme). <br />
4. Create other centers for sub themes. (I use squares for second level ideas). <br />
5. Use Print rather script as it makes them more readable <br />
6. If it stands out on the page, it will stand out in your mind. <br />
7. Use arrows to show links between different elements. <br />
8. Explore what’s hot in your mind, don’t force ideas. <br />
9. Let your ideas flow. Don’t judge the thought, just capture it. <br />
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POPULAR USES OF MIND MAPS <br />
Think Creatively. Whenever you want to think outside the box , mind maps can help. You will be amazed at how rapidly the new ideas flow. Every item on your mind map has the potential to generate another mind map. <br />
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Take Notes. Mind maps help organize your notes and puts the ideas into context easily. This allows the information to be incorporated into your brain more easily. Use them to take notes for books, lectures, meetings, interviews, or even phone calls. <br />
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Memorize. Mind maps are effective in storing new information in your brain in an optimum way for recall. The key words and concepts are appropriately organized into the proper context. <br />
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Solve Problems. Mind maps show the relationships between items. Often, the solution to problems lies in resolving the connections between parts. By sharing a mind map with a co worker or friend, you will be able to communicate issues the way you see them. <br />
<br />
Plan. Whether it’s a complex project or a vacation, mind maps will enable you to put all of the relevant information down on paper. Then, it’s a matter of organizing and connecting all of the mini projects and assigning responsibility. <br />
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<span class="articletext"><b>About the Author:</b> Bill Tyler owns the Bubble Planner, writes articles and authored Daily Life Manager. He lives in Texas with his wife of 16 years and their lovable but not so smart dog. <a href="http://www.bubbleplanner.com/" target="_blank" title="http://www.bubbleplanner.com">http://www.bubbleplanner.com</a></span> <br />
<span class="articletext"> </span>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-49436078729294502922010-01-15T06:48:00.000-08:002010-02-18T09:55:22.078-08:00Explore Your Potential<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVYgAplSoqa20iUe6pQwDFuIKxnmJWZULhUBiAkpqHYTq2yUCqSVqrVekrjllij3mg8ofw4o3wTLqyx-q8VafxSGpoAjOIHBMxnZQSRMNKGlovr6jy1zbUpZhGSGzRI1LFEuflOHwo9M/s1600-h/screenshot1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVYgAplSoqa20iUe6pQwDFuIKxnmJWZULhUBiAkpqHYTq2yUCqSVqrVekrjllij3mg8ofw4o3wTLqyx-q8VafxSGpoAjOIHBMxnZQSRMNKGlovr6jy1zbUpZhGSGzRI1LFEuflOHwo9M/s640/screenshot1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="color: navy; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.keywordarticles.org/profile/Saleem-Rana/53"></a></span></span> <br />
Your potential is not quite a thing, yet more than an idea. It awaits in a twilight zone between idea and reality, where all things are possible but none are actual.<br />
<div class="articletext"><br />
It took 15 billion years of evolution for you to be where you are now: a conscious being capable of self-consciousness. It is from the depths of this interior awareness that you can shape your destiny. With imagination alone, you can shape what has never been before. An act of imagination is the seeding of an idea that will bear fruit in a time that has not yet appeared.<br />
<br />
This specific form of imagination is what you can call visionary thinking.<br />
<br />
When your heart and mind can look into the past, into your reserve of memory, select its most choice ideas from it and project it into the future, then you have begun the journey of exploring your potential.<br />
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Will you be rich or poor, well-educated or ignorant, loved or abandoned, alive with a new intensity and purpose or merely drifting upon the tide of circumstances, depends not on the movement of the stars nor on the opinions of those who hold you dear, but on one thing alone: your inner clarity about who you are and what you want your life to mean, both to yourself and all those who will come to know you.<br />
<br />
All men and women dream but only some have the courage of their convictions. Most through default float upon the sea of mediocrity, responding to biological and social needs but creating nothing new, ennobling, or in some measure liberating.<br />
<br />
Many, unfortunately, are capable of going through their days without entertaining a single original idea, content with acquiescing to the propaganda of vested interests. A few, however, think about their potential and what they can do to explore and expand it. These are the ones who push the race forward, stretching the limits of consciousness further into the realm of new possibilities.<br />
<br />
You cannot succeed in anything alone. Your success is a wave that carries others, inviting them to examine their own potentiality. You vibrate at a higher frequency when you choose excellence; you influence others with your presence alone.<br />
<br />
The urge to be more than you are right now, to express a nobler speech, a finer mind, a more uplifting outlook, a larger reach of resources is the urge of life itself to explore its dimensions.<br />
<br />
The idea of entelechy, a motivation for self-determination and directing inner strength for more life, growth, and capacity is an idea that arises from Aristotelian philosophy.<br />
<br />
A human being is in a perpetual dynamic tension between potentia and actus. In other words, a quest to translate a potentiality into an actuality. Potentia is determinable. Actus is determined. These terms should not be confused with the ideas of physics which refer to the capacity for change through work from one state to another. With a human being, the urge to translate potentiality into actuality is intrinsic. With material objects, an external force is extrinsic, some outer force is making the conversion from one state to the next.<br />
<br />
The ultimate goal of self-determination is happiness. For as a sentient creature evolves, it increases its power, secures its survival, and experiences the happiness of a broader and fuller expression of itself.<br />
<br />
Another way of looking at it is to say that all human misery is due to some level of frustrated potential. At times, this frustration is felt so acutely as to result in self-destruction, either through suicide or self-degradation.<br />
<br />
A human being is rooted in teleology. The human psyche hungers for design, and it will do almost anything to satisfy the quest for meaning.<br />
<br />
The best and most satisfying lives are those where meaning is found and where a conscious and deliberate movement is made from potentiality into actuality. Ultimately, the conversion is one through the medium of intelligence, from the creative intelligence of envisioning to the practical intelligence of bringing about and maintaining a higher order of adaptation. As intelligence and adaptation increases, so, too, does happiness, which is a symptom of increasing power as the means of survival are ensured. As Spinoza once said, "Happiness is power increasing."<br />
<br />
Happiness, like life itself, is never a final state, but an evolving one. You can be happy now and as you increase your power in the world, converting more potential into actuality, your happiness will also correspondingly increase. The highest state of happiness, of course, is self-realization, when you transcend the limitation of the idea of a singular ego battling a hostile world intent on its destruction and embrace the idea of being unified with all sentient life everywhere. Mystics have reported this state of oceanic consciousness as blissful.<br />
<br />
As the cosmic conspiracy unfolds, life becomes more complex, more engaging, and ultimately more fulfilling. Our task is to engage the great game of life and ride the beam of evolutionary advancement of consciousness itself.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="color: navy; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.keywordarticles.org/profile/Saleem-Rana/53">By Saleem Rana</a></span></span></span></div><div class="articletext"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo Courtesy of </span><a href="http://www.softducks.com/Gee-Whizz-Mountain-Range-soft-108789/">www.softducks.com/.../</a></div>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-243009385698930572010-01-04T03:09:00.000-08:002010-01-04T03:09:15.643-08:00We Hope for All the Best This New Year for Each and Everyone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDiVMenLsB4mhvBYEUSgZc1izAcZYuRs9o-tuHjR2HMkNvgUd8xiFJcO1FCumOEsQnKSTm0NqIUwikLFhr0VALWJZ8VXv45DSbFveLMCWIpFXRPx2lnkcgIOSVXLZK00AGZj73mr21aWc/s1600-h/poetry.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDiVMenLsB4mhvBYEUSgZc1izAcZYuRs9o-tuHjR2HMkNvgUd8xiFJcO1FCumOEsQnKSTm0NqIUwikLFhr0VALWJZ8VXv45DSbFveLMCWIpFXRPx2lnkcgIOSVXLZK00AGZj73mr21aWc/s640/poetry.gif" /></a><br />
</div>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-8665625171563877612009-11-20T05:54:00.000-08:002009-11-24T16:08:45.924-08:00Let Your Inner Freedom Ring<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOx9FsikRt7M3RGkD9Erta_oFOzNAiS5tBDP1NUJhw1ocx_YF9uerljHHkaDOJQubEZhtbB9QouRpouO8u9sjT-I4ytS4SnptrvyQhJkKh8s4c7dxx_i5X2cuaCJS3J4cuV0dTP4IpBQ/s1600/WPQuarterSecondsmall.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 232px; height: 350px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOx9FsikRt7M3RGkD9Erta_oFOzNAiS5tBDP1NUJhw1ocx_YF9uerljHHkaDOJQubEZhtbB9QouRpouO8u9sjT-I4ytS4SnptrvyQhJkKh8s4c7dxx_i5X2cuaCJS3J4cuV0dTP4IpBQ/s400/WPQuarterSecondsmall.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407826079118681730" border="0" /></a><br /><p>The practice of meditation makes it possible for us to have a glimpse of inner freedom, our own true nature. Meditation makes us see things in ways we have not done so before. We become more keen about the ways and reasons which makes it difficult for us to live our lives in a manner that is fulfilling. It spells to us the difference between inner and outer freedom. </p> <p> Meditation is the most radical kind of political action. It challenges us to step outside the conventional value system and view things from a different standpoint. We are not likely to remain uncritical supporters of the status quo. </p> <p>Meditation is not the kind of activism as we are familiar of, but it fits the definition perfectly. It is an action that fundamentally aims to make you be more critical of your view of the world. </p> <p> Meditation brings out the best in us, our own intelligence and insights. It challenges our own individuality to emerge, our sense of compassion, and our sense of outrage as we gradually reveal our own true nature. </p>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-12905540558588741842009-11-12T06:01:00.000-08:002009-11-14T23:18:00.807-08:00Nope! It Doesn't Degrade Women At All<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY9g0BXqO_hd3e8JIp8SVJhcm24MWbKnHsQ-0iYRM-jnEfWGl6FUB0msOBIb_hg7j7SUJNtXWslrVREBsV_r8GiYSEedDM1FKDz9R7seJmcDwLzjdgAjeaiZnqIb46J1eQRGxrJdZ2fyM/s1600-h/creativead_20.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY9g0BXqO_hd3e8JIp8SVJhcm24MWbKnHsQ-0iYRM-jnEfWGl6FUB0msOBIb_hg7j7SUJNtXWslrVREBsV_r8GiYSEedDM1FKDz9R7seJmcDwLzjdgAjeaiZnqIb46J1eQRGxrJdZ2fyM/s400/creativead_20.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404225580505152498" border="0" /></a>Degradation is in the eye of the beholder. In some religious cultures, a woman whose uncovered face or skin is shown is over-the top. For others, a woman wearing a string bikini pouring suntan lotion all over herself, is normal fare. Certainly, American advertising appealing to sex is relatively provincial compared to more "liberal" attitudes toward sex and nudity in Europe. Consequently, the action being depicted and the cultural context have much to do with societal impressions of what constitutes degradation.<p></p><div class="googleArticleAd"> <script type="text/javascript"> adparams.getadspec('c_billboard1'); </script><script src="http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?correlator=1257919302015&output=json_html&callback=GA_googleSetAdContentsBySlotForSync&impl=s&prev_afc=2&a2ids=%2CeNSQ&cids=%2CJ9oqe8&client=ca-pub-8925353227623969&slotname=ArticleATFMiddleArticle300x250&page_slots=ArticleATFLeft120x600%2CArticleATFLeaderboard728x90%2CArticleATFMiddleArticle300x250&cust_params=topchannel%3Dbusiness%26loginstate%3Dlogout%26partner%3Dno&cookie=ID%3De89b458993bc958f%3AT%3D1257861560%3AS%3DALNI_MZJtojgr18RfD4zKo-oFnf7oZTJNA&ga_vid=613436199.1257919302&ga_sid=1257919302&ga_hid=2073997523&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.helium.com%2Fitems%2F1640306-degradation-erectile-dysfunction-sexual-objectification-sports-illustrated-swimsuit-edition&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.helium.com%2Fusers%2F425341%2Fshow_articles&lmt=1257919300&dt=1257919303969&cc=100&biw=1000&bih=486&ifi=3&channel=5461046236%2B5335102129%2B086&u_tz=-480&u_his=5&u_java=true&u_h=768&u_w=1024&u_ah=740&u_aw=1024&u_cd=32&u_nplug=20&u_nmime=106&flash=10.0.32"></script><div id="google_ads_div_ArticleATFMiddleArticle300x250"><script> HELAD_gen_google_custom(adparams, "c_billboard1", "text_image", "banner", 300, 250); </script><style> #ada1{ text-align:left; background-color:#FFFFFF; font-size:16px; font-family:Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; overflow:hidden } #ada1 a:link, #ada1 a:visited, #ada1 a:hover, #ada1 a:active{ color:#000066; } #ada1 div div{ margin:0px 0px 16px 0px; overflow:hidden } #ada1 div div div{ margin:1px 0px 1px 0px } #ada{ text-align:left; background-color:#FFFFFF; font-size:14px; font-family:Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; overflow:hidden } #ada a:link, #ada a:visited, #ada a:hover, #ada a:active{ color:#000066; } #ada div div{ margin:0px 0px 16px 0px; overflow:hidden } #ada div div div{ margin:1px 0px 1px 0px } </style> <div width="300" id="gad1">But for the sake of discussion, let's focus on the average Westerner to answer the degradation question. It is safe to assume any advertising that depicts physical violence or abuse of women is degradation. However the hint or suggestion of a women as a sexual being is not. For example, ads for erectile dysfunction overtly promote sexual conduct between consenting adults. The "come-hither" I am ready for sex look of a women is oftentimes part of such a commercial's story line. Yet, hardly anyone could reasonably contend that the associated sales pitch is degrading unless the women is not a voluntary participant in that scenario.</div><script language="JavaScript1.1" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-8925353227623969&dt=1257919304134&lmt=1257919300&num_ads=4&output=js&correlator=1257919304134&channel=5461046236%2B5335102129%2B086&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.helium.com%2Fitems%2F1640306-degradation-erectile-dysfunction-sexual-objectification-sports-illustrated-swimsuit-edition&ad_type=text_image&image_size=300x250&feedback_link=on&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.helium.com%2Fusers%2F425341%2Fshow_articles&cc=100&ga_vid=2006912642.1257919131&ga_sid=1257919131&ga_hid=2073997523&ga_fc=true&flash=10&u_h=768&u_w=1024&u_ah=740&u_aw=1024&u_cd=32&u_tz=-480&u_his=5&u_java=true&u_nplug=20&u_nmime=106"></script> </div> </div> <p>A good rule of thumb would be whether women are displayed solely as sex objects under the control of men. Clearly, if a woman uses her beauty or sexiness to sell a products where she is a willing participant and is not presented or treated as powerless and obedient to men, she cannot be deemed degraded. If she is voluntarily participating in a portrayal of a women who is in control of her body and not presented as inferior to men, the question of degradation doesn't really exist.</p> <p>Another factor would be the intended effect of the ad on the viewer. Does that ad promote disdain, disrespect or domination of a woman? If it does, then the ad demeans or degrades the woman, whether or not that was the intended effect. But what about a beer commercial during a football games that features big-breasted, curvaceous women promoting drinking as a cool and sexy in a flirtatious manner. Again, there is nothing degrading about women promoting beer to male sports fanatics unless the ads correlate beer and woman as a recipe for men having sex with women. </p> <p>Perhaps the most iconic use of women as sex objects is the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Obviously, men buy that issue to look at scantily clad women. While the pictures are extremely sexy and almost completely reveal a woman's body, the photos are taken in an artistic and respectful way. Sure, the idea is to capture some of the most beautiful women in the world in provocative swimsuits and poses, but there is no hint that the woman are being subjugated in any way to participate in the photo shoot, nor are they shown in photos being controlled or subservient to men.</p> <p>In sum, the use of sex in ads to sell products does not degrade women so long as they are not presented as objectified beings under the control or domination of men.</p><p><br /></p><h4>by <a href="http://www.helium.com/users/425341/show_articles" title="About Me: Michael Golde">Michael Golde</a></h4>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-81533801792651396952009-11-09T06:01:00.000-08:002009-11-11T05:39:07.130-08:00From The Camp That Says Women Are Degraded<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxe0xV_12YHf1lMonUfVh_HM8gTQz-1vS773G54Zn9GIvtOKHPQXQryz1wDcisGRf9JPOQ7shnZqCJgxzh7VVlSbaZFIwbLK2q7Pj1iIPTfxzkWea9uUCbLXIm2GRdQ-bxRffPZtyUwA/s1600-h/sexy_pole_ads_2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxe0xV_12YHf1lMonUfVh_HM8gTQz-1vS773G54Zn9GIvtOKHPQXQryz1wDcisGRf9JPOQ7shnZqCJgxzh7VVlSbaZFIwbLK2q7Pj1iIPTfxzkWea9uUCbLXIm2GRdQ-bxRffPZtyUwA/s400/sexy_pole_ads_2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402839391112580178" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: normal;">Yes, they do. A woman's sexuality cannot be divorced from her humanity, yet Madison Avenue earns huge amounts of money using it to deliver secular messages to specifically targeted markets. At the same time, they subliminally promote the idea that a woman's worth resides in her physical attributes, and in her ability to successfully use those attributes to entice consumers into buying what she is selling. That, in essence, puts women on the same level as socket wrenches and fish bait.</span><div class="top"><div class="sides"><h4> <script type="text/javascript"> adparams.getadspec('c_billboard1'); </script><script src="http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?correlator=1257919155824&output=json_html&callback=GA_googleSetAdContentsBySlotForSync&impl=s&prev_afc=2&a2ids=%2CeNSQ&cids=%2CJ9oqe8&client=ca-pub-8925353227623969&slotname=ArticleATFMiddleArticle300x250&page_slots=ArticleATFLeft120x600%2CArticleATFLeaderboard728x90%2CArticleATFMiddleArticle300x250&cust_params=topchannel%3Dbusiness%26loginstate%3Dlogout%26partner%3Dno&cookie=ID%3De89b458993bc958f%3AT%3D1257861560%3AS%3DALNI_MZJtojgr18RfD4zKo-oFnf7oZTJNA&ga_vid=2127803625.1257919156&ga_sid=1257919156&ga_hid=589223279&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.helium.com%2Fitems%2F1489739-do-ads-that-use-sex-to-sell-their-products-degrade-women&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.helium.com%2Fusers%2F431494%2Fshow_articles&lmt=1257919153&dt=1257919158185&cc=100&biw=1000&bih=486&ifi=3&channel=5461046236%2B5335102129%2B086&u_tz=-480&u_his=5&u_java=true&u_h=768&u_w=1024&u_ah=740&u_aw=1024&u_cd=32&u_nplug=20&u_nmime=106&flash=10.0.32"></script><script> HELAD_gen_google_custom(adparams, "c_billboard1", "text_image", "banner", 300, 250); </script> </h4> </div> </div><!-- end .top --> The burden these advertisements place on women to conform to unrealistic standards contributes to their degradation, especially on a personal level. The public in general has been brainwashed into believing that the women shown in commercials or print ads embody perfection, and as that lie begins to burrow its way into her psyche, the school secretary or soccer mom becomes convinced she is inadequate by comparison. She eventually succumbs to a deeper belief that she cannot be what she believes her husband desires. Not only is she not pretty or sexy enough to make him happy, but her personality is as dull as her looks. She does not have the ability, nor the resources, to create with him a life more exciting than PTA meetings or movie nights. As a result, she soon feels devalued because of who and what she is not. Through the dissemination of this kind of propaganda, the advertisers of Madison Avenue create for themselves a huge market where women will buy whatever it takes to make them feel wanted and worthy.<p></p> <p>It is disconcerting to think that our culture propagates (and apparently endorses) this philosophy. One cannot pick up a magazine or watch a television program without being assaulted with images of young, scantily-clad women with flat tummies and perfectly rounded breasts. There is high demand for "how-to" articles and infomercials that explain how to prevent wrinkles, get poutier lips, thicker eyelashes, and thinner thighs. Face-lifts, breast augmentation, and tummy tucks are becoming routine procedures, and are openly marketed to the general population.</p> <p>Competition for consumers' discretionary dollars is fierce, and using sex to hawk merchandise has become the norm in the industry. Perhaps our sensitivity to the issue has been dulled as a result of over-exposure. If so, how do we stop it? This type of exploitation will continue unless we decide that women are equal members of society, and that their sexuality (like their humanity) is intrinsically valuable and too precious to be used for commercial purposes. Only then will our daughters and grand-daughters be able to reap the benefits inherent and accessible in an enlightened society.</p><h4>by <a href="http://www.helium.com/users/431494/show_articles" title="About Me: Cindy Thrasher">Cindy Thrasher</a></h4>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-69652918925821721922009-11-07T00:08:00.000-08:002009-11-07T00:51:40.442-08:00Do ads that use sex to sell their products degrade women?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbmrsxUMnw1q9X8N6Pmupi7yya8_8lD-YQsIBYMjLnJG8RiyMrXCqnuhGCGg3bBS9inP3iexXREB5Lf68u3MR8ZXiZaTLGamz31yPhJPardQ7ds9ggn6Leo98rix7NGWGylh7Vv8q020/s1600-h/6a00d8341bfb8453ef0120a+use+it.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 276px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbmrsxUMnw1q9X8N6Pmupi7yya8_8lD-YQsIBYMjLnJG8RiyMrXCqnuhGCGg3bBS9inP3iexXREB5Lf68u3MR8ZXiZaTLGamz31yPhJPardQ7ds9ggn6Leo98rix7NGWGylh7Vv8q020/s400/6a00d8341bfb8453ef0120a+use+it.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401280756916649026" border="0" /></a><br />It must be one very effective marketing tool? I mean the use of sex to sell products. There is almost no commodity pushed in the market that does not use sex to get the attention it badly needs. Even bloggers use it to sell their blogs. Since every ad that uses sex takes the face of a woman, this raises the question on whether or not this does not degrade women. Does it or does it not? What is your take?Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-18208643748668651242009-09-27T16:06:00.000-07:002009-09-30T13:07:21.507-07:00A Closer Look At Life<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA4JZlmAx1Cnx106P6xTdS9SlfmWZtL6bEpjKZboxwEO_MVaijMzs4vRI813UkwJux5al0V15p8TP97fi0RD8QWoqIaj9UwCpIvTmMPAlpDZNjfyLBlYZaQ47s59LGytXK-1t0oS_QDEc/s1600-h/146088925_7eae953aa7.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA4JZlmAx1Cnx106P6xTdS9SlfmWZtL6bEpjKZboxwEO_MVaijMzs4vRI813UkwJux5al0V15p8TP97fi0RD8QWoqIaj9UwCpIvTmMPAlpDZNjfyLBlYZaQ47s59LGytXK-1t0oS_QDEc/s400/146088925_7eae953aa7.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386289798409534018" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Am I living my life consciously? </span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></span><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">That is one question, we should all be asking ourselves. There is much more that each one of us could do than we think possible. We have left the industrial age and moved to the age of the mind. Each tick of the minute, scientists and philosophers are discovering the incredible powers that man possess. This new age opened to us an immense opportunity to create a better world for us. Sadly, it could also lead us to our decimation as a human race.</span></span></p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></span><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">But there is great hope in the horizons. Never before in man’s history have there been massive movements of people seeking to be more critically aware of the life that they are living. The question of</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">the sustainability of our lifestyle and the kind of development we are pushing ourselves into continues to permeate the minds of more and more people. </span></span></p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></span><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Through the centuries great minds have tried to drum into our consciousness the great potential within ourselves to effect change. Not many listened. Not until today when it is beginning to dawn to many of us that our survival as a people depends on how we could harness that potential within each of us to make the necessary changes first within ourselves and then in the world we live in. But while there is much that we can do by ourselves, there is more we could achieve if we learn to do things together. Our lives are interconnected. That we should never forget. To think that the way we live our lives does not have anything to do with the life of one emaciated child somewhere in Somalia is one sad refrain we ought to stop singing. We must trace the connection and when we find it, together we must examine where it went wrong </span></span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">and take a conscious action to make it right. </span></span></p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></span><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">It is imperative if we are to live our lives consciously to give thought to issues such as:</span></span></p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></span><ul type="disc"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></span><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">How we are living our lives and how this is affecting others;</span></span></li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Our whole philosophy of development, both at the personal and community level, </span></span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">and how this impacts on the planet and all that live on it,</span></span></li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Reexamining our traditions, our beliefs and our behaviors and how they affect our results in life. </span></span></li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span></ul><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Living consciously is a must if we are to survive as a people. It is time we take a critical look into our lives and ask the question we posed at the onset. Am I living my life consciously</span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">?</span></span></p>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-29949756606395255662009-08-14T01:52:00.000-07:002009-08-29T02:10:52.557-07:00Abraham Lincoln On Ethics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3aRuRHExii9GHB9XEbjqy84g2z0I1-p23058-KDY55irEA0o7Sjd9INgRY8QI97Ix9EPzKiDxQMPU4C7iBRk3JuZ9-KDMfdIABDzlzH7ocbCD5_6C_IWFiHXPzbLZT4Vivhw8anJQ6co/s1600-h/lincolnsmall.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3aRuRHExii9GHB9XEbjqy84g2z0I1-p23058-KDY55irEA0o7Sjd9INgRY8QI97Ix9EPzKiDxQMPU4C7iBRk3JuZ9-KDMfdIABDzlzH7ocbCD5_6C_IWFiHXPzbLZT4Vivhw8anJQ6co/s400/lincolnsmall.gif" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: New York;">An article on Lincoln's personal code of ethics and his view of business ethics, based on an excerpt from the one-man play “Lincoln Live” <br />
by Gene Griessman</span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“What does it mean to be ethical?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> As far as I’m concerned, it means treating others the way you’d want to be treated. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"> I never joined a church because the churches of my day required you to subscribe to a particular doctrine or creed. I told a minister who was trying to recruit me that if I ever found a church that would inscribe over its altar only two requirements, I would join that church with all my heart: The first requirement would be, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.’ The second requirement would be, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I reckon that anyone who keeps those two commandments will never have a problem with any legitimate code of ethics. The second great commandment is really the basis of the Golden Rule—loving your neighbor as yourself.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Being ethical means being honest. Perhaps the greatest asset was being known as Honest Abe. It was a good name, and I believe that a good name is more to be desired than great riches. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I made it a practice to be so clear that no honest man could misunderstand me and no dishonest one could successfully misrepresent me</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As you know, I’m a lawyer; and, yes, there were lawyer jokes back in the 1800s. I remember a story about a preacher back in Indiana who was conducting a funeral service for a prominent lawyer. At one point in his eulogy, the minister said, “Here lies a successful lawyer and an honest man.” A woman in the audience whispered to her friend: “We need to take a peek to see if there are two bodies in the casket?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I happen to believe that a lawyer can be honest. In fact I found that clients often had more trouble telling the truth than lawyers did. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Here’s some advice I gave young lawyers: “Resolve to be honest at all events. If, in your own judgment, you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">If you’re ethical, you’ll strive to be knowledgeable. In the 1800s it was common for people to talk about “living up to the light” that one had. It was an excellent way of admitting in advance that one could be mistaken because of lack of knowledge. I like that concept, and used it in my Second Inaugural Address: “With firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right” is the way I said it in my second inaugural address.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">But there's something more important than knowing the truth, and that’s knowing what to do with the truth. A village idiot might stumble upon the truth, tell everybody in sight, and do irreparable damage. Being wise involves knowing when to tell the truth, knowing how to tell the truth, knowing who to tell it to, and even deciding if you should tell it at all. Some truth should never be told--like when my wife Mary asked me what I thought of one of her ridiculous-looking new hats. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Being ethical doesn’t mean that you be suicidal. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">If you’re ethical, you’ll strive to use good judgment. The true rule in determining to accept or reject any thing is not whether it has any evil in it; but whether it has more of evil than of good. There are few things wholly evil or wholly good. Almost every thing…is an inseparable compound of the two so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded."</span></div>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-63822466759287354942009-08-01T07:39:00.000-07:002009-08-01T09:12:01.857-07:001986 Time Woman Of The Year Takes A Final Bow<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnllKeNVyIfYVTLq9jTrhCXt5GSiPsCVprzXiiJWQpqAlp4Q_EWc2Tgz4QF3hzR9fyyfoSIP4YfOud3q5qbh12IIMHF0NgZ2blvmsFKNSA1-yZOsK9PxWFpMNm_6d0SZ8gFNg62N9jS4/s1600-h/3336-1.jpg+Cory.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 304px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnllKeNVyIfYVTLq9jTrhCXt5GSiPsCVprzXiiJWQpqAlp4Q_EWc2Tgz4QF3hzR9fyyfoSIP4YfOud3q5qbh12IIMHF0NgZ2blvmsFKNSA1-yZOsK9PxWFpMNm_6d0SZ8gFNg62N9jS4/s400/3336-1.jpg+Cory.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365005080791633490" /></a><br /></p><p>Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino, named <strong><span style="color:#000066;">1986 Time Woman Of The Year</span></strong> for leading the People Power Revolution which ended the decades of Marcos tyranny and restoring back to the Filipino people their freedom and dignity, is dead.</p><p>Long live Cory Aquino!</p><p><a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,963185,00.html">Time Woman Of The Year </a></p><p><a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1914125-2,00.html">People Power's Philippine Saint (Time Magazine)</a></p>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-16638864943654636892009-07-14T01:39:00.000-07:002009-07-16T04:27:09.972-07:00Death Is A Friend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNnA9T9xnzLBmWRbb9NEMDha66t3ysYT7TSSs8RN7M4sW9e5rt0tQgbxgMf5o5HFICXyDzDogA94yHhyphenhyphenMeocLElfxhyphenhyphenDN9IraBdL5GO2lxmGUovJjH52Mvl3DqwLsbiH55e9wCO63g2mE/s1600-h/sunset8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNnA9T9xnzLBmWRbb9NEMDha66t3ysYT7TSSs8RN7M4sW9e5rt0tQgbxgMf5o5HFICXyDzDogA94yHhyphenhyphenMeocLElfxhyphenhyphenDN9IraBdL5GO2lxmGUovJjH52Mvl3DqwLsbiH55e9wCO63g2mE/s400/sunset8.jpg" zj="true" /></a></div>To talk about death is a taboo. Hardly, if ever, would you be able to get a spirited conversation going on the subject. Dying is one big fear that dogs us. Like most things that we fear, we vanish it out of our minds just to give us the quiet we seek no matter how flitting.<br />
<br />
But dying should not be something we should be worried about. The controversial Budhist Guru, <a href="http://www.gaia.com/quotes/Sogyal_Rinpoche">Sogyal Rinpoche</a>, perhaps to put accross the silliness of fearing death, once remarked, "To die is extremely simple. You breathe out, and you don't breathe in." <br />
<br />
Rinpoche believes that much of what is wrong in Western society arises from the denial of death. This denial of death, he claims, actually complicates problems that exist in Western society. This is why as he puts it, in Western society “there is no long-term vision, there is little thought <i>devoted</i> (italics supplied) to consequences of actions, and little or no compassion."<br />
<br />
People see death as terrible, as tragic. Because they want to live, they see death as the enemy of life and therefore deny death, which then becomes even more fearful and monstrous.<br />
<br />
Beneath this fear of death lies <a href="http://www.ascensiongateway.com/quotes/sogyal-rinpoche/index.htm">"the ultimate fear”</a> as Repoche would call it. It is the fear of looking into ourselves. We would rather suspend ourselves in the state of not knowing rather than be confronted with the truth of who we are.<br />
<br />
Death, in truth, could be a friend. "Death holds the key to the meaning of life," said Repoche. This is the reason the <a href="http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Wood-NuttallEncyclopaedia/t/trappists.htm">Trappist brothers</a> regularly greet each other with the Latin phrase <a href="http://naster.com/feed/">“Memento Mori”</a> - remember you are dying, to remind themselves that now is the time to live. Life is simply too short to just exist.<br />
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Remembering brings our life into focus. We are only just pilgrims in this life. Sooner or later our voyage has to end. Remembering calls us to sort out our priorities so we would not waste our lives just wandering. It helps us take care of the most important things in life first. We won’t be passing this way again. It would be tragic if we exit life’s door knowing we left very important things undone only because we let the trivial dominate our lives and left the crucial untouched.Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-12202344661153562112009-07-01T10:15:00.000-07:002009-07-14T02:24:20.688-07:00Memento Mori - To This Favour ( William Michael Harnett )<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib7k7MVeYORIQ91cSsnU8WuAiSrOgpcvRY-CcsNlEWin9P0Rys3bXbOUwAaLWBGbL3E-hXt1RNHTOYtYOnFOoHOWNGsox6YoVAt3OY4VwUFdpO3JhpUtpHu1bgV1Flnt21p3MKBcYjufw/s1600-h/Memento+Mori+Painting.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 296px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib7k7MVeYORIQ91cSsnU8WuAiSrOgpcvRY-CcsNlEWin9P0Rys3bXbOUwAaLWBGbL3E-hXt1RNHTOYtYOnFOoHOWNGsox6YoVAt3OY4VwUFdpO3JhpUtpHu1bgV1Flnt21p3MKBcYjufw/s400/Memento+Mori+Painting.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353718057246484546" border="0" /></a><br /><p><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Memento Mori - To This Favour, one of the most famous William Michael Harnett paintings.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;">A memento mori painting or sculpture is one designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the brevity and fragility of human life in the face of God and nature. A basic memento mori painting would be a portrait with a skull but other symbols commonly found are hour glasses or clocks, extinguished or guttering candles, fruit, and flowers. Closely related to the memento mori picture is the vanitas still life. In addition to the symbols of mortality these may include other symbols such as musical instruments, wine and books to remind us explicitly of the vanity (in the sense of worthlessness) of worldly pleasures and goods. The term originally comes from the opening lines of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible: 'Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.' The vanitas and memento mori picture became popular in the seventeenth century, in a religious age when almost everyone believed that life on earth was merely a preparation for an afterlife. However, modern artists have continued to explore this genre.</span><br /><br /></p>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-49682727141239575602009-06-28T07:28:00.000-07:002009-07-01T21:51:07.281-07:00Memento Mori (by Peter J. Oszmann)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-UVU25ZCo7M0PJy_RxIqS67P6EVl_20Mu9yxZ8UzTY2AtQgVWRL2Df9LeQUOwdMZD2Y_-MdHr-SEf71KpYpEgNKMTHctHDeszEtYfS8EwkKbEUet5re5GD56egCPydMCMF8OA2R3FiI/s1600-h/sunset2_hdr.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 279px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-UVU25ZCo7M0PJy_RxIqS67P6EVl_20Mu9yxZ8UzTY2AtQgVWRL2Df9LeQUOwdMZD2Y_-MdHr-SEf71KpYpEgNKMTHctHDeszEtYfS8EwkKbEUet5re5GD56egCPydMCMF8OA2R3FiI/s400/sunset2_hdr.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353719347211672322" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Laugh, sing, howl, or cry… Man, it’s all the same…<br /><br />Fate ‘be fulfilled… we are all candidates<br /><br />For the same doom… that’s the rule of the game.<br /><br />The end will come… with open arms death waits…<br /><br /><br />So laugh, sing, there’s time yet to howl and cry,<br /><br />When the bony hand will reach out for you<br /><br />And without you’d be able to ask “Why?”<br /><br />Will write on your forehead with claws: “Adieu!”<br /><br /><br />Forgetting all… laugh and sing. Enjoy life!<br /><br />Forget the scythe… forget the bony hand…<br /><br />Don’t think of death… and don’t think about strife…<br /><br />Or pain, sorrow… or how it all will end…<br /><br /><br />Look up at the sky… see how clear, how blue…<br /><br />Sun shines upon your face and the birds sing<br /><br />And on the flowers like pearl drops hang the dew;<br /><br />Around you the calm is all embracing.<br /><br /><br /><br />Just enjoy this silly life while you can,<br /><br />Chase away thoughts of suffering and pain,<br /><br />Forget about the skull with the deadpan<br /><br />Look, that surfaces again and again…<br /><br /><br /><br />…You’d forget it if you could, but you can’t…<br /><br />Life’s pointless struggles are on your mind<br /><br />And all the sufferings that disenchant<br /><br />And turns life into endless cruel grind.<br /><br /><br /><br />Matters not if you laugh, sing, howl, or cry.<br /><br />Fate will be fulfilled… life’s an ugly game…<br /><br />No matter what, at the end you will die…<br /><br />To the Grim Reaper it is all the same…<br /><br /></span><br /></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Memento mori</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"> </span>is a Latin phrase meaning "Remember you shall die"<br /><br /><p>© P. J. Oszmann (2004 Developed from one of his earlier poems of the same title written in Hungarian in 1950, reflecting the gloom and doom of the “Stalin” era. This is a loose transliteration.)</p><p>Source: <a href="http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewpoetry.asp?AuthorID=6177&id=146536">AuthorsDen</a><br /></p>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-91051282890709102472009-06-28T07:10:00.000-07:002009-07-01T17:07:44.403-07:00Unto Dust<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Michael Jackson, the guy who has enthralled us with his musical genius, is dead. We feel the loss and we mourn. But we are all headed on the same direction. We will all have our turn at our own time. A favorite poem of mine on the subject,</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> "</span></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);">memento <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">mori"</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">( A Latin phrase which means "You are dying"</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">) by Peter <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Oszmann</span> speaks of that "inevitable" and how we should deal with it.</span>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-44943385784821432482009-06-26T16:38:00.000-07:002009-07-01T16:40:13.866-07:00Final Curtain For The King<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RsF1oxfK094&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RsF1oxfK094&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-3169569705928038882009-06-14T23:44:00.000-07:002009-06-21T15:45:18.354-07:00A Poem For This Blog From A Poet I Admire<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 255, 255);"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="color:#336666;">Sound Sans Sense*</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />A sense of meaning in a false message</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Words drip endlessly from your lips</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> You speak of wisdom and experience</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Yet my mind can do without</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> A sound rings truth among lies</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> A pink pearl among a sea of black</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> You speak of knowledge and intelligence</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Yet my mind can do without</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> A silent word is spoken for truth</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> We listen between the words themselves</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> You speak nothing at all this time</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Yet everything is understood</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> -Poem by Dragon Blogger</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Poem written by Dragon Blogger for <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://soundsanssense.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://soundsanssense.blogspot.com/</a><span style="font-family:arial;">">Sound Sans Sense, you can read more of Dragon Blogger poetry at <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wandererthoughts.com/" target="_blank">http://www.wandererthoughts.com</a><span style="font-family:arial;">">Wanderer Thoughts and play the Daily Random Twitter poem on Twitter by following <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/dragonblogger" target="_blank">http://www.twitter.com/dragonblogger</a><span style="font-family:arial;">">@dragonblogger<</span><div style="font-family: arial;" id=":nk" class="ii gt">/a>.<br /><span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"><br />--<br />*-Justin Germino*<br /><a href="http://www.dragonblogger.com/" target="_blank">http://www.dragonblogger.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.wandererthoughts.com/" target="_blank">http://www.wandererthoughts.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.justingermino.com/" target="_blank">http://www.justingermino.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.rockalongproductions.com/" target="_blank">http://www.rockalongproductions.com</a></span></div> </span></span></span>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-26882687794200595972009-06-14T23:42:00.000-07:002009-06-28T07:26:46.761-07:00ThrilledWishes often have a way of breathing life unto themselves in forms you would not expect. Today that happened.<br /><br />Each time I come across a beautifully written blog, I could not help but wish I could write as well. Dragon Blogger's poetry blog is one such blog on my list. His poems always makes me wish I could resurrect the poet in me that I buried ages ago. Imagine my thrill when he agreed to write a poem exclusively for this blog. I hope you would love the poem, <span style="font-weight: bold;">"Sound Sans Sense", </span>as much as I do.Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-40319899470242307142009-05-23T06:41:00.000-07:002009-06-18T23:02:53.949-07:00Don't Walk Alone<span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);">
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<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh961MB_Q5O0QdVTK3n2dufDQIQmXlK6bGaNFQWDoo_0VgBp7O9gbDJeE1VcVvz3e-evn5_xMGa3rZC8mkUpg46v4CvWo3Jy9eNlFdTORDivyHdOp2xiGlpXfaihDSBHiBoEpuKJWWaSvo/s1600-h/Kalakbay.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 183px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh961MB_Q5O0QdVTK3n2dufDQIQmXlK6bGaNFQWDoo_0VgBp7O9gbDJeE1VcVvz3e-evn5_xMGa3rZC8mkUpg46v4CvWo3Jy9eNlFdTORDivyHdOp2xiGlpXfaihDSBHiBoEpuKJWWaSvo/s320/Kalakbay.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339014418372524530" border="0" /></a><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-family:Arial;" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Arial;" >Connecting with our fellow travelers as we journey through life is what living is all about. At the end of our voyage, it is in how we had touched our fellow sojourners' lives and allowed them to touch our own which is all that matters</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Arial;" >.</span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" ><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-size:85%;" >A painting by Joey Velasco, a Filipino artist, "Kalakbay/Fellow Traveler</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;">
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<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-5qcUgmjZsTBi056mFzT1ruxL-zy0Cjci0oqyw-LkwwgHPepOZyb5RfmnLqyzC6Igo3ZXAluMgr-S-Reb7h5VxVNs5E-xFYMpIuEkshd6DXkQGzcasLaX1Qsm_x3QD-P5gWHz7HjJL6k/s1600-h/Hapag_ng_pag_asa+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 178px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-5qcUgmjZsTBi056mFzT1ruxL-zy0Cjci0oqyw-LkwwgHPepOZyb5RfmnLqyzC6Igo3ZXAluMgr-S-Reb7h5VxVNs5E-xFYMpIuEkshd6DXkQGzcasLaX1Qsm_x3QD-P5gWHz7HjJL6k/s320/Hapag_ng_pag_asa+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338988934153628418" border="0" /></a><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >
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<br /></span><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Only when we would learn to eat together on the same table; only when we would stop feeling we did our own share to make this world a better place because we allowed the disadvantaged among us to partake in our crumbs, could we ever hope to build another world.</span>
<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br />
<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-size:85%;" >A painting by the Filipino artist Joey Velasco, "Hapag ng Pagasa/Table of Hope"</span><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-83834609787305952302009-05-10T22:56:00.000-07:002009-06-18T23:15:36.427-07:00Bid "Thank You" Goodbye<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 255, 153);"></span></span></p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Trebuchet MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 3 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">The need to say “Please” when we ask people for favors; to say “I am sorry” when we do others wrong and to say “Thank You” when others render us kind actions out of goodwill, are to me the most <a href="http://fatherhood.about.com/od/valuesandspirituality/a/gratitude.htm"><span style="color: black;">valuable lessons</span></a> we have received in our early childhood. We may not be aware then but very young kids that we were, these lessons provided us an introduction to one of life’s most precious truths. As we learned to say “Please”, “I am sorry.” and “Thank you”, in our young minds, we were slowly being transported to the realizations that the world is not about “Me” nor “You” nor “Them” but about “Us”. We were beginning to learn that we could only live our lives with and not independent from others.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">To say “Thank you” is to humbly acknowledge that we can not go on with life without having others see us through. But more than recognition of our need to have others fill in the holes in our lives, “Thank you” serves as a blue print on how our lives should be lived.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">In the <a href="http://www.iwgia.org/sw16704.asp"><span style="color: black;">indigenous culture</span></a><a href="http://www.iwgia.org/sw16704.asp"><span style="color: black;"> </span></a>in which I was reared, we would not say “You are welcome.” as a way of retort when someone would offer his gratitude. Roughly translated in English, we would answer by saying, “Go live it in your life”.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">“Thank you” is a way of life among my people. It would not have any meaning unless we let the good done for us and for which we were thankful, permeate our lives. We must not only act the “good” out so as to be better persons than we already are. We must also pass this “good” along. Viewed along this line, “Thank you” calls on us to be co-responsible in building a more humane world.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">But it is so sad. An epitaph to “Thank you.” as a way of life may have long been written. Even the culture which had nurtured me and for which I had always been proud of is now dying if not already dead in the embrace of <a href="http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/Materialism.htm"><span style="color: black;">materialism</span></a>. Everyone seems to be eager to don the cloak of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Material_Girl"><span style="color: black;">“Material Girl”</span></a>. This world is fast becoming a “Me” world. The “You” and “Them” are now just simply chattels we could use or discard depending on whether we find them useful in propelling us to the heights of our material aspirations or what we believe to be successful life.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >I know I would not be there to see it happen. I could only hope for everyone’s sake that a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age">new age</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age"> </a>would dawn where once again “Thank you” is the way to live</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-family:Arial;" >
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<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-family:Arial;" ><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;">
<br /><span style=";font-family:";" ></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:";" >Note: We wrote this article purposely for this blog but for some reason it ended up being published in our other blog, </span><a href="http://gotakeittothelimit.blogspot.com/"><span style=";font-family:";" >Take It To Limi</span></a><span style=";font-family:";" >t. We feel we still need to stick by the original intention and have it published here.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p> Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-72892236856287720942009-05-08T22:38:00.000-07:002009-06-18T23:24:45.262-07:00My Own Code Of Ethics<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; 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charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; 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margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);"></span></span><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><o:p></o:p></p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">My being in this World is no accident. My Creator has put me here for a reason. The life that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation"><span style="color: black;">Author Of My Being</span></a> has breathed unto me is not free. It is a gift I have to pay back if it has to have meaning.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">I must live my life in constant pursuit of the “<a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freewill/"><span style="color: black;">ultimate good”</span></a> not just for me but for the rest of humanity of which I am a part. It is the only way I could pay life back.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">I would never let others define how I should live my life. They do not have the right. The right rests solely on me. But I must recognize that said right is not absolute. It must always be tempered by what is fair and just.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"><u1:p></u1:p>My life is my own responsibility. I would never surrender that responsibility to any other being nor entity. In the same regard, I would never put the blame on the way my life would turn out on anyone or anything but me. The forces of evil can make life miserable for me but it is my choice to either fall victim to the evil befalling me and be bitter with life or emerge from it as a survivor and much more determined to pursue the best I want my life to be.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <u2:p></u2:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">
<br /><u1:p></u1:p><u1:p></u1:p>I must constantly remind myself of the inherent goodness of man. It is the only way, I could stir myself away from letting hate consume my being. Believing that good lives even in the most evil of souls is an act of affirmation of the good person that I would always work out to turn myself to be.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"><o:p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></o:p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >I must admit to my human imperfections. Knowing that it is human to err would allow me to be kinder to myself when I fall and to offer a helping hand to others when they stumble. But I must be careful not to let my human frailties be an excuse to stop me from living my life to the fullest.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);"> </span></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255); font-family: arial;font-family:Arial;font-size:12;" ></span><p style="font-family: arial;"></p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="font-family: arial;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-size:85%;" >Note: This is the introductory part of of my personal code of <a href="http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/greeks.html">ethics</a>, I am currently trying to formulate. Much of these ethical formulations are lessons I learned from so many years of living. Life can be ironic. You learn from life as you go on and live, only to find out you do not really have much time left to really live all that you have learned. But maybe that is really what life is all about. Learn as you live and live what you learn. I am sharing it here in the hope that to one soul out there it makes a difference.</span>
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<br /></span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-66450389631258309582009-05-06T23:15:00.000-07:002009-06-18T23:30:25.278-07:00Blogging For A Cause<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 255, 153);"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"></span></span></span></p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Trebuchet MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 3 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -</style><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCompaq%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">Many people would only read on papers, see in pictures or watch on TV, the miserable lives that people caught in the mires of poverty, oppression and injustice have to live. I have been an eye witness to all of it. I could close my eyes and get a vivid show playing on my mind of all the stories of people caught in the web of misery, pain, sorrow, hunger, deprivation, marginalization, disempowerment and abuse.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">
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<br /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">Stories that prodded me to get out of my comfortable niche and lend them support in their struggle to regain for themselves the right to live their lives in human dignity. Social activism was to be my life for twenty six years until I decided it was time to put the activist in me to sleep it would never wake from and sleep it did or so I thought.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;">I should know better. Activists are strangers to the word sleep. They may vanish for a while but always come back more determined than ever. I never imagined that my passion for writing which I sent to hibernation for half a century would wake up and provide solace to the activist I thought I put to deep slumber.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">When I got myself inside the blogosphere, all that motivated me was the desire to satisfy my passion for writing. I may not be good at it but I really love to write. That was the reason for my blog’s being. People suggested that I monetize my blogs now that they have gained some decent exposure but I simply shrugged off the idea. It was not until the activist in me, now fully awake, kept on prodding me to give the idea of making money with my blogging for the benefit of causes I have been so passionate about, some serious thought.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I could not resist the idea of doing the two things I love doing and so I begun to look into money making ideas on the web that really work. I visited Noob’s making money blog regularly just to get the feel and learn some ideas. One of the frequently suggested ideas was to have my blog be hosted on the web. This is not only to give it a professional look but also to lend my blog some credibility. I do not have the money for webhosting so it sort of poured cold water on my enthusiasm.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Let that activist go back to sleep. Let it wake up when I have the blogging resources I need to put the whole idea of blogging for money really work. But maybe, there is hope. I have discovered at the very last minute a free webhosting prize in a contest sponsored by </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://www.secludedhabitat.com/2008/10/06/entrecard-bloggers-a-chance-to-win-free-webhosting">Secluded Habitat</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. I am throwing my towels into the ring. I am joining the contest and hope to win.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">There are questions that I needed to answer so as to make my entry to the contest official. I have already provided the answer to most of the questions but just to recapitulate let me bullet it down:</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">• Why do I want to win the competition?</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I want to use my blog to raise money towards the support of charities I have long been involved with. As I have earlier mentioned, I have been consulting with bloggers like, Noob of </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://www.bloggernoob.com/">Make Money Online</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, who have had long experience in making money out of their blogs and they are one in saying I need a webhosted blog. A webhosted blog would look much more professional and credible. On top of these, many money making opportunities on the web are only available to web hosted blogs. I could only do so much with a blog hosted on a free platform. I do not want to be limited in what I could do. I want to get the most from my effort as I want to give the best I could to the charities I would want to help.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">• Why you feel you deserve to win the free hosting?</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I deserve to win the free hosting as I am not winning this for myself. I am winning this to offer hope for that child who lives on the streets and for that woman victim of sexual abuse to get the help she needed.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">• Why you have not got paid hosting previously?</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Like I have said, I do not have the money for a paid webhosted platform. Winning this contest would solve the problem.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">• And finally how would having your own hosting enable you to enhance your blog or service to the community?</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The community is the only reason I am joining this contest. I have spent years of my life working with charity organization and helping them raise funds to know how much the good work they do depends on how much help they could get from people willing to support their work.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Ok! There go my answers. I hope I really would win this contest.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;" >
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<br /><p style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Note: I have won that contest hands down. Sad to say, we were not able to get enough volunteers with SEO skills to help us with the project. Still I continue to hope, someone would come along with the needed skills to help us get the project going.</span>
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<br /></span></p> Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1430761210356299637.post-19217003072839303172009-05-04T22:16:00.000-07:002009-06-18T23:32:21.070-07:00Let The Little Billy In Us Be<p><span style="color: rgb(102, 255, 153);"></span></p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Trebuchet MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 3 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page</style>
<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Arial;" >There is always the little Billy in us lying in the nook of our hearts just waiting for us to set it free. It is in giving our "little Billy" the freedom to be that we stop just existing and begin living. Go ahead and read this beautiful story. <o:p></o:p></span><u1:p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Arial;" >
<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >The Water</span><span style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the Earth. It was a dry season that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Every day, my husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying to get water to the fields. Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone off. If we didn't see some rain soon, we would lose everything.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes. I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year-old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn't walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth, but with a serious purpose. I could only see his back.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">He was obviously walking with a great effort, trying to be as still as possible.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches, thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful stride toward the woods. This activity went on for an hour: walk carefully to the woods, run back to the house. Finally, I couldn't take it any longer and I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be seen, as he was obviously doing important work and didn't need his mommy checking up on him).</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked, being very careful not to spill the water he held in them, maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands. I sneaked close as he went into the woods.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Branches and thorns slapped his little face, but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site. Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him. He didn't even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn laying on the ground, obviously suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy's hand.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I hid behind a tree. I followed him back to the house to a spigot to which we had shut off the water. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip, drip slowly fill up his makeshift "cup," as the sun beat down on his little back. And it came clear to me: The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me to help him.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him. His little eyes just filled with tears. "I'm not wasting," was all he said.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">As he began his walk, I joined him with a small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job. I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, they were suddenly joined by other drops, and more drops, and more. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Some will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. That miracles don't really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can't argue with that. I'm not going to try. All I can say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm, just like the actions of one little boy saved another.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I don't know if anyone will read this, but I had to send it out. To honor the memory of my beautiful Billy, who was taken from me much too soon.</span>
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">But not before showing me the true face of God, in a little, sunburned body.</span>
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<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255); font-family: arial;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">-- Author Unknown</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; font-family: arial;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; font-family: arial;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-size:100%;" >
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<br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-family:Arial;" ></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style="color: rgb(153, 255, 153);"></span>Sound Sans Sensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767743261714626986noreply@blogger.com0