Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Thought of the day

The most beautiful future will always depend on the need for forgetting the past. You will not be able to go from the past in life as long as you will not have overcome the errors of the past and all that hurt you.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

We Just Don't Learn, Do We..

Seventy two million people died as a result of World War II. Half of the dead were civilians, killed either directly by being bombed or shot, and indirectly by starvation. Despite history documenting that nobody ever wins, and with each nation attempting to justify 'what happened and why', nations, religions, factions are still propagating war. Up until 1990, the Memorial for Peace in Caen (Normandy, Northern France) had documented a further seventy five events that could be classified as a war, all taking place AFTER WWII.

Recent declassified information amassed by US Intelligence has revealed that a war not unlike what we see now was to be expected.

Some people are not reading their history books. Some people seem to be under the impression that they are above all of their predecessors in history, that somehow they can win where all others have lost. Some people need to re-assess their own abilities before once more millions of people needlessly lose their lives. Many already have.

Are you listening?

Thursday, May 24, 2007

The Runner..

A messenger boy was told to relay the following message to HQ by his commanding officer. The message was simple enough.

"Send reinforcements, we are going to advance"

The boy set off into the darkness, eager to do his duty, running almost as fast as the wind. He fell several times along the way, bruising and cutting himself, and finally arrived looking a little the worse for wear. He was offered time to clean up, but he insisted that the message be relayed immediately.

Still somewhat breathless, he was taken to the General. He stood to attention, saluted, and then blurted out the message.

"Send three and fourpence, we are going to a dance"

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Sand and Stone..

Two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey, they had an argument; and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand:

'Today my best friend slapped me in the face.'

They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath.
The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:

'Today my best friend saved my life.'

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "after I hurt you,
you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied "when someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your benefits in stone.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Leishmaniasis..

Every day, I get news from an RSS feed. Every day, I see some report about a person or group of people who are needlessly suffering. From the many pictures I could have picked, this one seemed the most poignant. It was taken back in 2002, and shows a seven year old Afghan girl suffering from a disease called Leishmaniasis. It is spread by sand flies, and is a direct result of bad sanitation. Take a good look. This is no freak show picture. This is a seven year old Afghan girl, called Mohboba, sitting against a bullet riddled wall, awaiting treatment at a clinic close by, her face badly disfigured. Even if the disfigurement didn't hurt, can you imagine the psychological damage that she must have?

This could be your little girl, but aren't you glad that your daughter doesn't look like this? Can you see any joy in Mohboba's eyes? Do you think that she has ever had the joy of opening a present, watching a Disney movie, going out on an Easter egg hunt? She doesn't go to sleep at night to the sound of a lullaby sung by her mother. This little girl hears gunfire and bomb blasts. Can you see the wall behind her? She looks this way because some idiots decided that war was more important. She is a casualty of greed and power. She is one of a long line of people who have had to grow up in a war torn hell hole. The people who make the decision to go to war don't live on her street. They make sure of that.

This is what happens when somebody decides that their 'god' is better, more worthy than somebody else's.

By the way, the disease is curable, but much of the disfigurement stays.

Monday, May 07, 2007

What a mess..

The 'surge' in Iraq is looking more like backwash. A town in Kansas was almost entirely wiped out by a tornado. Thirty two people were shot dead on the Virginia Tech campus. A British driver ended up parking a Mercedes SLK in a river, courtesy of directions given by the built in GPS navigation system. Canada was accused of having 'spy' money in circulation, a novelty colorized 'quarter' suspected of having layered nanotechnology affixed to it.

Growing the crop to enable enough Ethanol to replace gasoline will see millions of acres of forest possibly disappear. Global warming will see more than a few animals consigned to extinction, and wholesale changes to the way that millions presently live. Petfood was found to be contaminated to the point where almost all had to be removed from sale, and once again, animal feed used by farmers has come under scrutiny because it too was found to be contaminated, and had most likely found it's way into the human food chain.

France welcomed the newly elected President by rioting in the streets, and a wingless Boeing 737 was left parked on a busy street in Mumbai after the driver lost his way and decided to run off.

Welcome to civilization!!