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Saturday, July 18, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
why i love readers digest
My favorite magazine is the Readers Digest. The reason I am fond of this magazine is because it contents encompasses almost all spheres of life. It deals with political issues, medical and technological advancement, humor, relationships and real life issues. Secondly the presentations by different columnist are very precise and full of good research. I like it for it wholesomeness and sensitivity to the different audiences it carters for with a subtle but authoritative analysis of this issues.
As for my literacy in consumption of this medium’s message I am confident that I am reasonably literate. I do not for a fact accept any of the content as gospel truth, I have this skeptic and doubtful attitude towards it until I have confirmed that indeed the message depicted is infact a fact. I have said reasonably literate because unfortunately my media skills do not free me from all my biases and prejudices. The Readers Digest as I mentioned earlier has a variety of content ranging from health, technology, fashion, truestories, sex and relationships.
There was a time I read about this woman celebrity in South African who alleged that she was abused by some members of her family as she was growing up. When she was asked why she did not reveal this to someone close to her i.e. her mother or confidant she claimed that she did not have any such person to tell. The interviewer further pressed and asked her why she did not do so afterwards; she claimed that she was better off forgetting that terrible part of her life. She further went to say that even today when she goes for family reunions she still sees those who molested her. She feels angry that they have the guts to be there after all they have done to her. At first i thought this could be one of those staged performances by the media to attract audience i.e. the notion that when it bleeds it leads.
But I read further on rape and child molestation. The statitistics shocked me; it said that indeed children who undergo this experience most of the time go with them to the grave. Parents who are most of the time the perpetrators are supposedly protectors of this children which makes it hard for the children to disclose. Girls who rush to the mothers to announce the sad news of being raped by fathers are hushed or even beaten for trying to soil the good name of the father. Mothers first protect their marriages and the other interest comes a distance second. The fact that I can access the content from various
Point of access increases my enjoyment of the magazine. Most of the time I read Readers Digests to get information on the current advancement indiscipline of medicine and technology. I read to learn about what individuals are tying to do to curb global warming and international terrorism. But other times I just go to the library to peruse through a volume of the readers digests to read the humor and jokes column. I find that the humor and various anecdotes are not amusing but also real. The jokes and Humor columns are strategically placed to entice, which I take note but all the same the content of the jokes are worth the entrapment at the end of the reading. Thirdly I sometimes come to read the Readers, Digest for their inspirational real life stories that are encouraging and uplifting. The fact that it happened to someone else shows it could also happen tome and I could gained immensely from their experience.
As for my literacy in consumption of this medium’s message I am confident that I am reasonably literate. I do not for a fact accept any of the content as gospel truth, I have this skeptic and doubtful attitude towards it until I have confirmed that indeed the message depicted is infact a fact. I have said reasonably literate because unfortunately my media skills do not free me from all my biases and prejudices. The Readers Digest as I mentioned earlier has a variety of content ranging from health, technology, fashion, truestories, sex and relationships.
There was a time I read about this woman celebrity in South African who alleged that she was abused by some members of her family as she was growing up. When she was asked why she did not reveal this to someone close to her i.e. her mother or confidant she claimed that she did not have any such person to tell. The interviewer further pressed and asked her why she did not do so afterwards; she claimed that she was better off forgetting that terrible part of her life. She further went to say that even today when she goes for family reunions she still sees those who molested her. She feels angry that they have the guts to be there after all they have done to her. At first i thought this could be one of those staged performances by the media to attract audience i.e. the notion that when it bleeds it leads.
But I read further on rape and child molestation. The statitistics shocked me; it said that indeed children who undergo this experience most of the time go with them to the grave. Parents who are most of the time the perpetrators are supposedly protectors of this children which makes it hard for the children to disclose. Girls who rush to the mothers to announce the sad news of being raped by fathers are hushed or even beaten for trying to soil the good name of the father. Mothers first protect their marriages and the other interest comes a distance second. The fact that I can access the content from various
Point of access increases my enjoyment of the magazine. Most of the time I read Readers Digests to get information on the current advancement indiscipline of medicine and technology. I read to learn about what individuals are tying to do to curb global warming and international terrorism. But other times I just go to the library to peruse through a volume of the readers digests to read the humor and jokes column. I find that the humor and various anecdotes are not amusing but also real. The jokes and Humor columns are strategically placed to entice, which I take note but all the same the content of the jokes are worth the entrapment at the end of the reading. Thirdly I sometimes come to read the Readers, Digest for their inspirational real life stories that are encouraging and uplifting. The fact that it happened to someone else shows it could also happen tome and I could gained immensely from their experience.
barring the sacred
It is painful to start questioning the most basic truth one has held rigidly for ages. What is more painful is the fact that under scrutiny and investigation this dearly held belief will disintegrate. Then what? Would other similarly held belief crumble if put to the same test? What happens when all we have held as sacred and beyond question just turn out to be myths? What if it turns out to be just one of the many prejudices held by people all over the world? Are we as human and superstitious at that, afraid to find out the truth and set it apart from the fable and myth told only to satisfy the gullible believer?
If all I believe in is to be put to the test, I am sure most of my stereotypic stands would be shattered. I am sure that there is no particular one way about a thing. There are always a different way to look at a thing or a person. The fact that we cannot distinguish distinctively between morally wrong and right says as much. But we don’t want to know this. It is not important as long as our sacred secrets and banal stands are supported by our own fears to go out and discover different.
It saddens because we not only hold onto this stand but most of the times try to recruit others or try and discount their stands on the basis of our own moral high ground. Naively we attest to this fact when most of us are not even on this group. I don’t know what I believe in this world, where what you might think is a good reason to do something turns out later to be a mistake, a mistake that you cannot afford to make.
Monday, February 9, 2009
my purpose
i ask what is my purpose in life. you don't have to answer because it not you that i ask- its me. i ask myself Dan what is your purpose in life?
i get many conflicting answers, sometimes it is to get a good grade, sometimes to achieve a certain goal. many times it is to be successful and leave a life of opulence. a few times it just to get a few deadlines met and a few problems sought. but is that all i was born to do. was i made to go through life without having any unique effect on the world? is my destiny same as many others- to leave and die without some sort of acknowledgment for my efforts?
why do you live and toil? dress up, go to class and learn things? why is it important you get married and raise a family. why work and take all sought of crap from people you don't even like? is a ritual? are you doing all this because you have nothing else to do? it may seem harsh but this is a what we need to ask ourselves i am passing time before i did or i have discovered my purpose and i am doing something to realize it?
people like Hitler also went to school and got a job. even the wicked and crooked wake and go to sleep get married and die. accountants, lawyers and philosophers have jobs. priests and politicians run the mouth and try to lie and tell people what to do. teachers teach and police persons keep law and order. so are this life purposes? are you aiming for one of this? to teach, preach, guard and what have you? is this one of your goals that you are working hard towards?
you realize that i am asking many question, is life about asking yourself question and looking for the answers? it might well be something simple than that. sometimes we just have to relax and let nature take its course. but we cant afford to just exist and wander away from what life real is. i cant say i know what life is but i know something that it is not and i think that's a start, don't you?
i get many conflicting answers, sometimes it is to get a good grade, sometimes to achieve a certain goal. many times it is to be successful and leave a life of opulence. a few times it just to get a few deadlines met and a few problems sought. but is that all i was born to do. was i made to go through life without having any unique effect on the world? is my destiny same as many others- to leave and die without some sort of acknowledgment for my efforts?
why do you live and toil? dress up, go to class and learn things? why is it important you get married and raise a family. why work and take all sought of crap from people you don't even like? is a ritual? are you doing all this because you have nothing else to do? it may seem harsh but this is a what we need to ask ourselves i am passing time before i did or i have discovered my purpose and i am doing something to realize it?
people like Hitler also went to school and got a job. even the wicked and crooked wake and go to sleep get married and die. accountants, lawyers and philosophers have jobs. priests and politicians run the mouth and try to lie and tell people what to do. teachers teach and police persons keep law and order. so are this life purposes? are you aiming for one of this? to teach, preach, guard and what have you? is this one of your goals that you are working hard towards?
you realize that i am asking many question, is life about asking yourself question and looking for the answers? it might well be something simple than that. sometimes we just have to relax and let nature take its course. but we cant afford to just exist and wander away from what life real is. i cant say i know what life is but i know something that it is not and i think that's a start, don't you?
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Friday, February 6, 2009
i die for you
i heard i man sing that song today.
he said everything he did he did for her
and everything she was he was too
it made me think
how realistic is that?
i mean it one thing to say it but another to walk the talk
if someone said they would die for me
i will thank them but will inform them that it would not be necessary
ha! now you think i am some sought of prideful idiot that thinks he is a cut above the rest
but all i am is realistic
i know my limits and strength
i know what i can and cant, promises i can make and those i cant keep
i know myself- i know human nature
if you trust in something well and good
if you don't fine too
but you must be ready for heartbreaks for failure
deception and cruelty
this is not a world for the gullible, the soft and the naive
it for the ruthless, thankless and immoral go-getters
i neither for the say that an extreme is never a good choice
i am not sitting on the face either
i have decided to plough my own way as i go along
he said everything he did he did for her
and everything she was he was too
it made me think
how realistic is that?
i mean it one thing to say it but another to walk the talk
if someone said they would die for me
i will thank them but will inform them that it would not be necessary
ha! now you think i am some sought of prideful idiot that thinks he is a cut above the rest
but all i am is realistic
i know my limits and strength
i know what i can and cant, promises i can make and those i cant keep
i know myself- i know human nature
if you trust in something well and good
if you don't fine too
but you must be ready for heartbreaks for failure
deception and cruelty
this is not a world for the gullible, the soft and the naive
it for the ruthless, thankless and immoral go-getters
i neither for the say that an extreme is never a good choice
i am not sitting on the face either
i have decided to plough my own way as i go along
Thursday, February 5, 2009
GREAT ADVICE
HANDBOOK FOR 2009
Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer.
7. Read more books than you did in 2008.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.
11. Don't compare your life to others'.
You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control.
Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past.
Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past.
That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn.
Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and
fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick.
Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.
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Wednesday, February 4, 2009
promises
The problem with most of our promises is that we do not intend to keep them. We say them for convenience, be it in a relationship or any other area. Promise because there is a time span between when the promise is being made and it actualization. This is plain mean and selfish but it is also human. We can’t accuse and vilify a person for being human but this is not an excuse for us to continue dishing out lies and empty promise
Someone once said that the best way not to break a promise is not to give it in the first place. Easier said than done, we find ourself in moment of emotional euphoria and when the question is popped we simply answer in affirmative. Sometimes it crueler than that we string people along, giving out false hope and aspiration knowing affirmatively that we don’t intend to honor our promise immediately we gain our hearts desire. This calculated also planned fraud is at the very least shameful and distasteful but when there is an office to be coveted, or a status to be raised this seems a small enough price to be paid.
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