It Runs in the Family

Today started out fine,late as usual to work,I was busy dodging the multitude, trying to reach my office at a reasonable time. There are code of ethics for late arrival.If you arrive say before 9.30 am, then it is not so bad you are just fashionably late, for who counts half an hour late as being tardy anyways.. really!!, but if you try to sneak past closer to ten, then you better have a very good reason.malfunctioning alarm clock worked for me most times, better yet, visit an ailing friend is also a good one, for how could people nay say that without sounding uncharitable?. But I digress,this post is not about providing you with good excuses.

If you live in the city, you know, that any time of the day,the streets of Manhattan are crowded with people in eternal rush and once you are part of the sidewalk crowd you stop at your own peril!!.Walk jogging on high heels, with many acrobatic manoeuvring i dodged the crowd and made it into the lobby of my building and after spending an eternity in the elevator, i got off on my floor and almost made into the reception area of my work place, when to my chagrin, the vice president of the company and need I mention my boss, entered at the same time and looking at me with his usual blank look, held the door open for me " Allow me". Muttering a quick thank you, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible,I quickly escaped to my room.Great, just Great!!!. just perfect!! one of the cardinal rules of late arrival, you never, ever arrive at the same time as your boss!! That set the tone for the day and none was more happier than I when it was time to head on home. what an absolutely miserable day!!I got home and checked my email to find a message from my nine year old niece.!!
quote:

um, aunty i was thinking of makeing my own news paper for kids to keep track, not just grown ips to know all the latest things . so what do you think of my idea it will be called........THE KIDS DAILY READ......

it will have all the things kids want to know about. it will be great!
tell me what you thing about it
love your niece.

unquote:

Today is a great day!!!

How do we define success

I read this interesting article in BloggerLounge on successful people. The article was on successful dropouts who became a household name with their innumerable feats in their chosen profession.Sure the name that comes to most people's mind is William Gates, but i did not know Ty Warner or Azim Premji belonged to this elite group. Fascinating read.For more on the article, please click on the url link below.

But the article got me thinking.What is success?. why do we all crave for it?.From our first lucid thought, we all strive to achieve. We will still be crawling on all fours if as a child we did not struggle to take our first step!!!


we constantly struggle to better ourselves and our surroundings.We are left with this constant state of wanting.You set a goal for yourself, and work hard towards it's fruition, when you do, you feel this momentary flare of satisfaction but soon you are left with this empty space with the need to fill it quickly with another goal/dream to strive towards.So it would seem,it is the art of wanting rather than the attainment that keeps men moving forward

When you look at yourself,do you see a successful person in the mirror?. and what would be your reason for thinking so?. and if not, why not?. Does success perceived in one man's eyes be looked upon as failure in an another's?. If one measures success by the accumulation of wealth and power,then Warren Buffett may not consider himself a success since he is only the 2nd richest man in the world with his net worth of $52 billion as opposed to William Gates with $56 billion,( compiled by Forbes list ).


If by education,then Micheal Dell(Dell computer corp)may not think himself as successful as Dr Nathan Myhrvold, ceo and managing director of Intellectual Ventures(phd in theoretical and mathematical physics and a master's degree in mathematical economics from Princeton University. He also has a master's degree in geophysics and space physics and a bachelor's degree in mathematics, all from the University of California, Los Angeles)as Micheal Dell dropped out of University of Texas where he was planning to pursue medicine,instead decided to found the PC Company.I can go on with the comparisons, for all of us when compared fall short. so what does success mean? how would you define it?. What is success in your eyes?.



http://bloggerlounge.net/2007/05/31/inspirational-dropouts/#more-338

Choose the Good Portion

In today's Gospel reading Luke:10,38-42. Is the story of the 2 sisters. Martha and Mary. Martha complains to Jesus, saying Mary is sitting idly by His side, whereas she is left to take care of all the hospitality chores. Jesus says to her so gently" Martha, Martha you are troubled and anxious about so many things, Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her".

This struck a powerfull chord in me.Lately I have been vexed about many work related issues which were out of my control and spoiling my whole week-end as these nagging doubts and worries were playing in the back of my mind.When you are troubled, your dreams reflects the state of your mind, and you awake in the morning with a tired feeling as your sleep was disturbed by vague restless dreams,which in turn affects your attitude and therein an unhappy marriage of a vicious cycle!!!.That is what has been happening to me since Friday!! The reading today was a bucket of icy cold water being dumped on head!!It definitely woke me up with a vengeance!!!.I was Martha, worrying about things and people beyond my control and all I had to show for my worries were dark circles under my eyes!!!Not at all pleasant!!!In all my day to day stress I had forgotten that I already had the good portion!! Instead of laying my cares on the more than capable shoulders of the Almighty,my mind was misguiding me into thinking everything was under my control. Hardly the case,if truth be told!!!.Then why was I losing sleep?(literally!!!).

When clouds darken your skies
threatening with impending storms
Take a step in Faith
Choose the Good Portion.

When all seems lost
And in reality it seems impossible
Take a step in Faith
Choose the Good Portion

When people say it cannot be done
And none may stand by your side
Take a step in Faith
Choose the Good Portion

When troubles and sickness weigh you down
And you feel you cannot go on
Take a step in Faith
Choose the Good Portion

Though heaven and earth may pass away
His Word does stand true
Martha...Martha I say to you
Choose the Good Portion
It shall not be taken away from you!

Does Not Knowing Justify the Taking?

Comments from a blogger on my recent post " Moment of Truth" got me thinking and the reason for this latest post.The blogger said, if they knew the source of the money then you do the right thing and return it to the rightful owner,if not why return?.Hmmm...so hypothetically speaking, say on one Monday evening,after a long gruelling day at work on your way home, you fight your way thro' the crowded subway and manage to get into the train before it slams shut on your face. You find this one seat still available and thanking your lucky stars you plonk down on the seat to find a bag under your feet,curiously opening the bag...i know!! i know!!Put aside your neo post 9/11 phobia of unattended packages for a minute!!!....you open the bag and find unaccounted money in the bag.Then do you take the money as gift from above or do you try to find the rightful owner and give it back?... It happens to me all the time, I mean, not finding a bag of money, but while walking on the crowded Manhattan streets with my friends. My friends usually ask me step aside, so they can pick up the $20 bill I was standing on!!! They simply follow the adage of "Finders Keepers". So does that mean it's o.k. to keep the smaller bills, but if larger sum then handover to proper authorities?. But large or small it is the concept that matters right?.How do we justify it? Does our necessity justifies the taking?. or not knowing who it belongs to?.

Touching God

If I Don't Have You
What is fresh breath I inhale
Or the blood coursing through my veins
Renewing life within these bones

If I don't have You
What is birth
Or blossoming youth
The dawn and sunset of my life
But a trifle on the earthly kaleidoscope

If I don't have You
Rise to Fame
Nor riches to accentuate my strength
Are but moth eaten garments

If I don't have You
Though in the eyes of the world
I may have everything
Yet I have nothing
I am nothing

When I have You
I lack nothing
You are the fullness of my life
I have everything

Moment of Truth

I read this article in Yahoo News today of "substantial" amount of money falling from the sky in Worms in Berlin. A young woman was driving down the motorway, I am sure preoccupied with thoughts on day's cares, when suddenly she noticed Euros swirling around her car. She stopped her car, tried unsuccessfully to catch all the flying Euros, and went to the Police Station to report the incident. When she led them back to the scene only to find the others had vanished into thin air.It made me wonder,the person in the story was ethical enough to handover the money but obviously the motorists who came after her did not share the same sentiment, hence the vanishing Euros.My question is this. If you were in the woman's shoes what would you have done?. Me?, I am glad it was not me making the choice!.

for full coverage on this story, check out the below link

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070705/od_nm/germany_money_dc;_ylt=Ah8.O0hJrd.LDHmRXwZzUFcZ.3QA

The Lost Entity

Every Summer, I always looked forward to the long week-end holidays of Memorial Day Weekend and the July 4Th.I didn't particularly care for Labor Day Weekend as it denotes the end of long idyllic summer days and the onset of blustery short cold days. But this year, all my planning was for naught!!July 4Th happened to fall right smack in the middle of the week- WEDNESDAY!!! What was that all about? what about my long weekend?. July 4Th was supposed to fall either on Friday or Monday!! not Wednesday!! Not just one measly day off!!.You might ask, why not take 2 days off to make a very long week-end, and ideally that is what I would have done, had I not previously and recklessly( in retrospect) used up my vacation time, leaving me no option but to go to work on Thursday and Friday.

Trying to salvage what I could, I left office early around 3.00ish on Wednesday rushing out of the office to enjoy some "vacation time", as I walked from my office to Port Authority to take the bus home, right in the corner intersection on 40Th and 8Th Avenue by the construction site of the new " New York Times " building in Times Square, I saw a homeless man, sprawled on the road leaning against the wooden boards of the construction site. You could hardly miss him.I smelt him halfway down the block before I came across him. His face was weather darkened and his unkempt matted hair and beard covered his face so I could hardly see his expression. But the little I could see, squashed any idea of approaching him to offer some money. Rather than walk anywhere near him, I crossed the road and took a round about route to reach my destination. I felt a momentary pang of sadness for this man but soon forgot about him and started thinking of how to maximize my short " vacation".

The next day on July 4Th,I had made plans to go shopping with my friends,rather than go to a barbecue. For one thing, it was safer for my waist line and other the weather was definitely not cooperating and it looked like we were going to get rained on. I preferred to be indoors feasting my eyes on the latest fashion while sipping mocha frappacchino than sitting in the patio looking at the extremely undercooked drumstick offered graciously by my culinary challenged friend while the rain drummed down my ears. Not an appealing picture!.

I got out of Port Authority and started walking towards Macy's on 34Th street,when a sudden stench made my stomach turn. I looked towards the corner of 40Th and 8Th avenue and to my amazement the homeless man lay in the same position I saw him on the previous day. It looked like he had not moved at all in all that time. I saw passers by walking past him, ignoring him and there he lay in his motionless state staring blankly at the space in front of him. I tried to not stare at him as I walked past him when a friend of mine I had not seen in a while came by, soon chatting with him, I got distracted and we walked past the lifeless man and headed on our way. Later in the day, after spending a relaxing day shopping with my friends I headed back home and as I neared Port Authority the familiar stench wafted by and there he was in the same position.

I could no longer ignore him. All Jesus's teachings flashed by in my head. The Good Samaritan Story and to also paraphrase another verse in bible, when Jesus on Judgement Day separates the good from bad and asks " When I was hungry did you feed Me? ".When He questions me, what do I say?. But in the same token, that man scared the living daylights out of me. I was not courageous enough to approach him on my own. As an answer to my dilemma I saw two police officers nearby and I approached them and asked them if they would stand near by while I offered the man some food just in case if the man took upon himself to attack me rather than take the food.But one of the police officers warned me not to offer food but be on my way. When I asked him, what was to become of the homeless man, he informed me there were shelters for homeless and I should stay clear of the man and to reinstate his point, he told me, his wife was attacked while offering food to an homeless man so I should just walk away.

I slowly headed on home, feeling completely inadequate. I know, me offering a sandwich is not going to improve that man's life by any standard but it would have assuaged my conscience and it would have been a respite more for me than that man, but I was denied. Should I have tried some way to help him? what could have I done?. Did I become that person who walks past the suffering humanity and consider them as Human Refuse?.

I know we will always have the poor, but if we do not try to eradicate it and try to provide better conditions for the less fortunate but become disenchanted, what does that make us as a society?.That homeless man held a looking glass mirror in front of me, and what I saw I did not like!, I know I failed this day and I hope I will not forget this pain soon, for if I did, it will be the death of my soul.