Happy Easter
The Bible is full of contradicting incidents. Jesus Christ beseeches tolerance and forgiveness in one part and in the pages that follow he whips moneylenders that are defiling the temple of His Father.
Show the other cheek or Slap the other cheek?
It was all very confusing to me. I stopped going to church as a result.
However, today I realize that all of this did not matter. What mattered was that in the end, on Good Friday, Jesus Christ gave the world his greatest teaching. He took the weight of the world's sins on his shoulders and in one of the all time great sentences, said, "Forgive them Lord, they know not what they do." He showed the other cheek in a manner that the greatest Other Cheek Shower could not even begin to match. It is important to note that He asked his Father to forgive his brothers in a spirit of true forgiveness, without a trace of condescension.
On one of the many TV channels, I saw one Christian feeling very bitter towards the Jews for "killing Jesus". It surprised me to say the least. Jesus died out of his own choice. He wasn't murdered. He died so that he might be reborn again. New beginnings and all that. The first spring in the world, if the seasons were counted off on a cosmic scale. And the weather channel can testify to the fact that it has been a long winter.
Happy Easter.
The Bible is full of contradicting incidents. Jesus Christ beseeches tolerance and forgiveness in one part and in the pages that follow he whips moneylenders that are defiling the temple of His Father.
Show the other cheek or Slap the other cheek?
It was all very confusing to me. I stopped going to church as a result.
However, today I realize that all of this did not matter. What mattered was that in the end, on Good Friday, Jesus Christ gave the world his greatest teaching. He took the weight of the world's sins on his shoulders and in one of the all time great sentences, said, "Forgive them Lord, they know not what they do." He showed the other cheek in a manner that the greatest Other Cheek Shower could not even begin to match. It is important to note that He asked his Father to forgive his brothers in a spirit of true forgiveness, without a trace of condescension.
On one of the many TV channels, I saw one Christian feeling very bitter towards the Jews for "killing Jesus". It surprised me to say the least. Jesus died out of his own choice. He wasn't murdered. He died so that he might be reborn again. New beginnings and all that. The first spring in the world, if the seasons were counted off on a cosmic scale. And the weather channel can testify to the fact that it has been a long winter.
Happy Easter.
Another sort of cowboy
As I reread my outpourings over the week, I realized two things. One, I am complaining too much about the inevitable unfolding of the war.
And two, I truly believe that the schism of opinion between the government and the American people is widening everyday. If the Republican Party were to lose the election next year, neglect of the economy would be only one of the reasons for the defeat. Since the future looks bright, let us move on the many things that are right in the world – that it is Friday evening in New York City is only one of them.
There is a saying that half the world does not know how the other two-thirds live. If much of the world knows and loves Americans, the much maligned Hollywood industry can rightfully take some of the credit for reinforcing time tested emotions of love and happiness, and once in a while evoking new ones.
Like they did in the movie Drugstore Cowboy. This movie is about a group of people that take delight in robbing drugstores and getting high. A short while into the movie, the main protagonist’s mother rebukes him for “being like a kid running around with a care in the world.”
The hero shrugs this complaint off, pushes his drug stealing capabilities and body to the extreme. He gets disillusioned by a series of incidents. All rationale fails and he makes a leap of faith. He tries to clean up his act in the end. I was very intrigued by this plot. The hero was living life in an Octopus’s Garden, so to speak, “singing and dancing around,” and “no one there to tell him what to do.” He didn’t grow up looking at other people and imitating their mannerisms. He let life run its true course and chose a path in the end. In this manner he was very similar to Siddhartha in Herman Hesse’s masterpiece. Siddhartha runs into the Buddha in the jungle, rejects his teachings and opts for a life of extreme hedonism. There is no room for fear in his existence and he flourishes. There is always wealth, wine and a woman in his immediate vicinity. He lives his life in this manner till the book begins to run out of pages. In the end, he sees a river, shots of a quick memo to the Sanitation department and discovers for himself the meaning of life.
What is a non-violent state of mind? Imagine you have a craving for pizza. Non-violence is not about starving yourself and denying yourself of a pizza slice. A more non-violent state of mind is having three slices of pizza and not thinking about pizza again as you go about your work.
As I reread my outpourings over the week, I realized two things. One, I am complaining too much about the inevitable unfolding of the war.
And two, I truly believe that the schism of opinion between the government and the American people is widening everyday. If the Republican Party were to lose the election next year, neglect of the economy would be only one of the reasons for the defeat. Since the future looks bright, let us move on the many things that are right in the world – that it is Friday evening in New York City is only one of them.
There is a saying that half the world does not know how the other two-thirds live. If much of the world knows and loves Americans, the much maligned Hollywood industry can rightfully take some of the credit for reinforcing time tested emotions of love and happiness, and once in a while evoking new ones.
Like they did in the movie Drugstore Cowboy. This movie is about a group of people that take delight in robbing drugstores and getting high. A short while into the movie, the main protagonist’s mother rebukes him for “being like a kid running around with a care in the world.”
The hero shrugs this complaint off, pushes his drug stealing capabilities and body to the extreme. He gets disillusioned by a series of incidents. All rationale fails and he makes a leap of faith. He tries to clean up his act in the end. I was very intrigued by this plot. The hero was living life in an Octopus’s Garden, so to speak, “singing and dancing around,” and “no one there to tell him what to do.” He didn’t grow up looking at other people and imitating their mannerisms. He let life run its true course and chose a path in the end. In this manner he was very similar to Siddhartha in Herman Hesse’s masterpiece. Siddhartha runs into the Buddha in the jungle, rejects his teachings and opts for a life of extreme hedonism. There is no room for fear in his existence and he flourishes. There is always wealth, wine and a woman in his immediate vicinity. He lives his life in this manner till the book begins to run out of pages. In the end, he sees a river, shots of a quick memo to the Sanitation department and discovers for himself the meaning of life.
What is a non-violent state of mind? Imagine you have a craving for pizza. Non-violence is not about starving yourself and denying yourself of a pizza slice. A more non-violent state of mind is having three slices of pizza and not thinking about pizza again as you go about your work.
An ant's humble plea
I am an ant
I am black
As far as I can remember
And my master is red
Or is the other way around?
For you see, in addition to have never been exposed to paintings
My master has gouged out both of my eyes.
My master is huge
I do not grudge him his own anthill
On the other hand
I feel bad when I see my brothers and sisters
Stay in one right in the middle of the Interstate,
Gasoline fumes are bad for health
Not to mention the fact that cars, lorries, SUVs, minivans, bicycles
And even feet run over us continuously.
I want to overthrow my ruler
You want to overthrow my ruler
It looks like we might have something in common
Then why do you starve my fellow people and me
When we need all the strength to lift our ruler
And hurl him to the ground?
I am an ant
I am black
As far as I can remember
And my master is red
Or is the other way around?
For you see, in addition to have never been exposed to paintings
My master has gouged out both of my eyes.
My master is huge
I do not grudge him his own anthill
On the other hand
I feel bad when I see my brothers and sisters
Stay in one right in the middle of the Interstate,
Gasoline fumes are bad for health
Not to mention the fact that cars, lorries, SUVs, minivans, bicycles
And even feet run over us continuously.
I want to overthrow my ruler
You want to overthrow my ruler
It looks like we might have something in common
Then why do you starve my fellow people and me
When we need all the strength to lift our ruler
And hurl him to the ground?
Tomorrow's headlines
It is a matter of time before Weapons of Mass Destruction are found in Iraq. Maybe they were planted.
On the other hand, maybe not.
This will not matter. What will matter is that especially after the joyous scenes of Iraqis toppling Saddam's statue, this discovery will effectively shut out the antiwar movement. It is here that there lies maximum potential for the discussion to revolve around the issue of the origin of the weapons (some of which might say, “Made in America"). This is an important issue, though there is a risk of obfuscating the greater picture completely.
That Iraq has a stockpile of chemical weapons is only part of the issue. Many nations have developed similar (and more) quantities of chemical and biological weapons. What is important is that these weapons were thankfully never used.
They could not been seen, could not be felt and raised the temperatures in many a meeting room.
Sounds like a bunch of hot air to me.
It is a matter of time before Weapons of Mass Destruction are found in Iraq. Maybe they were planted.
On the other hand, maybe not.
This will not matter. What will matter is that especially after the joyous scenes of Iraqis toppling Saddam's statue, this discovery will effectively shut out the antiwar movement. It is here that there lies maximum potential for the discussion to revolve around the issue of the origin of the weapons (some of which might say, “Made in America"). This is an important issue, though there is a risk of obfuscating the greater picture completely.
That Iraq has a stockpile of chemical weapons is only part of the issue. Many nations have developed similar (and more) quantities of chemical and biological weapons. What is important is that these weapons were thankfully never used.
They could not been seen, could not be felt and raised the temperatures in many a meeting room.
Sounds like a bunch of hot air to me.
OFF
BBC NEWS | Americas | End Iraq sanctions, says Bush
Many an opinion leader will read into every sentence in this speech and assign dubious motives.
That does not matter. I want to give President Bush credit for asking to end the sanctions. These sanctions never weakened Saddam's stranglehold and on the contrary, punished millions of innocents.
Oil for vehicles. That sounds logical.
Oil for food. Sounds bad for health.
BBC NEWS | Americas | End Iraq sanctions, says Bush
Many an opinion leader will read into every sentence in this speech and assign dubious motives.
That does not matter. I want to give President Bush credit for asking to end the sanctions. These sanctions never weakened Saddam's stranglehold and on the contrary, punished millions of innocents.
Oil for vehicles. That sounds logical.
Oil for food. Sounds bad for health.
Distractions
When I wanted to quit smoking, I invented a method called the Multiple Distraction technique. It worked as follows. When I felt like having a cigarette I thought of another temptation, say honey -roasted peanuts. Then while walking towards a peanut vendor, I thought of a banana split. Not allowing any of these mouthwatering images to settle in my mind, I proceeded to ogle at the multitudes of women that grow along with the garden flowers in summer, adding a powerful ingredient to this already heady mix. In this manner, my mind was never allowed to settle and in this whirlpool of distractions, I completely forgot to smoke.
Thinking back I realize as to how I never invented this process. I merely plagiarized it, albeit subconsciously. For isn’t this what our President excels at doing? In the run up to the election, when his financial planning with large loopholes was under focus, he utilized words such as “strategery” to divert the attention of the hard-nosed journalists. He didn’t want the media to take him too seriously, and they never did.
Perhaps, they should have treated him with a little more respect .In reality, Mr. Bush is a very clever man. It is no wonder that he has control over both the Houses. In addition to this, he has completely sidelined the Democrats. They have no leader and no voice in the media. And to boot, he has managed to steer clear of any major talk about the economy.
The war in Iraq draws to a close. Public interest in the war is waning. There is always a risk that the media might go back to talking about the economy again.
Not if they have Syria to talk about. If Mr. Bush ever spoke of honey-roasted peanuts in the State of the Union address, don’t laugh him off. He is sure to have a reason.
When I wanted to quit smoking, I invented a method called the Multiple Distraction technique. It worked as follows. When I felt like having a cigarette I thought of another temptation, say honey -roasted peanuts. Then while walking towards a peanut vendor, I thought of a banana split. Not allowing any of these mouthwatering images to settle in my mind, I proceeded to ogle at the multitudes of women that grow along with the garden flowers in summer, adding a powerful ingredient to this already heady mix. In this manner, my mind was never allowed to settle and in this whirlpool of distractions, I completely forgot to smoke.
Thinking back I realize as to how I never invented this process. I merely plagiarized it, albeit subconsciously. For isn’t this what our President excels at doing? In the run up to the election, when his financial planning with large loopholes was under focus, he utilized words such as “strategery” to divert the attention of the hard-nosed journalists. He didn’t want the media to take him too seriously, and they never did.
Perhaps, they should have treated him with a little more respect .In reality, Mr. Bush is a very clever man. It is no wonder that he has control over both the Houses. In addition to this, he has completely sidelined the Democrats. They have no leader and no voice in the media. And to boot, he has managed to steer clear of any major talk about the economy.
The war in Iraq draws to a close. Public interest in the war is waning. There is always a risk that the media might go back to talking about the economy again.
Not if they have Syria to talk about. If Mr. Bush ever spoke of honey-roasted peanuts in the State of the Union address, don’t laugh him off. He is sure to have a reason.
Where do the children play?
The people of Iraq have been suffering heavily at the hands of two oppressors: Saddam Hussein and the needless, conveniently idealistic sanctions imposed by the Western Governments.
Let us plant some flowers in Iraq.
Plant a flower
The billowing smoke does not have to be the only thing constant on the skyline.
The people of Iraq have been suffering heavily at the hands of two oppressors: Saddam Hussein and the needless, conveniently idealistic sanctions imposed by the Western Governments.
Let us plant some flowers in Iraq.
Plant a flower
The billowing smoke does not have to be the only thing constant on the skyline.
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