Aristotle had to say this about wisdom: “Wisdom is the right combination of will and skill”. I had a link in my inbox this week (one of those euphoric moments when an e-mail has something that takes you away from the daily rigor, even if for a brief while, only to bring you back that much more enriched) – this one that delved on our apparent loss of wisdom. Delving straight into the specific 'loss' that prominent psychology researcher Barry Schwartz refers to, he mentions how rules and incentives have forced, or rather clouded, our thinking to ignore practical wisdom in daily lives.
Barry brings up a job description of a typical janitor in a nursing home or hospital and speaks of how the particular job function is so different from ones we encounter in our daily lives – the difference between that of a janitor involves practically no human interaction for 99.99% of the associated tasks. The excellent underlying thought here being that any job description that involves human interactions has to have a scope that is not so rigidly defined so as to limit practical wisdom influencing the daily operations and allowing one to 'do the right thing'. The anecdote from the talk that had an impact on me was the specific one relating to how a father buys lemonade at a concession stand for his young son without realizing that it has a small alcohol content. The series of events that unfold separate the father and the son for nearly 3 weeks; more interestingly and rather curiously, the story notes how at every step of the way – the emergency worker, the judge, etc say that it seems awkward but that they are bound by the rules and regulations that govern their daily lives and determine every specific sequence of action they have to follow.
Coming to our daily lives, I am sure each one of us has at least one pet peeve that is a repetitive part of our job which we have very logical reasons for doing differently, but as the obedient soles that we are, don’t disturb the hornet’s nest. If in our daily roles, as empowering leaders, we can create the space for the teams to be that much more practical in following the rules, we would make our workplaces that much better than we found it in the first place. As Barry notes, rules and regulations are a must and even necessary evil of the society for it would be chaos without them. Where we have to make a distinction is to realize where human interactions are involved, and when dealing with these ‘moral’ roles, create the space for individuals to exhibit their practical wisdom. By creating more rules, and incentives for following the rules, we are creating a society that rewards what might actually be expected behavior in the first place. The anecdote about how having nuclear waste dumps in the local community evoked drastically different responses from Swiss citizen polls, when an incentive was added to the offer, shows how incentives become counterproductive sometimes as you start evaluating 'benefits' from following rules. Where people considered it as a responsibility and a duty in the first place became a calculation of whether it was'worth' the incentive. Considering Barry’s rare expertise in analyzing the economics side of human psychology, he couldn’t help bringing up the fact that the incentives (bonuses) augmenting the rules being part of the economic problems we are dealing with. His proposed solution to fixing the markets isn’t more rules and regulation, neither he is advocating more ethics courses. Rather, in a refreshing way, the onus is on individuals to be "moral exemplars” in every opportune moment, every day of life.
As a frequent listener to Barry Schwartz and other prominent speakers whose lectures revolve around human psychology, I can attest to time spent listening to TED lectures, as being well spent. Here is the complete 20-min talk.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Proverbial Professions
An apple a day, says the doctor,
Obey or disobey, they have the final say;
You eat the fruit and you get the sugar,
They get you finally, one way or the other!
Where there is a will, there is a lawyer,
There is a way, they will always say;
You win or you lose, it doesn’t matter,
End of the day, they are the ones richer!
Make hay in sunshine, says the banker,
When in trouble, they point to the bubble;
Going up or going down, they always have an answer,
Come rain or come shine, only their bonus is fine!
Time and tide, wait for no engineer,
Every problem, they jump up to conquer;
By design or not, no invention is perfect,
What they make sure, is to have questions after!
Obey or disobey, they have the final say;
You eat the fruit and you get the sugar,
They get you finally, one way or the other!
Where there is a will, there is a lawyer,
There is a way, they will always say;
You win or you lose, it doesn’t matter,
End of the day, they are the ones richer!
Make hay in sunshine, says the banker,
When in trouble, they point to the bubble;
Going up or going down, they always have an answer,
Come rain or come shine, only their bonus is fine!
Time and tide, wait for no engineer,
Every problem, they jump up to conquer;
By design or not, no invention is perfect,
What they make sure, is to have questions after!
Lost and Found
Where are they hiding? I am referring to the current era’s equivalent of Newton, Edison or Einstein….have we truly seen the extinction of individual magnificence wherein the individual had the exemplary ability to positively impact the world single handed?
Ever since stumbling upon an article this week on “Group Coherence”, as part of my discovery of applying Agile principles to software development and management, I have been thinking if as a society we have started favoring group achievements over individual brilliance. For long, I have heard that teamwork is essential and the most key ingredient to success, which I do not disagree with even for a bit. Also, lest I am construed as favoring prima donnas, my position on this is far from it. Rather, I am left wondering how much of an impact the evolution of mankind has had in the past century in moving away from celebrating individual achievements to relishing team backed successes.
There are definitely individual beacons still around in every industry – the folks that have made a name for themselves through their own sheer hard work or by channelizing the genius in them towards making hallmark accomplishments. But they are also far and few between, and none that can walk or talk on the same plane as the fathers of every field of science or medicine, as we have come to call them. I am reminded of an anecdote where Einstein’s chauffeur apparently chided him once that questions posed to him after his lectures were so simple that even he could answer them. Einstein offered his chauffeur to take his place on the stage for the next lecture because people then didn’t know him by face all over. Apparently so intriguing was this experience for the chauffeur, upon being posed questions, that he told the audience “since these aren’t worth my while, I will ask my chauffeur who’s sitting in the audience (the real Einstein) to address these”!!! Looking beyond the presence of mind and the intellect that even Einstein’s chauffeur possessed, this brings up a very important aspect of the society then – individuals were celebrated but the real glory went to the work and the person doing it was more of a medium that they saw the work through. This explains the anonymity of the face, but not the name.
My reasoning for our current situation is as follows: since the era of the Newtons and the Edisons, over time, we have probably moved to a point where the individual got more prominence than the work itself. Now, the course correction in our evolution kicked in and we are balancing it by going to the other extreme of not looking upon individual brilliance on the same footing as much as we delve upon 'group coherence'. Every scientist that shares something valuable to the world now has a research team behind him or her; every innovation we see has a group associated against it, even a cursory glance at the recent history of patents I have been looking at from the US Patent and Trademark office has a whole list of names on each one, and the list goes on…
I am not immune to this transformation either: I have also been touting the team spirit horn on my teams at every available opportunity. For me the awakening has begun. For the benefit of getting others to jump on this bandwagon, let's look at it this way: there was never a better time to reevaluate our perspective on individual achievements and our broad reactions to it. Make no mistake – playing by the team and working as part of a larger ecosystem is more important today than ever before, but let us consciously make an attempt to encourage and reward individual brilliance as well.
Ever since stumbling upon an article this week on “Group Coherence”, as part of my discovery of applying Agile principles to software development and management, I have been thinking if as a society we have started favoring group achievements over individual brilliance. For long, I have heard that teamwork is essential and the most key ingredient to success, which I do not disagree with even for a bit. Also, lest I am construed as favoring prima donnas, my position on this is far from it. Rather, I am left wondering how much of an impact the evolution of mankind has had in the past century in moving away from celebrating individual achievements to relishing team backed successes.
There are definitely individual beacons still around in every industry – the folks that have made a name for themselves through their own sheer hard work or by channelizing the genius in them towards making hallmark accomplishments. But they are also far and few between, and none that can walk or talk on the same plane as the fathers of every field of science or medicine, as we have come to call them. I am reminded of an anecdote where Einstein’s chauffeur apparently chided him once that questions posed to him after his lectures were so simple that even he could answer them. Einstein offered his chauffeur to take his place on the stage for the next lecture because people then didn’t know him by face all over. Apparently so intriguing was this experience for the chauffeur, upon being posed questions, that he told the audience “since these aren’t worth my while, I will ask my chauffeur who’s sitting in the audience (the real Einstein) to address these”!!! Looking beyond the presence of mind and the intellect that even Einstein’s chauffeur possessed, this brings up a very important aspect of the society then – individuals were celebrated but the real glory went to the work and the person doing it was more of a medium that they saw the work through. This explains the anonymity of the face, but not the name.
My reasoning for our current situation is as follows: since the era of the Newtons and the Edisons, over time, we have probably moved to a point where the individual got more prominence than the work itself. Now, the course correction in our evolution kicked in and we are balancing it by going to the other extreme of not looking upon individual brilliance on the same footing as much as we delve upon 'group coherence'. Every scientist that shares something valuable to the world now has a research team behind him or her; every innovation we see has a group associated against it, even a cursory glance at the recent history of patents I have been looking at from the US Patent and Trademark office has a whole list of names on each one, and the list goes on…
I am not immune to this transformation either: I have also been touting the team spirit horn on my teams at every available opportunity. For me the awakening has begun. For the benefit of getting others to jump on this bandwagon, let's look at it this way: there was never a better time to reevaluate our perspective on individual achievements and our broad reactions to it. Make no mistake – playing by the team and working as part of a larger ecosystem is more important today than ever before, but let us consciously make an attempt to encourage and reward individual brilliance as well.
human life <> technology generation
I recently experienced the technology of receiving the "bar coded boarding pass" on my cell phone, via e-mail, which I could just swipe prior to boarding the aircraft (no paper whatsoever!). This led me to think about the advancements in technology during my lifetime and how we see multiple generations of it in one lifetime of ours - the quartet below is a tribute to that!
When the telegram gave way to the letter,
Communications surely changed for ever;
Just when you thought it couldn't get any better,
Began the era of e-mail on the computer!
Televisions evolved from Black and White to color,
Transformation in displays was much sooner;
Looking beyond the question of projection or plasma,
Began the era of the LCD charisma!
Reading used to be on the old styled book,
Carried it around every corner and nook;
To prevent a pile up that needed a ladder,
Began the era of the e-book reader!
Calls over the wired phone began with the trunk kind,
Slowly and surely happened the liberation of the bind;
Trying to come up with an all-in-one solution,
Began the era of the mobile revolution!
When the telegram gave way to the letter,
Communications surely changed for ever;
Just when you thought it couldn't get any better,
Began the era of e-mail on the computer!
Televisions evolved from Black and White to color,
Transformation in displays was much sooner;
Looking beyond the question of projection or plasma,
Began the era of the LCD charisma!
Reading used to be on the old styled book,
Carried it around every corner and nook;
To prevent a pile up that needed a ladder,
Began the era of the e-book reader!
Calls over the wired phone began with the trunk kind,
Slowly and surely happened the liberation of the bind;
Trying to come up with an all-in-one solution,
Began the era of the mobile revolution!
The moment is NOW!
These are the times when I see every medium, be it the TV, the Internet, even the fifth estate speaking of the stress in the lives of everyone; most of it is being attributed to the contraction we are facing in the economy. I happened to listen to an audio book on my business trip last week, one part of which had a very interesting anecdote from the speaker on how to deal with stress and it delved into the psychological aspects (the not so apparent sources of stress).
Apparently, a very well educated and highly literate but arrogant scholar was crossing a river in a boat, and he had this ensuing conversation with the boatman:
Scholar: Are you familiar with Sahitya (literature)?
Boatman: No, Sir, rowing the boat is my sole means of livelihood and I have had no opportunity to become familiar with it.
S: A quarter of your life is wasted then; have you at least encountered Alankaara Shastra, which is a very deeply regarded aspect of human lives?
B: No Swamiji, I am not familiar with it...
S: Then another quarter of your life is wasted because it is a beautiful thing you have missed in life. Are you at least familiar with the language - Sanskrit - which is the language of understanding and describing intelligent aspects of the world?
B: No Sir, I am not familiar with it...
S: Then another quarter of your life is wasted for you haven't had a chance to touch upon any of these divine literary pieces.
The boatman continued to row, understanding the scholar doesn't understand his position in life....a little while later, the boatman sees a hole in their boat
B: Sir, are you familiar with "tharana vidhya" (for those who aren't aware, this is the art of swimming!)
S: No, I am not...
B: Then, Sir, your full life is wasted for we have a hole which is allowing water to seep in....
And then the boatman jumps overboard onto the river and swims his way to safety while apparently the scholar drowns. The speaker in the audio book used this as an example to say that one might be an expert in physics, botany, whatever. But, if one does not have the knowledge to cross over the sorrow and the stress and have what it takes to tide over it, then all of the other acquired knowledge is useless. What is this stress? I do not wish to go into the specifics of the entire discourse for this would become a book instead of an article! Essentially, the speaker categorizes the answer to this question into 3 areas - (1) understanding oneself and realizing what materialism (distinguishing between wants and needs) is for there is richness in poverty and poverty in richness; (2) the aspect of living in a state of joy by staying in the present at all times; (3) operating from a sense of emptiness and fullness according to the situation on hand.
If I were to summarize it all in one simple sentence - we should begin to think of every thought we have as not affecting us but rather looking at ourselves as an empty space where thoughts come and go, it leads to a sense of not being attached to emotions. He uses another aspect of daily life to explain this -
"When you are at home, you think of work; when at work, you think of elsewhere and so on......". By this, one is not able to be in the moment and experience the moment.
Apparently, the story behind "Chidambara rahasya" ("rahasya" means secret; for those who aren't aware, it refers to the empty spot behind the Nataraja statue within the Chidambaram temple in South India) is that it is the symbolic reference to the operating with emptiness. When you have a thought that is negative, it symbolizes a need to have an emptiness, which is a state that you need to take on so that it is the thought that visits you and leaves you, and the thought itself does not become you. This, according to this expert on people behavior, is the best approach to tackling stress. The beauty of this approach is that it automatically addresses a number of things: - looking at other people and actions as just that and not making inferences, objective approach to every situation, not carrying baggage from the past, isolating negative thoughts from influencing actions, and most importantly helping deal with daily obstacles in life.
I don't mean to say that it's a simple open and close book case or a simple matter of solving a logical puzzle. I personally tried practicing this "staying in the moment" in the past week or so (part of the reason behind my abstinence from posting any article in this period as I wanted to try this before preaching it) and tried to really consciously stay in the moment every single second that I was awake. It was really hard at the beginning as I found my thoughts wandering all the time but I found that once I was able to exert control onto myself consciously in the form of being in the moment, I started looking at possible approaches to daily situations that I am not sure I would have thought of, earlier. Those who know me would say I am not of the kind that gets stressed very easily, but I can honestly see the positive impact this simple approach has had in my life already. I have by no means perfected it yet. I am sharing this in the hope that it really makes someone's day, or goes at least some level towards alleviating the stress of someone reading this article - that, my friends, would make my day!!!
Apparently, a very well educated and highly literate but arrogant scholar was crossing a river in a boat, and he had this ensuing conversation with the boatman:
Scholar: Are you familiar with Sahitya (literature)?
Boatman: No, Sir, rowing the boat is my sole means of livelihood and I have had no opportunity to become familiar with it.
S: A quarter of your life is wasted then; have you at least encountered Alankaara Shastra, which is a very deeply regarded aspect of human lives?
B: No Swamiji, I am not familiar with it...
S: Then another quarter of your life is wasted because it is a beautiful thing you have missed in life. Are you at least familiar with the language - Sanskrit - which is the language of understanding and describing intelligent aspects of the world?
B: No Sir, I am not familiar with it...
S: Then another quarter of your life is wasted for you haven't had a chance to touch upon any of these divine literary pieces.
The boatman continued to row, understanding the scholar doesn't understand his position in life....a little while later, the boatman sees a hole in their boat
B: Sir, are you familiar with "tharana vidhya" (for those who aren't aware, this is the art of swimming!)
S: No, I am not...
B: Then, Sir, your full life is wasted for we have a hole which is allowing water to seep in....
And then the boatman jumps overboard onto the river and swims his way to safety while apparently the scholar drowns. The speaker in the audio book used this as an example to say that one might be an expert in physics, botany, whatever. But, if one does not have the knowledge to cross over the sorrow and the stress and have what it takes to tide over it, then all of the other acquired knowledge is useless. What is this stress? I do not wish to go into the specifics of the entire discourse for this would become a book instead of an article! Essentially, the speaker categorizes the answer to this question into 3 areas - (1) understanding oneself and realizing what materialism (distinguishing between wants and needs) is for there is richness in poverty and poverty in richness; (2) the aspect of living in a state of joy by staying in the present at all times; (3) operating from a sense of emptiness and fullness according to the situation on hand.
If I were to summarize it all in one simple sentence - we should begin to think of every thought we have as not affecting us but rather looking at ourselves as an empty space where thoughts come and go, it leads to a sense of not being attached to emotions. He uses another aspect of daily life to explain this -
"When you are at home, you think of work; when at work, you think of elsewhere and so on......". By this, one is not able to be in the moment and experience the moment.
Apparently, the story behind "Chidambara rahasya" ("rahasya" means secret; for those who aren't aware, it refers to the empty spot behind the Nataraja statue within the Chidambaram temple in South India) is that it is the symbolic reference to the operating with emptiness. When you have a thought that is negative, it symbolizes a need to have an emptiness, which is a state that you need to take on so that it is the thought that visits you and leaves you, and the thought itself does not become you. This, according to this expert on people behavior, is the best approach to tackling stress. The beauty of this approach is that it automatically addresses a number of things: - looking at other people and actions as just that and not making inferences, objective approach to every situation, not carrying baggage from the past, isolating negative thoughts from influencing actions, and most importantly helping deal with daily obstacles in life.
I don't mean to say that it's a simple open and close book case or a simple matter of solving a logical puzzle. I personally tried practicing this "staying in the moment" in the past week or so (part of the reason behind my abstinence from posting any article in this period as I wanted to try this before preaching it) and tried to really consciously stay in the moment every single second that I was awake. It was really hard at the beginning as I found my thoughts wandering all the time but I found that once I was able to exert control onto myself consciously in the form of being in the moment, I started looking at possible approaches to daily situations that I am not sure I would have thought of, earlier. Those who know me would say I am not of the kind that gets stressed very easily, but I can honestly see the positive impact this simple approach has had in my life already. I have by no means perfected it yet. I am sharing this in the hope that it really makes someone's day, or goes at least some level towards alleviating the stress of someone reading this article - that, my friends, would make my day!!!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Driven by Thought, or Powered by Action?
You really start to notice it when you lose an hour's sleep because of it - yes, I am referring to the Daylight Saving Time that kicked in at 2:00 AM local time today for those living in the North American continent. This article isn't about how it works, but rather why it's done and where it's done, and for probably the first time looking at how it's related to the priorities of the local land. I came across an excellent article in the Washington Post today that spoke of why the day light saving, which is at 1-hour adjustments in its present form, should be doubled.
Essentially, in terms of the impact (I put it as if it's a big thing, which it seems so - for today anyway), what happens is that the second Sunday of March sees the clocks turned forward by an hour in the wee hours of the morning. So, if you were accustomed to waking up at 6:00 in the morning every day, you would wake up with the auto-corrected clocks (one of Microsoft's less-frustrating and positive influences on our lives!) showing 7:00 in the morning. The reverse happens when winter starts to set in towards the end of the year, and day-light saving is turned off, so to speak. The reasons why this was originally started was to enable people to get an extra hour of day light in the evenings during the summer. With the American lifestyle of the summer revolving mainly around visiting ballparks for a game of baseball, or visiting friends and family for a barbecue, or even hanging out by the beach, this hour of sun light and natural warmth after a long day at work is relished upon. More so, when you have nearly 6 months of winter wherein you really get to see little or no day light, this is indeed a welcome and much anticipated opportunity to bask in the sun!
If it isn't clear already, I am heading towards the intangible aspects of the day light savings change - the improvement in the quality of life is what dictated this effort in adjusting clocks. To get an hour of quality time in the evenings, where one could spend his / her time outdoors, there has been a significant effort put in to alter anything under the sun (pun intended). Such is the value and emphasis on quality of life that certain socities seem to place. I did a quick search online to see which developing nations have adopted day light saving vis-a-vis the developed nations. It didn't surprise me one bit when my short and quick research this morning indicated that most of the countries that adopted day-light saving in the summer were further along the economic prosperity curve. I have not been able to find any research that links the GDP of a nation to whether it adopted day-light saving (maybe I should be enlisted by United Nations or some research funded group to do this!).
Inherently, this points to a very basic human trait that derives from the local culture - are we willing to do something purely to improve the quality of life? Or, is quality of life a secondary goal (at this specific instance) of a country's other numerous high-priority issues that call for more attention? The geographic specifics and local climes also dictate day-light saving as I have indicated. But looking beyond, can we look at the demographics? Does the selfless nature ingrained in some cultures play, at least some part, a role in not considering improving quality of life, a sole priority? I am sure no one would say quality of life isn't important - whether we are willing to do some thing exclusively for it is the question.
Essentially, in terms of the impact (I put it as if it's a big thing, which it seems so - for today anyway), what happens is that the second Sunday of March sees the clocks turned forward by an hour in the wee hours of the morning. So, if you were accustomed to waking up at 6:00 in the morning every day, you would wake up with the auto-corrected clocks (one of Microsoft's less-frustrating and positive influences on our lives!) showing 7:00 in the morning. The reverse happens when winter starts to set in towards the end of the year, and day-light saving is turned off, so to speak. The reasons why this was originally started was to enable people to get an extra hour of day light in the evenings during the summer. With the American lifestyle of the summer revolving mainly around visiting ballparks for a game of baseball, or visiting friends and family for a barbecue, or even hanging out by the beach, this hour of sun light and natural warmth after a long day at work is relished upon. More so, when you have nearly 6 months of winter wherein you really get to see little or no day light, this is indeed a welcome and much anticipated opportunity to bask in the sun!
If it isn't clear already, I am heading towards the intangible aspects of the day light savings change - the improvement in the quality of life is what dictated this effort in adjusting clocks. To get an hour of quality time in the evenings, where one could spend his / her time outdoors, there has been a significant effort put in to alter anything under the sun (pun intended). Such is the value and emphasis on quality of life that certain socities seem to place. I did a quick search online to see which developing nations have adopted day light saving vis-a-vis the developed nations. It didn't surprise me one bit when my short and quick research this morning indicated that most of the countries that adopted day-light saving in the summer were further along the economic prosperity curve. I have not been able to find any research that links the GDP of a nation to whether it adopted day-light saving (maybe I should be enlisted by United Nations or some research funded group to do this!).
Inherently, this points to a very basic human trait that derives from the local culture - are we willing to do something purely to improve the quality of life? Or, is quality of life a secondary goal (at this specific instance) of a country's other numerous high-priority issues that call for more attention? The geographic specifics and local climes also dictate day-light saving as I have indicated. But looking beyond, can we look at the demographics? Does the selfless nature ingrained in some cultures play, at least some part, a role in not considering improving quality of life, a sole priority? I am sure no one would say quality of life isn't important - whether we are willing to do some thing exclusively for it is the question.
Habits maketh the human!
The meeting is set for a specific hour,
Making it on time is doing yourself a favor;
It takes some effort to stick to it,
Punctuality is the name of this habit!
Driving on the roads you see a sign,
You honor it by staying within the line;
Aligning with rules wherever it is explicit,
Obedience is the name of this habit!
Stick to your word said my father,
It has stayed with me forever;
It ensures there is no room for deceit,
Truthfulness is the name of this habit!
You give a hand to someone in need,
While not caring about about caste or creed;
Helping others without expecting a benefit,
Considerate is the name of this habit!
You treat them kindly - be it friend or foe,
Chauffeur, waiter or even everyday Joe;
Whatever it takes to be gentle - so be it,
Respect for others is the name of this habit!
Wants and needs are totally different,
Maturity is what makes it apparent;
It isn't easy to stay away from credit,
Saving is the name of this habit!
Making it on time is doing yourself a favor;
It takes some effort to stick to it,
Punctuality is the name of this habit!
Driving on the roads you see a sign,
You honor it by staying within the line;
Aligning with rules wherever it is explicit,
Obedience is the name of this habit!
Stick to your word said my father,
It has stayed with me forever;
It ensures there is no room for deceit,
Truthfulness is the name of this habit!
You give a hand to someone in need,
While not caring about about caste or creed;
Helping others without expecting a benefit,
Considerate is the name of this habit!
You treat them kindly - be it friend or foe,
Chauffeur, waiter or even everyday Joe;
Whatever it takes to be gentle - so be it,
Respect for others is the name of this habit!
Wants and needs are totally different,
Maturity is what makes it apparent;
It isn't easy to stay away from credit,
Saving is the name of this habit!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The blessing that is schooling!
We were young when they started with the Alphabet,
The numbers came right after that;
Language came soon and so did grammar,
All we could do about it then was murmur!
Before I knew it, came by Geography of third grade,
By then, I couldn't distinguish between Belfast or Belgrade;
Not to be left behind was History,
Which to this day remains a mystery!
They started the sixth with elaborate math,
Which to most was a difficult path;
It seemed a while before it all made sense,
Which explains all the initial absence!
The first science I heard was of the moral kind,
Which helped explain the goal of mankind;
Science and math problems were of different kind,
To help comprehend it all, the teacher was the master mind!
The ninth grade introduced us to Calculus,
Practical use for it seemed much less;
Physics and Chemistry soon followed,
Equations and balancing were quickly mastered!
Finally we ended up in grade eleven,
We all felt like in heaven;
It was soon time to get out of school,
Wasn't that like being cool?
Finished school and moved on to college,
Without it all, life would have been a carnage;
It wasn't too late to realize,
That quality education was indeed a prize!
The numbers came right after that;
Language came soon and so did grammar,
All we could do about it then was murmur!
Before I knew it, came by Geography of third grade,
By then, I couldn't distinguish between Belfast or Belgrade;
Not to be left behind was History,
Which to this day remains a mystery!
They started the sixth with elaborate math,
Which to most was a difficult path;
It seemed a while before it all made sense,
Which explains all the initial absence!
The first science I heard was of the moral kind,
Which helped explain the goal of mankind;
Science and math problems were of different kind,
To help comprehend it all, the teacher was the master mind!
The ninth grade introduced us to Calculus,
Practical use for it seemed much less;
Physics and Chemistry soon followed,
Equations and balancing were quickly mastered!
Finally we ended up in grade eleven,
We all felt like in heaven;
It was soon time to get out of school,
Wasn't that like being cool?
Finished school and moved on to college,
Without it all, life would have been a carnage;
It wasn't too late to realize,
That quality education was indeed a prize!
Elimination by Isolation
Gandhi gave up his life to instill non-violence,
Terrorism is taking lives to defy all sense.
Day in and day out, there's news reports coming in on extremists' actions taking valuable lives. From being isolated incidents across the world, this is now stretching to specific regions of the world being isolated. The justification from the perpetrators is that of fulfilling their ideologies but no matter what angle you look at it, there can be simply no reason to consume innocent lives. The extremists or terrorists, however you word them, have no right to take away something they didn't create, period.
First it was the 09/11, then the London bombings, the Mumbai blasts in between - all gave widespread publicity. Interspersed between these incidents, I am sure there are other cases in lesser known places around the world which did not get the same publicity. Irrespective of the prosperity of the land affected, the bottom line was - human lives were lost. From being a regional menace, the issue on hand became a global problem with the mighty joining hands to eradicate this thorn of society.
There are various theories as to who helped groom the 'bad elements' of the respective societies. In some cases it was the local law of the land, in some cases external forces were to be blamed. In a few cases, oppression even was to be pointed at. I will leave the so called analysts and experts to provide judgmental opinions on the cause and effects of allowing this to blossom. The point I wish to make is simply this - there has to be a solution, and quickly at that, for the impact of every such incident has far reaching effects of gigantic proportions. I don't think there is any disagreement that the majority of such blatant activities originate from a specific region of the world. As soon as he took oath, the President of the United States, in spite of offering continued economic assistance and offering other support systems to the country in question, minced no words in highlighting this region as the problematic one, in one of his very first speeches. Canada and the United States are still debating how to get out of one side of this very region, and the Canadian premier even offered his honest insight yesterday that it may be impossible to defeat the insurgency there.
The political diplomacy didn't work, the governments resorted to using coercion and when that didn't work, they used force. But that isn't working by any stretch of imagination. What's the alternative? However controversial it may sound, I would take an "isolation" philosophy and approach to determining a solution - abandon all forms of trade with the region; stop providing economic aid or military assistance. Isolate the region by preventing anything other than medical or humanitarian support systems to pass through, either inside or outside. Yes, the initial going would be tough for the locals, but the governments' hands would be forced as its now a solely internal issue, instead of a regional or global problem, and they have to fix it. The most complex of problems have the seemingly simplest of solutions - maybe this does too.
Terrorism is taking lives to defy all sense.
Day in and day out, there's news reports coming in on extremists' actions taking valuable lives. From being isolated incidents across the world, this is now stretching to specific regions of the world being isolated. The justification from the perpetrators is that of fulfilling their ideologies but no matter what angle you look at it, there can be simply no reason to consume innocent lives. The extremists or terrorists, however you word them, have no right to take away something they didn't create, period.
First it was the 09/11, then the London bombings, the Mumbai blasts in between - all gave widespread publicity. Interspersed between these incidents, I am sure there are other cases in lesser known places around the world which did not get the same publicity. Irrespective of the prosperity of the land affected, the bottom line was - human lives were lost. From being a regional menace, the issue on hand became a global problem with the mighty joining hands to eradicate this thorn of society.
There are various theories as to who helped groom the 'bad elements' of the respective societies. In some cases it was the local law of the land, in some cases external forces were to be blamed. In a few cases, oppression even was to be pointed at. I will leave the so called analysts and experts to provide judgmental opinions on the cause and effects of allowing this to blossom. The point I wish to make is simply this - there has to be a solution, and quickly at that, for the impact of every such incident has far reaching effects of gigantic proportions. I don't think there is any disagreement that the majority of such blatant activities originate from a specific region of the world. As soon as he took oath, the President of the United States, in spite of offering continued economic assistance and offering other support systems to the country in question, minced no words in highlighting this region as the problematic one, in one of his very first speeches. Canada and the United States are still debating how to get out of one side of this very region, and the Canadian premier even offered his honest insight yesterday that it may be impossible to defeat the insurgency there.
The political diplomacy didn't work, the governments resorted to using coercion and when that didn't work, they used force. But that isn't working by any stretch of imagination. What's the alternative? However controversial it may sound, I would take an "isolation" philosophy and approach to determining a solution - abandon all forms of trade with the region; stop providing economic aid or military assistance. Isolate the region by preventing anything other than medical or humanitarian support systems to pass through, either inside or outside. Yes, the initial going would be tough for the locals, but the governments' hands would be forced as its now a solely internal issue, instead of a regional or global problem, and they have to fix it. The most complex of problems have the seemingly simplest of solutions - maybe this does too.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Dummies guide, to the credit crisis
They say it all started after 09/11,
When they were looking for a diversion;
In an attempt to boost the economy,
Lenders started opening up some money!
As the markets were looking for ways to expand,
The housing sector seemed primed for demand;
Construction industry soon became hot,
And they took over every vacant lot!
With all the money being made available,
The bigger house suddenly seemed more affordable;
Jack went to the bank with his honey,
They came back home with double the money!
Everything seemed hunky dory,
For every house had more than one storey;
It was good while it lasted,
For very soon, the problems started!
Jack couldn't keep up with his monthly payment,
The banks started realizing their predicament;
Supply started exceeding the demand,
New home prices started reflecting this stand!
As price corrections started to happen,
Home ownership started to dampen;
The existing buyers owed more than they owned,
Per the sub-prime term, it was equal to being drowned!
Everyone started to realize their folly,
Suddenly it wasn't as easy to obtain a lolly;
It seemed simple enough for all to benefit,
But it will take a lot more to get out of it!
When they were looking for a diversion;
In an attempt to boost the economy,
Lenders started opening up some money!
As the markets were looking for ways to expand,
The housing sector seemed primed for demand;
Construction industry soon became hot,
And they took over every vacant lot!
With all the money being made available,
The bigger house suddenly seemed more affordable;
Jack went to the bank with his honey,
They came back home with double the money!
Everything seemed hunky dory,
For every house had more than one storey;
It was good while it lasted,
For very soon, the problems started!
Jack couldn't keep up with his monthly payment,
The banks started realizing their predicament;
Supply started exceeding the demand,
New home prices started reflecting this stand!
As price corrections started to happen,
Home ownership started to dampen;
The existing buyers owed more than they owned,
Per the sub-prime term, it was equal to being drowned!
Everyone started to realize their folly,
Suddenly it wasn't as easy to obtain a lolly;
It seemed simple enough for all to benefit,
But it will take a lot more to get out of it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
