AIDS, anger, women

I came across an article today, "Human-rights abuses undermine fight against AIDS, World Health Body says", a title that effectively summarizes what is reported.

More in depth, women, intravenous drug users and homosexuals are hindered from receiving treatment, because of possible persecution in their countries.

In Eastern Europe, where AIDS is prevalently spread through intravenous drugs, most who are unaffected are left untreated (1 in 4 with AIDS are imprisoned).
Social stigma also plays a role in discouraging women and girls from seeking antiretrovirals for fear they will be cast out of families and communities.


The article managed to brew an even larger outrage within me, an anger that existed for many years: Gender inequality. Skipping the glass ceiling, because I think I've dealt with it enough (and have witnessed companies taking it too far), I wish to address the gender dichotomy in 3rd world countries. Women comprise most of the impoverished, stuck in a cycle largely caused by discrimination. Women are pushed aside when education, food, and other necessities are distributed among members in poor families. Lack of awareness and education trap females within poverty's grasp and hence the poverty cycle continues rolling.

Countries around the world consider women property. Heinous acts upon them are considered socially acceptable, such as in India bride burning (bride's family refuses to pay additional dowry, so the husband's family burns the bride). In parts of Asia, rape victims,usually women, are looked upon as distasteful and ostracized. In China, the majority of babies up for adoption are girls. In Indonesia, if couples cannot bear children, women are blamed for being impotent. I haven't even considered sex slavery which is a multi-million dollar global market. In multiple other countries, we hear more of these outrageous--but not so outrageous in these countries--stories.

Now, I'm starting to realize the full impact of what it means to grant women their ability to work. It means financial freedom and independence, especially an out from the property perspective. No longer can their men decide and announce that everything women have is soley based on the men's work. I've seen the effects of relying on the husband for sustenance: My grandpa (not the one who passed away) provided most of the family's resources and now that my grandparents are in retirement, my grandma is restricted from spending money as it is grandpa who worked for it.

What to do about this injustice?

There's a TED video about a women in India who has survived an 8-people gang rape and how she was fueled by anger to co-found an organization that saved over thousands of women and children from sex slavery.

This has taken me much longer than usual to compile my thoughts, what was previously a jumble of anger buzzing around in my head.

Muse of July 20, 2010

Countless choices and countless forces constantly wage wars to beseech us.

Discussing with my friends about my grandpa having passed away yesterday certainly stressed an aspect I've been overlooking these days. Ever since his death transpired, I've been asking people how to complete this phrase, "Life is short..." One answer that peeled back my eyes and that struck me like a pan on my head was: "Life is short, don't waste time worrying about what people think of you. Hold on to the ones that care, in the end they will be the only ones there."

It's true that reputation is important and it's true that career is important, though this quotation ripped away the superficial. It coerced me to look at the significant, to consider what is it that makes me absolutely happy, instead of being caught up in the so-called "rat race". Come to think of it, all those networks we create and the auxiliary people we befriend pretentiously most likely won't be at our side during our crises. They won't be there at the hour we breath our last breaths, wishing us a peaceful passage from the living and reassuring us to not be afraid for what is to come.

The experience left me with the sense that I probably have my priorities wrong and should follow the 80/20 rule. Spend 80% of my time on the top 20% things that are most important to me (helping others is important to me) and 20% of time on the other 80% that is next in line. Seriously, I need to focus on what is meaningful to me instead of what is thrown my way. Life is too short to meddle shoulder high in things we can drop at a moment's instance for our passions. Life is too short to be swayed whimsically by people's thoughts of us.

Here's a tidbit from my mind from yesterday. People usually have only a few major thoughts that circulate in their heads everyday. The 80/20 rule is also applicable here. If I am able to pinpoint what I am thinking most of the time and harness what I really want to progress towards, think of the immensity of this tactic!


On another note, here's an excellent article that prescribes actions to save time and revamp productivity: "Top Ten Time Sucks" http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-slow/201007/top-ten-time-sucks-and-what-do-about-them

Particularly I like their talk about how we are becoming more reactive but not more proactive, which definitely ties into my reflection.

I've forgotten to write in my previous post about Y, about the counter-intuitive fortune of having a friend who challenges me, and allows me to re-evaluate myself. Maybe this is the effect of having sleep-overs with people. =D

Integrity

As many people in my accounting program are striving for their CA designations, this is probably of interest to them. CA's, being Chartered Accountant's, particularly require utmost integrity because of the nature of the job. Though that does not mean that every other job--maybe except for lawyers' haha--can bypass morality. Sadly, I see many instances in which integrity is not practiced and even overlooked in my program. How will that translate to their work in the real world? In this era, too many err and tread on integrity. The scare supply of thoroughly righteous people leads to integrity being heavily valued and sought upon by employers.

At the same time, maybe it is ignorance towards the true meaning behind integrity that prevents people from embracing and practicing it. My curiosity spiked in grade 12 when I started musing about this subject--what exactly is the difference between integrity and honesty? Most people would overlook the contrasts and simply lump the two together as representing the same thing. Hence, I commenced on an expedition to find an answer. Last night a friend and I discussed the same topic, which revived a spark for me to record the insights down.

Integrity is about being wholesome and consistent through your actions, thoughts and words.

Integrity is about being unconditionally moral, despite thinking no one is witnessing what you do.

Integrity is more than honesty and means doing the right thing, in which wisdom plays an integral role.

Excerpt from a favourite book of mine

Everyday Greatness:

"Sometimes people mistakenly think that finding meaning in life requires making a huge contribution that impacts millions. But often the most meaningful and lasting contributions or acts of charity are those that occur in small, one-on-one ways when attention is given to a solitary individual.

In fact, when I ask audiences to identify a person who has been greatly influential in their life, typically they do not respond with a person who performed some great act of courage or excelled in a particular talent. Rather, they describe people who took time out of their busy schedules to focus their attention on them as individuals--to make them feel important by including them in their life, if only for a moment."

I wholeheartedly agree with this message because I've been affected by individuals who have selflessly lent their time to share their insights and energy with me. Thank you to all those who have touched me.

Stolen from Ricky on FB

How to Install LOVE

Tech Support: Hello … how can I help you?

Customer: Well, after much consideration, I’ve decided to install
Love. Can you guide me through the process?

Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?

Customer: Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I’m ready. What do I do first?

Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you
located your Heart?

Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now.
Is it okay to install Love while they are running?

Tech Support: What programs are running ?

Customer: Let’s see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge
and Resentment running right now.

Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt
from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent
memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will
eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High
Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and
Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed.
Can you turn those off ?

Customer: I don’t know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?

Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke
Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and
Resentment have been completely erased.

Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that
normal?

Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base
program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get
the upgrades.

Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, “Error
- Program not run on external components.” What should I do?

Tech Support: Don’t worry. It means that the Love program is set
up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In
non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before
you can Love others.

Customer: So, what should I do?

Tech Support: Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the
following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your
Limitations.

Customer: Okay, done.

Tech Support: Now, copy them to the “My Heart” directory. The
system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty
programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all
directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely
gone and never comes back.

Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files.
Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying
themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?

Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but
eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed
and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure
to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in
turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.

Customer: Thank you, God.

HST

The past week has been quite eventful, exhausting and eventful, so there were no posts!

As the HST is rounding the corner, we are quite concerned about how this tax will affect our finance. Here is what I've found:

What will be now taxed more heavily because of the HST: personal and professional services: legal fees, hairstyling, dry cleaning, energy costs (gasoline!!!), adult clothing, cars, cable (internet...glumness), tobacco (the government can't ever seem to snatch enough revenue from that--haha) and phone services.

According to the revenue ministry of Ontario, only 17% of our goods will be charged extra taxes after July 1st.

Point-of-sale rebate refers to the provincial segment of the HST that is not added to goods and services. Food and beverages sold under $4.00, print newspapers, books, children's clothing and footwear, feminine hygiene products and diapers are part of the mix.

No HST on these: prescription drugs, municipal transit, basic groceries and etc.

Here's a website that recommends a few strategies to cope with the new tax: http://www.ledgersonline.com/blog/tips-avoiding-harmonized-sales-taxman

A New Country will be Born: South Sudan

Fulfilling Washington's agenda, one of the most impoverished areas will become a new nation. However, the birth of South Sudan will not solve the deeply entrenched problems of the country: one of the highest rates of poverty, and maternal death--and tribal wars unearthing the stability of the community.

South Sudan's birth is testimony of the Western powers dividing Africa with little consideration devoted to the concerns of the tribes. As a result, the country is racked with conflict between 190 ethnic and cultural groups that had formed eons ago. The new country will depend on foreign aid.

What is the cost of Western's greed to carve up Africa between European nations? Tribal unrest in Africa that further hinders the development of African nations.

Globe and Mail: For BP, now come the lawyers

Continuing the media coverage on BP’s drastic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, here comes another article which warns of BP’s impending litigation and possible destruction.
Currently, BP is defaced around US and even New York Daily News called the CEO, Tony Hayward, “the most hated—and clueless—man in America”.

BP has lost 1/3 of its value, around $60 billion US, which is equivalent to the value of Royal Bank of Canada (the largest bank in Canada). The company is Britain’s largest company and the world’s leading oil producer. BP could potentially spend decades fighting in court, costing them on top of the multi-billion dollars worth of clean-up required in the future (BP has already spent $1 billion US to alleviate the mess in the gulf).

In 1989, Exxon, the current leading oil company (by stock market value) had a similar oil spill, in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. Contrary to the gulf which is America’s industrial, tourism and ecological heartlands, the spill occurred in the wilderness. The spill cost Exxon little: $2billion to clean the mess and $1 billion for the courts. It spent almost 2 decades fighting litigations.

Seeing the aggregate damage inflicted on BP will be interesting.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: Inside a school for suicide bombers

Once again, TED has presented a fascinating video that sends chills down my spine. This speaker worked with the Taliban recruiters and children undergoing suicide bomb training. Through her observations, she has been able to garner the 5 main steps that allow the Taliban to successfully brainwash these children into tools of terror:

1. Recruit children from poor families with plenty children in rural areas. The Taliban promise food, shelter and clothing for children and maybe a monthly allowance that is sent to the families

2. Teach the Koran in Arabic to the children in a distorted fashion as the children cannot speak or understand Arabic. The children are forbidden to read any media or information that the Taliban hasn't selected for them.

3. Teach children to hate the world. Children spend 8 hours at a time reading the Koran, rarely given play time and are beaten.

4. Older Taliban members glorify martyrdom to the children and tell them of the heaven-like afterlife that awaits them

5. Taliban further brainwash children with their videos that broadcast that Western powers do not care about civilian deaths. The following message in her speech didn’t quite make sense: “Their videos that they use are intercut with photographs of men and women and children dying in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Pakistan. And the basic message is that the Western powers do not care about civilian deaths, so those people who live in areas and support governments that work with Western powers are fair game. That's why Pakistani civilians, over 6,000 of whom have been killed in the last two years alone, are fair game.” Though here’s an interpretation: The people who support and work with the Western powers are directed at, hence, any civilians that live in the areas around Western powers are also targeted.

Tidbits about G20 and G8

G8: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Russia.

Outreach Five or Plus Five countries (developing countries): Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa


G20: "group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies". "G20 will replace the G8 as the main economic council of wealthy nations."

Globe and Mail: Harper signals G20 battle over bank levy

As Stephen Harper and the newly elected British prime minister will battle over this issue at G20, I’ve investigated into Bank Levies:

Bank levies in this case means that there is a bank tax that is used to build a reserve fund that could bail out financial institutions, which would alleviate tax payers.

For those countries that bailed out banks, Britain, US, Germany and France are supportive of the G20-wide levy. Countries that did not bail out banks, India, China, Brazil, Russia, and Canada, are not supportive of this.

Probably what G20 is not referring to (another bank levy definition):

Simply, bank levies occur when a creditor coerces a debtor to repay a debt. With the creditor’s request, the debtor’s bank account is frozen and money seized until the debt is paid off. Frozen means cheques will bounce, withdrawals cannot be made and banks may charge a penalty to the customer for levied accounts.

Bloody Israeli Raid on Flotilla Sparks Crisis: The Globe and Mail

“Israeli commandos rappelled down to an aid flotilla sailing to thwart a Gaza blockade on Monday, clashing with pro-Palestinian activists on the lead ship in a botched raid that left at least nine passengers dead.”

Once I read this paragraph, I was muddled. What’s a Gaza blockade? … flotilla?...Israeli and Palestinian? Because of this confusion, I decided to research the origins behind the events leading up to the occurrences of said paragraph.

As I’m not well versed in global affairs, I backtracked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which constitutes a part of the wider and earlier Arab-Israeli conflict. The other issues that have been disputed are security, water rights, control of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, Palestinian freedom of movement and borders. For their entire duration, the two groups have been waging a constant explosive and vicious violence. Ergo, we hear about them frequently in the news.

The Gaza Strip and West Bank are considered Palestinian. The other areas within Israel are Israeli.

Now, we enter the Hamas-Israeli conflict, which is a “sub-plot” of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

What are Hamas? “ It is a militant, Islamist political part and social organization with its own military wing”. The US, EU and Israel consider it a terrorist organization. Its attacks have been largely directed at Israeli civilians. Simply, it is pro-Palestinian.

The earliest and most enduring post- 1948 Palestinian party, Fatah, rivals for power and influence against the Hamas.

Fatah as does many other Israel citizens believe that a two-state solution will appease the warring sides. Hamas rejects this idea and instead, feuds for one Palestinian state with the Jews living on Arab lands. Hamas does not recognize Israel. As a Sunni organization, it is heavily funded by Iran, a Shiite theocracy.

In 2007, Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip. Responding, Israeli created a blockade, in an attempt to weaken the Hamas, “end its rockets attacks against Israeli towns and get back captured soldier Gilad Shalit”.

Ok, I’m getting lazy, because there was so much to read:

“Amnesty International has dubbed the blockade "collective punishment" resulting in a "humanitarian crisis"; UN officials have described the situation as "grim", "deteriorating" and a "medieval siege", but Israel says there are no shortages in Gaza, pointing to the aid it allows in.”

There’s a whole report on the debilitating conditions of the Gaza people (despairing and declining state of population’s health and well-being). About 1.5 million live there.

Wow, there’s much more, but the information is almost bottom-less. Ok, let’s go back to the original paragraph:

Israeli commandos rappelled down to an aid flotilla sailing to thwart a Gaza blockade on Monday, clashing with pro-Palestinian activists on the lead ship in a botched raid that left at least nine passengers dead.

About 6 ships were sent to provide 10 000 tons of aid to the Gaza people, in addition to ending the blockade.

Turkey was a key supporter of the aid flotilla. Its relation with Israel has been badly damaged by this event.

Does this make sense now?

Jill Taylor's Stroke of Insight

In the think tank conference, TED, Jill Taylor’s speech is considered one of the most favourite-of-all-time talks. Despite having watched it once already, I decided to listen in again to her eccentric method of narrating her observances as a stroke victim. Her riveting talk comprised of repetitive phrases and words that strengthened her conviction to share her experience.

At one point of the talk, our attention drew to the object in her hand: a human brain. With the live brain, she painted the contrasts between the two hemispheres, such as the left being a serial processor, while the right being a parallel processor, experiencing the “right here, and right now”. As her left hemisphere suffered a blow from the stroke, she began to experience the right hemisphere’s perspective of the world—the sensuous and connected phenomena she felt in the absence of her left hemisphere’s influence. 39 years worth of baggage lifted as her left brain momentarily ceased to recall past memories and future consequences.

During an especially moving moment, tears brimmed in her eyes and her voice wobbled as she recounted the deathly scary moment-the time that she could have passed easily into afterlife, as she waited for medical attention. During some moments, her speaking reminded me of spiritual healers who depicted the great expanse of energy and relations between all things within the world.

Because of the stroke, Jill spent 7 years to fully recover her speaking abilities. Yet, she has presented one of the best talks on the web. At last, she shared this wisdom gained through her debilitating, yet wondrous event in her life: “If we can reach into our right peaceful hemisphere, then we can project more peace in the world.” Now, that’s an idea worth spreading.

Michelle Obama's DNC Speech

This is only a snippet of the Michelle Obama project:


Importance of Michelle Obama’s keynote address at the Democratic National Convention (DNC):

Some people have attributed the securing of Barack Obama’s Democratic Party nomination to his wife’s astounding DNC opening speech. The Democratic National Convention is held every four years to “nominate and confirm a candidate for President and Vice President, adopt a comprehensive party platform and unify the party”. (Wikipedia…hehehe, I know it’s not the perfect source) US states send delegates to vote for their Party’s presidential candidate at the convention.

Critique of Michelle’s speech:

As she stepped towards the lectern, the audience supported her with enthusiastic cheers. Even at the very beginning, she connected with the audience extremely well with her many personal accounts, such as the heart warming stories about her daughters; the resilience of her father as he battled multiple sclerosis; how she met Barack; and her living conditions as she grew up. Similar to most American candidates, including Barack Obama and John McCain, she alluded to the American dream as she described her successes as a Princeton and Harvard graduate who started with a humble beginning: “…proof that the American Dream endures”. Michelle confidently speaks as she voices her and Barack’s shared values of integrity and respect even towards those people they disagree with…and this earned her raucous support. Her method of delivery was strong and simple, easily understood by common people—not dry and cinched with difficult words and concepts. No notes were needed as she riled up the crowd in her husband’s favour. In short, I really enjoyed listening to Michelle as she shared her personable personality and wit, which convinced us to lend undying support for Barack Obama.

100 Banned Books by N. J. Karolides, M. Bald and D. B.Sova

Of the many books mentioned in this work, the pieces that I recognized were All Quiet on the Western Front; Animal Farm; Grapes of Wrath; Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl; Arabian Nights or The Thousand and One Nights; To Kill a Mockingbird; One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest; Scarlet Letter; Catcher in the Rye; Catch-22; and Brave New World.

It’s interesting to note that many of these books are now considered ‘classics’ and are studied within the classroom. Maybe these books have become ‘classics’ because they were milestones of human perspective that were once deemed inappropriate and even banned.



Books Of Interest (and that have jumped out at me):

Brave New World contains some extremely explicit motifs that happen as a result of society’s value for promiscuity. The concept of families is obsolete and humans are not born from parents. “Brave New World is a satire in which science, sex and drugs have replaced human reason and human emotion in the ‘perfect’ society in which Huxley gives the name ‘Utopia’. The novel depicts an orderly society in which scientifically sophisticated genetics and pharmacology combines to produce a perfectly controlled population whose entire existence is dedicated to maintaining the stability of society”.

Note: The title captured my attention because of a teacher who mentioned it while discussing the reason why people decide to have children despite the uncontrollable population growth of humans. This teacher had recently passed away, which to me, further lends emotional ties to this title. I think I’ll go read it.



Arabian Nights or The Thousand and One Nights

Summary:

A sultan orders the beheading of his queen and 10 concubines who have cheated on him. He then marries a new wife each night of the year—the strangling of his bride ensues at daybreak. The depletion of pretty brides occurs over 3 years, until he marries Shahrazad. Instead of the other brides, she survives by telling a story, though she stops narrating before day break. Because the sultan wishes to know the ending, he spares her life. Shahrazad’s strategy works for 1001 Arabian nights, in which she had bore him 3 sons and won his trust and love. (He didn't kill her).