A year?
How'd that happen?
Where does the time go?
It happened.
It's still now.
So a contest for a silk scarf called 'Better Days Are Coming'.
I can give it a name because I painted it - so it's art to frame a person.
Maybe you don't want it for yourself but you may know someone who needs a nice present. The only condition is to write about something you'd like to see happen that would make the world a happier place. Profound or silly doesn't matter to me because the names of all entrants will be placed in Crow's dinner bowl one week from today and the first one he tosses out when he stops by for his peach pie will have the name of the winner.
Last night we watched a documentary about Joe Strummer of the Clash called 'The Future is Unwritten'. It's a wonderful film that I think you'd like.
Okay. I'll bite. But if I can't figure out what would make the world a happier place for me, blame it on Sarah Palin.
ReplyDeletei'm currently working on a business plan to start a ReStore in the nearby city. i'm a member of the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in that city. ReStores sell used and donated building supplies to raise money for HFH. i'm a big believer in HFH. my world would be a better place if i can make this happen (and it looks promising) AND get the job as manager of afforementioned ReStore (which also looks promising)
ReplyDeleteHmm, the scarf looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many issues, so many corners and angles to pick from to make this world a better place.
Where do you start?
Even though I often bitch "globally", I believe true change starts locally.
Where I live, there is a local currency, the "Berkshires". It is even accepted by the Bank and can be converted to Federal dollars. This is a start.
But what I find most important, is that food that is grown locally actually doesn't have to travel hundreds of miles, often thousands.
It is probably the most efficient way to get rid of oil dependency, and therefore a partial riddance of wars...
i notice you want something 'to make the world a happier place' rather than a better place. i suppose being happy is infinitely better than being better. but sometimes, happiness is the greater struggle.
ReplyDeletein almost anything (my exception is golf), you get better though practice. if you draw a face 100 times, the 100th face will be better than the first.
happiness is different. it's a mindset. it also assumes you aren't desperate (desperate people are almost always unhappy).
you can practice being happy by smiling, by dancing, by pointing at the moon. but really, if you aren't happy, your smile will eventually look broken. you'll lose the spring in your step, and people stop looking where you point.
it probably seems like a type of disposition, but it's really more like love; you can't get happiness without giving it.
... I read you Sera. Why are you so mean to me these days?
ReplyDeleteThe difference between "happines" and " a better place" is such. The first issue only addresses the individual, the second one embraces all people.
Good luck with the Re-Store, gfid...there's one around the corner from where I work, and it is FABULOUS.
ReplyDeleteOK, back on topic...have you ever heard of a book called The No Assholes Rule? It was written by a management professor whose idea of changing the American workplace is to stop rewarding people for being assholes. The world would be a better place if his ideas were implemented in corporate life around the world. Not that I have any particular reason for thinking about this today. Ahem.
Spontaneous wingnut combustion.
ReplyDeleteDon't put my name in the hat, I just wanted to comment. ;-)
lol. i'm not mean to you zee, you just inspire me to pinch. pincha pincha. see, doesn't that feel good?
ReplyDeletespartacus - Sarah Palin is NOT getting the scarf.
ReplyDeletegfid - That's even better than I could have dreamed.
zee - I like it and so does Crow. We need strength in diversity and not diluted democracy.
sera - I was thinking 'happy' in its essential meaning which might inspire dancing or just sitting in contentment.
cdp - Maybe I'll give it to my boss for Christmas.
randal - Like it or not, you just entered :-)
Okay, I'm going to cheat. I'm going to quote two wise men as my entry.
ReplyDeleteFirst, George Burns:
'Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.'
Amen George.
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And on a more serious note (and very aligned with my belief), the Dalai Lama:
Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.
Nor is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic actions bring about happiness but they also lessen our experience of suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are motivated by the wish to bring others' happiness necessarily meets with less misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our internal peace -- anxiety, doubt, disappointment -- these things are definitely less. In our concern for others, we worry less about ourselves. When we worry less about ourselves an experience of our own suffering is less intense.
What does this tell us? Firstly, because our every action has a universal dimension, a potential impact on others' happiness, ethics are necessary as a means to ensure that we do not harm others. Secondly, it tells us that genuine happiness consists in those spiritual qualities of love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness and so on. For it is these which provide both for our happiness and others' happiness.
Oh Gary, I am smiling (which is not so easy with a beak like this and Crow does have a sardonic bent to his Character). You, through the words of George and the Dalai Lama, have spoken the truth... :-)
ReplyDeleteWhale Watch
ReplyDeleteThe pale blue waters of the ocean off Kaikoura in New Zealand’s South Island mysteriously takes on a dark inky blue hue for below from its cliff face you fall into a giant underwater canyon over 2,000 metres deep whose funnel effect invites an amazing abundance of marine life which is the exclusive diet for the great Sperm Whale. This majestic whale species predates all others in its evolutionary chain, unlike those that evolved to eat krill. It has an enormous mouth capable of devouring a 4 metre shark in one single hungry gulp.
During the cruise I unexspectantly found myself learning about their superior intelligence from the expert on- board Marine Biologist. She told me about the sperm whales species has very large and highly developed frontal lobes which allow them to make complex decisions. They spend much more time in nutering and caring activities than we do and do not exhibit any of the anxiety and fear we have in relation to death.
After 2 hours of searching for whales and listening with underwater equipment for the familiar clicks, our indigenous skipper announced sadly none were sighted or heard. We did see a number of sea birds including the giant albatross and some dolphins mating but no whales. As we saw no whales we learnt to our surprise our tour costs would be refunded.
It caused me to think it is time to cease with the killing of whales, seals, and sea turtles, which are the very foundation of conscious life in our oceans. In fact I think our own happiness is dependant upon the degree we are able to show reverence to life, all life, not just human life.
//something you'd like to see happen that would make the world a happier place.//
ReplyDeleteMaybe if McCain was still a POW.
A post? On our own blog? Okay, I'm in. Will put something up on the anniversary of 9/11.
ReplyDeletelindsay - Excellent idea. If only they would talk to us maybe we'd learn something crucial to our survival - at least for long enough that we could learn their equanimity.
ReplyDeleteokjimm - That counts. You're in.
divajood - Good enough and I'll be by to read it in the morning.