Happy Holidays

At this time of Peace and Joy, I wish everyone good health and happiness for the Holidays, the New Year and the years to come. Amen. 

I would also like to thank my blogger friends who read what I write and would also like to send thanks to those who write. 

This is a print of the picture of our Earth as seen from the Moon. 

Below is a picture of full moon as seen from our Earth. Those of us who have a clear sky tonight will be able to see the full moon. Hopefully a day will come and us humans will be able to send greeting to life forms in outer space and vice versa. My dream could be the outcome of being a fan of the Star Wars saga, but my emotions are true.

 

Three Years

  We are feeling your pain in New York as well, not just because Connecticut is our neighbor but because there is no pain like the pain of losing a child or a loved one.

 Some one posted these pictures on facebook and I realized that we cannot take the safety of our children or our loved ones for granted. 

Rest in Peace victims of Sandy Hook.

Happy Thanksgiving

Some people ask me where in India I am from. I tell them that I am from Hyderabad, which used to be a kingdom and the king was very generous. Some one asked me what happened to that king I told them that when India became a Democracy a lot of kings gave up their kingdom. A lot of people suffered as there was opposition as well. However Democracy prevailed. 
A young man told me that he wants to visit Goa in India to see his cousin, who grew up in India as his uncle and aunt did not want to leave India because of India's natural beauty. He asked me if I miss India. I told him that as much as I miss India I am thankful for my health and for the fact that I am working and am active. Then one of the associates said that she is thankful because she does not have to shop for center pieces any more as she has several decorative things from years of having parties. 
A customer said that she is thankful because there are craft stores and she can make her own center pieces. Her daughter said that she is thankful that her mom bought some can food for the food pantry. I asked her how old she is, she said that she was nine and when she gets to be a teenager she will work for a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving day so the homeless of New York can have good food too. Next day while driving to work, I saw the homeless man I always see, but this time I was a little less disheartened. 

Happy Thanksgiving 

Influences

Being a salesperson gives me a chance to meet a lot of people . I also get to understand people in general. Most of all I get to see children and marvel at their intelligence and innocence at the same time. 

 Last week I saw two little boys playing with the wind-up toys that were displayed with the Christmas decorations. They were having a lot of fun while their parents were looking through the different choices for lights. Just then a couple walked in with a gigantic dog. It was healthy, clean, and very well behaved.  So I praised the dog and complimented them for taking such good care. Then I asked them what do they feed him. Then the lady smiled and with a naughty look on her face said, "Little boys". I was not expecting that answer and was speechless. The couple  simply walked away with the dog, but the two little boys left the toys and ran to their parents. I could see the fear on their faces.  The faces of the  kids, the size of the dog and the lady with the smirk  are still in my mind. I just hope that the kids are not afraid of dogs for the rest of their lives. 

Happy Birthday Lenny

 Happy Birthday to our favorite blogger Lenny Lee. Lenny has inspired myself and a lot of other bloggers like me. He has taught me how to  keep writing and has given a lot of pointers and tips that he posted on his blog, he shows a lot of respect for nature and our planet Earth and last but not least I learned from him how to be jovial in spite my health issues.  I learned about Lenny from Sharon of Sharon K. Mahew Kid Lit writer and from Hilary Milton Butcher of Positive letters - - - inspirational stories. Please join me in wishing Lenny a very Happy Birthday and many happy returns. Please visit his blog @ Lenny's World.

Happy Birthday Lenny, may all your wishes come true and all your dreams become a reality.

  

Living

There is a very good salesperson who I became friends with only because we walk in the mall a lot and my husband and I became familiar with her. She is actually a project adviser for a department store and is very friendly. She says that she is friendly not because she wants to get business but because life is short and she feels good at the end of the day if she makes someone feel good or if she brings a smile on someone's face. Needless to say, we talk a lot. One day she told me about a lady who was embarrassed about her daughter who was eight years old and was still carrying a teddy bear around. After talking to that lady for ten minutes, she was able to convince her that there is no need for an apology as not all children are the same when it comes to security. She actually complimented the little girl for taking such good care of her teddy. 

I remember talking to a five year old about her umbrella with Hello Kitty all over on it. Then her mom told me that she has a Hello Kitty doll in her room and she loves her. I told her that I am sure she takes good care of her Hello Kitty. Also she must miss her while she is in school and is working hard.  A couple of weeks later her mother stopped by and told that there was a significant change in her daughter.  Her daughter is listening to her when it comes to doing homework and is even eating her lunch in school. She then thanked me for showing love to something her daughter really loves.

 I used to be skeptical of toy industry utilizing and exploiting children's love for certain toys and the licensing of merchandise with different logos, but I came to a conclusion that having one or two things of their choice  actually helps nurture positive and caring attitude in children. 

 I know some adults who never out grew the love of their favorite toy and they are the ones who most appreciate the gifts you give them for Birthdays and Holidays. 

Be there

Lots of people say that life is a gift and they are right. Not everybody knows that for some people each day of their life seems like a burden. Also for some people their overall life is fine (or may seem to be fine) until they come to a junction of crossroads when they do not understand which way to go. Only survivors of an attempted suicide may discuss what lead them down that road. Sometimes it is too late and we all wonder about what it was that forced someone to commit the unimaginable. It will be really nice if each one of us has someone we can talk to in case of a difficult situation. I pray for the day when all parents know the hardships of their children no matter how old they are. It will be really nice to know if your coworkers are going through hard times emotionally or a student of yours seems to be hurting so you can say a few reassuring words to them. The National Suicide Prevention week is about to end. Yesterday was World Suicide Prevention Day so let us give this problem a thought and not forget that the rest of the year is as important to remember to be kind to those who seem to be going through a turmoil. It is not easy to read people's minds and especially if people are too proud or shy and lonely they may not be comfortable with talking to you, but as they begin to feel that you can be trusted and are helpful, they may talk to you. We are not counselors and not everyone can afford one and a lot of times the need is not recognized for a long time. A very young coworker of mine was lucky enough to help out her brother-in-law who was hurting from his parent's divorce. However, I was not as lucky to save a friend of mine who did not want to go through the everyday agony of watching her parents fight. In college I took it for granted that suicide is a sin and did not realize that some people are hurting too much to think straight. So let us all get to know people around us and let people get to know us.

School Days !

Before I took this new job working as a vendor I wondered how I would do because working at my previous position as an auditor was kind of different. My old job gave me a lot of confidence and I thought that I might get a little nervous with the new job. Turns out that I am not at all nervous with my new job either. The thing is at age sixty five, most people are quite confident at their jobs. However things are different with younger people. I see a lot of young people who are shy. A lot of young people are nervous and will not look you in the eye. A lot of young people are stressed out with the thought of their supervisor watching them. Then you have a handful of the feisty type who will not do their job and still have the guts to flirt with the supervisor and get away with extra long breaks.  My heart goes out for the shy, hardworking young people who lack confidence even to ask for a break and never get appreciated. Then I wonder what could have happened in their early life that made them too shy to ask for their rights even. When I was younger some people asked me about how I became a people person and why I am not shy. My boss at my previous job (who has double MBA) asked me for tips to be confident. I do not have an answer as I have never studied human psychology. The only answer I might come up with is the fact that my parents loved all of us and told us that we are no less than anyone and as long as we are honest and hardworking we do not have to be afraid of anyone. As my parents were always feeling bad about not giving us what my uncles and aunties could give their children, they had decided to give us the best care any parent could ever give. They gave us a lot of love and told us that we are no less than anyone and even without the best things to wear they said that we looked very smart because we were. I remember my father said that we were his wealth and we were his treasure. When I went to school I remembered his words during class and those words made me feel good about myself. His words always helped me feel good and it reflected in my behavior. I think to each of us our children are a treasure but we forget to tell them that. In America people give their children a lot of nice things but that does not mean that we should not give them words to boost their confidence. Letting them know how much we love them and how much they can count on us to be able to tell us everything they want to tell us will give them a sense of safety and that can translate into confidence. Some people think that going to a progressive private school made us socially confident, I still think that the loving words from my parents were the key factor.

What do we do?

One of the young men who works in the store (that I often visit on assignments) came back after being hospitalized for a week. I asked his mom about his hospitalization and she said that he was hospitalized for burns on his chest and his arms and neck. I asked for the details and it turns out that the fire was an accident that happened in his kitchen. He had just finished cooking and wanted to get rid of the smell in the kitchen and tried to use an air freshener. The spray was jammed and it would not spray so he tossed that spray can in the garbage. Then he realized that putting an aerosol can full of liquid in the garbage is not good for the environment.  So he took a screw driver and tried to puncture a hole in the can so he could throw the liquid out before he threw the can in the garbage. As soon as he made the hole in the can it created a spontaneous combustion and before he could think his chest was on fire and so were his hands and neck. He put the fire out with the fire extinguisher that was hanging right by the door and luckily for his family his wife was not hurt and neither of his two kids were hurt. As the mom was telling this incident a lot of people who heard it, seemed to be amused at the simplicity of the young man. Some even snickered as they walked away. In his defense his mom said that her son is an environmentalist. One very sensitive young girl simply said "It was sooo not worth it" 

I simply told his mom that I like to use natural air fresheners and his mom asked me if my husband ever uses an aerosol air freshener .

I told her "All the time".  

Wishes coming true

This is the last week of the month of Ramadan.  Muslims throughout the world fast every day for a whole month from sunrise to sunset. We give food and clothes and money to the needy and to family and friends.  We believe that our wishes come true.  When we were children my siblings and I asked for simple things like toys, books, and fancy clothes and shoes. As I grew up and understood what life is all about, my wishes became complicated. Most of my adult friends said that they don't wish for too many things for themselves either. The good thing is that this Ramadan a couple of my wishes came true. I have always wished that human beings should be free from slavery and this month there is one less sign of slavery.  I have always wished that our prophet be respected by people of other faiths too because we respect other religions and prophets of other faiths as well. This month as I was surfing the internet I came across two Hindu singers who sang in the praise of our prophet with love and respect that can be heard in their voices and in the melody itself. 

 Like Yvette Nicole Brown reminded me I learned that our wishes do come true eventually.

Nothing but Rainbows

Regardless of what anyone thinks a marriage is or should be, today goes in history. June 26, 2015 will be recorded as the day when right to marriage equality is protected under constitution. I think the White House looks prettier this way.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers in the world. May you have good health, happiness, and good things in life. 

I hope that all fathers get an insight to use discretion while giving gifts to their children.

x

Happy Mother's Day

I have been thinking about writing a post for mother's day for the last couple of days in case I had to work today (which I did). I kept postponing and now I feel bad that I did not wish Happy Mother's Day. I guess the day is still light enough, at least here in New York, to send my wishes. So Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and their children and their children's dads.

I met a dad of a six-year-old girl today. He said that he lost his wife last year and this year he took his daughter to his church to meet with a support group for children who have lost their mothers. When I told him that I was very sorry, he said that as much as he is missing his wife, he has to be strong for his daughter. Another co-worker said that little boys and girls imagine that their parents sometimes fly by them like butterflies when they were told that they are in heaven. Listening to sad stories left a very strange sensation . I came to an understanding that we take a lot for granted. I would like to give a tribute to a mother who is helping her daughter who is a cancer patient and to the daughter who herself is a mother of a fourteen year old boy.

When anyone wishes me a happy mother's day I wish them and their entire family a happy mother's day. Another mother that I know whom I really admire is a lady who raised her son and her daughter by herself after her husband died in the line of duty. She said that she never could bring an outsider in her family no matter how much her friends and family members told her that she was too young to live a widow's life. She says that whether it is a father's day or mother's day wish everyone a healthy and happy life with the entire family. 

Big Blue Marble

 I know that Earth day is not until the twenty second of this month, I am still writing early because a lot of my blogger friends are parents and grandparents of young children. It will be nice if we talk to our little ones about how nice our planet is. There are several sites that we can go on and find projects for kids to do. Pinterest has over four hundred different pictures pertaining to Earth Day and www.ecologyprojects.org /Earth_ Day has a lot of learning material. It will be nice if children understand the value of saving endangered species of animals as well as the value of saving resources. I am thankful towards a lot of my blogger friends who are constantly writing about nature and about the good things in this Earth of ours. "Run around Ranch", "Positive Letters", "Mariette's Back to Basics" and "Flea Market Girl" are a few of  the blogs that are examples of people's observation of good things on our Earth and of how amazing nature and natural resources can be. Also a lot of bloggers who work hand in hand with Etsy shops are doing a great job of being creative and proving to the rest of us how easy it is to use and not waste resources that are given to us. My husband and I are doing our share of recycling by just shampooing our carpet instead of getting new because I know that the people who will install the new carpet are going to just throw away the old one. My son told me that I do not have to be a closet environmentalist any more because it is an "in" thing to be green. 

Figure of speech?

We were taught the British English in our school. Of course we were not able to catch and adapt the prep school accent, but we understood English language to the best possible capacity. In college some of us got really good grades in English literature and our lecturers were very happy. However, when my husband and myself spoke English here in New York, some people told us that our accent was cute Indian accent, some people acted like they could not understand us and some people told me that I sounded like I was from South Africa where people tried to copy Britishers but could not lose their local accent. I really could not care less about what I sounded like as long as I am not misunderstood.

 I started paying attention to various kinds of figure of speech. Hence, I learned that "hanging out" meant spending time together, "chilling" means relaxing,"cool" means good or fine and "drag" means boring. It is fine with me if people want to speak in their own English and since I live in New York, being flexible helped a lot. However, there are still some terms that I rather not say in front of children, because I have heard children say words that I am sure they did not learn on their own. Aside from swears and insulting words and phrases there are phrases that are now taken for granted as "figure of speech." One such phrase is "I want to kill myself." I have heard some adults use this when they meant to say that they cannot stand the situation. Sadly, little children are now using the phrase "I want to kill myself" just because they do not want to do something unpleasant like climbing a set of stairs. I hope that this phrase does not get in any of the dictionaries, whether they are children's or adults'. I am afraid that if this phrase becomes too easy then people who have suffered from emotional problems and have contemplated suicide will not get any attention. When a young man showed resentment towards his parent's divorce and tried to kill himself he was not given any attention, he was lucky because they saved him in time. I am afraid that next time a young person may not be as lucky, he may just do the unthinkable, after saying he wants to kill himself and people thought that it was a figure of speech.

World Book Day

Why do I have so many pictures of books on my post today? It is because today is World Book Day. Let us celebrate books today.  All kinds of books. From Nursery Rhymes to children's story books to young adults and adult novels. I don't think we can celebrate books enough, but let us start today. 

A lot of people say that it is hard

 to raise children in this world today.

 I am not sayingthat books make it easy to raise a child, but if a parent sincerely desires to keep his / her children out of trouble, giving importance to reading and spending maybe half an hour a day reading to a child will give him or her a healthy start to life.  I am not saying that there will not be any struggles or hurdles or hardships, but until we make an attempt to create an interest in our children to read we will not find out what else we need to do.   

Children love toys and they may not like it if we give them books for gifts, but for a change give them a fun book. Sooner or later they will look into it and start taking an interest in reading. After all, our professors must have been children once upon a time and their parents must have  given them some kind of incentive to read. Otherwise we would not have anyone to teach us.