HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2010

MY DEAR FRIENDS,

I WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY, HEALTHY, PROSPEROUS AND SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR, 2010. MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND MAKE ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.

YOURS AFFECTIONATELY,
JOSEPH

AWARD DISTRIBUTION AND CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

I am delighted to inform you that among all my friends Yvonne from WELCOME TO MY WORLD OF POETRY and Margaret Cloud from OLD DIGGER have graciously come forward to accept the award from me. I profusely thank Yvonne and Margaret for giving me the pleasure of passing on the award.

Yvonne is a distinguished poet who writes enchanting poem in her inimitable style on a variety of subjects such as travel, family, her joys and sorrows, her hobbies etc. She has to her credit a poetry book published. She lives in Boscombe, Dorset, UNITED KINGDOM. You will also be entertained with some lovely songs streaming from her blog.

Margaret Cloud lives in Ferrysburg, Michigan, UNITED STATES. She is a wonderful writer sharing her colorful experiences and memories in a very interesting and informative manner. I learnt many things from her writings. She has a wealth of knowledge of inestimable value.

I am greatly honored to present the awards to these outstanding ladies. Kindly visit them and I am sure you will be able to form life long friendship.

I also take this opportunity of wishing all of you a wonderful Christmas and all joys and happiness associated with the celebrations. May INFANT JESUS bless you all and grant all your wishes, hopes and prayers.

FAITH AND RELIGION

When Jesus Christ lived, preached and worked miracles no one was prepared to believe HIM. HE was badly scourged, mercilessly beaten up and crucified.

The disciples who lived with HIM, walked with HIM, heard HIM preaching, saw HIM working miracles, witnessed HIS crucifixion, and HIS ascension to Heaven started preaching the message of Christ no one believed them. They were mercilessly put to death. St.Thomas came all the way to India to be martyred.

So if Jesus is to come back again in human form and start preaching, no one will believe HIM and HE will be shot to death.

If we can’t believe in the existence of God by looking around us and expect a miracle to happen in front of our eyes, we are going to be disappointed.

Faith is above science and proof. It is something which we feel deep within our heart and we don’t need proof. Besides we can’t convince some one against his or her will. And it is pointless to prove the existence of God to someone who refuses to believe.

Here are two interesting comments to test your faith. If you have a strong faith, it will become stronger. If you have a weak faith, it will become weaker. I assure you my faith has become stronger.

Bindhu Unny said...
Since I am not a Christian and raised by parents who believed in God, but not religion, I feel this man would not have given up religion because his prayers were not answered. He didn't convert and join another religion in the hope of gaining something - material or spiritual. Instead, he is finding solace in the nature itself.
Is there any point in calling oneself a Christian, if the mind is full of greed, hatred, and such negative feelings? Wouldn't world be a better place if there are more people who believe in good deeds than religion?
I am not against Christianity, but I am not for any religion. I prefer to believe in the goodness of human beings. :)

nikgee said...
Religion is a man made creation, not Divine. Not to glorify God, but to exalt man and justify their actions. Look down through the ages at how many people have been killed in the name of religion. I debated long with myself in using the word killed in the above statement. At first I was going to use the word died, but to me it weaken my point. The other word I considered which is closer to my thoughts on the matter is murdered. So for the sake of diplomacy all these people where killed. It sounds so much nicer than murdered in the name of religion

So what am I saying, I don't believe in God... Nothing could ssbe further from the truth. For the lack of a better word to define the existence of an undefinable entity, GOD is my closest choice

Please feel free to write your frank opinions and comments. Your comments need not necessarily conform to mine.

WORLDS AT WAR

From time immemorial there has always been a clash of ideas between the East and the West. While the East draws inspiration from things like obedience, loyalty and devotion , the West based its wisdom on the freedom of the individual, independence and rule of law. I am reproducing below the comments by Sana in India and Rhapsody in Canada in my previous post and you can see the clash of thoughts. Of course you will have your own ideas after reading these comments and I will be delighted if you can generously share them without any restraint.

A New Beginning said...
Parents are like a precious emrald, they are like a candle in a dark room, they are like an umbrella in the storms of life and like a cool breeze in summers...parents are whom we all love but still cannot love the amount they do...they are the varied hues of our life..the ones that soothe our spirits and love us like no one can ever do.
Those who respect them are the ones, who are blessed with everything in life, but those who fail to do so are like a barren land, not made to survive.
Coz love touches those who know what it means, it teaches you to respect those who helped you walk on your infant knees ...

Rhapsody B. said...
The simple truth is, "you make your children, however you don't make their minds" hence their reasoning is out of your control. Though you may teach them the way of nurturing, the importance of family, honesty, and charity they may choose to take a path different to the way they were thought and you believe. It is why as parents we must not only provide for children we must provide for ourselves for our old age, setting into motion provisions for health care insurance etc., and not build our future golden years on the premise that because we provided for our children they then will return the favor and will provide for us. Perhaps in the ideal world this is a guaranteed must carved into their DNA interwoven with the ethics of family/honor/integrity/loyalty however chances are things may not happen that way and in the real world you may be viewed as a bother and a burden from which they must relieve their selves.

As parents our responsibility is not only to our children it is to us as well. All we can do is love them as they are for who they are and pray that if you are blessed to live a long life we can live it with grace and dignity and be happy.

LONG LIVE THE EAST,
LONG LIVE THE WEST,
AND I HOPE THEY WILL SOMEDAY MEET!

IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS

This is a comment made by me in one of Rain MacSweeney’s posts. I am sure you will have plenty to write about the subject.
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I agree some people or rather most people would dwell on misery and make their lives intolerable and spread gloom all around. They should be avoided at all costs. They make a mountain out of a mole hill although most of the fears never come true.

It is our responsibility to find freedom and happiness in this short life. We owe it to ourselves to be happy and contented and striving for the best, always trying to break some records, do something new which will give us thrill and satisfaction. We had this quality is us when we were young but somewhere along the line as we grew up we lost this gay abandon, joy of life and became like robots and machines unable to appreciate the beauty all around us. The sun is still rising and setting but we refuse to see. The rose is always beautiful but we are blind. The birds still sing but we don't hear. What are we doing to ourselves? We wallow in self pity, negative thoughts, assumed difficulties and problems.

You have opened my eyes,ears and mind. I have to do a lot of things to match up to your advice although I am striving to change, to do my best, to do something new. The only problem with me is the ability to persist in what I do, to put in that extra effort to achieve what I want, to go beyond my limit, to strain my brain and brawn. Compounded with all these handicaps I also also have a lethargic attitude. So I am neither here nor there. Willing to do but incapable of doing since I do not posses the grit and determination. And life goes on, Rain:)
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I will be thrilled to hear your opinions on my comment. After all it is a matter of learning from each other.

THE TONGUE CAN BE YOUR WORSE ENEMY!

If you keep saying you can't trust a man or trust a woman, you will always find someone in your life to hurt and betray you.

Your words, your dreams, and your thoughts have power to create conditions in your life. What you speak about, you can bring about.

If you keep saying you can't stand your job, you might lose your job.

If you keep saying you can't stand your body, your body can become sick.

If you keep saying you can't stand your car, your car could be stolen or just stop operating.

If you keep saying you're broke, guess what? You'll always be broke.

If you keep saying you can't find a job, you will remain unemployed.

If you keep saying you can't find someone to love you or believe in you, your very thought will attract more experiences to confirm your beliefs.

If you keep talking about a divorce or break up in a relationship, then you might end up with it.

Turn your thoughts and conversations around to be more positive and power packed with faith, hope, love and action.

Don't be afraid to believe that you can have what you want and deserve.


Watch your Thoughts, they become words.

Watch your words, they become actions

Watch your actions, they become habits.

Watch your Habits, they become character.

Watch your Character, for it becomes your Destiny


The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settle for.


Thought I would share this with you.

"In the search for me, I discovered truth.
In the search for truth,I discovered love.
In the search for love,I discovered God.
And in God, I have found everything."

(I received this from my friend Ravi Pillai in Ahmedabad)

SOUL OF MUSA

His name is Masood. He is a Muslim. Both his hands and legs are crippled and he cannot bend his elbows and knees. He is nicely shaved with a neat hair cut. He is wearing clean clothes. He is an artist. His sailor father passed away. His mother is working as a servant. His one sister is married. He is living in Thoppumpady and comes to Fort Kochi by auto since he can’t walk and sit in a bus.

The one most remarkable feature about this man is his love for life. He talks very interestingly, he laughs easily, comfortable with himself, he is very friendly, he knows some English, Spanish and Italian and he has a gift for drawing.

This is how he draws.


These are his lovely drawings.

He told me very cheerfully that he is not begging like many other handicapped people. He sells his drawings to people and they pay him generously. He says he is better than many other handicapped people who don’t even have hands and feet. He has seen such people drawing with their teeth. He thanks God profusely for giving him hands and legs although he can’t use them like normal people.

He has acted in bit roles in Malayalam movies like Hollywood and Big B. He laughs and says that he was not paid much for acting.

I did not buy his drawing but gave him RS.50 which he accepted with a big smile and thanked me.

This is how he holds the Rs.50 note.

Here we are, completely normal people, moaning and groaning about small things in life. If it rains now he will not be able to run for cover since he needs someone to help him. Yet he is cheerful, not complaining, grateful to God, self supporting and taking pride in his appearance. I was completely bowled over. I sweat over small stuff and this terribly handicapped man is full of life and bubbling with enthusiasm.

His friends call him SOUL OF MUSA which means according to him SOUL OF FRIENDSHIP. From my own experience, I can confidently say that he has the wonderful capacity to put some cheer and happiness in to the most disheartened, dispirited, down cast, disappointed, dull person.