Happiness and money

Over the past decade or so, I have seen this recurring theme.

One vivid memory stands out, this one of a family of 4. The father, mother and two kids. I believe one of the kids was maybe 4 or 5 and the other one, 3 or 2 years old. I saw them by the side of the road looking so very happy. Aside from the fact that they were practically glowing with happiness, the scene also stood in stark contrast to my own situation that time. I remember being in a very unhappy state of mind.

Seems like a common scene right?

Well here's the rest of the story.

That family was moving by the side of the road with mom and dad pushing a wooden cart with all their worldly belongings and the kids were inside the cart. On the other hand, I was sitting in my air conditioned car on my way to lunch at some restaurant in a nearby mall.

Two questions stood out.

How can they be so happy in the midst of what appeared to be a dire situation for me?

And why was I so unhappy when at that time, at least relative to what they had, I had so much?

Over the next several years I would see such a scene in varying degrees. One other situation was seeing people in Chinatown, living off the street with happiness written all over their face.

No, they were not high either. They certainly did not look like the rugby sniffing type.

Just regular folks, financially challenged, homeless, and ..... happy!

Could it be that money makes happiness elusive?

Does simplicity or even poverty act as a magnet for happiness?

When art becomes heresy

How does one draw the line between art, heresy and profanity?

Recently, an art exhibit generated controversy by having “art” that bordered on outright sacrilege.

You have Jesus with a penis, then you have a crucifix with a condom. Understandably, this created an uproar from the Catholics who were up in arms over such a blasphemous work. On the other side you have the artists and art lovers who are defending their freedom as artists.

Personally I feel that if you live in a civilized society, there will exist  standards of behavior which must be observed. Being in a society means that you are not alone and you cannot insist on doing just about anything your heart desires to express.  To insist on doing so would mean totally disregarding laws, mores and all other things that keep the society civilized.

If people insist on their way, regardless of the people around them, then they should not live in a society. They should not stay in a society then insult other peoples sensibilities and argue that it’s all about being an artist and their freedom of expression.

Imagine the chaos this would create when decent behavior ceases to exist. If they insist on their right to portray Jesus that way, then others can insist on creating their own art depicting the artists grandmother, mother, father in a manner that the artist should see fit. What they wear, what they show and what they do is none of any ones business, not even their relatives. Freedom of expression right?

That is the bottom line. To allow such transgressions and sacrilege to be displayed in the name of art is tantamount to allowing anarchy to reign. After all, anyone can make an obscene, blasphemous or sick and twisted artwork and escape prosecution in the name of art. If that is allowed to happen then it is the end of civilized society. One cannot display and express their opinions within a certain society and expect themselves to be exempt from the bounds of decent behavior. Each and every one of those operating within the group are all expected to follow the rules.

No one is above the law, and no one, within a society, should be allowed to exceed the boundaries of decent, moral behavior. Those who insist on breaking the law are considered outlaws. Break with decency and morals then you are indecent and immoral. You want to create "art" like that, go ahead, but keep it to yourself. Should you allow the public to view it, then be ready to accept that the public can take advantage of the very freedom under which you created your "art". Should they be offended, outraged, and insulted, then that is their prerogative.

Bid Time Return

"Bid Time Return" This was the title of a book which formed the basis
for the movie "Somewhere In Time".

I read the book before the movie and the film made such a big impact on me.

The title suddenly popped into my mind when I was about to write today.

If only we could make time return, to bring back years we lost, years we
wasted...

I want to move forward but I can never do that with one foot firmly in
yesterday.

If I don't do something soon, I know I will lose everything, my past,
present and future.

I Am The Captain Of My Ship

We enter this world alone, and we leave it alone.

In between birth and death, we travel with others, staying longer with
some and sharing the briefest of encounters with others.

The luckiest among us finds a kindred spirit, one who is able to uplift
us and make us become much greater together, but these are very few.

Some are lucky to journey through life with that which they have created.

It is a paradoxical situation where you find that your life is no longer
your own, yet it brings fulfillment which your life, existing by itself,
cannot provide. The paradox is that you live, by losing that life.

But whether you travel alone, or with ours, we are ultimately, the
captains of our own ship.

When the sun sets for the last time on our life, we should be the ones
holding the wheel, guiding our life, our ship, to drop anchor at this
place where the journey of this body ends, and where the liberation of
our soul begins. That place called eternity,

A reminder of my mortality

Received some very sad news today about the passing of a contemporary of mine. He died of cardiac arrest at the very young age of 49.

It affected me very deeply because it was a big warning sign to avoid things that could lead to an early demise.

With 4 young kids depending on my being there for them, I should always remember that my life is no longer my own...

Things that cause extreme stress should be taken out of my life even if they are important to me.

It's a  bitter pill to swallow but if nothing can be done to rectify the situation then I will let it go.

Of what use is having a few happy moments if it costs you your life?

Double jeopardy

I’m no lawyer, but I am just wondering what legal remedies are open to cases where new evidence has been discovered, but a person cannot be tried because of double jeopardy.

I can understand that the law should offer equal protection to all, but obviously there is a substantial gray area that exists. 

As far as I am concerned, when guilty persons are able to escape sentence because of a technicality then there is a failure of justice. In such cases, moves should be made to change the law to prevent the guilty from going free.

Some may argue that one cannot presume guilt, but when the process of going beyond a presumption, is stopped by the law itself, then it becomes a complicated moral process which sometimes results in derailment of justice.

One phrase that comes to mind to is this:

“Justice delayed is justice denied”,  my corollary to this is “ Justice denied is judicial injustice”

Time passages…

There is nothing like looking at old and new pictures to see how things have changed. Because of the hectic pace of life today, where everything is urgent and has to be attended to now, we sometimes lose touch of the things that matter.

All of a sudden we realize how much our children have grown and how little time we have spent with them..

Or we see how much older our parents are, and we feel an ache in our hearts knowing we are running out of time to give back at least a bit of all the good things they have given us. We desperately want to give them a really good life, yet despite being all over ourselves trying to make more money, we fall short of the mark.

Because despite all our good intentions, life here in the Metro is like a leech, sucking up all your energy, resources and money.

So at the end of the day, you still have no time, not enough money and whole boatload of regrets at things you haven't done and the loss of time that you can never bring back.