One thing the future will certainly have is food. Some of us may cringe at that because food is a source not only of pleasure but of our ever increasing size. Be that as it may, food has so much to offer. Think of all the ways you can have food. In fact, food contributes to a major part of daily planning. Everything happens in reference to food. Setting up a meeting for instance: do you plan a breakfast meeting or a post breakfast meeting? If you go with the post breakfast, you're not obligated to have a full breakfast but you need to have coffee and water. If you're going to have coffee and water, then you also need to have something there to nibble on, even if its a hard, dry biscotti! What about a lunch meeting? If we're having lunch, will we have it brought in or will we go out? If we go out, where will we go? Know any good lunch spots? After the lunch meeting, most definitely the conversation will be on how good, mediocre or bad the lunch was. I don't think there is ever a meeting attached to food where after the meeting the food is not commented on. From bad food repeating and reminding us to never do that again, to food that was so good, tasty and definitely worth trying again, there will always be some reference to it.
Food will always be there without a doubt. I think of some of the great meals I've had in my life. They have always occured while spending time with family and friends. There is nothing like going out with your spouse and/or friends and enjoying a great meal. It is the source of such pleasure. Good drink and good food joined with good company is a recipe for a great time and great memories! In every culture, good stories get passed on during mealtime. Family gatherings always have food, and it is major catch-up time in terms of stories. First it starts out with our stories about our being single. Then its stories about dating. Then stories about getting married. For sure stories upon stories about our children, I mean how can we not talk about our children And then stories about them being single, going to school, getting married; on and on it goes! Food is the gathering centre.
The more I interact with people, the more I see people getting involved in honing their culinary skills. Why not? If you're going to have food, you might as well learn how to make good food. Good food can be served to good friends and memories happen. So here is a plan. Let's all become amateur chefs. Let's throw chef parties where we get together and learn how to cook; I mean really cook. Imagine what a great place the future will be if you do this. No bad meals ever! Everyone will be capable of serving up the finest cuisine. No one will ever worry about serving up a disasterous meal. We can all wow each other over the great food we can prepare. And the greatest thing about this plan is that we can continue telling our stories and making memories that we cherish forever. I don't know about you, but that is worth repeating!
Friday, July 29, 2005
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
One Big Happy Family
We don't hear too much about the Global Village these days. Global initiatives are very much alive and well in the business sector but as far as being a part of everyday conversation, we're all a bit leary of talking about our connection to people all over the world. Terrorism is the major topic of the day. It has hit the entire world and we're realizing that no nation is immune to it. Even Canada feels threatened.
Just today I had a conversation with a co-worker about the insurgence of cultures into Canada and how these developing communities are known to house terrorists. In fact, some of the 9/11 terrorists did reside in Canada prior to their heinous act of terrorism on the world symbolized in their attack on the World Trade Centre. Canada, among other places, has become a refuge for people harbouring desire for revenge on the Western World.
When you begin to delve into the issue, you realize that terrorism is birthed and sustained in the religious convictions of people. From my limited understanding on why certain Muslims decide to blow themselves up and take others with them, it seems that the desire is to rid the world of evil. In fact, these militant muslims believe that the Western World has contaminated their culture and their world with evil. Some, if not many, feel that this is a ridiculous premise for such hate and revenge to be poured out on innocent people. But are 2 billion people who make up the muslim world all painted with the same terrorist brush?
The more I understand Muslim culture the more I see that they are people like you and I with families. They go through the same struggle and challenges. They try to sustain their way of living and look to meeting the everyday needs of life. In their families there are parents who care for children, teenagers who struggle with the angst of puberty and adolescence and young adults who seek to carve for themselves a career and a future. There are people who live behind the caricatures that we construct of muslim life and culture. We have to be honest that sometimes, if not all the time, our caricatures are influenced by our media. Its too easy to paint all muslims as militant revengeful terrorists. Its easy to look at someone driving next to you on the highway who looks like they're from a muslim country and label them as a terrorist. But if we are honest, most of the muslim people we know are decent human beings. Yes, they look different, smell different, talk different, worship differently but so did my relatives when they came to Canada from Italy - did that justify a consideration that they were a threat to Canadian society? [don't answer that!]
Muslims have family values that are decent and honourable. If we look at them like people [of which the last time I looked I fell in the category as well] then we need to realize that they are trying to live a good life. In the living of that life, sometimes some of their young people go astray; so do ours! Sometimes in living that life, some of their young adults do heinous things; so do ours! [Paul Bernardo/Karla Homolka] Sometimes in living that life their seasoned people fall to corruption; so do ours! [Enron, Nortel, WorldCom] We've got to stop pointing the finger and saying, "Look at them." Remember; they think that our culture is hurting theirs. Think of our youth culture in particular. Think of MTV. Think of the drug abuse and sexual promiscuity. Think of the deterioration of values and the lack of integrity in the leadership of our country. We feel our own culture is threatening our families. Why are we so surprised that outsiders feel the same way.
The future, if its going to be a promising one, needs us to stop caricaturing and letting media shape our views of others. We've got to be smarter than that. We've got to be more realistic than that. Most prejudice is rooted in a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding. But we live in a society where information is readily available and facts can be determined for certain. Maybe we need to shut the TV off a bit more and do some more reading. Maybe we need to spend some time learning what are truly reliable sources. Maybe we just need to talk to our foreign neighbours more about life in general. After all, they are people, just like you and me.
Just today I had a conversation with a co-worker about the insurgence of cultures into Canada and how these developing communities are known to house terrorists. In fact, some of the 9/11 terrorists did reside in Canada prior to their heinous act of terrorism on the world symbolized in their attack on the World Trade Centre. Canada, among other places, has become a refuge for people harbouring desire for revenge on the Western World.
When you begin to delve into the issue, you realize that terrorism is birthed and sustained in the religious convictions of people. From my limited understanding on why certain Muslims decide to blow themselves up and take others with them, it seems that the desire is to rid the world of evil. In fact, these militant muslims believe that the Western World has contaminated their culture and their world with evil. Some, if not many, feel that this is a ridiculous premise for such hate and revenge to be poured out on innocent people. But are 2 billion people who make up the muslim world all painted with the same terrorist brush?
The more I understand Muslim culture the more I see that they are people like you and I with families. They go through the same struggle and challenges. They try to sustain their way of living and look to meeting the everyday needs of life. In their families there are parents who care for children, teenagers who struggle with the angst of puberty and adolescence and young adults who seek to carve for themselves a career and a future. There are people who live behind the caricatures that we construct of muslim life and culture. We have to be honest that sometimes, if not all the time, our caricatures are influenced by our media. Its too easy to paint all muslims as militant revengeful terrorists. Its easy to look at someone driving next to you on the highway who looks like they're from a muslim country and label them as a terrorist. But if we are honest, most of the muslim people we know are decent human beings. Yes, they look different, smell different, talk different, worship differently but so did my relatives when they came to Canada from Italy - did that justify a consideration that they were a threat to Canadian society? [don't answer that!]
Muslims have family values that are decent and honourable. If we look at them like people [of which the last time I looked I fell in the category as well] then we need to realize that they are trying to live a good life. In the living of that life, sometimes some of their young people go astray; so do ours! Sometimes in living that life, some of their young adults do heinous things; so do ours! [Paul Bernardo/Karla Homolka] Sometimes in living that life their seasoned people fall to corruption; so do ours! [Enron, Nortel, WorldCom] We've got to stop pointing the finger and saying, "Look at them." Remember; they think that our culture is hurting theirs. Think of our youth culture in particular. Think of MTV. Think of the drug abuse and sexual promiscuity. Think of the deterioration of values and the lack of integrity in the leadership of our country. We feel our own culture is threatening our families. Why are we so surprised that outsiders feel the same way.
The future, if its going to be a promising one, needs us to stop caricaturing and letting media shape our views of others. We've got to be smarter than that. We've got to be more realistic than that. Most prejudice is rooted in a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding. But we live in a society where information is readily available and facts can be determined for certain. Maybe we need to shut the TV off a bit more and do some more reading. Maybe we need to spend some time learning what are truly reliable sources. Maybe we just need to talk to our foreign neighbours more about life in general. After all, they are people, just like you and me.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Wasting Time
There's this great game on the web that is guaranteed to waste at least an hour of your time. You can access it by going to http://www.widro.com/throwpaper.html This is a great game. It has everything the mind needs for some diversion in what may be a very boring day at work. It is shear skill building that isn't beyond any of us. If you can use a keyboard and open a browser you basically have the required skill to learn it. It gives hours of mindless pleasure. The kicker that keeps you not wasting your whole day is the internal ticker that goes off when you've played about 1/2 an hour and the ticker reminds you that you're still at work.
Killing time. It sounds like such a waste of time doesn't it? It's so violent: 'killing.' The term is meant to deter any employee who would possibly venture into the territory of 'killing time' while on the job. It was definitely coined by employers or anyone who is obsessed with tracking their productivity. When you think about it, most employers want employees to be machines. They don't want to hear any complaints, they don't want to hear how overworked and underpaid you are, they just want you to come in and do what they want you to do; end of story. No wonder people are droppin off like flies with stress leave, heart attacks and long term illnesses. The whole point of being human is that we're not machines. In fact, we build machines to do work that as humans we could never do [or a string of workers have been buried over time until someone realized that the work was killing them and decided to invent a machine!].
We need some time out. We need to "chillax." [I heard the term from one of my daughter's friends - it sounded interesting]. Our brains need to vent, let off steam, divert to something totally different. Its inbedded in us. Its the whole song by the chain gang thing. We need things to be fresh and different. The monotony of doing the same thing over and over again wears us down. We weren't made for that. Hammers were made for that. Hammers do only one thing - they hammer. No matter what the context, a hammer is used for hammering. Humans on the other hand are made for creativity. We're made to create things, to change things, to come along side nature and beautify things. We're not machines!! I don't know why employers don't see that. I guess their context doesn't allow them. They're out to lunch for meetings, hooking up with people, doing different things everyday - they don't have time to think about the monontonous treadmill that everyone underneath them treads.
One trend that seems appealing is people who start their own business. These are people who have gained enough experience that they realize they have a commodity that someone wants and its going to be given on their terms. Now, I like that! Maybe this is the trend of all employees. Maybe in the future, employers will need to negotiate contracts with every individual to contract them for what they can offer. Forget about bargaining units and unions. Everyone deals with the employer on their own terms and commits only when they are comfortable with the terms. If it doesn't work out, its not a problem; on to the next client.
Killing time - we need to kill time otherwise we will fry ourselves. Start by clicking on the game at the top. You'll see what I mean.
Killing time. It sounds like such a waste of time doesn't it? It's so violent: 'killing.' The term is meant to deter any employee who would possibly venture into the territory of 'killing time' while on the job. It was definitely coined by employers or anyone who is obsessed with tracking their productivity. When you think about it, most employers want employees to be machines. They don't want to hear any complaints, they don't want to hear how overworked and underpaid you are, they just want you to come in and do what they want you to do; end of story. No wonder people are droppin off like flies with stress leave, heart attacks and long term illnesses. The whole point of being human is that we're not machines. In fact, we build machines to do work that as humans we could never do [or a string of workers have been buried over time until someone realized that the work was killing them and decided to invent a machine!].
We need some time out. We need to "chillax." [I heard the term from one of my daughter's friends - it sounded interesting]. Our brains need to vent, let off steam, divert to something totally different. Its inbedded in us. Its the whole song by the chain gang thing. We need things to be fresh and different. The monotony of doing the same thing over and over again wears us down. We weren't made for that. Hammers were made for that. Hammers do only one thing - they hammer. No matter what the context, a hammer is used for hammering. Humans on the other hand are made for creativity. We're made to create things, to change things, to come along side nature and beautify things. We're not machines!! I don't know why employers don't see that. I guess their context doesn't allow them. They're out to lunch for meetings, hooking up with people, doing different things everyday - they don't have time to think about the monontonous treadmill that everyone underneath them treads.
One trend that seems appealing is people who start their own business. These are people who have gained enough experience that they realize they have a commodity that someone wants and its going to be given on their terms. Now, I like that! Maybe this is the trend of all employees. Maybe in the future, employers will need to negotiate contracts with every individual to contract them for what they can offer. Forget about bargaining units and unions. Everyone deals with the employer on their own terms and commits only when they are comfortable with the terms. If it doesn't work out, its not a problem; on to the next client.
Killing time - we need to kill time otherwise we will fry ourselves. Start by clicking on the game at the top. You'll see what I mean.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
What is Life all About?
When you look at what's going on around you, you get the feeling that life is random acts of various kinds that are chosen at the whim of everyone out there. Why are people doing what they're doing? Of course the quick answer is that most of us are dragging ourselves out of bed everyday to make sure that we have a roof over our heads and that our kids have food, clothes and enough bling bling so that they aren't ostracized by their friends.
I think alot of us are just doing that very thing - getting up to keep the family going. Its a noble thing really. Our parents did it for us, their parents did it for them and so on. We're perpetuating life. Its too bad that it becomes such a drag. You feel like you're a walking machine heading out to the rock pile to chip a small bit out of a giant mountain. You come home, you eat, you chat a bit, help the kids with their homework, sit down for an hour to watch something on the boob tube and then go to bed only to start it all over again.
I'm thinking there are people ready to go "postal" because their life is such a constant routine - like a monkey bite - same thing every day. I've got an idea. If we've got to keep things going for those around us why don't we do something different? Why not start small. Change your route to work in the morning. Get a change of scenary. Now that might be more stressful than helpful because you may be panicking not knowing whether the new route will get you to work on time. If you can get past that stress point, try it! Maybe cut down a different street to see if its faster.
Here's another one: when you get to work in the morning, talk to someone you don't usually talk to. There are a myriad of people you pass everyday. Stop and talk to one of them. Start out slow. You don't want to freake them out. Just say "Hi" the first day. Then the next day say, "Hi - how ya doin!" Do that for a week. Then on the Monday after the weekend when you pass them ask them, "How was your weekend?" You never know. You may just happen to get to know someone that you may never have known because the routine kept you from knowing them.
Here's what I'm thinking. If the the future is going to be different, then we've got to plan for something different. Life is about people and there are a lot of them out there. If you get past the insecurity of "what will they think if I say hi?" - "What if they're a psycho and I get stalked for the rest of my life?" - then risking a little change now may help us in taking bigger risks in the future. You never know until you try. Give it a try. You just may break up a routine that if unbroken will plunge you into a life of endless boredom.
LL
I think alot of us are just doing that very thing - getting up to keep the family going. Its a noble thing really. Our parents did it for us, their parents did it for them and so on. We're perpetuating life. Its too bad that it becomes such a drag. You feel like you're a walking machine heading out to the rock pile to chip a small bit out of a giant mountain. You come home, you eat, you chat a bit, help the kids with their homework, sit down for an hour to watch something on the boob tube and then go to bed only to start it all over again.
I'm thinking there are people ready to go "postal" because their life is such a constant routine - like a monkey bite - same thing every day. I've got an idea. If we've got to keep things going for those around us why don't we do something different? Why not start small. Change your route to work in the morning. Get a change of scenary. Now that might be more stressful than helpful because you may be panicking not knowing whether the new route will get you to work on time. If you can get past that stress point, try it! Maybe cut down a different street to see if its faster.
Here's another one: when you get to work in the morning, talk to someone you don't usually talk to. There are a myriad of people you pass everyday. Stop and talk to one of them. Start out slow. You don't want to freake them out. Just say "Hi" the first day. Then the next day say, "Hi - how ya doin!" Do that for a week. Then on the Monday after the weekend when you pass them ask them, "How was your weekend?" You never know. You may just happen to get to know someone that you may never have known because the routine kept you from knowing them.
Here's what I'm thinking. If the the future is going to be different, then we've got to plan for something different. Life is about people and there are a lot of them out there. If you get past the insecurity of "what will they think if I say hi?" - "What if they're a psycho and I get stalked for the rest of my life?" - then risking a little change now may help us in taking bigger risks in the future. You never know until you try. Give it a try. You just may break up a routine that if unbroken will plunge you into a life of endless boredom.
LL
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