tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6274558795144930232024-03-14T19:16:16.513+07:00perspectiveestherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-45108950941333428202009-05-26T14:18:00.007+07:002009-05-29T21:06:20.225+07:00Rahmat Wildlife Museum and Gallery<div style="text-align: justify;">When you come to Medan, there is an interesting wildlife museum to visit. It is the 1st wild life museum in South East Asia. The gallery displays a stunning collection of animals and smaller creatures in different settings according to their habitat. The museum's name is Rahmat International Wildlife Museum & Gallery. The word ‘Rahmat’ is taken from the name of the founder – chairman of Indonesia Museum association. He is the first Indonesian to receive The International Conservation Award; The Big Five Grand Slam Award; Dangerous Games of Africa Award, World Hunting Award; and several other environmental awards at the national and international level.The museum was officially launched on May 1999. Mr. Rahmat Shah is very well known as animal lover, whose hobby is sport hunting - a dangerous hobby which requires endurance and a high expenditure for the travelling and game costs.<br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2jdYVBcoI/AAAAAAAAA_E/qOAJrTmylZQ/s1600-h/3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 158px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2jdYVBcoI/AAAAAAAAA_E/qOAJrTmylZQ/s320/3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331597259018695298" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2j-NwkTZI/AAAAAAAAA_M/hFnXoeiu_qA/s1600-h/4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 166px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2j-NwkTZI/AAAAAAAAA_M/hFnXoeiu_qA/s320/4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331597823117118866" border="0" /></a><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="fullpost">There are more than 1000 species you can see stored in rooms with very low temperature. The rooms are titled according to what animals are displayed in. In the “African Big Five” you can see the most wild, huge and dangerous animals – Elephant, White Rhino, Buffalo, Lion and Cheetah- . Other rooms are the “Cats of the World” where you can see various big cats from all over the world; the “Kingdom of birds”, the “Pheasants of the world”, the “Varieties Birds of Paradise”, the “Dry Aquarium”, the “Bear Room”, the “Mountain of sheep”, the “Night Safary”, the “Nature Area”and “African World”. Nature is brought to life in the most realistic and artistic environment. </span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2klQuXS_I/AAAAAAAAA_U/KrWTIaC-k9c/s1600-h/6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 246px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2klQuXS_I/AAAAAAAAA_U/KrWTIaC-k9c/s320/6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331598493928082418" border="0" /></a><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2k5wr85yI/AAAAAAAAA_c/65iCJpJpRLM/s1600-h/1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 178px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2k5wr85yI/AAAAAAAAA_c/65iCJpJpRLM/s320/1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331598846105282338" border="0" /></a>As you wander in the gallery you will be treated to an instant safari where you will discover the beauty and diversity of the animal Kingdom. This gallery is dedicated to educating and motivating the youth and general public about the world’s wildlife and how important it is to conserve them. According to the leaflet I read, some of the animals in that museum are come from legal hunting with the concept of “conservation by utilization” practices worldwide for the prevention of extinction and increasing the wildlife population and its habitat. The rests are animal which died in zoos (deceased) ; donations and gift from friends ; and legally purchased from all over the world. </span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2lVaP-NdI/AAAAAAAAA_s/lkYoB-ybNSE/s1600-h/2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 315px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2lVaP-NdI/AAAAAAAAA_s/lkYoB-ybNSE/s320/2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331599321118684626" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2lJYVImpI/AAAAAAAAA_k/ZYi8ak3IAvM/s1600-h/7.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 244px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/Sf2lJYVImpI/AAAAAAAAA_k/ZYi8ak3IAvM/s320/7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331599114445036178" border="0" /></a>It’s been many times I took visitors there. The last visitor I took there is Danielle d’Lusierre, the doctoral fellow from California who stayed at my house for 1 week during her field survey in Medan last time. Entrance fee is Rp. 25,000 – equivalent with US$2.5. For the traveler on short visits to Medan, Rahmat Wildlife Museum & Gallery is a must-visit. This museum is poised to become the pride of Medan. </span><br /></div>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-22386876550423698482009-04-01T11:58:00.029+07:002009-10-23T22:08:30.859+07:00Remedy for Ageing Eyes<div style="text-align: center;">The Read Without Reading Glasses Method<br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">There is absolutely NO scientific proof that near vision MUST deteriorate as a person ages! NONE. (Dr. Ray Gottlieb – Univ. of California-Berkeley Optometry School and a professor of optometry at the University of Houston College of Optometry)</span><br /><br />A few weeks ago I was sent for free a method for reading without reading glasses from Cambridge Institute for Better Vision. The method has been working for me. I am free from reading glasses. I would like to share the method with others. Here I quote some part of the contents. The real beauty of the method is that it produces great results in as little as six minutes a day !<span class="fullpost"><br /><br />Can your eyes do this?<br />In order to benefit from the method your brain and your eyes need work together. (Remember, the method is for improving close up vision only. If you have trouble seeing in the distance - nearsightedness or myopia - there is another program for you, follow this <a href="http://www.program-for-better-vision.com/">link</a>)<br /><br />Let's see if the method can work for you.<br />First, sit about 18 inches from your computer screen. Then, hold the thumb of your right hand 5-6 inches in front of your eyes, between you and the screen.<br />Now, as you focus directly on your thumb notice that - in the background - you see two images of the circle below.<br /><br /></span><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SdL5Vkig84I/AAAAAAAAA88/09O5Ss-SfyE/s1600-h/eyevision.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SdL5Vkig84I/AAAAAAAAA88/09O5Ss-SfyE/s400/eyevision.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319588258858988418" border="0" /></a></span><br /><span class="fullpost">Now, focus directly on the circle. Then you should see two images of your thumb in the foreground. Most people easily get this illusion of double images - it's perfectly normal. In fact, seeing this illusion is the only thing that is necessary for The Read Without Glasses Method to work for you. If you can't get the illusion of double images right away, just relax. Then try shifting your focus back and forth from your thumb to the circle 10 or 20 times. That may be all it takes. If you still can't get the illusion, you probably have a pre-existing visual imbalance that needs to be addressed first.<br /><br />The Science Behind The Method . . .<br />The focusing lens of the eye and the fine muscles that surround the eye stiffen with age and lose their natural, youthful flexibility to focus easily and clearly at near. That's how doctors explain the loss of near vision as we age. But there is also another visual function that stimulates focusing at near. It's called Accommodative Convergence/Accommodation. In order to see up close, first we have to turn - or converge - both eyes inward so that together they aim - or point - at what we want to see.<br /><br />"Turning our eyes inward stimulates the eyes' ability to focus clearly at near," says Dr. Gottlieb, </span><span class="fullpost">who, for the last 20 years, has been Dean of the College of Syntonic Optometry. </span><span class="fullpost">The fact that converging the eyes stimulates near focusing has been known for over 100 years. What was never before examined was whether this visual mechanism could successfully be applied to presbyopia. Dr. Gottlieb found that it can. "I've seen my patients improve their near vision, avoid reading glasses, get free of reading glasses or need weaker ones," he says.<br /><br />Just about every other eye doctor will tell you that there is no remedy for presbyopia (the loss of near vision as we age) except surgery or corrective lenses. According to Dr. Gottlieb, there is absolutely NO scientific proof that near vision MUST deteriorate as a person ages! NONE.<br />Scientists studying aging eyes can report in great detail what those old eyes can't do anymore. But Dr. Gottlieb was one of the first to ask what aging eyes could do. He created and designed a special kind of eye chart - not an eye chart to measure clarity of vision - but one that trains and stimulates the Accommodative Convergence/ Accommodation function.<br /><br />When you relieve the tension, stiffness and rigidity in and around your eyes an incredible thing happens: All the parts of your visual system work together and function in harmony, bringing the world into focus naturally. No more hassles of getting - or forgetting - your glasses . . . No need to chain them around your neck or fish for them in your purse . . . or break them in your pocket . . Keep your eyes healthy, keep them young and keep them seeing as sharply as they possibly can.<br /><br />Hope everyone will enjoy it - The Read Without Glasses Method is really fun and easy to do. I thank Dr. Martin Sussman, founder and president Cambridge Institute for Better Vision for his wonderful tips for healthy eye vision.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-44904323779998211832009-03-26T18:50:00.011+07:002009-04-15T20:01:33.849+07:00Severity of The LossI was impressed when one of my colleagues whose beloved wife passed away last week, took no breaks from working. The next day after the funeral, he worked normally at his office. The way he talked and his face expression was just as he used to be. He seems to make an effort to live each day fully and enjoy it, despite the loss. I suppose that although he bears to go on with his life as if nothing had happened,<span class="fullpost">the grief is still present in his feelings, dreams and physiological changes. This approach to grief may be designed to maintain a good social front and not be a burden to friends and family - especially the children.<br /><br />Feelings of loss, especially with regard to a loved one, can never completely go away. There will always be moments when we will miss them. The process of recovery for everyone is different. Some can recover quickly, while others can take a full year or more. This will also depend on the severity of the loss. That is why people usually take at least three days breaks from works after the funeral of his/her beloved one. Some even took longer. I recall how my late mother in law – after the death of my father in law- required more than one month of mourning in order to integrate the loss into her life. The loss had influenced her well-being and her daily activities some time. It was the presence of family members and friends around her that healed her out from the grief more rapidly. <br /><br />I put salute to my colleague who has been facing the loss of his beloved one without having to put him into deep grievance for long time. He really is so tough and seemed to be realistic that every person will experience the loss of a beloved one through death and dying in time. Friends are always there for him. I wish him and his children well with this.<br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-43627954104940039202009-03-02T20:20:00.017+07:002009-03-02T21:26:34.647+07:00I've been up to ....It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. Well, it’s the break session of the class for my doctoral program, but that doesn’t mean I could take a break from reading and writing research proposal. I plan to complete this in (hopefully) 6 months. I have spent long time before choosing the topic, since the topic chosen should be one that interests me, and represents an area of study that I can use to identify me as one with special expertise in a particular area. <span class="fullpost"><br />The doctoral dissertation should demonstrate breadth of learning, and ability to investigate problems independently and efficiently, must be a significant contribution to scholarship; should reveal one’s ability to analyze, interpret, and synthesize, and demonstrate thorough knowledge of the literature relating the project. Therefore it is very important to proceed with forethought into the dissertation process, because it is important part of doctoral program that the dissertation is uniquely to me.<br /><br />More specifically, some criteria indicating the doctoral research are the research should present the relevance of existing theories of the problem ; include an original and unique dimension which builds on cited research, enable the candidate to enter the national or regional debate, be sufficiently broad from which to generalize to a larger audience, acculturate the candidate to differing academic communities, encourage the continuation of scholarly activity and, reflect the methodology appropriate to the type of research commonly found in dissertations. Environmental management is so broad, it includes multi disciplines. I am on a bit further from choosing the topic for my dissertation. Overloaded!! This might be the only suitable word to figure out what I’ve been up to at the moment. Yet, I enjoy it because I have reached the final selection of my topic which is the starting point to enter the next phase of the program.<br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-63153707453696127192009-02-19T10:16:00.005+07:002009-03-02T21:23:44.696+07:00Systems ThinkingSystems Thinking : One of the better ways to deal with our most difficult problems.<br /><br />So many important problems that stalk us today are complex, involve multiple actors. These are at least partly the result of past actions that were taken to alleviate them. Dealing with such problems is notoriously difficult and the result conventional solutions are often poor enough to create discouragement about the prospects of ever effectively addressing them. <span class="fullpost"><br />Systems thinking are one of the major tools of system analysis. The approach of systems thinking is fundamentally different from that of traditional forms of analysis. Traditional analysis focuses on individual pieces of what is being studied, whilst system thinking in contrast, focuses on how the thing being studied interacts with the other constituents of the system – a set of elements that interact to produce behavior – of which it is a part. It is a way of helping a person to view systems from a broad perspective that includes seeing overall structures, patterns and cycles in systems, rather than seeing only specific events in the system. This broad view can help a person to quickly identify the real causes of issues in organizations and know just where to work to address them.<br /><br />There are many definitions of system thinking written by many authors such as Richmond (1993), Ward (1999), Senge (2000), Bellinger (2004), and Wikipedia (2005) which essentially means the same. I would quote that of Senge since this is the most relevant to what I am viewing over the nature’s system. Here in Senge’s definition of systems thinking :<br />"Systems thinking is the ability to understand (and sometimes to predict) interactions and relationships in complex, dynamatic systems: the kind of systems we are surrounded by and embedded in." (Senge, 2000)<br />One of the key benefit of system thinking is its ability to deal effectively with just these types of problems and to raise our thinking to the level at which we can create the results we want as individuals and organizations even in those difficult situations marked by complexity, great numbers of interactions, and the absence or ineffectiveness of immediately apparent solutions.<br />By seeing the whole system, one is able to think new possibilities that he/she had not come up with previously. The broader perspective of systems thinking creates the understanding necessary for better long-term solutions.<br /><br />Site includes definitions, contextualization of the issue, issues to consider for future applications, and a bibliography of the research so far :<br />http://www.ed.psu.edu/insys/ESD/systems/thinking/SysThink.htm<br />A well-developed approach to understanding systems thinking from a business model, this is an excellent place to start one's research. http://www.systems-thinking.org<br /><br />To non systemic situations such as problems situations in which there is a high social, political and human activity component, there is the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). One of the links to SSM is http://www.12manage.com/methods_checkland_soft_systems_methodology.html<br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-72142095674428426182009-02-10T10:52:00.029+07:002009-03-03T06:34:32.009+07:00Manners in Releasing JudgmentIt has been years - particularly after political reform in my country - I saw people, adult, young adults and children perform anarchism in almost all aspects of life. Young adults and teenagers easily adopt what their peer leader, teachers or their idols do ; and they easily accept – sometimes blindly – what their peer leader states, judges or comments about something.<span class="fullpost"><br />False doctrine and statements will damage their way of thinking, ruin their bright future and exploratory life that they deserve as youth. I can’t imagine what this country will turn out to be in the next few years when these kind of youth who used to be anarchy lead the country. As an educator, it is of our responsibility to educate pupils to not be tense and anarchist in judging or commenting on something which they do not comprehend very well.<br /><br />There are 4 kinds of people in this world,<br />- Those who know that they know<br />- Those who know that they do not know<br />- Those who do not know that they know<br />- Those who do not know that they do not know<br /><br />For teachers, it is of their moral responsibility to awaken up those who do not know by letting them know what they do not now. In the context of teacher or educator, it is the responsibility of the teachers to either transfer and share their knowledge to their pupils. However, teachers should only transfer knowledge of what he/she knows very well, the knowledge in which he/she is an expert or specialist in, within the area of his/her field.<br /><br />We, as teachers should not release statements or judge on things outside our field, mainly when our statement is to be published and spread out widely. Except, of course we do this within our peers or community, for internal discussion or sharing opinion and the like. Spreading information which is not based on the deep relevant knowledge ("deep" here means deep understanding about things, comprehend the things from many different points of view), will led people to a worse understanding. We should only comment on the things which we really are expert in. <br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-8991394182438534032009-01-19T20:37:00.007+07:002009-01-23T20:50:00.272+07:00The World of PerceptionAfter I finished reading the massive volume of Phenomenology of Perception, I became more interested in reading other books on similar topics written by the same author. The World of Perception is another book I chose to read presuming this topic closely related to the Phenomenology of Perception. This book cannot be found at any bookstore in Medan, neither in Bandung. I could order the book from online book store like amazon.com, but the shipment cost is much more expensive than the book itself, so I asked my younger sister Erna who lives abroad to buy one for me.<br /><font class="fullpost"><br />Unlike Phenomenology of Perception which is of 539 pages, The World of Perception is much briefer – only 125 pages including index. This is a collection of seven lectures for a series of radio broadcast which were delivered by him in 1948. Those seven lectures are: 1. The World of Perception and the World of Science, 2. Exploring the World of Perception: Space 3. Exploring the World of Perception: Sensory Objects, 4. Exploring the World of Perception: Animal Life, 5. Man Seen from the Outside, 6. Art and the World of Perception, 7. Classical Modern World.<br /><br />In this book, Merleau Ponti suggests us to ‘rediscover’ the perceived world with the help of modern art and philosophy. In relation to Science, he seeks to reverse application of the reality distinction to the relationship between the perceived world and the world of science. He views the world of science as just an ‘approximation expressions’ of physical events i.e. an appearance, unlike realists views that the perceived world is the real world. In the second part about the perceived world and discussion of space, a basic concept is a contrast between the classical conception of space and that which actually informs the world as we perceive it. The classical conception of space is that of Newtonian physics which relies on a conception of ‘absolute’ space within physical objects have an absolute time and can move without any alteration of their physical properties. Merleau Ponti associates this conception of space with that found in classical art, the kind of painting whereby objects are depicted in accordance with the perspective they would present when viewed under a gaze directed at a point of the horizon, which remain at a distance and do not involve the viewer. His general point is the space of the perceived world is not the unique space of a ‘disembodied intellect’, but, like physical space, has different regions which are structured by our expectations concerning the things which we find in them.<br /><br />I enjoy reading this book because the way he discuss each theme is much more simply and systematically so it is much easier for me to get the points, compared to the Phenomenology of Perception in which his discussion comprise a lot psychological and philosophical argumentation. I was just a bit confused in reading part three which is about sensory objects. It is not quite easy for me to figure out the idea behind how he relates the sensory object with this perceived world. In the two lasts chapter of the book it is deeply discussed that the world of perception consists not just of all natural objects but also paintings, pieces of music, books and all the ‘world of culture’. He brings readers to rediscover a way of looking at works of arts, language and culture, with respect to their autonomy and their original richness.<br />For the one like me, with limited philosophical background knowledge (which is merely about philosophy of science), this phenomenological philosophy is interesting. It is a matter of seeing the world from another point of view, which includes art, painting and psychology. For those with no philosophical background but interested to read this book, I would recommend to read the book about French Philosophy and German Philosophy beforehand. It is better to know the author’s biography and background knowledge prior to reading his/her articles so we could follow the authors’ way of thinking. This is helpful to easily get what points the author wants the readers to get. <br /></font>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-1333260632320426192009-01-15T13:12:00.005+07:002009-01-20T17:21:49.777+07:00Phenomenology of PerceptionThe word “perception” has simply been known as something related to someone’s view, judgment and assessment on something. The view may be influenced by one’s experience, culture, belief or knowledge. It is clear that ‘perception’ may change due to age, since the longer we live the more experience and wisdom we get. However, perception is not simply the above matter. It can also be viewed from many different angles. I have been interested in knowing more about perception and how this world is perceived from the spectacle of phenomenologist. To get that, I read the book titled Phenomenology of Perception written by French philosopher, Maurice Merleau Ponti who introduced phenomenological thought to France.<span class="fullpost"><br /><br />In this book, Merleau-Ponty shows how basic features of human experience, such as the perception of objects as independent of us, space and time, and rationality are all inseparable from the structure of the human body. Beginning with things as they show themselves in perception, he discovers that things do not simply impose themselves on consciousness as atomistic sense impressions, nor do we construct things in our minds. Rather, things as we experience them are discovered through a subject-object dialogue. He combined a new way of thinking about the basic structure of human life with reflections on art, literature and politics. In order to understand how Merleau-Ponty understands this subject-object dialogue, we first need to understand a new idea, something which Merleau-Ponty brought to phenomenology: the idea of the lived body. This is a central theme of Phenomenology of Perception. <br /><br />His discussion of the intentionality of consciousness - especially of the ways in which things are presented in perception – and of the role of the body in perception are recognized as important contribution to the understanding of this topics. <br />“…. one of the great achievements of modern art and philosophy … has been to allow us to rediscover the world in which we live, yet which we are always prone to forget “. <br />This world which we are to rediscover is ‘the world of perception’, which is the world as we perceive it, ‘the perceived world’ as it is often called. This book is to explore this perceived world, in order to enable readers to ‘rediscover’ it for themselves. <br /><br />I have been slowly re-reading every chapter of this book over the past 2 months, even though on some subchapter I just picked up part that I like. It took ages for me to finish reading this massive volume book because I often had to re-read many part carefully to get the points. The language is not quite simple as I found some single words which I could not find in the common dictionary neither in thesaurus, though I eventually found the words in ‘Illustrated Dictionary of Psychology’ compiled and edited by Louis Smith, that I fortunately own. A tough book to get through but one of the most important in philosophy. Even if you just read the preface and introduction, the massive volume of this book will blow your mind. I got many new knowledge about other philosophers of various ‘ism’ i.e. positivism, rationalism, existentialism, idealism, skepticism etc. since he always discuss comparison between his view and other philosophers’ view on the same objects, followed by dense analysis from his sight. At least I got the better idea of the basic different conceptual philosophy between German philosophers and French philosophers in general. I may re read this book some other time. To me this book is a brain food that is worthwhile. <br /><br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-79149556007311992592009-01-10T16:44:00.017+07:002009-01-23T15:23:39.213+07:00Flood in Tebing TinggiOn the way back to Medan, about 1 hour left before we reached Medan, we passed by Tebingtinggi, a small city where the majority of residents is Melayu. Almost all building is painted in green and yellow, traditional colors of Melayu. The street was so deserted until we were trapped by traffic jam in Tebingtinggi. <br /><span class="fullpost"><br />We curiously wondered about what is happening since as many times we have passed by this street, we have never ever faced such traffic jam before. As we moved straight ahead we saw the street was wet and the water seemed to become higher covering the street. It not raining when we passed by the flood, but it was very heavy rain last night. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR8r4540lI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/YlumzApZkq4/s1600-h/banjir1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR8r4540lI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/YlumzApZkq4/s320/banjir1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292992555518579282" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR70zF7y2I/AAAAAAAAA7I/iwuvgeBVJyk/s1600-h/banjir3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR70zF7y2I/AAAAAAAAA7I/iwuvgeBVJyk/s320/banjir3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292991609065687906" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR7dX6_KZI/AAAAAAAAA7A/WBb15kxLmbs/s1600-h/banjir4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR7dX6_KZI/AAAAAAAAA7A/WBb15kxLmbs/s320/banjir4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292991206635022738" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR6tx1RRmI/AAAAAAAAA64/njFggNUszgc/s1600-h/banjir5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR6tx1RRmI/AAAAAAAAA64/njFggNUszgc/s320/banjir5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292990388956644962" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR6QQxtjsI/AAAAAAAAA6w/mwzyszclL8w/s1600-h/banjir7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR6QQxtjsI/AAAAAAAAA6w/mwzyszclL8w/s320/banjir7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292989881867144898" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR5ugz_owI/AAAAAAAAA6o/_lNsUPlP47w/s1600-h/banjir8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR5ugz_owI/AAAAAAAAA6o/_lNsUPlP47w/s320/banjir8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292989302056133378" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR5ZW6hF4I/AAAAAAAAA6g/T1rBW66MPLE/s1600-h/banjir9.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR5ZW6hF4I/AAAAAAAAA6g/T1rBW66MPLE/s320/banjir9.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292988938621884290" /></a><br />I was a bit anxious to get trapped in the flood and we could not continue back to Medan. Luckily we were on a big high wheeled car Grand Vitara so the car could pass the flood without being stuck and the water did not get into the machine. We pass the flood street for 30 minutes. What a distressed trip passing by the flood street.<br /><br /><br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-57700368347003715662009-01-06T21:09:00.013+07:002009-02-10T11:05:44.441+07:00Blocked by LandslideThe first visit to Tampahan in 2009. We went to Tampahan, my late parents in law's home village in 4 January 2009. We spent only one night there, just to see the house, visit the cemetery of my parents in law and to greet the elder who take care of the house and the cemetery. In the morning of 5 January we were ready for going back to Medan. Before departing, as usual we crossed the road off to say goodbye to ompungboru, a younger sister of my husband’s late grand mother. Somebody told that there has been a landslide between Parapat and Siantar in the midnight, but the street was completely cleared already last night by the authority according to them to ensure us to not worry about the trip back to Medan.<span class="fullpost"><br /><br />It is the last day of long vacation, and so many people spent their holiday in Parapat will be back to Medan at least after breakfast. Avoiding traffic jam, we decided to depart early in the morning. The street was so deserted, so my husband drove the car slowly and relaxed. I tried to call the police at Parapat to make sure about the landslide, but the phone was always engaged. So we stopped by at Singgalang restaurant for a while to asked somebody there. A restaurant owner who is so kind told us that the street is cleaned already. We went off continue heading to Medan. Only 20 minutes from Parapat we were stopped by police men and we saw tractors pulling some rocks lying on the middle of the street. There were still rocks remain on the street. The rocks fell down from the street side hill.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRyKT6baVI/AAAAAAAAA5w/YifMKEeTKsk/s1600-h/longsor2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRyKT6baVI/AAAAAAAAA5w/YifMKEeTKsk/s320/longsor2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292980983536773458" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRzhP3l04I/AAAAAAAAA6A/mKaq8WErTLw/s1600-h/longsor5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRzhP3l04I/AAAAAAAAA6A/mKaq8WErTLw/s320/longsor5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292982477099750274" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The location where it happened is called Batuloting, means fire rocks. The rocks' friction will make fire. I saw the workers burning the rocks whenever the rocks are too heavy to be tilted up and to pull away. There are 3 cars prior to our car and many cars made a long queue behind us. The street is only passable for one car, so the policemen organized the cars to pass by the street in turn. The cars headed to Parapat were the first turn to pass by, and then after around 30 minutes waiting it’s our turn to head for Medan. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRy3GVHiSI/AAAAAAAAA54/WT-I14DxgAE/s1600-h/longsor4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRy3GVHiSI/AAAAAAAAA54/WT-I14DxgAE/s320/longsor4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292981752984733986" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR0Dwc2fcI/AAAAAAAAA6I/WINERgAh9tY/s1600-h/longsor7.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR0Dwc2fcI/AAAAAAAAA6I/WINERgAh9tY/s320/longsor7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292983069961518530" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR0lV5l1bI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/kFRb-CiWaEk/s1600-h/longsor8.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR0lV5l1bI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/kFRb-CiWaEk/s320/longsor8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292983646949856690" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR1XngjdlI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/JQSXftEmnqQ/s1600-h/longsor9.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXR1XngjdlI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/JQSXftEmnqQ/s320/longsor9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292984510670141010" border="0" /></a><br />That was the very first time for me to see from a short distance how big rocks from the hill lying on the street. I can’t imagine what will happen when this rock falling down on the passing cars underneath. Luckily we only had to wait for around 30 minutes for the tractors to remove the rocks.<br /><br /><br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-11116153026246440132008-12-31T20:37:00.021+07:002009-06-18T20:07:02.843+07:00Farewell 2008, Welcome 2009I was just back in Medan 2 days ago after together with all family member I spent 8 days of Christmas vacation at my parent’s house in Bandung. Actually my daughters wished us to stay longer in order they can celebrate a new year together with us, but my husband prefered to leave the outgoing year 2008 and to enter the incoming year 2009 at our own home in Medan<br /><span class="fullpost"><br />There are new year greetings from family, friends and relatives I got during these two days at my mobile phone through short message service, through email and on my wall at Face Book. Here are some of the greetings which to me are impressed and touched.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 0);">When the sky breaks into a beautiful sunrise, may God open the heaven to shower us with lots of love, joy, peace, happiness and prosperity in the future. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Ketika Tuhan membuka jendela surga, Dia melihatku dan bertanya “Apa permintaanmu anakKu?” Aku minta, Bapa jaga dan cintai keluarga yang membaca sms ini selamanya. Berikan mereka kesehatan yang prima dan hati yang penuh sukacita serta hasil usaha yang penuh kesuksesan.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Semoga akhir tahun ini menjadi awal yang membahagiakan untuk tahun 2009 yang lebih baik bagi kita semua.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Wish the end of this year is the beginning of happiness in the year 2009 which is a better year for all of us.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">I wish you all the gift of : 356 days of Love, 8760 hours of Happiness, 525600 minutes of Peace, 31536000 seconds of Prosperity </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);">Day by day was going on, and now the new day on a new year was coming. Let the day brings us the new life, new hope and new dream.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 51);">Hidup ini hanya sebentar. Sebentar senang, sebentar sedih, sebentar marah, sebentar ketawa, sebentar berduit, sebentar bokek, sebentar lagi . . . . TAHUN BARU !!!</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Yesterday is history, today is a gift, tomorrow is a hope. May our Lord Jesus Christ give you happiness and bless.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Jika diibaratan langit itu adalah kertas dan lautan adalah tinta, maka langit dan air laut tak akan cukup menulis kasih Yesus kepada kita. Walau langkah tak bertemu, tangan tak berjabat, ucapan tak terdengar namun ijinkanlah hati memohon maaf yang sebesar-besarnya.</span><br /><br />Baik buruknya di tahun 2008 menjadi tolok ukur untuk menghadapi tahun baru 2009.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Selamat Tahun Baru 2009.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">Tak henti bertahan, tak henti berkreasi, tak henti untuk berbuat yang terbaik. Semoga Tuhan memberi kesempatan kepada kita untuk mampu melakukannya.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Tak selamanya hati seputih awan, tak selamanya jiwa sebening embun. Apabila mulut salah berucap, sikap dan tangan salah berbuat, terimalah maaf walau tangan tak sempat berjabat.</span><br /></span><br />All those sentences are closed with a "Happy New Year" greeting.<br /><br />Farewell 2008, welcome 2009.<br />To the world, to my country, to all my friends, to the whole family and relatives, and to all visitor of this blog with all best wishes I would greet you<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;" class="fullpost" >HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-39818604149045234162008-12-08T15:41:00.020+07:002009-02-10T11:01:56.631+07:00Heartbreaking TsunamiIn about more than 2 weeks from now, the 26 December 2008, will be the 4th year after tsunami destroyed Aceh, Nias and Padang. It means the organizations for the humanity, mostly non government organizations work for humanity including the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the destroyed area will end in December 2009. The effects caused by this 2 days natural disaster needs at least 5 years for reconstruction and rehabilitations on physical facilities and infrastructure. The trauma of some victims may need longer time to be healed. The lost of hundred thousands life can not be replaced.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRqytLtOiI/AAAAAAAAA5o/_yc63bb8n-4/s1600-h/tsunami3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 190px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRqytLtOiI/AAAAAAAAA5o/_yc63bb8n-4/s320/tsunami3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292972881421875746" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">image by global picture </span><br /> </span><br /></div><span class="fullpost">Everybody does hope tsunami will not happen again. The memories of how this tsunami killed people, separated parents from their children, destroyed future of some people remains heartbreaking.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRqfEP0I5I/AAAAAAAAA5Y/a48Ig0oerrQ/s1600-h/tsunami2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 195px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRqfEP0I5I/AAAAAAAAA5Y/a48Ig0oerrQ/s320/tsunami2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292972544015737746" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">the picture shows how tsunami destroyed land and killed people </span></span><br /><br /></div><span class="fullpost">Of course as faithful person we always believe and leave anything happen to Him, the almighty God. Many people believe it as their destiny, their fate, which is already written. However, faith solely without praising Him through our good attitude does not guarantee this natural disaster stop to happen.<br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRpyOQNyVI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/yRtwwPR3Ujg/s1600-h/tsunami1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 209px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SXRpyOQNyVI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/yRtwwPR3Ujg/s320/tsunami1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292971773607659858" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:85%;">there is no bufferzone to protect the area</span></span><br /><br /></div><span class="fullpost">Tsunami is just one of the natural phenomenas that can not be avoided. What we, as the residents of the earth can do is to minimize the negative effects on human, on all the living creatures and the land. If only the people in the destroyed area had maintained the mangrove along the beach for instance, the destroyed area might not be very large. What we can do in order to minimize the victims of natural disaster is to conserve and maintain the nature. The earth has been created in a balanced system which has mutual relationship among each diverse component. With the effort to keep the nature maintained, at least to not do any activities that may damage the nature, will hopefully minimize the victims whenever natural disaster happen.<br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-764018423645191082008-12-03T20:50:00.012+07:002009-01-23T20:50:55.065+07:00Merleau-PontiI am currently reading Phenomenology of Perception, philosophical thought written by Merleau Ponti.Before going far through the readings, I usually read autobiography of the author just to get the idea about on what track the discussion will be. I have heard about Greece philosopher such as Plato, Socrates etc. as well as German philosophers since I was at High School when I learned physics and science. Most of them are positivists and rationalists. I have heard about Sartre and other French philosophers as well. This time I read a book of French phenomenologist, monsieur Maurice Merleau Ponti. <br /><span class="fullpost"><br />Merleau Ponti is a French philosopher who introduced phenomenological thought to France. He combined a new way of thinking about the basic structure of human life with reflections on art, literature and politics. Grew up as a French, he spent most of his childhood in Paris with his brothers, sisters, and his widowed mother. He devotes most of his writings to explorations of this perceived world, in order to enable reader to ‘rediscover’ it for him/herself. His background knowledge which was psychology influenced him in discovering this perceived world from the point of view of a psychologist. This can be seen from his dissertation “Structure of Behavior”, a critical survey of psychological theory with special emphasis on Gestalt theory, inspired him to work on phenomenology. He is one of a few modern phenomenologist in the world. His first thesis in philosophy is Phenomenology of Perception which was first published in 1945. His other famous published articles on philosophy are: ‘The World of Perception’ (1948), ‘Sense and Nonsense’ (1948), ‘An Adventure of Dialectic’ (1955) and ‘Signs’ (1960). ‘Visible and Invisible’ (1964)<br /><br />Unlike logical positivist philosopher of the 1930’s who affirmed the ‘verification principle’ that the meaning of a proposition given by its method of verification, i.e. by a way in which its truth or falsity can be settled on the basis of observation, Merleau Ponti rejects the emphasis solely on ‘scientific’ observation as well as the forms of empiricism which aim to restrict or reduce the contents of thought to possible contents of experience. Attempted to overcome the problems of empiricism and rationalism in the Cartesian tradition of modern philosophy, he takes that the relationship between perception and all other modes of thought, including science as one of foundation which involves a kind of rootedness that does not restrict the capacity for more sophisticated articulations of experience in the light of deeper understanding of the world. During the German occupation of France, he joined Jean-Paul Sartre the writer of “Being and Nothingness” to constitute an intellectual resistant movement (Socialism and Freedom). The experience of the German occupation forced him to think much harder about politics than he had previously done. <br /><br />After his death (1961), his former students somewhere else, especially in United States preserved his reputation and ensured the translation into English of all his major works. His discussion of the ‘intentionality’ of consciousness, especially the way in which things are presented in perception, and the role of the body in perception are recognized as important contributions to the understanding of the phenomenology of perception. <br /><br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-12742729935373594782008-11-19T09:50:00.011+07:002009-01-28T17:14:13.986+07:00A Village Lack of YoungsterOne of the things I have always concerned about every time I visit villages in Tapanuli Utara is its lack of youngster. Tapanuli Utara is located at the southern part of North Sumatera. Youngsters here are young adults. The scene seen are elderly or young children working at rice field, shepherding sheep and buffalo, or relaxing in the coffee shop. It seems that no youngster remains living in the village. <br /><span class="fullpost"><br />Most probably all youngsters has been moved to the city for education or earn money. In general, the people from Tapanuli Utara Bataknese strongly hold their principle of life that they must send their children/descendants to school. The awareness that education is the main road to a better future is so strong among Bataknese. To get their children educated is a pride and is of family main target. No matter how poor the family is, they will do anything to send their children to school. Their relatives usually help each other to support one’s family in making this possible. The support could be financial, material or providing facility. Parents would do anything, borrow money, sell their field, sell their property, work harder, etc. for sending their children to a good school. The success of a family is measured by the level of education the family can afford for their children. These matters encourage parents to send their children to get the good education in the big city. This mainly happens to the youth at the time they have to continue their study to a higher level or university. So, all youngsters of villagers will be sent to the big city to attend college or university. The problem is after completing their study at university, these graduated youngsters usually find a job in the city as well, to get well paid of course. Again, no youths will back to their village and settle their life there. Unless the local authority develops economic activities in a village - for the youth particularly, the village will remain lack of youngsters. <br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-1600120485747065602008-10-29T07:37:00.024+07:002009-01-20T17:19:05.665+07:00A Tomb at the House YardIt has been more than 15 years since I have been living in Medan. At least once in every year, most often on Easter holiday, I and my family used to visit a village of Tampahan, about 11 km further from Balige, the capital of Toba Samosir district. It takes about 5 hours drive from Medan to Tampahan.<span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SW7peBAPOHI/AAAAAAAAA4I/8E9v-vJHS9s/s1600-h/PICT0083.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SW7peBAPOHI/AAAAAAAAA4I/8E9v-vJHS9s/s320/PICT0083.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291423314081691762" border="0"></a>There is a house of my husband’s late grannies located uphill off the road, facing the street of inter province. The cemetery, - I prefer to say a tomb - of my late parents in law is located at the right side yard of the house.<br />It is common for the people of North Tapanuli to bury down the corpse of family member at their house yard or their private yard somewhere else within the village. <font class="fullpost">They assume they have the right to reserve part of their own house yard for the burial ground or cemetery of the family member when passed away. It is usually at either the front or side yard, but not at back yard, as to honor the soul of the person being buried there. </font><font class="fullpost">There are still a lot of Bataknese people who prefer to bury the corpse of their parents or grandparents especially of the aged ones at the land of their parent home village. Even if they have to take the corpse across the ocean, they would do it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SW7sGKq9UyI/AAAAAAAAA4w/w0MxMb02wjk/s1600-h/DSCN1040.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 231px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SW7sGKq9UyI/AAAAAAAAA4w/w0MxMb02wjk/s320/DSCN1040.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291426202894816034" border="0"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /> </font><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="fullpost"><font size="2">The tombs of King Sidabutar </font></font><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="fullpost"><font size="2"> and his family at Samosir island</font></font><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><font class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SW7sd9BxceI/AAAAAAAAA44/pZqpV9eWgLQ/s1600-h/makam+nomensen012.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 205px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SW7sd9BxceI/AAAAAAAAA44/pZqpV9eWgLQ/s320/makam+nomensen012.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291426611549270498" border="0"></a><br /> <font size="2"><br /><br /></font></font><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="fullpost"><font size="2">Cemetery of Nommensen and his family.</font></font><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="fullpost"><font size="2"> Nommensen is a missionary from<br />Germany who introduced<br />Christianity to the people</font></font><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="fullpost"><font size="2"> of north Tapanuli in the 19th century</font></font><br /></div><font class="fullpost"><br /><br /><br /><br />There are many reasons to do so. It can be a wish or request from their parents or grannies when being alive, to ensure that the cemetery will be cared by a member of their family living in the village or at least by someone they may hire. Another reason is as a way for their descendants come to visit their fore father home village. This is what was requested by my father in law before he departed. He was a former member of police officer, and he has the facility to be buried in National Cemetery, but long time before his death, he told his wishes to his sons that his corpse is to be buried at his parents’ home village.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SW7stpq7Z0I/AAAAAAAAA5A/oSfzQFuuRqY/s1600-h/Butar-Parapat+038.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SW7stpq7Z0I/AAAAAAAAA5A/oSfzQFuuRqY/s320/Butar-Parapat+038.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291426881231087426" border="0"></a><br /> <font size="2"><br /><br /><br /><br /></font></font><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="fullpost"><font size="2">The tombs of my father's grannies</font></font><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="fullpost"><font size="2"> at Butar - Siborong-borong<br />which is surrounded by rice fields<br /></font></font><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><font class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SW7tCsJR3VI/AAAAAAAAA5I/OoMq2NpvGP0/s1600-h/DSCN1336.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SW7tCsJR3VI/AAAAAAAAA5I/OoMq2NpvGP0/s320/DSCN1336.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291427242672512338" border="0"></a><br /> <font size="2"><br /><br /><br /><br /></font></font><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="fullpost"><font size="2"><br /></font></font><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="fullpost"><font size="2"> The tomb of Siahaan's (my husband's clan)<br /> forefather - Somba Debata in Balige </font></font><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br />For current generation living in a city, taking corpse of the family member to the village is not practical, wasting time and costs a lot. They don’t care too much about where to be buried when died. However, as a matter of fact, to buy or even to rent the small burial ground at local cemetery costs a lot. The family of the departed has to pay a lot besides must pay for the rent every year including taxes.<br /></div></div><font class="fullpost"><br />Last month when a father of my friend passed away, the family paid 11 million rupiah (=USD11,000) for 2x1.5 square meter of land for burial ground of the death. That is at Simalingkar, which has been the second best cemetery in Medan in this few years. The best one is at Taman Eden, which cost more expensive, 25 million rupiah (=USD 25,000) per corpse to be buried there. This makes the people of Tapanuli Utara, particularly who live in North Sumatera choose to utilize the land at their father home village as burial ground for the family member. So on the way back to Medan from north Tapanuli, it is a common view to see ambulance delivering corpse to certain village at north Tapanuli followed by family of the departed.<br /></font> </span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-54410275034572914462008-10-28T21:02:00.006+07:002009-01-19T20:48:41.707+07:00Education of HomelessPoverty, economic condition in which people lack sufficient income to obtain certain minimal levels of health services, food, housing, clothing, and education generally recognized as necessary to ensure an adequate standard of living. What is considered adequate, however, depends on the average standard of living in a particular society. People without access to education or health services should be considered poor even if they have adequate food. One of the main sources of poverty is lack of educational opportunity. <span class="fullpost"><br /><br />To break the cycle of poverty in their family, the children must properly be educated. Being aware of this, the government of my country opens an opportunity for all children to have free primary education. The government has put education as compulsory and in state schools is free. Primary education lasts six years. There is no tuition fee; most text book is subsidized by government, and the children can borrow text books from school library. Its aim is to give the children opportunity for a better future and hence to reduce the amount of people living in poverty in the future. <br /><br />In fact, there are still a lot of children hanging on the road at school time. Some of them stand as beggars, some others sell newspapers on the street, work as street-singers etc. There are many reasons for these children choosing to leave school. As a part of poverty, one of the reasons is their being homeless. A large percentage of the poor people are homeless. A big number of families in a poor live in houses that are literally made out of other people’s rubbish. They rig up some old corrugated iron, some plastic sheeting – and that’s home. The whole families live in just one or two rooms. There is no privacy. There is no indoor toilet either. The whole families often have to eat, work and sleep in the same room. Poverty and bad housing is a problem for the children.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SSlEqxoNmEI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/jWoQj-MhiXc/s1600-h/homeless.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 247px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SSlEqxoNmEI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/jWoQj-MhiXc/s320/homeless.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271820340481071170" /></a><br />There are lots children live in homes which are on or below the poverty line. Parents are often put under great stress as a result of poverty and unemployment. This can make home life very difficult and full of tension from time to time. Homelessness is just as hard on kids as it is on adults. As a consequence, the children’s education, if in fact they are in school at all, suffers severely. As a result, children often suffer. <br /><br />School age children indeed spend a lot of time in school. But after school, they come home to do their homework and in school holidays they also stay at home. Besides, school is not the only place where children learn things. In many ways, home is a more important place for learning and developing, where children find out many vital things about themselves. Homeless youth become heavily concerned with stress regarding such issues as staying healthy and enduring small living spaces. They become acutely aware of their basic physiological and safety needs. With all these things going on in these students’ lives, we can not expect them to achieve to the same level as other more advantaged students. <br /><br />There are major problems with the education of homeless youth today. Besides free education, there is a big homework : How to help homeless people can leave in a house.<br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-60560807511866304522008-09-23T16:02:00.007+07:002008-09-30T17:05:02.523+07:00The long forgotten hobbyWhen I filled out the information ‘about me’ at Goodreads.com recently, I recalled all titles of the books I had read since I was in primary school, and those I had read when I was in my teens. These all reminded me to the good old days, particularly regarding my hobby when I was in my teens. Besides reading, my hobby was to correspond with anybody in the world. It was called pen friendship or commonly known as ‘pen pal.’ <span class="fullpost"><br />I had about 10 pen friends from out-of-country namely Austria, Denmark, Australia, Ghana, Greece, Tonga and there were also some from other cities in Indonesia, such as Pontianak, Aceh, Atambua (West Timorese) and Manado. <br /><br />At the same time, I loved to collect stamps (philately hobby) as well. There were lots of stamps from many different countries I had collected and put them in stamp collecting albums. I used to exchange stamps also with my ‘pen friends’. Some of my pen friends kindly sent me their currency notes, and in exchange I sent them Indonesian currency notes. Now since it has been more than 30 years ago, I was reminded of this long forgotten hobby. I missed my stamp collecting album that I had not taken care of for years. I don’t know exactly when I started to neglect all this stuff. Most probably since I attended the university, when I didn’t have enough time nor was attention to keep collecting stamps or most probably my interest was completely switched to something else. <br /><br />Moreover after I got married, I followed my husband to move from Bandung (my hometown) and stayed in Medan until now. All my stamp collecting albums were left at my parents’ house, and they have been neglected for years. I found some of them were badly damaged; most of the stamps were not in the album anymore. Last month when I visited my parents, I did not even see those albums anymore; maybe hidden somewhere, misplaced, or they have been given away to someone, or taken away by my siblings. I indeed did not take care, did not even think neither desire to see those stamp collecting albums I had so much treasured in the past. In fact I have neglected and forgotten them. The same fate happened to my pen friendships. I cannot remember the last time I received letters from my pen friends, neither remember when I started not replying to their letters. I am grateful and fortunate that I still kept all the letters I had received from my pen friends until now. I have tried to find them out on the internet, but I have not succeeded in finding any of them yet. However, I have to keep on searching so I can reconnect with them somehow.<br /><br />Now I feel that I really miss my long forgotten hobby, miss my pen friends and my stamp collecting albums that I had treasured in my teens. I recalled the memory of how every day after school; I always expected to have letters from my pen friends waiting for me at home. How I was proud to have collected stamps from Israel, Greece, Iran etc. I want to share this experience with my grown up kids; telling them that having pen friendship and collecting stamps are something joyful and a fascinating hobby. However, I realize they will not be interested in making pen friend since now in this internet era, they could make friends with anybody instantly through internet. They do not have to go to the post office, to buy stamps and mail their letters. They can do this all anytime, anywhere, from home, school, or campus. I wonder in this internet era, where people can connect with each other through cable - are there still anybody making pen friend, send their letters via post office and, collect stamps? I need to research more on this long forgotten hobby – philately! <br /><br /><br /><br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-21641010302906046502008-09-03T15:26:00.004+07:002008-09-05T21:54:07.554+07:00Philosophical view about lifeIn the past I wasn't keen on reading or knowing about philosophy. Early this year, once when I was free, I read a book about philosophy, just to kill my time. ....well, I found it is interesting and I started to love it. It such a wise and objective view about life aspects. I really like it. Then when I blog walked recently, I hit blog of Ashis Vyas which contain philosophical view about life. I quoted part of nice writing from Ashis' blog and put it here to share. <span class="fullpost"><br /><br />Your attitude in life always determines your altitude in life.<br />Whatever you do, Do it as WORSHIP.<br />Do all the good you can,<br />By all the means you can,<br />In all the ways you can,<br />In all the places you can,<br />At all the times you can,<br />To all the people you can,<br />As long as ever you can.<br /><br />What should be the ultimate goal of life? -BE HAPPY-<img height="18" src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/1.gif" width="18" border="0" /><br /><br />There is a solution for making your life more happy,<br />Laugh, laugh and laugh<br />No matter how odd circumstances are<br />No matter how bitter our experiences are<br />But once you learn to laugh on circumstances<br />You have won the battle my dear Friend!<br /><br />"Essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.."<br /><br />No man / woman is worth your tears and the only one who is, will never make you cry.<br />SO KEEP SIMILING.<img height="18" src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/1.gif" width="18" border="0" /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Quoted from: Ashish Vyas<br /></span><br /></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-72578083364474496732008-08-31T20:36:00.022+07:002008-09-07T20:29:08.608+07:00Boli Boli Hot Spring WaterBetween Siborong-borong and Tarutung, southern part of North Sumatera, there is a small village called Sipoholon, a popular place known its baths and sulphide hot spring water. It takes about 30 minutes drive from Siborong-borong to get to the location.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SLqi1l7_XSI/AAAAAAAAAsk/zfLza6PzOvk/s1600-h/30082008264.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5240680157999488290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SLqi1l7_XSI/AAAAAAAAAsk/zfLza6PzOvk/s320/30082008264.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><p><span class="fullpost"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SLqil0w_iBI/AAAAAAAAAsc/avweKHxXB-0/s1600-h/30082008263.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5240679887101986834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SLqil0w_iBI/AAAAAAAAAsc/avweKHxXB-0/s320/30082008263.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />There are many restaurant at Sipoholon provide place set for visitors to bathe hot water. Everyone may take a bath for free in any of the bath rooms supplied with running water and equipped with bath tubs. The restaurant owners expect visitors to take a rest after bathing and, buy some food and beverage from their restaurant in return. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SMFGuw2RHcI/AAAAAAAAAtg/qvELjtQGBWI/s1600-h/30082008255.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242549210436410818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SMFGuw2RHcI/AAAAAAAAAtg/qvELjtQGBWI/s320/30082008255.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />One of the restaurants called Boli-Boli, provides 6m x 10m hot water pool, and a bathroom with a large tub and Jacuzzi, a whirpool bath with a system of underwater jets that deliver water under pressure in order to massage an invigorate the body. Water flows through column to the tub dense clouds of steam, in which the bathers sweated. Finally bathers can be splash or shower with cold water. <br />Entrance fee to the pool is Rp. 3000,- ; and Rp. 60.000,- per 1 hour spa bathing. Like other restaurants around, there are also many bathrooms with hot water tub can be used for free. The restaurant provide various foods and drinks at reasonable price.<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SMFF_dpT46I/AAAAAAAAAtQ/nzca0yXaV3E/s1600-h/gbr4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242548397827941282" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SMFF_dpT46I/AAAAAAAAAtQ/nzca0yXaV3E/s320/gbr4.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SMFGShaJSZI/AAAAAAAAAtY/bh8kqaWQCNs/s1600-h/gbr5.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242548725255588242" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SMFGShaJSZI/AAAAAAAAAtY/bh8kqaWQCNs/s320/gbr5.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Whenever you take a trip around Sipoholon, the hot spring water bath is a good place to get your body relaxed. Especially when the journey is long and exhausting, spa bathing and Jacuzzi might heal you backbreaking. </p> </span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-12524984516300192802008-08-17T20:57:00.021+07:002008-09-03T14:30:56.524+07:00Indonesia Raya rocks my moodListen to the national anthem of Indonesia, click <a href=" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_RbTcg7hgM&feature=related"><strong>HERE</strong></a><strong> </strong><br /><br />The national anthem of Indonesia, “Indonesia Raya” is again sung today on the celebration of the 63rd Indonesian Independence day. Even in the church this morning before the service, the congregation stood up to sing Indonesia Raya followed by ‘<span style="font-style:italic;">hening cipta</span>’ conferring respect in memorizing national late heroes and ended with praying. I don’t know why every time I sing Indonesia Raya at the national ceremony, I always go moody, plunged into miserable feeling and could burst into tears that I had to fight keeping my tears to not flow out of my eyes. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SKlQ2PRBgnI/AAAAAAAAAkc/uHRvEnNxbjo/s1600-h/paskibra1_web.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SKlQ2PRBgnI/AAAAAAAAAkc/uHRvEnNxbjo/s200/paskibra1_web.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235804934536004210" /></a> This has happened for years, since I attended the Indonesian independence ceremony in Sydney nearly two decades ago. In fact, following the national ceremony abroad made my feel even more miserable. Feel of missing my country so much, moreover when the red-white flag was being raised gradually and we gave respect to the flag. I could not keep my tears. It was on the 17 August 1990, when I was even involved in the raising flag regiment. <span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SKlOKy4u_VI/AAAAAAAAAkU/bF_19EM8cFs/s1600-h/paskibra2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZXBYyaZXn28/SKlOKy4u_VI/AAAAAAAAAkU/bF_19EM8cFs/s200/paskibra2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235801989160303954" /></a> This might be caused by being far away from my country. The atmosphere flew my heart away to my home country, reminding me the reality concerning lots of people in my country living in poverty, lack of education, lack of proper public service, malnutrition, lack of proper medical service, etc. ,etc. Longing for better conditions over all aspects of life in my country particularly prosperity and equity will soon be realized, … and a number of desperate questions about what has gone wrong with my country that it takes too long to become a prosperous country compared to other country which has just got their independence a few years ago. <br /><br />Last year, at the graduation ceremony in October, it was opened with national ceremony. Again I could not keep my tears when all audience sang Indonesia Raya. This time I imagine most of the graduates who were very proud to accept his/her certificate will experience unemployment. Except this morning, when singing Indonesia Raya, I was a bit surprised that I didn’t feel like to cry. It was just flat, no such miserable feeling as usual. I don’t know why <img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/106.gif" width="40" height="18" border="0">. </span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-30374252409604097062008-08-05T20:02:00.008+07:002008-08-06T07:21:08.337+07:00One of the best story ever told<div align="justify">As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.<br />At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review eachchild's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.</div><br /><span class="fullpost"> <br />Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around.."<br />His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle." His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. Hetries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest, and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken.<div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class."<br />By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from agrocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarterfull of perfume. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist.</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs.Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to." After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children.<br />Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him,his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster heresponded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartestchildren in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets."A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her thatshe was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.<br /><br /></div><div align="justify">Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrotethat he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still thebest teacher he ever had in life.Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs.Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go alittle further. The letter explained that she was still the best andfavorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.<br /></div><div align="justify">The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs.Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear,"Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference." Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy,you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you." (For you that don't know, Teddy Stoddard is the Dr. at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing.) </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">Warm someone's heart today.... pass this along. I love this story so very much, I cry every time I read it. Just try to make a difference in someone's life today? tomorrow? just "do it". </div><div align="justify">Random acts of kindness, I think they call it! "Believe in Angels, then return the favor"</div></span>Ariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03927006180866974005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-21852588618119029792008-07-29T14:57:00.016+07:002008-08-02T21:59:53.817+07:00Key of success<li>Winners make things to happen ; losers merely wait things to happen</li><li>Winners are achievers ; losers are sustainers</li><li>Winners never make any comparison with others but losers always do</li><li>Winners thinks and act ; losers act and think</li><li>Winners are self disciplined ; losers are self indulgent</li><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><li>Winners are far-sighted ; losers are short-sighted</li><li>Winners see problem as a challenge ; losers as a burden</li><li>Winners always say : "I can" ; losers say : "I can't"</li><li>Winners hardly complain ; losers always poin their finger at other failure</li><li>Winners solve problem ; losers are dissolved by problem. </li></span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-26932356460165270962008-07-28T12:50:00.005+07:002008-07-28T18:06:01.958+07:00How To Be A Better Couple<a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a><span style="color:#663366;">10 steps to enjoying each other better...<br /></span><br />1. Be realistic about each other.Don't try to turn your partner into something he or she is not. Let's face it, guys-there's only one Pamela Anderson in the world, and even she has had her implants removed! Give your gal a break and understand that her physical appearance is NOT going to change overnight with the help of a few facials or treatments. And ladies, Brad Pitt has already been taken, so u're gonna have to do with what your guy is like! Chill out, love each other for what u are. There is more to your partner than what meets the eye.<span class="fullpost"><br /><br />2. Always talk things out.Now guys, I know this is not your fave pastime or mode of resolving issues, but u know what? This works with the gals. Don't make assumptions about each other's feelings. Learn to xpress urself better so that your partner understands what u're angry about, or hurt about, or even happy about! When u stop talking to each other from the heart, it's the beginning of the end.<br /><br />3. Do stuff together.Make an effort to do things together. Do some sports or involve urselves in some shared activities; something both of u enjoy or are interested in. It could be as simple as watching movies together, or jus strolling hand-in-hand down PI Mall. Watch F-1 or soccer with him once in a while though the green patch on TV puts u to sleep in 3 seconds. And guys, do give in if your gal asks for another day at window-shopping, rather than suggest that she go out with her girlfriends for "that sort of activities" instead. If u're spending more time with your friends rather than with your partner, it's a warning sign that u're drifting apart!!!<br /><br />4. Meet each other halfway.If he agrees to throw out that rotten T-shirt with the "The_Rock" print, u shouldn't kick up much of a fuss if he asks u to keep your room tidy. There's gotta be a little giving and taking in a relationship, so learn to meet each other halfway.<br /><br />5.Show your loveBuy her flowers or candy or perfume every now and then, even if u have been together for 5 years. It's wonderful to continue showing someone that u care for him or her. Cook him a special meal, paint him a Valentine's Day card. Knit him mini-socks he can't wear ( like for decoration purposes), buy him a packet of milk for breakfast, or pack his wardrobe for him...so he knows u can still be romantic and loving despite having been together for quite a while.<br /><br />6. Respect each other.Stop making jokes about her hair or skin, or whatever it is u love to laugh at. Ask urself if she thinks if its funny. And if he has an inferiority complex about his height, stop ogling at tall guys and make him feel worse! Love is about respecting each other's feelings and being sensitive to each other at all times.<br /><br />7. Bury the past.Stop bringing up the past. Gals..don't bring up the happy things about u and your ex to your guy, it would jus make him jealous or unhappy. And guys, don't talk about the happy times that u had with your ex or mention about her in your every other sentence as it would make your gal feel un-happy and she might think that u saying all this b'cos u are gonna get back with your ex or not interested in her anymore.<br /><br />8. Sit on your jealousy.All of us go thru' spells of insecurity at the beginning of the relationship, but don't translate that insecurity into jealousy. If u're gonna go through your partner's mail and cupboard, and eavesdropping on conversations, u know something is wrong - with u!!! Jealousy is like a poison that slowly spreads thru' the relationship before finally killing it. Trust your partner; love has to have trust in it.<br /><br />9. Keep your commitments to each other.If your partner is standing u up all the time and cancelling dates and breaking promises, u need to talk! If u're in a relationship, make your partner your priority and don't disappoint them if u can help it. It's really terrible when someone promises to take u to dinner, and then calls to cancel it. Don't make promises u can't keep. If your partner starts to feel that he/she is not important enough to u, u may jus lose him/her.<br /><br />10. Be honest.Honesty is not scowling at how awful she looks first thing in the morning, or telling him that he has the biceps of a fly! When we say "be honest", we mean expressing your feelings clearly, not being bitingly cruel. When u're hurt, say so, and when u're angry, tell him/her, w/o getting hysterical. If u can't be honest with your partner, who can u be honest with? Love is also about honesty, and a relationship where no honesty exists probably isn't worth it! </span><br /><blockquote><br /></blockquote>Ariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03927006180866974005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-75401783624841529872008-07-28T12:30:00.016+07:002008-08-02T21:57:11.423+07:00Generating New Ideas<span style="color:#993399;">Think Differently and Spark Creativity</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#000099;">"We need to think differently!" </span><br /><span style="color:#000099;">"This needs some fresh ideas!"</span><br /><span style="color:#000099;">"We have got to be more creative around here!"</span><br /><br />Are messages like these popping up more often in your workplace?<br />Faced with complex, open-ended, ever-changing challenges, organizations realize that constant, ongoing innovation is critical if they want to stay ahead of the competition. This is why we need to be on the lookout for new ideas that can drive innovation. It's why the ability to think differently, generate new ideas, and spark creativity within a team becomes an important skill. You need to work actively on building and cultivating this skill, and it can be done!<span class="fullpost"><br />Often, though, we make the mistake of assuming that good ideas just happen. Or worse still, we get caught in the mind trap of believing that creativity is an aptitude: some people have it, others don't. Then there is the other self-defeating belief - "I am not intelligent enough to come up with good ideas." These assumptions just aren't true: Anyone can come up with fresh, radical ideas - you just need to learn to open your mind and think differently. This article shows you how to do so. <p align="justify"><span style="color:#000066;">How to Generate New Ideas<br />Standard idea-generation techniques concentrate on combining or adapting existing ideas. This can certainly generate results. But here, our focus is on equipping you with tools that help you leap onto a totally different plane. These approaches push your mind to forge new connections, think differently, and consider new perspectives.<br />A word of caution - while these techniques are extremely effective, they will only succeed if they are backed by rich knowledge of the area you're working on. This means that if you don't have enough information about the issue, you are unlikely to come up with a great idea, even by using the techniques listed here. Incidentally, these techniques can be applied to spark creativity in group settings and brainstorming sessions as well.<p><span style="color:#000066;">Breaking Thought Patterns</span><br />Any of us can get stuck in established thinking patterns. To get unstuck, you need to break out of these, if you're going to have any chance of generating fresh, new ideas. There are several techniques you can use to do this: </p><ul><li><div align="justify"><span style="color:#993399;">Challenge assumptions</span>: For every situation, you have a set of key assumptions. <em><span style="font-size:85%;">Challenging these assumptions gives you a whole new spin on possibilities.You want to buy a house but can't since you assume you don't have the money to make a down payment on the loan. Challenge the assumption. Sure, you don't have cash in the bank but couldn't you sell some of your other assets to raise the money? Could you dip into your retirement fund? Could you work overtime and build up the kitty in six months? Suddenly the picture starts looking brighter. </span></em></div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="color:#993399;">Reword the problem</span>: Stating the problem differently often leads to different ideas. <em><span style="font-size:85%;">To reword the problem look at the issue from different angles. "Why do we need to solve the problem?", "What's the roadblock here?", "What will happen if we don't solve the problem?" These questions will give you new insights. You might come up with new ideas to solve your new problem. In the mid 1950s, shipping companies were losing money on freighters. They decided they needed to focus on building faster and more efficient ships. However, the problem persisted. Then one consultant defined the problem differently. He said the problem the industry should consider was "how can we reduce cost?" The new problem statement generated new ideas. All aspects of shipping, including storage of cargo and loading time, were considered. The outcome of this shift in focus resulted in the container ship and the roll-on/roll-off freighter.</span></em></div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Think in</span><span style="color:#cc33cc;"> </span><a href="http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_01.htm"><span style="color:#cc33cc;">reverse</span></a>: If you feel you cannot think of anything new, try turning things upside-down. <em><span style="font-size:85%;">Instead of focusing on how you could solve a problem/improve operations/enhance a product, consider how could you create the problem/worsen operations/downgrade the product. The reverse ideas will come flowing in. Consider these ideas – once you've reversed them again - as possible solutions for the original challenge. </span></em></div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="color:#993399;">Express yourself through different m</span>edia: <em><span style="font-size:85%;">We have multiple intelligences but somehow, when faced with workplace challenges we just tend to use our verbal reasoning ability. How about expressing the challenge through different media? Clay, music, word association games, paint, there are several ways you can express the challenge. Don't bother about solving the challenge at this point. Just express it. Different expression might spark off different thought patterns. And these new thought patterns may yield new ideas. </span></em></div></li><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></ul></span></em><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000099;">Connect the Unconnected<br /></span>Some of the best ideas seem to occur just by chance. You see something or you hear someone, often totally unconnected to the situation you are trying to resolve, and the penny drops in place. Newton and the apple, Archimedes in the bath tub: examples abound.<br />Why does this happen? The random element provides a new stimulus and gets our brain cells ticking. You can capitalize on this knowledge by consciously trying to connect the unconnected.<br />Actively seek stimuli from unexpected places and then see if you can use these stimuli to build a connection with your situation. Some techniques you could use are: </p><ul><li><div align="justify">Use <a href="http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_07.htm">random input</a>: Choose a word from the dictionary and look for novel connections between the word and your problem. </div></li><li><div align="justify"><a href="http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm">Mind map</a> possible ideas: Put a key word or phrase in the middle of the page. Write whatever else comes in your mind on the same page. See if you can make any connections. </div></li><li><span style="color:#3333ff;">Pick up a picture</span>. Consider how you can relate it to your situation. </li><li><div align="justify"><span style="color:#3333ff;">Take an item</span>. Ask yourself questions such as "How could this item help in addressing the challenge?", or "What attributes of this item could help us solve our challenge?" </div></li></ul><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000099;">Shift Perspective<br /></span>Over the years we all build a certain type of perspective and this perspective yields a certain type of idea. If you want different ideas, you have to shift your perspective. To do so:<br /></p><ul><li><div align="justify"><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Get someone else's input</span>: Ask different people what they would do if faced with your challenge. You could approach friends engaged in different kind of work, your spouse, a nine-year old child, customers, suppliers, senior citizens, someone from a different culture; in essence, anyone who might see things differently.</div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Play the "If I were" game</span>: Ask yourself "If I were ………" how would I address this challenge? You could be anyone: a millionaire, Tiger Woods, anyone. The idea is the person you decide to be has certain identifiable traits. And you have to use these traits to address the challenge. For instance, if you decide to play the millionaire, you might want to bring traits such as flamboyance, big thinking and risk-taking when formulating an idea. If you are Tiger Woods you would focus on things such as perfection, persistence and execution detail. </div></li></ul><p><span style="color:#000099;">Employ Enablers<br /></span>Enablers are activities and actions that assist with, rather than directly provoke, idea generation. They create a positive atmosphere. Some of the enablers that can help you get your creative juices flowing are: </p><ul><li><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000099;">Belief in yourself</span>: Believe that you are creative, believe that ideas will come to you; positive reinforcement helps you perform better.</div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000099;">Creative loafing time</span>: Nap, go for a walk, listen to music, play with your child, take a break from formal idea-generating. Your mind needs the rest, and will often come up with connections precisely when it isn't trying to make them.</div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="color:#333399;">Change of environment</span>: Sometimes changing the setting changes your thought process. Go to a nearby coffee shop instead of the conference room in your office, or hold your discussion while walking together round a local park.</div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000099;">Shutting out distractions</span>: Keep your thinking space both literally and mentally clutter-free. Shut off the Blackberry, close the door, divert your phone calls and then think.</div></li><li><span style="color:#000099;">Fun and humor</span>: These are essential ingredients, especially in team settings. </li></ul><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000066;"><span style="color:#000099;">Key Points</span>:<br /></span>The ability to generate new ideas is an essential work skill today. You can acquire this skill by consciously practicing techniques that force your mind to forge new connections, break old thought patterns and consider new perspectives.<br />Along with practicing these techniques, you need to adopt enabling strategies too. These enabling strategies help in creating a positive atmosphere that boosts creativity.</p><p>Have a productive day always and enjoy the life...because life if too short to enjoy !</p></span>Ariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03927006180866974005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-627455879514493023.post-5302756320629782852008-07-27T20:17:00.007+07:002008-08-02T21:33:30.469+07:00Does jealousy signify one's love?<div align="justify">It tends to be widely believed that if jealousy never occur between husband and wife, the relationship is plain. In addition, if you are not jealous means that you don’t care enough, and to a certain degree some jealous is healthy. Jealousy can sometimes ensure a partner about his/her love and faith. Is this true? To some degree it might be, but it is not always true. Especially when one rarely or never experience jealous. Let us see what jealousy is and what trigger the reason for jealousy. </div><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />Jealousy is a natural reaction that happens to all of us weather we admit to it or not. When you love someone and someone seems to threaten that relationship, jealousy may occur. Some may choose to hide it though. Hence to say it is a sign or rather a sign someone does not love you, is irrelevant because some do hide things better than others, and act out in other ways. I believe jealousy has to do with the amount of insecurity one posses. What triggers the reason is usually insecurity. Your response to jealousy has to do with how secure you are with yourself. <div align="justify"><br />Jealousy signifies love if that jealousy is something small and doesn't cause major problems in a relationship, but beyond this, if jealousy is applied in every aspect, then it doesn't signify love anymore. If a couple has jealousy in their marriage they had better find out why and remove it. Jealousy can also be about power and control. It is best to be avoided.</div><div align="justify"></div>One’s response to jealousy has nothing to do with how much that person care for the other. True love is unconditional and sacrificial. If both parties love each other, there should be no jealousy but trust and loyalty. I wouldn't determine my husband’s love for me by his jealousy. Love is measured by ones actions and not by the amount of jealousy that one displays. When one really loves his/her spouse, he/she will trust each other 100%. As a result, there will be no jealousy. Jealousy does not signify ones love, jealousy doesn't measure love. It signals immaturity and lack of trust. </span>estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02270765072774791999noreply@blogger.com1