You can be resourceful without having the resource.
- TOMS creator

7/23/2015

Lasting Change

If we want lasting change, we have to make friend with pain.

-http://www.lifehack.org/320913/want-lasting-change-make-pain-your-friend

Painful emotions are an extremely effective way to avoid unwanted behaviors. Once you make pain your friend, you can change your life in an instant.

1/2016

“I've learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.”-Kristin Laura Kreuk's Instagram

early 2016

How Einstein Solved Problems

Einstein once said, "If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the problem."  That is 90% of the time trying to find the problem and the last 10% is used for finding solutions.  The hardest part is to know the exact problem and to know it with certainty and then spend the next 5% of the time in solving the problem.  If we all do this then the world will be a much better place to live and we all can improve our critical thinking skill and as a result we develop our thinking process.  

The Haters

There will be people who just cannot stand you no matter how much you try to be kind to them.  I learn to ignore it through trial and errors and this is the best method to defeat hatred.  If we have tried to mend the relationship, the best we can do is to ignore it and let it slide and move on.  There is no need to explain why we do what we do and how we live our lives.  It is none of people's business and all we can do is focus on our goals and keep reaching for what we believe in

The only thing that matters is how we see things and how it affect us and even if we are horribly damaged by other people's action, we continue to walk and live to the fullest and to the best of our ability.  Till death we depart.  Our goals are a part of us and when we recognize it and when we actually materialize our goals we become a great being, we become a person with a purpose and a great well of hope.

Give Belgium a Break

Turkey authority stated that they had forewarned the Belgium authority about one of the suspects in the Brussels attack on March 22. The suspect traveled to Turkey and had the intention to enter Syria before the Turkish authority at the border stopped him and deported him back to the Netherlands.  Because of this Turkey blames Belgium police and intelligence for failing to keep track of the terrorist and for failure to prevent the attacks in an airport and metro station in Brussels.

I see the point of what the Turkey authority is saying but come on, we should give Belgium a break.  The country is mourning for the victims and the last thing they need is more criticisms and verbal attacks.  And besides terrorist attacks are very much unpreventable. Terrorists can attack anywhere they have their eyes on and there is no way to prevent them.

The United States is known to have the best military force and its police system is very much organized and we have plenty of police on the road and look, the San Bernardino "terrorism-inspired" attack occurred last December, killing 14 people at a government facility in California and this happened right after the Paris attack last November.  But did we blame the Americans for not having a tight security? No, because America is known for its strong military force. Then why are we criticizing the Belgium authority? They did a great job in the capture of Salah Abdeslam, one of the accomplices of the Paris attack, and they are trying their very best to protect its people and prevent further attacks.

My point is there is no way to prevent terrorist attacks.  Most of the attackers are homegrown radicals. They are not refugees or migrants coming from Syria or Iraq. They were born and raise in the country they carried out the attacks and there is no way to keep up with each one of them and make sure they are not planning any future plots.

Rather than pointing fingers, we should devote our time in educating the young people who are prone to radicalization. Most of the terrorists have a criminal background, dropped out of school, and came from a poverty background and they do not feel like they fit in the European society; basically they are considered as the "losers" and outsiders in their society.  We need to use our energy in using education to help these vulnerable young people to see the horrific truth of these so-called jihadist groups.  We need to help them understand that these terrorist groups are criminals who are using them and turning them into monsters that kill innocent lives.  The key is to make education available to the population that has the likelihood to join terrorist groups.  Education is the key to problems in the world and when we use education as the weapon to prevent terrorism, we can save thousand of lives from dying in the hands of terrorists.

Terror in Belgium

At 8AM, Brussels was hit by one of the worst terrorist attacks in its history.  Two consecutive attacks occurred in the Belgium capital within one hour, killing more than 30 people and injuring more than 200 people.  The first attack occurred at the Brussels Airport, north of the city center while the second attack occurred at the Maelbeek metro station, near the European Union institutions.  The Belgium authorities said there were three suspects involved in the attacks and they were seen on a surveillance footage minutes before the explosions at the check-in area.  Two men are thought to have been the suicide bombers while the third man, according to Belgium authority, is to be at large and is on the run.

I was driving to work in this morning and as I listened to the news on the radio, I thought I was hearing things because it didn't seem right.  Belgium just captured the last Paris attacker last Friday and now there were attacks already in Brussels. It didn't make sense to me and as I shrugged off my skepticism and continued to listen to the BBC news, it hit me that there were actual terrorist attacks and Belgium is once again on high alert.

I have been wanting to visit Europe this year again and there is this voice in me saying that, "You should not fly there, Europe is unstable right now and it is better to wait for a little while until things are settled down and calmer."  I felt in love with the continent when I first visited it last summer and I vowed to return to it once again to see what more it has to offer.  I want to see Rome, Athens, Istanbul, Barcelona, and Berlin and with the news of the recent Brussels attack, it shook me a bit as I read the horrific accounts of the eyewitnesses at the airport and the metro station and for the first time in my life, I realize that I was experiencing the fear of going to another country. It does not help any bit when I read a news article stating that a prominent ISIS supporter wrote, "What will be coming is worse" on a Twitter post and this shook me a bit further and all I wanted was to cancel my next Europe plan.

Then I remember I felt the same way last year before I visited Chicago in December as there was a terrorist-related attack in San Bernardino, California a week before I flew to the Windy City.  I almost canceled my Chicago trip as the fear was blooming bigger and bigger in me.  But I kept my original plan--I flew to Chicago, spent a few days there, and had a blast.  The only regret I had would be if I chose not to stick to my plan.

The goal of terrorists is to put fear in us and when we let the fear takes hold of us, we become numb and unable to function in our daily activities. We become fearful of going to public areas, hanging out with friends and family, driving to work, basically going anywhere.  When we let fear controls us, the terrorists win; they have implanted this fear in us and their mission is accomplished.  But when we choose to not to be fearful and continue with our daily life, the terrorists lose and we have abolished their mission.  Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "Only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  Terrorists want us to be afraid of them and to be in the mode of fear and we cannot let that happen. We have to stand up on our two feet, fight it, and know what the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.


Note: This post was written on the evening of March 22, 2016.