Wrote this a while back

I wrote this a while back thought maybe someone would find it interesting...
To look at a blooming rose, one could say
Is to see the world in a different way
Separated from its peers by its hue
The beauty so undefyingly true
The color so vibrant it could bleed
The pains of the blossom you could almost read
The velvety texture so silky so smooth
The petals every single one every pain it could sooth
The need inside to reach out and grab it so…
The thorns below telling you no
To want it so you wonder if it’s just
Or is it merely a product of your worldly lust
You gaze away momentarily to catch your breath
To think of the right words to express
You turn back and see the rose is gone
You notice someone’s blood on the thorn’s
They bled for her but you feel the pain
Longing to have the past few moments again

Long Lost Friend

I haven't written in a while so I apologize if I am a bit rusty. It seems as though as I get older I am losing friends. There are many reasons for this of course as many of you may well know. Whatever the reasons may be it is still a tough pill to swallow. It's tough not having that person to count on to go to workout with. That buddy that was always willing to go play basketball no matter how far we had to drive. That perfect wingman wait I take that back I am the perfect wingman. The person who was ready to go to any party no matter how dumb it sounded. The guy who always covered for you no matter what. The guy to watch football games with on Sundays. The list goes on and on but I am sure you get the point. Suffice it to say it is hard to loose such a friend. In my case I have lost two: One to the Chapman MBA program and the other to the Sonal Marriage program.

You are both sorely missed... =)

Sonal, can Atur please come out to play. =)

Confusion

I haven't written in a while, and to be honest I hope no one reads this. I just need to rant. This is a matter of public record so I should be careful but I don't even know if I care. All I know is that I could go on and on.... Wether its my personal life, local issues, state issues or world issues I feel as I get older that I realize as a race as a species we have not come far. Darfur is a reality before us and its not even the worst of what is happening in the world. I often feel helpless to create change and am bewildered about how to create change. Should one attempt to become as succesful as a Bill Gates(no I don't expect to be Bill Gates) and then better the world that way or did Mother Teresa have it right. Would she have been able to do anything without funding, would Bill Gates be able to do anything without people like her to do the work. Who is the better person... I think society has clearly answered that it is Mother Teresa, but I have to be honest I am not sure. I think that is the jist of the argument, I am not sure. I am not sure that the stance the US takes on most issues is right and in all honesty when the full picture is taken into account I am not sure the stance they take is wrong. For some reason Dick Cheney comes to mind when discussing right and wrong but I think that is best left for a later time. All I know is that I am confused...

Just some interesting quotes

I don't even know if anybody reads this thing anymore , but if anyone does I thought they might enjoy this. As a part of my work I have been visiting elementary school lounges for the past few years and have always thought it would be a good idea to just jot down some of the things people say. I recently started forced myself to do it. Here is an installment of a few things I heard and some observations i made. My Observations are in italics.

- Procrastinating is an inherent human quality
- The most succesful people seem to be less stressed in the same situations
- Wisdom is simply saying the right thing at the right time
- Teachers are no different then lawyers, work time is hard and play time is fun.
- We have a training on "cognitive thinking," I wonder what it's going to be about.
- "Mulitplication" one day they remember the next they don't
- "Screw Education" is Santa Ana's new city motto
- My father moved in with his girlfriend after he had a stroke. I asked him when he was going to get married. He responded "When the weather breaks." He lived in Chicago ...

Just a crazy thought

California just recently moved up its primaries to February 5th. Our state has been known as the cash cow for elections. Essentially Californians contribute in hoards, and the point behind bringing our primary date up is to presumably have some of that money spent here. I say California is the cash cow not just for elections but for almost everything. We have the fifth largest economy in the world.(Our economy is larger then the country of France) As of 2003 Californians were contributing 12.3% of the nations federal taxes. We all know that federal tax revenues are not being spent here. California's political views are often at odds with the rest of the country. Our Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzeneger could very well be a democrat if you take a look at his policies. Our ethnic makeup is also unique in comparison to the country especially "the bible belt". Our states topography is no different then one of a large country, and from a meteorological standpoint we pretty much cover a wide range of temperatures. With all that being true why can't California just secede from the Union. Yes I just said it, why isn't there a movement to make California, it own country. Wouldn't California just be better off as a country left to manage its own affairs. I know, I know I am a nut. Like I said in the title of the post it was just a crazy thought...

What Now?

The Democrats just won the election and that means that they see the election as a clear sign that the American people want change, and they should. What is change though? Is it withdrawing from Iraq is that even a possiblity. It's definitely not "staying the course." The President is hilarious, he is "staying the course" but his Secretary of Defense is resigning, perhaps someone should tell him what that actually means, "staying the course" that is. Maybe Condeleeza should actually work on making sure the President understands what he is saying; I think the pretzel that he choked on might have made him loose air for a little too long.

All jokes aside I think the Democrats have a real problem. Either we withdraw which would be a global nightmare or we stay which would be a national nightmare. It was great strategy to use the war as a tool to win the election, but I am afraid it will hurt the democrats in the Presidential election coming up. The democrats are faced with a president that is going to veto anything they pass which perhaps could work in their favor because if nothing gets done they can just point the finger at him. We are just in for a couple of really interesting years politically and the world is not going to stop and wait for us to catch up...

Haven't Written in a while

I haven't written in a while, haven't really felt the urge. Perhaps its been the lack of things to talk about, perhaps just the fact that I don't think anyone reads this thing anyways. Maybe its better this way. I have to say I am frightened. I am frightened by the state of affairs going on in the world around us. The war in Iraq, the problems in Darfur, and now the Israeli Conflict. The war in Iraq has been beat up on enough so I will just let that one be. Darfur is reaching a new level of conflict even with a peace agreement in place because of Chad's involvement. It's amazing how long the world has turned a blind eye to this segment of the world as a whole population of civilians is killed. The current state of affairs begs for a International United Nations force, one which has been refused entry from the Sudanese government. It's baffling what we are going to do to bring this conflict to an end.

I want to dedicate a little more discussion to the Israeli conflict. I believe this problem is bigger then meets the eye of most citizens in the US. I am going to forego a discussion on the Palestinian front.(like the Iraq war I think that has been discussed quite a bit too) So lets talk about Lebanon. There are a number of issues that scare me but there are one or two that make me feel like this is like no other conflict that we have seen in the past.

Let's take a look at Hizbullah, its a terrorist organization. One that is amazingly organized. The problem is not in their organization but in how the world and more importantly the United States is supposed to deal with them. It's a group housed primarily in Lebanon but funded mostly by Iran and Syria. That sort of structure begs the question who is to blame. Hizbullah attacks Israel, Israel attacks Lebanon. A minority Shiite' organization in the Southern part of Lebanon attacks Israel and the disproportionate response sets a whole country back twenty years. Israel is defending itself but not by curtailing the current threat. They are ensuring that they do enough damage to Lebanon to prevent the revival of the threat for years to come. In some senses with the perdicament that Israel is in they are within their rights to do so. My problem is that setting back Lebanon will not solve the problem. It will merely result in the funding mechanisms targeting their money to different organizations.

Let's take a look at Hizbullah, its a social welfare organization. One that is also amazingly organized. Hizbullah runs a couple of hospitals, a few schools and a variety of other social service type orgs. In fact Hizbullah in South Lebanon does a better job of social service then the Lebanese government itself. By bombing Hizbullah the Israelis are destroying a social service organization that is close to the people and therefore providing another reason for the people to hate Israel if there weren't already enough. The Israelis are creating a recruiting haven for Hizbullah for years to come as the youth of those lost and slain will harbor hatred for those that are responsible.

There are definitely many other facets to this discussion that I am omitting but just the two highlighted above, in my mind, make this a very scary situation.