Razz-Ma-Tazz

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,–
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
 
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us while
We wear the mask.
 
We smile, but, Oh great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream other-wise,
We wear the mask! 
 
Paul Laurence Dunbar – 1896
How different we interpret the masks we wear in public. You can be in a mall, or a community event, or at the office or at a party. And everywhere you go, people are wearing one of the many faces at their disposal. Sometimes, they are wearing their happy face, or their concerned face, or their worried face, or their nondescript face. Sometimes, our masks are jubilant, and pained, some are amused, bemused, and confused. Mostly, our masks are put on haphazardly, and with not a great deal of thought beforehand.
Masks both conceal and reveal !!!!!
We all wear masks . . . masks fashioned of the fibers of our experiences and our perceptions of those events. Many of the masks we wear are appropriate for the task at hand, while others are false faces, donned unconsciously, presenting a false identity to the world.
I first became conscious of my masks when a wise man, asked me to share something about myself I really liked. I promptly replied, “My smile.” and smiled broadly. I have always been complimented on my smile. Now this wise man knew that often those things we best like about ourselves are protective masks or patterns which conceal our true identity. As we continued, I became increasingly uncomfortable, then sad, and finally began to cry. Thus I discovered my Mask of the Smiling Face, a mask I had fashioned as a very young child to conceal my real feelings. As the adult, I was still wearing this mask to conceal anger, grief, and disappointment, and often found myself smiling inappropriately.
  Read the rest of this entry »

‘Dreams give rise to hopes, Hope inspires efforts. Efforts results in success, so dreams are roots of success.’

This SMS on my mobile inspired me to write this ………..

Dreams are exciting, or they can turn into nightmares. They can also become reality. What is the difference between a dream and a goal?

A dream is the starting point. It’s where we allow ourselves to create images, ideas or concepts that we would like to have occurred in our future. A dream may not always seem realistic or achievable at first, but we are filled with hope and inspiration when we think it might just come true … one day.

A goal is created when we decide it is time to move this dream into action!

A goal occurs when we make the commitment to making our dream come true and start creating the plan to get us there.

It can be easy to do a lot of dreaming – I know I do! I have lots of wonderful ideas and aspirations dreamed up alone in my office. If I am not disciplined then I never move them forward to being goals. This is when I pick up the phone and start sharing my dreams with other people, friends or my own guide. Telling someone else my dreams is a sure way to motivate me to take some action.

You can stay in ‘dream mode’ for a short or a long time before turning it into a goal. There is no right or wrong timeframe.

It is my strong belief that we are not capable of dreaming things we cannot actually achieve. So if you have the ability to dream it, you have the ability to do it! Read the rest of this entry »

Looking at the present growth of civilization, it seems that society has failed somewhere in imparting non-formal and formal education to its masses. We might have developed materially but not mentally. Mental development about life, death, happiness, sorrow, moral and our usefulness to society is lacking in the people. There is a great need to equip present education being imparted to children with values of life in order to make them good human beings. With the changing mindset of humanity towards materialistic approach at the cost of others is posing a great concern for the survival of civilization in the times to come. The present education system has groomed people for a legendary appetite for need-based knowledge and tuned us to feast on success. Today’s education only plunges people enthusiastically into actions to create an image larger that the life. Emphasis on materialistic value presents a distorted face of capitalism.. Society is witnessing a loss of moral compass along with symptoms like growing cynicism, hatred ness towards others, moral decline in private and public life, increased isolation, increase of violence, greed, racism and many more.

Education without values is not beneficial to anyone. Education devoid of values may be detrimental to society in the long run. Values bring quality and meaning to life and give a person his identity and character. Children imbibe values all the time from their parents, teachers and peers. But it is also necessary that we deliberately teach them the right values right from their childhood. What they learn at this tender age stays with them all through their life. Hence importance should be given to imparting a value-based spiritual education.

In ancient times, students were taught what life was really about. They were taught how to live their lives and to conduct themselves in the world. They developed strong minds and could easily withstand hardships or face any obstacles. They were dedicated to truth and were not afraid of death. Read the rest of this entry »

A bleeding knee. A bruised jaw. Or a broken tooth. All part and parcel of growing up.
Or is it? When disaster strikes, all our buried anxieties and niggling doubts spill over, threatening to make us view every little injury as an accident averted, making us question the very values on which we are bringing up our children. A little bit of rough and tumble is fine, we tell ourselves, but a line has to be drawn somewhere.

The tragic shoot out in Gurgaon has sent shockwaves across the whole nation .This bizarre accident has sent a chill down the spine of all of us.

I strongly feel that for a 13 or 14 year old to have committed such a heinous crime each one of us is responsible. Let us question ourselves and evaluate how much value based teaching is imparted in schools and at home. The basic cause of this is Kids have not learnt control.

Adults usually learn to mask their aggression under a veneer of polite, civilized behavior. Small children cannot do that. They have to learn to do it.

Take an old case of a three-year-old boy from Blackpool, England. He smashed the head of his newborn sister against the settee, killing her instantly. Unfortunately, when children hit out without understanding how much damage they can cause, their clumsiness and carelessness can result in serious injuries. Read the rest of this entry »