Re: Good Deed

Recently I made a post about how I lost my organizer and then how a nice person returned it back to me (http://lechumur.blogspot.com/2008/10/good-deed.html). Well, we had a very long chat over coffee a few days ago and I think that now not only I know what is due when, but I also have a new possible good friend :)

Books in dust

Year 2002:
- One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives
- 42% of all college graduates never read another book again

That's scary! I don't know why wouldn't people read, it's such an exceptional experience. Maybe you never visit France, but read Hugo and you'd feel like you did. You might know nothing of life during the French revolution, but read Dickens and you'd probably get a better sense of events than from a history class. Reading is a cheap, worry-free, and comfortable way of traveling and learning more about the world. No, do not stop socializing or visiting other places, but keep in mind that not all people are available for a chat and not all places are easily reachable - that's where the books come in handy.

Source of stats: http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), cancer is the second most common cause for death in the US (2004). It accounts for 23.1% (~550,000 people) of population deaths and loses only to heart diseases with 27.2%. So about 4 out of 10 people die in US from a malignant tumor in their body. In the world overall, in only one year of 2007, 7.6 million people had a fatal case of cancer.

These are just the statistics, the so called "dry numbers", but I look around: among my close family and close friends 5 people had the tumor. This is mad!

What's the key to avoiding the disease? No one has the perfect answer, but a healthy life style is at least a way to reduce the risks. Don't smoke, avoid chemicals and radiation, eat more fruits & vegetables, do sports, take more time to rest.

Would you like some spam in return for your help?

I did several blood donations with American Red Cross in the last 2 years, so now they have decided to thank me by spamming me with the calls on my cell phone. Today, for example, I have received 10, and only on one of them the person actually started speaking to me, the others were just silent.

A similar thing happened at the beginning of the year and after getting quite irritated, I demanded that they stop calling me and said that when I want to donate, I would just come myself - no need to remind me. Unfortunately, I had to say this to 3 people before the calls actually stopped.

Is it just me or there is something wrong with getting spam phone calls in return for your blood? Seriously, is that the way to encourage more people to do good? I know the proverb says "If you do good, don't expect it in return", but it mentions nothing about getting spam in return.

I seriously did not expect anything like that from such a respected organization as American Red Cross and before I choose to donate again now I'd think twice.

Dreams

I'd like to have a really big bookcase filled with the stacks of books in them, so that I can read all the time. Oh, heaven..

Respect

One of my good teachers once said: "With respect you can do anything you want". He was referring to the now common "No offense" phrase and how contradictory the phrases that it forms are: "No offense, but you suck", "I'm gonna offend you, but you don't get offended". Is this part of being politically correct?

Kittens with mittens

I was at my apartment, and the door was open. Out of nowhere an animal rushed in: looked like a cat, but was bigger, more like a lynx. She ran through the hall and stopped. The cat was looking at me in an aggressive way, so I thought it would be best to wave my scarf at her to show the way out. The cat did not appreciate the idea at all: she started hissing and showing her teeth, managing to even successfully bite me once.

Quite scared and irritated at the same time, I finally started pushing the cat out of the door. Only then I've noticed that on her front paws she was wearing.. mittens! From all the fighting, the mittens started to crawl down, and by the time the cat was out of the door, the mittens were off the paws. The cat gave me a sad look, quietly sat down, and started to put her mittens back on.

I felt ashamed of myself. How could I be so cruel? From the scene of the poor creature pulling her mittens back on the paws, I was almost crying. And then I woke up. Kittens with mittens, huh?

School

An interesting thought appeared in my mind today. In our lives, first we spend years and years with our family members, breathing in the air filled with their habits, characters, and tastes. Later we "leave the nest" and with the forming persona within ourselves we start looking for a person, in the atmosphere of whose character, habits, and tastes we'd like to continue living our life.

Then it seems like our childhood and youth are the school of relationships. Nature assigns the people, who we should learn to communicate with, and once we are done with these classes, we are free to choose our own surroundings. Does this mean that in life before we choose something for ourselves, we always have to go through a preparation course with things chosen for us?

Good deed

On one of the days last week I had an unpleasant conversation with one of the group project teammates and afterwards was quite irritated. Later I rushed across the campus to the library with a bunch of things in my hands. I read my emails on the laptop and there were some disappointing news there as well. I looked for my weekly planner to write in some meeting, but the planner was nowhere to be found. I clearly remembered that I carried it in my hands on the way to library. Awh, the day was not going well. I ran along the whole path that I took when the planner was in my hands, but there was no sight of it anywhere. All the friends' birthday dates, all the projects due dates, all the exam times, some of the contact information - it was all gone.

I returned to the library quite upset and sad. Some time later, when I was working on the project, I got a text message on my phone: "Your planner is in *** on a desk in the back of the room". I sent a "thank you" reply and rushed to the specified room. 40 minutes of waiting until the class finishes in the room and trum-pum-pum - I got my planner back! There are good people in this world, I was sure. I texted my savior and offered to buy a cup of coffee to express my gratitude. No, we didn't fall in love and lived happily ever after :) Instead, we had a wonderful conversation over coffee and then I walked home with a warm feeling: there are good people in this world and they will help if you are in trouble. If you know this, then nothing will scare you. Well, almost nothing.