Friday, August 29, 2008

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits

The spell has been cast, my girl has lost a battle but not the war. "The sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits" the best corny phrase I've heard from the forever great Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. Her speech was simply amazingly beautiful. I'm a die hard supporter of her for all the reasons I've mentioned on my previous posts. Her defeat was personal to us who have shown her our support throughout the primaries, but time heals wounds as deep as they may be. And now has come the time to face our two choices left in this presidential race. McCain vs. Obama, will we trumpet our emotions and let them cloud our judgment? Or shall we take a step back, reflect on all the important issues that are at stake and make a wise and informed decision?
- National Healthcare: to quote my Econ teacher "On the 16 top industrialized countries, America is the only one without National Health care although it costs less and people live longer"
- Education: I remember a post from Friedman [V. just pinged me, the GOP Veep's a WOMAN!! Dang it Dang it and Dang it...McCain just picked a woman as his running mate: Sarah Palin a mother of 5 still married to her first husband, even Michele Obama doesn't beat that!!...I'm anticipating a very heated election campaign, so hot that it'll "increase global warming" to quote Bill. I know nothing of the woman and I'm already torn between two camps.] deploring the deficit in American human resources in areas such as: Engineering, Biotechnology, Physics and Computing.
- Economy: Unemployment 5.7% (although my Econ teacher says that the true rate is 11.4% twice the reported rate because the Department of Labor only considers 3 types of unemployment from the 7 that exist) the highest it's been since almost two decades.
- Immigration: I have a personal take on it that will appear in a future article
- Last but not least: The war in Iraq. We need to reunite families that have been apart because of this "dump war", rebuild our military, thus our country.
The democratic party has had two superb runners up, the best won, tensions rose but should this be a reason to turn our backs on our fundamental beliefs and jump in bed with the devil?
This historical moment of our politics is very crucial, too much is at stake to leave it up to our emotions. [Dang it Dang it and Dang it, a WOMAN is the GOP Veep!!!......!!!!]

Monday, August 18, 2008

Death Clock

Heath Ledger opened the lead this year at 28, then followed Tim Russert at 50, Bernie Mac at 50, Isaac Hayes at 65, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones at 58. They all died this year, some of a sudden death, others with warning signs and this despite our life expectancy of 78 years in the US. All these people were respectively Actor, TV political moderator, Entertainer/Actor, Performer and Lawmaker. Ledger will be remembered through his movies and most likely will be posthumously rewarded for his stunning performance as 'The Joker' in The Dark Knight, Russert political commentaries will certainly follow us for a while, Mac's movie and sitcoms will always remind us of how funny of a man he was, Hayes music will keep him alive in the hearts of those who liked him, and as for Tubbs Jones, she was "the first African-American woman elected to the House of Representatives and a leader in the fight against predatory lending practices" as reported by DENNIS HEVESI from the Times. She will certainly be remembered throughout history books and other causes she fought for. 28, 50, 65 and 58 all these numbers way below our life expectancy, any year, any month, any week, any day, any hour, any minute, any second could be the time. Were they ready? What kind of legacy did they leave to their family and friends? Were they good spouses, dads and moms, teaching with words and by examples? Were they good colleagues? Have they known their time of death, would they have lived their lives any different than they did? Maybe Yes, maybe no.
According to my death clock here, I still have many years to live, many opportunities to reinvent myself (should I ever want to), many chances to do good and bad, many occasions to fall and get up and hopefully I'll be remembered for something positive.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

And the Admiration Awards goes toooo......

BEYONCEEEE!!!!!!!!
This is not an article about Beyoncé , there are already several out there on the subject. What I admire about Beyonce is not her fame, albeit it has contributed to me knowing about her, nor is it how much she's worth though that raises eyebrows, but the hard work she puts into her work, her talent, her personality and her who-she-is. This is what I've learned from her and people like her (so to speak): The Williams Sisters, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson etc...I noticed all these people have determined what they like and want out of life and have put everything into motion to realize their dreams. All these people have to sacrifice in order to reach their goal, whether it's by training the bodies (physical, vocal chords, tours, games etc...) several times per day most likely with a coach even if they are already the best. I admire their humility as being coached or trained by someone else requires the ability to accept criticism and the determination to improve. Those people have stopped dreaming and started working towards and finally living the dream sometimes at levels unexpected.
A common root of successful people is that they're doing exactly what they enjoy. Thank God we're living in a culture where such thing is actually possible. However, the difficulty with the hoi polloi is identifying what it is that makes them happy. And as I was listening to an audio book this morning the author mentioned that if you don't know what makes you happy, ask questions, either to yourself or the people who know you the best and then quoted Buddha: "All that we are is the result of what we have thought" -- As the author pointed out, thought or thinking is the essence of creation (a theory inspired by quantum physics although known and revealed by the Bible in Genesis and the Koran centuries ago).
Of course if Thought was all there is to success (regardless of one's definition of it), we will all be successful creatures. And this is where comes affirmative action. Thinking, acting and working towards that ultimate goal that we set for our lives. I remember an acquaintance who used (and maybe still does) to share his dreams of creating a start up, he would talk about it to whoever wanted to lend him a pair of ears ignoring Walt Disney astute advice: "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." Beyoncé understood it, so did the Williams Sisters, Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson and several others.

Tweet Me