Luck – Absence of Bad Luck?

I’ve been having some good discussions surrounding the word “Luck” among some of my friends. The discussion started with – is there such a thing as luck? Or bad luck? 

One friend believed that there is no such thing as Luck. He believed everything is based on your hard work, lack thereof, your knowledge, skill, and effort, etc.; and he believed everything that is within your control is your doing, your actions, your karma, and luck plays no part. The other people in the company vehemently opposed that theory and with several real-life examples, convinced him that there is such a thing as a good luck and bad luck. The examples were, someone winning a lottery out of tens of millions of lottery ticket buyers, someone winning a toss in a game, someone winning in a horse race, a card game, or any gambling activity. There are tons of similar examples where no special knowledge or skill was needed to be the winner or a loser.

At the end of the discussion, he called good and bad luck a divine intervention. Some people also call it god’s grace, some call it a stroke of luck or a pure coincidence. Whatever you believe in but for the conversation’s sake, we accepted there is such a thing as pure luck, good and bad. 

However, is the absence of bad luck also considered good luck? And I was uncertain of that hypothesis. 

Here are a few examples – am I lucky if a large population gets COVID and I don’t? If a football player does not get injured for several seasons but a rookie starts his first game and gets injured for life, is the senior player lucky or just the rookie player is unlucky? A company lays off hundreds of employees but you don’t get laid off, are you lucky or the other people unlucky? Take another example on the flip side – a billion-dollar lottery is won by one person, yes that person is lucky but are millions of others unlucky? But if 99 out100 people got sick from a virus and you didn’t are you lucky or the 99 people are unlucky?

My thought is that an absence of bad luck can’t be considered good luck or the absence of good luck is not bad luck. You can have good luck or bad luck for each such incident. It is like the absence of unhappiness does not necessarily give you happiness. If you are not dissatisfied, are you satisfied? You can be unhappy in the absence of money to survive but having money does not necessarily give you happiness. Just being not lucky in winning a lottery, does not mean you are unlucky. 

But I also believe – everyone is where they ought to be in their life at a given moment based on their Karma. I never won a lottery because I hardly ever buy a lottery ticket. I go to Vegas thinking I will lose this much money and I always do. I know some people who go with the determination to win money and very often they do win. Tom Bradey won 7 Superbowls not only because he is just lucky, but he is also determined to win. Does luck have something to do with how we think and our mind works towards that goal? I don’t get sick because I hate getting sick and consciously and subconsciously do everything possible to not get sick. When we set our mind to something, do Stars Align for you? I don’t know about luck but I do believe in Stars’ Alignment and they do work generally with Karma. That is just my belief.

What do you think? 

Humor, Where are you?

One day randomly I realized that with age, my sense of humor is also depleting. Humor was an undetachable trait of mine. It was expected of me, by me, some humorous quip, joke, or one-liner comments on everything, whenever I was in a company of people. I used to be able to make some really humorous on the spot satirical, sarcastic, or outright funny insulting comments about the people and the situation. But since I have retired, I feel like my sense of humor stayed back with my real job. I don’t know what has happened. I feel like the Corona virus might have infected it. I have been searching hard for COVID infection in my humor, I even started early morning yoga breathing exercises and mid day yoga to increase my humor immunity but have had no success yet.

Or perhaps it was stuck with my ADP’s paycheck app I used to get semi-monthly. Now that the paycheck is gone, so is my sense of humor. I remember seeing similar symptoms in many of my acquaintances’ who had lost it with their financial losses too. 

But, in all honesty, my real suspicion is on my political bug infection (PBI), which I caught in 2016 but peaked in 2020. Yeah, my Humor Infection Specialist also pointed to the same root cause. He even advised me to go for a neuro-surgery to get the infection out because it cannot be cured by simple antibiotics. He was of the opinion, no medicine in the world cures PBI and the people who get infected rarely ever see the humor in anything, especially in blogs. He named a few for example but can’t name them here to be politically correct. Some of them are also my close friends and family; and since he mentioned them, I noticed their eyes, nose, forehead, mouth, actually, the entire face, has become squinted and wrinkled like mine. 

Since this revelation, I got determined to find my Humor again. I started looking for a good Neuro-surgeon who specializes in PBI surgery, met a few but rejected them because interestingly I noticed the same squinted, wrinkled faces that I was trying to get fixed. So far I have been unsuccessful in finding a fresh breath of face that is PBI free. If anyone, who has had a successful PBI surgery by a good surgeon, please refer them to me and I promise to smile and tell you a real joke, the next time I meet you and not a T…. joke. 

Mind-Hackers

January 11, 2021

Back to my favorite topic, understanding human minds. After January 6th events in DC, i.e. swarming of Capitol Hill building and following incidents, I started to think why the human mind is so gullible and vulnerable that a person of a certain stature, a person with certain thoughts or ideas can control millions of people’s thoughts and actions. I am not referring only to Trumpism but there are thousands of “isms” that people follow and go to extremes to show their loyalty to their leader. Gandhi, MLK, Hitler, Stalin, Napolean, Reagan, Obama, Popes, Osama-bin-Laden, Trump, Clinton, Osho, and thousands more, who had the power to propagate their philosophies, thoughts, and ideas, a.k.a. “Brain-wash” millions of people. 

Some crazy people brainwash their followers to die for them whereas some bring a revolution for the betterment of society. Every war that is fought is a result of brain-washed citizens who are trained to preserve their borders or go kill others to take others’ land. In today’s world, it is called patriotism. In the Islamic terrorists’ world, it’s called Jihad, in some religious world it’s called devotion or religious following, whatever it is called, I call it mind-hacking. 

We are all susceptible to become a follower of some kind of “ism”. We follow our guru, a spiritual leader, a military man, a political figure, a social personality, a singer, a performer. Following an “ism” is not necessarily a harmful thing until it becomes “blind”. In my opinion, when we start to follow a belief, beyond reasonableness, beyond a rational view of reality also known as “blind faith”, we stop growing as an individual and become part of a herd. Losing your individual thinking within a rational framework of reality can lead you to the herd mentality, and that is what prevailed on Jan. 6th among thousands of “protestors” in DC. Their belief created by a leader who himself became delusional and reinforced by several similar power opportunists, created havoc in the name of “patriotism”.

Promoting a philosophical idea is quite different from propagating a cult-like philosophical belief because the motivation is different between the two. The cult leaders are like computer hackers, they like to control our minds by infiltrating a bad virus; and a philosopher who develops a philosophical thought is merely to invoke thought-provoking discussion for the good of society at large. When I hear someone promoting their thoughts and ideas, the first question I ask is the motivation behind that thought promotion. Is this person promoting a thought because it helps him/her financially, helps him/her gain more power, helps him/her gain control over my mind? OR does it help the community, society, country, or the planet I live in?  The intentions are the most important driver of one’s philosophy, belief, and “isms”. 

Look around you, do you see people following a person/persons (and it includes Kim Kardashian and Kanye West too. LOL!!) blindly? Do a self gullibility check. Is your brain being abused by a hacker? If yes, get yourself out of it. Contact a non-gullible person near you. 

But I am still in search of a gene that makes the human mind so gullible and vulnerable to other self-serving mind hackers.……  

Random Routine

December 31, 2021

Yes, I know it’s an oxymoron – Random Routine. When I was working, I had a weekday routine and a weekend routine which I followed without thinking. After I retired, the first thing that came to my mind, I do not have a routine, I will live a life of total randomness. Two days later, unbeknownst to me, I started to create a routine. 

Fearful of becoming a lazy, lethargic, big belly, useless, retired man, I started getting up early for breathing yoga classes, started getting to my desk after making my tea and breakfast, to do anything creative just to feel good in my mind, which turned into checking the news, reading Whatsapp and Facebook posts for hours. Then just like in the office started drinking my 11 am coffee, 1- 2 pm lunch, more feel-good-creative work, a nap, some feel-good exercise. And lately, I have eliminated naps from the post-retirement daily activities as well for the fear of becoming a lazy, lethargic, big belly, useless, retired man.

After 4 months of retirement, I have realized that my assumed desired random lifestyle has become a replica of my post-Covid work-life routine, except for occasional naps and a couple of short trips (equivalent to holiday vacations). The big dream of world travel and a no-routine lifestyle is slowly fading away… Covid has infected my dream and I desperately am looking to have a vaccine, as soon as possible, literally and figuratively; otherwise, an oxymoron will become my real life. Someone get me a vaccine, literally and I will figure out the figurative part.

Happy New Year everyone and Adieu to Covid, and Oxymorons…

Being a Grandparent

December 1, 2020

The happiest humans I have seen are the Grandparents and people cannot understand the true happiness these older folks derive from this unique relationship. This relationship is unique because it usually results in a limitless free-flow of happiness in both directions. As they say, old folks are like children and its true example is in this relationship where two people, decades apart, are so purely dedicated to each other and matched up in their behavior too. Have you watched a grown-up man/woman acting like a 2-year old with a grandchild? Yes, almost all grandparents talk and act the age of their grandchildren when they are around each other.  Grandparents usually derive happiness knowingly, while a child receives happiness and comfort unknowingly because they don’t know these human concepts yet. For grandchildren, grandparents are a source of enjoyment wrapped in endless love, security, and comfort. 

But why this relationship is like none other? After much thinking, I thought two primary reasons make this relationship so unique – No expectations and no fear. We loved our children but as a parent, we were fearful of so many things as our children were growing up, fearful of them getting sick, fearful of them not studying and going to a good school and profession, fearful of them getting into undesired activities, them getting hurt in some accident and the list goes on and on. As parents, we were also struggling to establish our careers and trying to be financially stable so the attention was on otherworldly duties. We may not admit but as parents, we do have expectations from our children that they will take care of us in case of a need; we do expect that they will get a decent job and support themselves as soon as possible,  marry a man/woman preferably of our choice, make us grandparents, call us every day to check on us, or at least talk to us occasionally…. All these expectations and fears of raising children make the parent-child relationship different from grand-X relationship. 

My logic says that by the time we turn into grandparents, we are generally more mature, experienced, and financially stable, we have seen our children grow up and because of that some or most of our fears are removed, career is no longer at a critical stage of life, and our expectations are still from our children and not from the grandchildren, since they are too young. Over the years of raising our children, our fears have subsided, we become cautious but not fearful. We know what works, what doesn’t when it comes to raising children. We learned the value of pure love, compassion, security, and comfort. As a grandparent, when we see grandchildren they become nothing but a source of happiness; their laughter is pure joy, there is no fear of any kind, there is no expectation, it’s just a limitless love; an open relationship that knows no bounds of happiness and joy. 

And it all comes from knowing that at the end of the day, we will leave grandchildren in the hands of very caring and involved parents that we raised successfully. After experiencing grandparenthood, I have learned that there is no better and purer happiness than seeing the smiling face of a grandchild.

Grandkids, Zakir and Alia…

Identity Crisis?

November 30, 2020

Identity Crisis is a phrase we generally hear about people who are confused about themselves and generally regarded as psychologically misguided. But do we look at ourselves ever and contemplate whether we have a misguided identity? I often question myself, if the image I am projecting matches with real me. Do I do what I preach? if we ask 100 random people if their public image matches with the real them, I can bet almost all of them will say yes. But I will challenge their perception of their identity.

I believe a whole lot of us are not who we project to be. I think we project who we want to be but we are not there yet or can’t be. That could be the reason we often agree with a socially “acceptable” stance in a social setting, which is also known as “group mentality”. No matter what your stance is in a social setting, have you given a thought after the event, if you really believed in what you said, or was it because you didn’t want to offend others, didn’t want to ruffle the feathers, or was it to be a rebel?

That is exactly what I struggle with at times. Often I find myself in a “rebellious” position because habitually or for curiosity sake, I take opposing views in a social setting and find that the perception of me becomes different from who I really am and what I believe in. But Often my actions on the other hand maybe to do things that are uncharacteristically different from who I really am, to not ruffle feathers, or to not inconvenience others. This identity crisis I tend to struggle with quite often. I have not intentionally created this false perception of me but I feel perhaps I do this subconsciously to create a false image of me that I am not because that creates a better identity of me.

This false identity I find among many people I interact with. Sometimes it is very obviously portrayed as a fake image and sometimes it’s very subtle. But is there anything wrong in portraying a better image of us? Everyone wants to be liked socially so what’s wrong if we project our ideal state where we have not reached yet?

I believe the problem arises when one portrays an image opposite of who they really are, an image where they have no intentions of achieving. For example, if I do not believe in religion or god and I portray my image of a religious person just to fit in or to be liked by others, that can cause a true identity crisis. 

And I am sure different people have different perceptions of me, based on the type and level of interaction I had with them. So it is up to me to be aware of the perception I create, consciously and subconsciously, and take ownership of their perceptions. Then It’s up to us to decide whose perceptions we care about. We care about our perceptions among the people we interact with. A politician or a public figure may care about everyone’s perception or of their support base. 

But no matter whose perception you care about, remember not to create a fake perception of yourself for yourself. Because if you fake it with yourself, you may never be able to find your true identity.

Racism in America

11/29/2020

President Obama’s memoir is out and reading a couple of excerpts refreshed many memories and thoughts of my own, not necessarily all related directly to my life. From my observation of the external view of racism, I have seen it moving from obvious to subtle to back to open racism levels in the last 40 years, I have lived in different parts of the USA, from Florida, and Pennsylvania to Maryland. 

When I migrated to the US in 1978, I was naive, and ignorant, when it came to the issue of racism. I also carried preconceived thoughts about blacks in this country as they were fed into me, based on a little to no direct knowledge of black lives in the US. Racism was not something that had ever crossed my twenty-something young mind until I landed here. To me racism was not a thing, it was a black people’s problem. For a long time, I hardly had any black friends or even acquaintances. I got to know a few black friends after I got a professional job. Living in Miami and going to college there, working in odd jobs, exposure to blacks was extremely limited, because recently immigrated Cubans had taken over most jobs that were dominant among blacks. The infamous Liberty City was a place for blacks and most problems happened only in that area. Liberty City in Miami in the 70s and early 80s was like Southeast Washington DC in the early 1990s,

I got along fairly well with people of all races and colors in general. I was fortunate to have grown up in a family where we never heard of treating people differently based on their race, color, caste, nationality, or religion. Everyone in our household was treated with respect, be it a maid, a janitor, a street vendor or a clergyman. When I go back home, our household maid for over 40 years still gives me a tight hug, without any consideration of artificial classes created by the society. 

In the US, the blacks in the 70s and 80s knew they were living with silent discrimination everywhere, in jobs, social events, and schools, and it was accepted as part of their life. Just like Indians, Chinese and Latinos, Black people also socialized mostly among blacks. Diversity and the awareness against racism were not openly promoted until the 1990s when more Black Americans joined the professional workforce in large corporations, as a result of the Civil Rights movement, affirmative action programs and Title IX implementation. Newly graduated, more confident young Black Americans started to integrate more with whites and the people of other races. I remember my first good African American friend was during the early eighties in my first IT job in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. That was my first true exposure to black culture. But because he was probably the first person from his family in a professional position, he also tried to fit in hard among 98% whites around him. He and I were the only minority people I could remember in the entire building or at least in our business unit that must have over 100 people. Nonetheless, both of us were not intimidated. We never acted like we were minorities or only 2 people of different color and race. I can’t remember ever being mistreated or looked down upon by anyone of any race or color. I knew there was discrimination, and racism in that part of the country but it was limited mostly to lower-level jobs or Executive-level jobs. Racism skipped mid-level professional jobs. 

First time I experienced open discrimination was entirely based on the skin of my color when I moved to Maryland. My immediate supervisor, a woman married to a black gentleman, promoted a new white guy, who had no real skills or knowledge of the job. I was the one who literally trained him, and before he was fully trained, suddenly he became my supervisor. He was a good friend of mine, even he knew it was open discrimination but neither of us could do anything about it. Needless to say, I quit within a month later without showing any resentment towards the guy. It was the white woman manager who showed a clear racist self. 

But the first incident that gave voice to people against racism, especially against systemic discrimination by the police force, was triggered by Rodney King’s beating in LA which was captured on camera in 1991. In 1992 – “Fury over the acquittal — stoked by years of racial and economic inequality in the city — spilled over into the streets, resulting in five days of rioting in Los Angeles. It ignited a national conversation about racial and economic disparity and police use of force that continues today.” (npr.org).  Until that time, racism was discussed in random conversations but not as a national level social issue. Presidential political debates didn’t have time dedicated to racism as a major topic of contention.   

Even until 2008, racism was not as much out in the open and would have stayed that way, if John McCain had not picked Sarah Palin for the Vice Presidential ticket. Because the integration between white and black americans became a common practice by the early 2000s and one could start to see the progress because of Gen X and Y’s progressive view of equality especially among races and sexual orientation; the sensitivity towards blacks and racism improved manifolds,  the “N” word officially became a taboo, blacks had a leader in the name of Barack Obama. But in his attempt to counter a black presidential candidate with a conservative woman vice president seemed the best choice to McCain, at that time. That was the event that gave voice to otherwise a quietly simmering class of racists, who felt threatened by a black president. These white, fearful, and hate-mongers couldn’t accept the fact that a black man will rule a largely white populace. They started to look for a leader who could speak loudly on their behalf. The majority white population felt slighted by the democratic party and to them it appeared Democrats care more about the minority population than the majority and they are selling the country to immigrants and people of other races. 

With Sarah Palin as an opening act, Trump gave these hidden uneducated, low-skilled rural, neo-nazi racists, anti-immigrant, gun-toting people a huge loudspeaker with the birther movement against Barack Obama. The opportunist politicians, mostly from the poor midwest states also joined the band-wagon when they noticed Trump’s increasing loud voice sticking with a class of people. Those politicians who otherwise would have detached themselves and would have openly spoken against racism stopped criticizing Trump and his agenda. These politicians started giggling with joy and eventually joined the fray in the 2016, 2018, and 2020 elections without any shame or remorse. 

The Republican leadership is responsible for converting very subtle and low-level racism into an open fight for racism. The shameless leadership became the puppet of Trump and his racist followers so that they could keep their seats and power at any cost. The respectable people who spoke against Trump left their political career instead of fighting against a bully. They could not muster enough resources and public support against Trump to fight him and bring him down. Trump became too big for individual voices. Democrats and Republicans who were against racism couldn’t be united and strong enough to break the republican subservience. 

So where does it go from here? Is racism here to stay? How much longer will it stay? Why has racism become such a huge social issue in the US while it hardly existed in any other country at this level prior to Trump coming into the political scene? Is it made big by the media to oppose Trump? Is it being played by both parties to their political advantage like the Hind-Muslim issue in India? 

I don’t know the answer to all those questions. All I know is that people have to grow out of these trivial issues like people’s skin color, nationality, language, culture, clothing, and sexual orientation. They trivialize our existence as the most evolved species on this planet.  The one half of the population will have to take the responsibility for the other irresponsible people for whom the national and racial boundaries are their safe-havens. As humans, we can only grow and prosper, by using our united brainpower, productively. The responsible people cannot sit quiet and hope for those irresponsibles to grow up. We, the responsible humans, have to raise our voices, work towards the betterment of all humans, this planet, and beyond. We have a long way to go and there is no time to waste on people’s skin color. We can no longer afford to be quiet while witnessing injustice and inequality.  So speak up any time you see inequality, unfairness or oppression of people because of any reason at all.  And that’s my Take and a mission moving forward.

(P.S. – watch our series on BLM, discussions among southeast asians, first and second generation Indians and Pakistani participants.)

Haves or Have-Nots

Nov. 12th, 2020

No, I am not going to write about the economic divide of Haves and Have-nots, I am talking about human mental growth. For decades, we have been talking about human growth measured in processes, technological and socio-political advancements, but people don’t give credit to advancement in human analytical/critical thinking. Most advancements have happened because of human analytical and critical thinking capability. But what clearly not visible is the apparent growth of the human mind. The human mind has progressed at a much faster pace than our knowledge of the universe, or the technological advancements that are visible today,

Or HAS IT? 

The Human Mind and human thinking are so fascinating to me for years. I feel so far away from some other people’s thinking that it amazes me. I wonder why some people cannot see socio-political issues as clearly, which are so simple (in my mind). I wonder if some people’s critical thinking hasn’t advanced to the levels of others.  Or does our thinking have more to do with our inherent fears, greed, and negative experiences than just critical thinking. 

After the elections, I pondered over why over 70 million people are still supporting a person like Trump who is known to be the lowest of the lowest kind of human being (he is not even a human being based on generally accepted human values; more on that some other day). My thought was that people are not supporting Trump, the individual, but they are supporting their own fears and greed. Because Trump represents 70 million people’s beliefs; beliefs that are based on their own fears, greed, potential personal gains, and religion; no matter how non-sensical they may be to the people on the other side of the spectrum but that’s their belief.

So the obvious question popped into my curious mind was about the 75 million other people who voted for Biden or against Trump. How come the other voters are not driven by the same agenda, fear, and greed? If all minds are equally capable, shouldn’t every human be thinking the same? Shouldn’t all voters be fearful,  greedy, and/or selfish? 

Well, in my opinion, we all have our fears, and greed, and selfish reasons to want things but the difference is that people’s fears, greed, and religious beliefs have evolved to different levels for each group.  We both, technically have critical thinking brain cells but we have separated and chosen different paths based on our experiences and the level of growth in our critical thinking. 

I find that Trump supporters are working at the micro-level and the Biden supporters are looking at the macro-level of personal and social issues. While Biden supporters support better management of Covid-19, healthcare for all, wider social programs, the environment, the education system, social equality, preservation of democratic process, preservation of the human race, its growth and development, etc; Trump supporters, on the other hand, are focused on self-preservation, fear of immigrants, capital gains, economic gains and maintaining the religious beliefs of 2000 years ago. Biden supporters are concerned about the future generations and humanity, while Trump supporters are looking at self-preservation today. 

 As we see things, we “progressives” or self-proclaimed educated people, consider ourselves as elite or people who “Have” a higher level of critical thinking and looking at the issues from a much broader perspective than the other half of the population that is concerned only about themselves and their religious and/or economic beliefs. Both groups of people think they are right and there is no one who can decide which party is right. It’s for us to associate ourselves with one or the other type of thinking.  Are you a free and open-minded person with low levels of fear, greed, and insecurities, or do you see your livelihood threatened by every other human being, like an animal in a jungle who is fighting for self-preservation every day, every minute? On the surface, it may seem conceitful but I couldn’t find any other reason to believe that people supporting a person like Trump could be doing it for the greater good of society or humanity; there has to be some kind of perceived gains from his power. Based on his speeches and my conversations with people supporting him, the common denominators are – inherent fears, the hope of economic gains, or religious belief that he is a savior of humanity sent by Jesus himself.  

I believe the two mindsets are the result of life experiences, upbringing, and current life circumstances. The combination of these factors has created “Haves” and “Have-nots” of critical thinking, just like the economic divide, this is a “thinking” divide. Our hope is that someday all humans will have the critical thinking to work for the preservation of humanity; when you preserve humanity, you preserve yourself in the process. Imagine the power of the entire human tribe instead of the survival of just one. Let us carry everyone forward. If we leave the pack behind and go alone, who knows a more powerful and hungrier animal might be waiting for the next pray in this race of survival.

Now you decide where you want to belong, with the Haves or Have-nots.

Politics of Politics

10-28-2020

First go and vote then come back and read this blog. Because you may change your mind after reading this. And honestly, i don’t want to change your mind. That can be done only over a beverage of your choice.

Are you afraid of speaking out your mind about politics openly? Me too. Yes, I am afraid of speaking about politics, policies and the future of our lives with anyone who might have differing views and I am sure others who hold different opinion from mine feel the same about me. I am sure most of us are playing politics of politics among your friends and family. Are we so divided and opinionated about our future that we cannot discuss it among our friends and family? 

If you are not on one or the other side of the current socio-political spectrum, you are either a saint or mentally challenged. Having strong views against one or the other party and candidate is a new normal.

I remember until about 5 years ago, I could talk about politics openly but in the last 5 years, the political discussion has turned 180 degrees, where we are afraid of talking about any controversial issue, afraid the other party will attack me so brutally that it may hurt my ego or my body. How and why did we become like this? 

Disclaimer: I am no saint either, I am highly opinionated but i was born that way. I have tackled people (emotionally speaking but never physically), might have hurt some egos. 

I was among the majority of voters of this country where people were mostly centrist and that I thought was what kept this democracy afloat. But in the last 5 years the centrists have gone quiet, underground or shifted to far left or right. I used to vote for candidates based on their views and policies but somewhere I have gotten so angry with one group of politicians that my political sensibilities have left me. And I am sure people on the other side of the spectrum feel the same way. But why has it happened?

I feel it has a lot to do with the political shift at the leadership of both parties and they have influenced their followers and their followers have influenced their family and friends by providing one sided view of issues at helm. But more damaging has been the social media, FB, Whatsapp, Twitter etc. who in their drive to catch your attention and generate higher revenue, they intentionally have presented only what we want to hear and see. They hide all pieces of information that does not match with our ideology or viewpoint. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) has failed humanity. But humans created AI, so who do you blame? (See my other blog on Social Divide on the topic of AI)

I believe it is every person’s individual responsibility to develop their intelligence to save this humanity from self-destructing. People have to think whether their views are only self-serving or to serve both, the current generation and the future generations of ours. Until we take the view as a human race in its entirety, we surely are ready to destroy humanity. We as humans have to stop focusing on just tomorrow or next 4 years; our responsibility goes much beyond one election, one party, one person. This can happen only when we look at both sides of a coin and find what is good on each side, for our survival next four years, and also for the next 100 years. Will my children and grandchildren live happily in the environment that we are creating for them? I don’t believe in rights and wrongs as taught in schools or by religions, but i believe in individual responsibility, accountability, and the mission of our lives, that is to live on this earth happily without hurting others and that includes nature; leave this earth a better place to live than what I received. 

Are you ready to play your role with 100% consciousness, accountability and responsibility? I know I am. Let’s meet again in the middle and help humanity survive.

So go and vote to keep this social system somewhat in order. 

Change You

We all say this but don’t practice it – we can’t change others, we still keep on trying to change others. It is so difficult to change yourself not to change others. I fall in the same trap. I’ve been told that I preach others but don’t follow my own preaching. So this week after a ten-day vacation trip, I did a lot of introspection and found that i need to change myself.  

I realized that I have stopped growing suddenly, without any reason. My wild guess is that laziness has sunk in. I find the only way for me to grow is to change. It’s not the change that helps me grow but the journey to change is what helps me grow. For example, I know that my certain social behavior is not right and I have to modify my behavior to be a nicer person and not to come across as an obnoxious, grumpy old man. So to change my social behavior, first I have to convince my other side of the brain there is something wrong with my behavior. Now, in reality, this is the hardest step in the process of changing myself. I usually have several wars between my brain cells and eventually when my logical mind is convinced that it is a problem then only my emotional mind agrees to do anything about it. but both minds are so set in their ways, it takes them months to open my change file, like a federal bureaucracy of a country. 

Once the file is opened, it takes several analysts and engineers within my mind to perform the root cause analysis to figure out where the real problem lies.  And they work day and night to get to the root of the problem. Once the problem is diagnosed, which generally points to my upbringing, age or genes; then the issue arises how to fix it. It then takes several engineers to either replace the defective cells if the problem is only skin deep, months of retraining of cells to reprogram them or sometimes they just issue a “certificate of genetic defect” to use if anyone questions my behavior. 

So in a nutshell, change is not easy, it takes months and months of concerted effort to make one behavioral change and when our minds are filled with defective parts, we have to prioritize what is important in life and which change can be most effective in improving our lives. That is why we haven’t found a perfect person because one lifetime is not enough to fix everything. Every person on this earth has some defect somewhere that needs to be fixed.

If we cannot change us, how can we imagine changing others? So if you are in a relationship of any kind and you are trying to change the other person above the age of say 25, stop. It’s not your job or capability to change someone else. However, you can always influence someone’s thinking through your words, or actions but change comes only from inside. So i have decided not to try to change anyone, or expect them to change; either accept them as is or change myself to accept them as is. Change me is the word.