Who Can You Trust?
Friends, I’ve just arrived home and I’m feeling a bit tired, even a bit low. Perhaps it began with last weekend when my wife told me not to withdraw money from any ATMs in Sydney because scam artists were stealing the details from those who made withdrawals and making a fortune by emptying their accounts.
Then again, it might have started when I heard about Toyota, the world’s biggest car company. It seems they have been hiding faults with their vehicles for many years, faults which have led to the deaths of many people. The Managing Director has given an apology and is to recall millions of vehicles but it doesn’t help those that have died very much.
Then, in Australia, the Government as part of the stimulus package to help us weather the Global Financial Crisis, has given out huge amounts of money to encourage roof insulation in domestic homes. This has created a huge demand for insulation installers some of whom are dodgy or unskilled. It also resulted in substandard insulation from overseas being used. So far, four installers have been electrocuted and there have been lots of house fires. The whole scheme has been canceled.
As mentioned previously, several Australian have had their passport information stolen by Mossad who then sent 26 assassins to Dubai with their forged passports to kill one Hamas official.
So people don’t know anymore whether their passports are being used by countries which are into the assassination game (Israel, the U.S., etc). It also means that no one is safe while traveling or even in their own home, especially people like me who speak out against the Evil Ones.
As everyone would know, the Pope recently summoned a number of Irish Catholic Bishops to explain the high incidence of child molestation by members of the cloth in that country. There was a lot of bowing and kissing of hands and rings but the molestation of children by members of most religions still goes on.
Then I heard on the radio about doctors who, in order to get kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies, write scripts for medications that people don’t even need. That’s not all. From my own experience, I have struck surgical specialists who urged me to have an operation for my current problem when radiology obviously can do the job without a major operation. Further, while having treatment, I have met people who have had the major operation then had to have months of radiology anyway because the operation didn’t get all the cancer. They were not impressed!
Then on the news a little while ago, the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd was apologizing for various of his election promises which haven’t been delivered. Some haven’t even been started and an election is likely this year. He reminds me of Obama who made a lot of promises then broke them almost straight away or put them on the back burner.
When I go to a supermarket and buy meat, I have no guarantee that the animals who provide the meat have not been fed carcinogenic growth hormones. When I buy fish, I don’t know what concentration of mercury or other dangerous chemicals it contains. The same applies to fruit and vegetables.
Look, I could write a 10,000 word article and I wouldn’t have covered all the areas of untrustworthiness that exist in this world. For example, our cars are full of carcinogens from plastics. My wrist watch has a luminous dial. Banks took taxpayers bailout funds and now they’re paying themselves huge bonuses. Investment schemes that promise much, then go bankrupt are legion. Kids can’t walk around the streets anymore without the risk of being abducted, raped and murdered. Schools in many countries have become places where student face drugs and the risk of being stabbed or shot. The soccer competition in Europe and even cricket is rife with rumors about game fixing. Wars have been started over WMDs which didn’t exist. Some insane governments are playing with the idea of nuking Iran because it wants to have nuclear weapons the same as they have…Yuk!
My wife, when I first met her, told me not to trust anyone, not even myself! I rejected it at the time. Now it sounds like it was good advice.
But to live in a world where nothing or no one is to be trusted is disappointing and difficult!
Are you full of trust? Do you trust anything or anyone? Do you find living without trust hard?
I do!
i happened upon this article a few days ago. i have always lived by these rules and can honestly say that i am a very happy person. i don’t have much and even though i see the state of the world today, i can still laugh and find happiness in small things,
SAN DIEGO – The pursuit of happiness is sometimes easier said than done.
Some scientists have argued that happiness is largely determined by genetics, health and other factors mostly outside of our control. But recent research suggests people actually can take charge of their own happiness and boost it through certain practices.
“The billion-dollar question is, is it possible to become happier?” said psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California, Riverside. “Despite the finding that happiness is partially genetically determined, and despite the finding that life situations have a smaller influence on our happiness than we think they do, we argue that still a large portion of happiness is in our power to change.”
Lyubomirsky spoke here Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She and colleagues last year reviewed 51 studies that tested attempts to increase happiness through different types of positive thinking, and found that these practices can significantly enhance well-being. The results were published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Here are five things that research has shown can improve happiness:
1. Be grateful – Some study participants were asked to write letters of gratitude to people who had helped them in some way. The study found that these people reported a lasting increase in happiness – over weeks and even months – after implementing the habit. What’s even more surprising: Sending the letter is not necessary. Even when people wrote letters but never delivered them to the addressee, they still reported feeling better afterwards.
2. Be optimistic – Another practice that seems to help is optimistic thinking. Study participants were asked to visualize an ideal future – for example, living with a loving and supportive partner, or finding a job that was fulfilling – and describe the image in a journal entry. After doing this for a few weeks, these people too reported increased feelings of well-being.
3. Count your blessings – People who practice writing down three good things that have happened to them every week show significant boosts in happiness, studies have found. It seems the act of focusing on the positive helps people remember reasons to be glad.
4. Use your strengths – Another study asked people to identify their greatest strengths, and then to try to use these strengths in new ways. For example, someone who says they have a good sense of humor could try telling jokes to lighten up business meetings or cheer up sad friends. This habit, too, seems to heighten happiness.
5. Commit acts of kindness – It turns out helping others also helps ourselves. People who donate time or money to charity, or who altruistically assist people in need, report improvements in their own happiness.
Lyubomirsky has also created a free iPhone application, called Live Happy, to help people boost their well-being.
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Grace Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 2:54 am
Coco, While I agree with Morocco’s assessment of the source of unhappiness, I also know that nobody but ourselves can make the decsion to attempt happiness. My doctor used to ask me every month, “are you depressed?” I used to say, “I don’t go to bed depressed, nor do I wake up depressed, however, depressing things happen and I do my best to deal with them. SInce then, as part of an assessment for treatment, I was diagnosed as a severely depressed person! I have since been put on “happy pills” i must say, the pills have helped. That said, I think those five things that can improve happiness are useful with beneficial results. However, it does not change the larger picture. which is that the powers that be: want us to feel that we have to do something personal to improve ourseoves to make the world a better place, when the powers that be know that while we are busy “working on ourselves” they can roll back laws, change laws generally deconstruct our society- the true source of personal and societal unhappiness.
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What a bunch of psychological bullshit. Lyubomirsky’s full of it. This System necessarily entails unhappiness for the majority of the inhabitants of this planet. That’s what Civilization involves. The majority must sacrifice their happiness for the benefit of the mighty and adored few. Sure, the complexity of the apparatus has evolved, but it’s still the same basic tenets….just more adroit ways of selling the lie.
You have to love the free iPhone application. How ironic is that? The damn cell phones are part of the reason for the unhappiness. Not only is all this electromagnetism from cell phone towers and wireless internet screwing with the essence of our being, the cells that make comprise our physical being and the electrical charges they produce, but the act of engaging with them 24/7 is precluding people from engaging in the real world…..hell, people are running little kids over in parking lots because they can’t put the damn things down.
I hear you, David. I’m feeling down, as well, and for good reason…..it means you’re human….despite the psychobabble, and it’s human to experience a range of emotions…especially sorrow and depression when staring into the abyss that is humankind’s future. For the rest of the sheep who would like to pretend they aren’t human, there’s perpetual electronically stimulated entertainment and specifically formulated pharmaceuticals.
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Morocco, Grace and David…While I agree we are at the mercy of the huge global forces in many ways then logically the only course of action left to the individual is our own personal reaction to any of these life stresses…as my 16 yr old put it to me on a day of reasonable despair…Mom ,if all you are going to do is see the negative then I think that is boring and evil(opposite of live). I try to practice the serenity prayer to keep me sane to be of help to those in my own acre…that is all I can do and some days esp lately that is a great deal indeed.
Today is Fri and am going to stand on the corner here in this town with onre other woman and a man (Women in Black)..am in the process of designing a new sign that reads “no money for endless war.?..we dop this every fri and more people than ever honk in support and some talk to us more frequently…and this is a Reblican right wing enclave for sure…David when you energy is depleted it is not a good time to trust your interpretation of events and your focus on all that is negative is very unhealthy for you…Grace’s viewpoint is my way of thinking also and that is not disregarding all the EVIL there is…Tecumseh said “abuse no one and no thing for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of it’s vision….love to all..Kate
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Coco, Morocco and Kate, I guess the point of my post was that there is little in this world that one can trust at face value. Surely that is an indictment of the world we humans have made rather than any reflection on my radiology-battered body.
I remember a time when I trusted most people and, in the main, they proved to be trustworthy. Very. That time has long gone. Things have changed dramatically. People have changed dramatically. Now it pays to be suspicious of everything and everyone otherwise, all too often, you’ll get taken down or disappointed.
It seems a shame that, because of greed for money and power, that many of the decent values have gone and we now live in an environment of violence, fear, suspicion and mistrust.
P.S. I only have three treatments left so my mood this morning is buoyant!
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David,
I understood the point of your post. My reply was concerning Coco’s link. I’m with you, man. I feel the same way….but tonight is Wine Night….and I’m always happy on Wine Night. Sure, we all find small pockets of happiness here and there and learn to cherish the little things in life, but then we always manage to teeter to the other side and stare at the wicked thing that this way comes….and, on occasion, get down about it. As I said, that’s human….we should experience that range of emotion…not medicate it or distract it into oblivion. Afterall, what is joy without sorrow? What is painless without pain? What is love without hate? And what is life without death? One needs the other…..with the added bonus of everything in between.
You’re in the home stretch, David. What kind of cancer is it, may I ask? We could have one hell of a conversation about cancer. It makes for great metaphor, for starters….but even more fascinating is how it works. Granted, the leading experts don’t know fully how it works, but even what they do know is as fascinating as any great work of science fiction. It’s an insidious, vampiric beast that takes over, nay robs, your body using your bodily functions to multiply and perpetuate its purposelessness. Very similar to this System of Civilization we have created for ourselves.
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David,
I know you’re an Atheist (I’m a strong Agnostic, meaning I don’t put too much energy or time into something I can neither prove, nor disprove), but still, I think you will be energized by the following video. It sure as hell pumps me up. Just take out the references to God, and replace it with Values, and I share the message and the enthusiasm…..for now, at least.
http://www.djpauledge.com/wewillnotbesilenced/index_secondmovie.html?tt=1.1
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David G Reply:
February 27th, 2010 at 9:57 am
Thanks for your further input, Morocco. Life really is a balancing act as we try to match our dreams with the stark reality of the current world. I’m all for wine nights and I thank the person who invented wine because, even in moderation, it certainly helps to soften life’s hard edges.
But life doesn’t have to be hard. We humans could, in theory, make the world and life a marvellous experience. We’d need to do a bit of genetic tinkering and we’d need to set up a completely different value system, one based on caring for others rather than that of me-first and stuff everyone else!
I agree about the insidious nature of cancer. It’s hard to imagine rogue cells setting out to destroy the host and, in so doing, themselves. It seems rather pointless. A bit like life is at times!
P.S. Take care and have an extra glass of wine for me.
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Morocco Bama Reply:
February 28th, 2010 at 6:30 am
We’d need to do a bit of genetic tinkering
David, can you elaborate on what this means. It’s vague.
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I trust my dog and cats. As far as child abusers, note how the Jewish-alligned media, does not mention that the pedophile pediatrician in Delaware that has FINALLY been charged with raping his patients, is JEWISH.
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David G Reply:
February 27th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
I’ve read about dogs attacking their owners, Therese. And I seem to remember that cats have smothered babies out of jealousy.
That a Jewish pediatrician has been raping American babies is terrible news. And here I thought that Jews only raped Palestinians.
Take care.
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Kate, I got confused when I saw my name. Yesterday I wrote a long post for this topic and then accidentally erased it! I thought it had somehoow made it through. I have alot to say, but have been busier than usual. I will comment later. Thank you.
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Deliberately so, Morocco. As I’ve mentioned many time over the years that I’ve been running a blog, I feel that we’ll have to wait an eternity for the more primitive human instincts to moderate or disappear and in the interim we’ll probably destroy ourselves.
Gene modification might hurry up the process, that and/or some pacifying drug that might curb our tendencies towards violence, greed and lust, etc.
Humans have to give up the jungle before it’s too late!
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“Gene modification might hurry up the process, that and/or some pacifying drug that might curb our tendencies towards violence, greed and lust, etc.”
David, I believe that the state of the art medical people are implementing this now. WIth the thought, at least of those in the healing arts, for the intention to heal. I found out that suicide is common among the young people in these parts and I have noticed the doctors are tuned in and want to know the person’s mental and emotional states as they assess the physical symptoms for treatment. This is positive – me thinks – the idea of preventatively controlling problematic behaviors. Could just avert the red button in the ‘nic of time. I think there is alot of misjudgement of emotional and mental dis-ease. Maybe it is too much without help for some. It should be availble to those that are suffering and of course it should be with a person’s free will.
I tell you what, if the adults in my childhood would have been medicated, properly, it would have been better for everyone!
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David G Reply:
February 28th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Grace, we haven’t got millions of years to wait for evolution to get rid of our problematic genes. We only have a few decades at most.
Modifying our destructive behaviour is no different to fixing up cancer!
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Therese…I finally have to adress your paradigm of ‘ Jewishness” that I read in your post frequently…I think you confuse being Jewish with a blanket of evil…check yourself…no religion race or gender is the cause of all this misery….those are psyop’d to divide us..what do you think being”jewish” means? My father’s people come from German/Jews but I was not raised with that knowledge and have been spared that particular indoctrination although I wound up raised Catholic and had the good sense to reject it while very young..I determeined I would not be labeled anything but human and that is an evolutionary process that as time has shown me is the release from all the conditioning they tried to force me to accept..
I believe power and greed are riding high and since we Gentiles gave the right for money making to the Jews is it any surprise you find them heavily involved in all our financial transactions…? Just a thought but disinformation comes packaged so attractively…Kate
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Kate, I was happily indoctrinated with the Protestant Christian doctrine but later, as my more rational self emerged, I rejected it. You had a lucky escape indeed!
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hello to all: Coco, I read your positive thinking bit & agree that gratitude & kindness are important to how I feel about myself.
Morocco: I had a cheap buy your minutes cell phone, my hands were too clumsy for putting
numbers in, I tossed it. (my USAn consumerism) it was Motorola anyway which I am boycotting, as part of the Boycott,Divest,Sanctions against Israel.
Kate: Thank you for taking action with Women in Black, tho I’m not very familiar with them.
David: David life has been hard, a constant struggle, funny when I look back how the worst of times seem to give me great pleasure , I endured them and lived to talk & write & wonder over them.
I wonder what genie gets let out of the bottle with genetic modification? Taking out say a frontal lobe to cure schizophrenia or criminal tendecies had quite a bit unexpected, unknowable effects.
Somehow we need to nurture and encourage passive tendencies.
Didn’t everyone’s mum or dad tell them, “don’t hit first, but if they hit you then you must
hit back”, I’ve heard of young boys locked out until they faced imtimidating bullies.
We in USA have been taught that violence gets you what you want.
If you can do it by intimidation, fine, but if you have to beat the hell of someone (who’s in your own class or better yet below your “set”)to get your point across that’s good too.
I believe in USA dogs, cats & pets have more legal rights than children.
Grace said, “I tell you what, if the adults in my childhood would have been medicated,
properly, it would have been better for everyone!”
Grace: that goes double for me, I’d have much rather my family could have popped a xanax rather than open a bottle of alcohol. From beer to brown whiskey, even my grandparents
loved a taste now & then. So many died young from the “family curse”.
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Grace Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:35 am
Kate B., greetings. “Family Curse,” indeed.
I am becoming ever alarmed at how all boy’s toys are geared toward violence. Even Legos! My son has been telling me about the new Atlantis lego set that is coming out. so he showed me the picures in his Lego Magazine and it was all about “under-water battles” It showed the characters beating each other and threatening one another, it was horrorble. WTF?
Keeping the peace takes skill and abilities.
We gotta turn this ship of fools around!
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The Sixth Annual Israeli Apartheid Week 2010. (March 1 – 14, 2010) See http://www.apartheid.org.
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Turning the ship of fools around will take a lot of effort and luck. We humans seems to have a finite destiny mainly because most humans, including the ones who rule us, never learn.
Cheers and peace.
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