December leads in breakups

December Leads Year In Breakups, But Lags in Promotions, Weddings, Divorces

December is probably the most exciting month of the year, but other than the retail sector going crazy, how does December really measure up to some other months?

For example, December is not the best month for relationships. The most popular day when boyfriend/girlfriend call it quits is the Monday closest to two weeks before Christmas, according to a Facebook graphics posted by blogcritics.org.

That day was yesterday, December 12. If you weren’t dumped, you are doing good.

Why? Perhaps the stress of Christmas approaching leads to a boiling point in relationships.

Perhaps the coming of the New Year motivates people to make a new start. Or, perhaps it is as simple as not wanting to spend money on a Christmas gift. Very few are cruel enough to dump someone on or immediately before Christmas, so this can force somebody as hand to do it about two weeks before, concludes blogcritics.

December is also not the best time of the year to get a promotion.

According to data collected and analyzed by LinkedIn, January, June and July are the most popular months for U.S. workers to receive promotions. Globally, January, July and September are the top three.
January represents the new calendar year, while in June and July evaluations are being conducted. Bosses like to wrap things up before leaving on vacation in August, and if they don at, then those in line to be promoted will have to wait until September, according to LinkedIn.

And if you want to get married, June is the most popular month. That as when the start of moderate temperatures and reasonable outdoor weather begins in many corners of the globe.

Also, a wider and cheaper array of flowers are available, according to bridetide.blogspot.com.

But cheap flowers are not the major reason why June is so popular for weddings. It as tradition.

Back in the day, couples often chose to marry in accordance to their peak harvest time. Having a June wedding meant that a possible summer pregnancy would still be early enough in the season that a wife could help out with manual work during that year as harvest period. It also meant that after a spring birth, the recovered bride would be in good enough health to assist in the next year as harvest, according to Bridetide.

Here is my favorite reason.

A long time ago, regular bathing was not exactly considered a necessity and was therefore reserved as a once-a-year event that most of the population observed during the last part of May or beginning of June. As expected, right after their annual bath,  many couples decided to tie the knot since each person was probably their most presentable (and less stinky) during this time compared to the upcoming 12 months.

August is the most popular month for giving birth, according to lifeslittlemysteries.com, although all summer months rank pretty close in this category. February ranks the lowest.

Experts theorize that the timing has a lot to do with weather conditions nine months earlier. Go figure.
As the mercury drops in the late fall and winter, things heat up at home as people spend more time indoors. About nine months later, a summer baby is born. Makes perfect sense.

Cold, dark January may be a good month for promotions, but it as a bad month for marriages.

That is when most divorces are filed.

Perhaps January is a popular time to divorce, says YourTango.com, because the December holidays can be a time where emotions run high, leaving people to become angry or unhappy with their marriage. Just after the holiday season, many people might feel that divorce is their best option.

There you have it, a small cycle of human civilization. Enjoy the holiday season, make it through Dec. 12, and watch out for January, unless you are up for a promotion

John Toth publishes The Bulletin weekly newspaper in Brazoria County, Texas. He was an award-winning writer for The Houston Chronicle until he decided to leave all that serious stuff behind for a chance to participate in high risk business ventures like publishing a weekly, which he has done since 1994. He can be reached atjohn.bulletin@gmail.com

Fire at AMRI hospital

Early this morning on the eighth of December a terrible fire broke out at the AMRI hospital in Kolkata. As the senior staff  fled,  89 persons lost their lives and many more were seriously injured, all of them patients. No later had the media broadcast the news that political damage control and finger pointing began.


As of now;

• Two owners and four managers have been arrested, and they will be released shortly on bail. 
• The hospital cannot function practically and legally because the government has cancelled its licensee.
• A compensation of Rs 50,000 has been awarded to survivors of the deceased. The hospital's junior staff and the  ill equipped brave firemen who risked their lives doing a very tough job are being blamed for a bad job and responding too slowly.
• TV anchors  shed crocodile tears as will be their hosts on the talk shows.

Tomorrow;

• The factories inspector will make a report showing that he did his job as will the concerned fire inspector. 
• The concerned municipal officers in charge will move some files and reports here and there trying to pass the buck, and some junior person will be suspended. 
• The newspapers will blare this tragedy on their headlines. 
• The politicians will start a one up-manship game.

The day after;

• Wheels of corruption will turn.
• The owners and managers will look to influence by monetary or political pressure, the police, the concerned legal persons from the government, the victims families. 
• Various vultures political and others will descend on the situation sensing a good killing to be made. 
• Money will change hands and the situation will quieten down.
• The TV stations will suffer amnesia.
• The newspaper will relegate the incident to history after taking it sequentially through pages, 5, 9 and finally page 16.

Six months later;

• The hospital will be restarted under a new name and management with old owners having new politically powerful partners.
• The owners will start a new hospital flouting the rules.
• The suspended officials will be reinstated and the case will join the million other cases pending in our judiciary.

This is not how a modern civilized society functions, this is how a sad joke is played on citizens by their chosen political leaders, civil servants, police and merchants of death.
Each one of us has every right to feel indignant, angry and sad. Since we are normally mute spectators or participants in small ways we have no one to blame but ourselves. We play our own little games of trying to get ahead by manipulating or ignoring the system by;

• Just being indifferent.
• Refusing to exercise our voting franchise or voting for bad /corrupt people. 
• Bribing bureaucrats and government officials rather than follow the correct way.
• Teaching our children all the wrong things or by setting poor examples of behaviour.
• Give up hope of exerting our right and cower in front of two bit tyrannic public servants.
• Do not contribute to our communities and humanity in general, remembering all our rights but forgetting most of our responsibilities. 

If we want to make a difference then we should remember that;

A different world cannot be built by indifferent people; 

and    

As we sow, so shall we reap. 

Not a devil's workshop

DEVIL'S WORKSHOP?

http://rainysingh.blogspot.com/2011/12/not-devils-workshop.html

My office overlooks a school. This location provides me ample opportunity to observe children in an environment, which to me appears to need much change.  Children are happy, no matter what we adults impose on them. Their energy, mischief and zest, is infectious and never fails to perk me up.

Feelings of despair envelope me on the other hand when I observe how we invest in our future. The kid’s backs are stooped as they carry their overweight school bags. There are no sports or play area to speak off and the children try to run about in the small courtyard and on the semi covered rooftop for a brief while before they dragged inside to memorize something more. 

I sometimes chat with some of the kids as they wait for their ride.  I learn that most of them are not going back home but to some tuitions / classes and even more study. Children naturally want to play, but sadly their wants or needs are not a consideration for most educationists, parents, or the government.

Most kids get home a little too late in the evening and then they spend time in front of a television set or some video games before they are marched off to sleep much later in the night than they should.

Our current schooling system was born from the needs of industrialization a few hundred years ago.  Further pushed by priests and governments to keep their flock timid and busy at all times children were managed by the motto  'An empty mind is a devil's workshop'. Nothing could be more sad or further from the truth.

Industrialization as undertaken so far is mostly based on maximum exploitation of resources. This approach demands that the majority of people and employees should have facts and not thoughts. They must possess a compliant spirit to take orders and not independence and of course having fun at work or during learning is deemed dangerous. This approach deadens the mind rather than enlightening it. 

As a result many children do not get a moment free, and this suits parents and teachers just fine. Many parents and teachers are anyway absorbed in their own genuine or imaginary issues and struggles.    

I spent almost my entire childhood in a boarding school, and my youth living in college hostels.  The institutions were set in quiet places and free of many of today's distractions.  I had encountered my share of fantastic teachers and petty tyrants. The curriculum was not killing because we did not have so much drivel. Sports were encouraged along with extra curricular activities that helped build character and develop the personality.

One thing many of my friends now look back with incredibility is the amount of time we had on our hands, to do, really nothing.  These were times for fantasizing, and to spend in wonder. The space, and time afforded us the luxury to daydream, to study ourselves and the world around us as we experienced it and the world we wanted to create.

What differentiates humans from lower species is our overdeveloped mind. Our current social and education system clutters the mind, stifling our thoughts and not allowing the mind to breathe. When the mind is overfilled with facts and figures even temporarily, it knocks off large chunks of creativity. 

The end result of this education-lifestyle combination is the output of generations of a well informed, non creative, mentally and physically weak people.

When you live for more than half a century it can be advantageous  to be able to look back and study cause and effects of various actions and inactions. I classify my associates and classmates into four categories;

1.       First the sloggers, they always worked hard and they still slog at their careers and in  their lives.  Un-lived they are often overworked and overstressed. They believe they are avoiding the devil's workshop.

2.      Bums, these folks never did anything then and decades later still pretty much do nothing very useful even today.

3.      Negative achievers who day dreamt and fantasized about the future. Driven by negative influences at home and from their choice of friends and associates they went on to notoriety and often burnt out. 

4.      Positive achievers who continue to achieve success. These folks are often not only generating wealth but also do interesting things. They lead useful and generally more fulfilling lives. Contributing to society many of these people daydreamed away but were guided by a good value system and worked hard applying both mind and spirit. Most of them participated in sport and extra curricular activities

Let's give our kids space and a good value system and just watch them create an interesting, healthy, happy, caring and successful world. 

Pablo Picasso the famous artist said;   "Every child is born an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up" 

A wise man once said; "If you do not build castles in the air, you build them nowhere". 

Interesting thoughts on this subject can also be found at the following two blogs;

·      http://sureshg.wordpress.com/2006/08/18/what-is-meditation/

·      http://odyssey2self-sumiran.blogspot.com/2009/06/empty-mind-is-it-devils-workshop.html