I was sitting in a cafe miserable, having just wasted $20 on transportation going between two different government offices and having achieved absolutely nothing at about 10 am this morning, when a very small child, a toddler, looked around the corner from behind the chair up at me with a tentative look on her face and began the smallest of smiles. It was as if she was asking without any words whatsoever whether I would smile back at her, which of course, I couldn’t help but do.
I began to smile, the little child began to smile broadly, and then I realized that this is how tiny human beings survive, and perhaps how the human race survives. Small children with their curiosity can bring out the best in us. And that means maybe there really is some hope for the human race after all. What do you think? – Shira Destinie Jones
What we need in this world are cooperation, empathy, love, not hate and war-mongering for some idiotic reasons that usually originate from politicians thirst for power and general greed.
I know people, who have lost several family members and friends in only one year, yes even some, who had to bury their children, something no father or mother should ever experience.
Is that not enough suffering?
Thousands of people die because of natural disasters like tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, vulcano activities, floodings, draught and the resultant famines.
Is that not enough suffering?
Millions die because of diseases, many of them caused by our own lifestyle, which doesn’t alleviate the pain of the bereaved.
Is that not enough suffering?
How can anybody take with a good consciense a weapon in their hands and kill people or watch others die, without even trying to help them? Animals show more compassion than we do.
Let us put an end to the creation of yet more suffering! There is enough suffering in this world that we cannot change. Right now and already for a long time, a lunacy wave of unnecessary suffering is swashing over the world, and it seems that nobody is asking themselves, what the heck we are doing.
Native Americans: The lies about the empty continent just waiting to be populated.
Here and now (year 2023) there are 574 Native American tribes and nations (thereof 228 in Alaska), and those are only the legally recognized ones. (source: Wikipedia)
41 tribes have been completely killed off in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Of all those peoples, only 9,666,058 Native Americans and Alaskan natives, ca. 2.9% of the total U.S. population, as per the census of 2020 are alive today. This is so much worse than I had anticipated …
Maybe there weren’t 331 millions of Native Americans living on the continent, as the census of 2020 states the population was in that year, but there must have been an awful lot of them. The continent had never been empty nor the land unused. Those were just lies to justify the invasion and land grabbing.
Articles in American Newspapers try to justify the killing off of the Native Americans saying that they were also at war with each other and did atrocious things to each other. Contrary to what? The rest of the world living peacefully with each other and in harmony? So, finding out that Native Americans were not better than us was enough justification for killing them off? The logic eludes me here … That would be valid the other way round as well then, or would that be considered “something completely different” as usual?
How did I get this idea? My husband mentioned that in Denmark every day two people kill themselves. I thought that was terribly many. But when I looked up the global statistics, it became much worse. I had forgotten, how high the suicide rates actually were, and until now, more people died by suicide than by wars and murder. Just imagine that for a moment. But, right now the figures are reversed, as wars have multiplied and intensified. On the other hand, there is a research about the happiest countries in the world. The inhabitants themselves gave their judgement about how happy they were about living in their country. Israel was the number 4 happiest, which surprised me. Then I wanted to contrast both, the happiness rate and the suicide rate, with each other for a few selected countries. One can say that for most countries, also those that are not mentioned here, the suicide rates are low where the people consider themselves happy. One exception is the USA, where the people seem to consider themselves happy, but the suicide rate is high. And the Islamic countries around Israel have as low a suicide rate as Israel or even lower, but they don’t consider themselves very happy.
But here the figures from the suicide ranking list as per Wikipedia: 011) Russia 21,6 per 100.000 inhabitants, thereof 5 times more men than women (2019) 031) USA 14,5 per 100.000 inhabitants, thereof 3 times more men than women (2019) 093) Germany 8,3 per 100.000 inhabitants, thereof 3 times more men than women (2019) 106) Denmark7,6 per 100.000 inhabitants, thereof 3 times more men than women (2019) 139) Israel 5,2 per 100.000 inhabitants, thereof 4 times more men than women (2019)
It is shocking that men kill themselves substantially more often than women. Either we are more resilient or men are under more pressure to perform, or both.
As comparison here the happiness rate as per Wikipedia’s “World Happiness Report“: The happiest countries in the world (inhabitants’ self-assessment on a scale from 1-10) 2) Denmark 4) Israel 15) USA 16) Germany 70) Russia
What I also have discovered along the way, and which I found interesting, was that in Greenland (autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark) the suicide rate lies at 53 per 100,000 inhabitants, and also here 3 times more men than women (2019) (Source: Statista) Greenland was not in the country list, but is not included in the numbers for Denmark either. In any case, the Greenlanders’ rate is twice as high as Russia’s with its 21. And in America the suicide rate for Native Americans and Alaskan Tribes was on first place, followed by the white population; most by people over 80 years of age; and 80% of all suicides were committed by men. (Source: CDC)
If I had numbers from Australia and New Zealand, we would be able to see, if the First Nations generally have a stronger tendency towards suicide than the immigrants. It is my suspicion that it is so.
This sounds serious, but still these numbers are low when compared to mortality figures caused by the so-called lifestyle diseases: cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer; in the western world more than 50% of all deaths.
Is there a lesson to learn? If yes, then probably that we slowly but certainly kill ourselves off by our lifestyle, also indirectly because our lifestyle has a weakening effect on the immune system, so that we are more prone to catch infectious diseases. Strangely, deaths caused by lifestyle are not counted as suicides. Message to mankind: Treat yourself better! Move more, eat healthier, don’t smoke, drink less alcohol, and don’t let the media scare you from rhyme or reason. Fear also weakens the immune system. Let’s treat each other with respect and empathy, then life will become more pleasant for everybody. And the suicide rates would go down as well.
… I should like to appeal to all humans, wherever they are in this world, as individuals: Let us focus on our humanness, let love be our motivation for all our deeds! Let us consciously experience that we are all connected to each other.
Someone recently asked me about using ads on my blog, as it apparently seemed that I have advertising here. There are ads on my blog, but they have nothing to to with me: as a free blog, WordPress puts ads all over my blog, when you go out of the Reader to the browser, which is required to do things like see my site menu, or my pages, or Pin any of my posts. There seems to be little that I can do about these ads, which I do not see on my Firefox browser because I have loaded an ad blocker called AdBlock Plus. For me, ad blockers are always recommended, and browser extensions are very easy to load, at least on Firefox. Since I cannot afford to upgrade to a paid blog in order to get rid of these ads, I must apologize for them, on behalf of WordPress, I suppose, since I hate advertising, but cannot stop it, and recommend the ad blocker of your choice, and I can explain a bit more if needed about browser extensions. I hope that this post makes sense, because I am very tired.
I am writing this review again, after having reviewed it several years ago, but lost the review. This will be short, so I recommend seeing the film for yourselves, please. It is beautiful, and tragic. Remember that sacrifice with the “après-gout de la manipulation…” (“after-taste of manipulation…”), as you consider the question of […]
we can Do Better, together, and have Enough For All
…
with a bit of planning. Come read, and maybe even edit a new version for your community, the Project Do Better man.
How can empathy help avoid trial? By helping to make sure that everyone knows the basics of the legal system, their rights, and local facts about Pre-Trial Interventions/Diversions, for starters. Clearly, there are other ways that our criminal justice system also needs to be upgraded, but this basic education would be an easy set of tools to add to our collective citizenship toolbox, for every person.
The common good, or the general welfare, is also tied up withLupin (!), and with on-going legal & financial pro-bono education (aka Adulting Education), which must become more fully inclusive for all of us.
Mais si Driss n’avait-t-il pas d’argent ? Et s’ils lui avaient arrêtaient dans la misère ? Aux États-Unis il y à une moyen d’éviter les procès mais qui coute cher, selon l’état…
Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better 