when you’re so used to using macs, it’s hard to teach your mom something on her pc.
We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others’ happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls; has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge as made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in man; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all.
Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say “Do not despair.” The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
Whenever there is worry in the mind, all we can think about is what might go wrong or what has gone wrong. In the absence of any obvious problem or concern, the worrying mind will simply manufacture problems. When we are caught up in agitation, there are so many mental objects seeming to clamour for their attention – regretful thoughts, neurotic thoughts, anxieties, speculations, assumptions – the volume of mental activity can seem overwhelming. A surprisingly simple and useful technique for countering worry is to deliberately put to one side the specific concerns that are dominating the mind. Certainly there are things in life that need planning but so much of what we call planning is actually worry. So often, we try to solve problems when we don’t have all the necessary information – concerns that are purely speculative – ‘what might happen if’ – are a complete waste of time. The significant feature of a restless or worried mind is the absence of happiness. When we introduce happiness into the mind, restlessness and worry fall away. Choosing to think positively – we can think about everything that is good in our lives, as opposed to what’s wrong. As the mind stops jumping back into the past or forward into the future it becomes content to settle into the moment.
11 more days until I become a second semester senior.
Things I am looking forward to doing:
