I mentioned before that there are probably more good people in this world than bad ones. This is a completely unscientific statement, but I wouldn’t be surprise if a survey determined that, indeed, more people are prone to performing a kind deed rather than a bad one. How, then, can’t this majority of good people… Read More How the Selfish and the Selfless can Enter into an Unhealthy Relationship
It’s interesting how each person’s life struggles seem to distil to just a handful of challenges that occur again and again in various shapes and forms. A personal struggle of mine, which I blogged about previously (and one post of which will be reposted later on today), is the injustice that operates within so many… Read More The False Choice We Have to Make Between Helping Ourselves and Helping Others
From Harry Potter to Katniss and all Marvel and DC heroes, it seems that our society is attracted to the idea of a hero helping us defeat the forces of evil and leading us into victory, oftentimes at great personal cost. While sacrifice is an important element in overcoming adversity, I question the concept of… Read More S.O.S.: Why Looking Out for Hero Isn’t Working
Loving fellowship, mutual encouragement, and willingness to learn together are natural properties of any group of youth sincerely striving for the same ends… There is a lot that we have to learn, every single day in our lives. Sometimes, when we make a mistake while trying to learn, we encounter honks, stares, and negative comments.… Read More Adopting a learning mode: what it can look like
The end of the summer was a little difficult for my family, to say the least. As I shared back in September, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer. The conversation his wife and I started then about the support they are getting from their network has continued; it’s a little convoluted at times and unsatisfying… Read More The Emerging Clarity of Supporting Someone with Cancer
“Trust is the foundation of all human connections, from chance encounters to friendships and intimate relationships.” (Source) So when one’s faith in people is shaken, if not broken, it comes as no surprise that our relationships suffer. An interesting concept has peppered quite a number of conversations around me in the last two months or… Read More The Importance of Trusting People Who Love You
Hope is a very important part of community development. If it is not nurtured on a daily basis, all the negativity we are bombarded with will take over. And there is a lot of negativity, both obvious (the news) and obscure (ads implying that we are not good enough without said product or service). But… Read More Community Development: How to Maintain Hope
There are different levels to awareness; therefore, while we can be aware of certain things for long periods of time, it’s only when they hit close to home that one’s vision zooms in and details pop out like never before. Straight after the initial shock of a cancer diagnosis in my family comes Breast Cancer… Read More From Building Awareness to Taking Action Against Cancer or its Effect
There are a few things I strongly believe in. For example, The X-Files and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer are two of the best television shows I have ever watched and chocolate is a cure for nearly everything. Or, that community-building at the grassroots is essential in ensuring the well-being of every single individual and that… Read More Weathering the Storm of a Cancer Diagnosis: Some Initial Learnings and Thoughts
Back in March, I posted a piece on how certain structures of our society encourage us to live in a state of constant discontent. I was thinking about how, at whatever stage we were in—single, dating, engaged, married, with one child—we were always prodded about “the next thing” that we should be aiming for. It… Read More The “Just Wait” Phenomena: Why Can’t We Build A Different Future?