Thought of the day

The Tree

I stand here uncertainly
Two leaves in the twig
Bends for light of morn,
Sway weakly in the wind
Lonely I grow swinging
Like an abandon child into a girl
As longings of every passerby.
I shyly bow down my face
Masses of flowers on breast,
Rapt thirsty lips for juicy fruits
My call in the words of love,
The bees as enchanting brides
Quiver in honey-sweet songs
Caress my spring in passion.
The sun-brook brimfully kisses
The Cooing birds rest on breast,
My Flowers bloom feasting eyes
Radiantly glow around God’s neck,
A gift of love in basking bouquet
Bright in the head of a lovely girl
Lovers Look at her without fatigue.
I stand firm in blazing heat
In freezing snow of winter,
Never scared of untimely storm
Never spoke out my pain
When my arms are chopped down.
Suddenly leaves fall fast
Left alone in wrinkled skin,
Uncared as broken doll
I see me useless as old.
Orphaned by earth I depart
Time’s fidelity pains me a lot,
Up rooted from garden
Like a broken pot to the soil.

Virtual World

FR. AUGUSTINE THOMAS

Children and social media
“Look at my son. He is just three years old but he handles my iphone like an adult. He is going to be a computer engineer,” a young dad told me with great pride recently. “Oh sure, but what I am afraid of is that your son could adopt the i-phone and other similar gadgets as his foster home and may not need a real home anymore,” I commented. That young dad was obviously very thrilled that his three year old son was spending most of his waking hours with i-phones and laptops when in fact the child should have been interacting with his family members and playing games with other kids of his age.

The idea that growing children should be involved in technological and virtual world in order to ‘belong’ to the present generation is erroneous. Smart phones and other gadgets of the same nature should not be their best companions. Addiction to these will have long term consequences for the child. Why do I say this? It is generally accepted that beginning from the early stages of our life we have physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs. Only when these basic needs are sufficiently addressed can a child achieve holistic growth.

Experts agree that as a baby develops from infancy to childhood, the most basic need is a good and stable family environment where a child can experience strong parental love and acceptance. As a child grows into adolescence the role of the family does not diminish. On the other hand, an adolescent at this stage is in greater need of an understanding family and supportive peer group who can guide him/her to accept and healthily cope with the rapid physical and psychological changes caused by hormone productions in the body. From adolescence to adulthood is another developmental journey and it needs role models from family and social circles in order to achieve meaning and purpose in life.

It is in this context that the use and abuse of i-phones or any other gadgets for that matter should be discussed. Could a child grow and develop into a healthy adult when s/he substitutes living relationships in families and friends with i-phones, smart phones and laptops? Does the virtual world that they create for themselves make them genuinely happy and content with their life? Or are they living in an illusionary world of happiness? This concern needs immediate attention.
In my personal observation techno-friendly life in early age has made our growing children less effective in good human relationship. When a child who needs a mother, father or a person who can rear him/her up in genuine human relationship is given TV, computers and mobile phones as things to relate with, how will that child grow as a relational human being? Such a child replaces the human company with machines because s/he has already found a place where s/he can enjoy pleasure and fun without realizing that the comforts offered by these gadgets are transient and can never replace authentic human relationships. Eventually living with technology becomes normal.

In the easily accessible and addictive gadgets of this age, growing children have found a new kind of intimacy that is thrilling. Can a child grow out of it? Good parental guidance and proper education on the pros and cons of the gadgets, virtual world and social networking habits can help a person use them responsibly. However, if not accompanied well, the elements of human affection, care, touch, warmth and feeling of belongingness would take a back seat in a child’s scheme of things. Such a child will look for ‘the feel good factor’ in the virtual homes of social media. The obvious outcome is that the child becomes an alien in his/her own home.

The number of youngsters who live in virtual homes is increasing at an alarming rate today. This group is techno-friendly but not human friendly. As a result, real time interaction with one’s family and friends is reduced to a minimum. Issues and concerns are dealt with superficially in ‘virtual’ homes. A drawback of this is that we meet many young people who are impatient with solitude and intolerant with parents or genuine role models. Their intellectual abilities are unquestionable but their socio-familial interactions are shallow and fleeting. In such a socio-cultural environment individual life and rights are equated with unbridled freedom. ‘Likes’ are adopted as new mothers and ‘comments’ are assimilated as foster fathers.

Take Facebook. A youngster can be hooked to it while studying, while having dinner with the family, while out with friends, while attending classes and while watching a movie. By using it in such an addictive way, the person eventually adopts a fake world where s/he wants to hang out all the time. S/he learns that virtual relationships are easier than the real relationships at home or in the school because commitment is not a value in virtual relationship. Everything and everyone is ‘posted’, discussed and commented upon. Privacy is almost nonexistent.

Curiosity is the leading attitude here. This makes a person delve into what, when, where, and how of another’s life. Vicarious pleasure is the unconscious aim. Photos, likes and comments tend to make or break a person’s happiness. Then there are groups to be part of and games to be played. Therefore when s/he is invited for dinner with the family, more often than not the answer will be, “Not now, Mom! I shall eat later.” A meal with the family becomes secondary. Unconsciously the person has decided to opt out of the world of flesh and blood relationships and immerse himself/herself into a world of “likes and comments.”

The grand outcome of all these is growing confusion between the real world and the virtual world. The social media has the ability to create in a youngster a confused state of mind. His or her involvement in the social networking sites wrongly convinces him/her that virtual world is real because s/he feels that all his/her needs are met in these sites.

Allegorically speaking, teenage is the time for preparing the field (one’s heart and mind) for a great harvest in the future. No farmer will plant anything in an unprepared field. First the field will be cleared of all weeds and stones. After that the field will be sufficiently ploughed. Seeds are sowed only after the field is sufficiently ready. Planting saplings in an unprepared field will not give us the desired benefits.

Do social networking sites, smart phones, i-phones and virtual world at large prepare a youngster to plough the field of his/her mind and heart and plant in them healthy seeds that will make him/her an authentic human being? Or are these things distancing the teenagers from this most important period of preparation for their future life?

Of course, social networking sites, smart phones and i-phones all have numerous benefits. One cannot ignore the positive influences these things have in one’s personal life and society. But as parents and educators we have a collective responsibility to imprint upon our young minds that family, deep relationships, trust, ability to keep secrecy, privacy and the like are more important. We have the responsibility to mould our youngsters into more humane individuals.

The author is the principal of St Xavier’s College, Kathmandu

यस्तो समयमा नपिउनुस् पानी, पानी बिष बन्न सक्छ

मंगलवार, मंसिर ९,
पानीले शरिरलाई जीउनका लागि उर्जा दिने काम गर्छ र यसको सही मात्राले हाम्रो पाचन प्रणालीलाफ पनि काम गर्न मद्धत गर्छ । पानी पिउनु स्वास्थ्यका लागि निकै फाइदाजनक हुन्छ, तर केही अवस्थामा पानी पिउनाले स्वास्थ्यमा प्रतिकूल असर गर्छ । खाना खानु भन्दा ठिक पहिले पानी पिउनाले पाचन शक्ति कमजोर बनाउँछ । गलत समयमा पानीको प्रयोग गर्नु स्वास्थ्यका लागि हानिकारक हुन सक्छ ।
अजीर्णे भेषजं वारि जीर्णे वारि बलप्रदम्।
भोजने चाऽमृतं वारि भोजनान्ते विषप्रदम्।।
यस श्लोकमा भोजनपछि लगत्तै पानी पिउनु हुँदैन । खाना खाएपछि जब खाना पच्छ तबमात्र पानी पानी पिउनु स्वास्थ्यका लागि फाइदाजनक हुन्छ । खाना खानेबित्तिकै पानी पिउनाले खाना राम्ररी पच्न पाउँदैन र शरिरमा प्राप्त हुने उर्जा समेत ठिक तरिकाले प्राप्त हुँदैन । अपच भएको अवस्थामा पेटसम्बन्धी रोगले सताउने सम्भावना बढ्छ । त्यसैले खाना खानेबित्तिकै पानी पिउनाले उक्त पानीले विषसमान काम गर्छ ।
खाना अगाडि करिब १ घण्टा वा आधा घण्टा पहिले १-२ गिलास पानी पिउन सकिन्छ र खाना खाँदे गर्दा बीच-बीचमा १-२ घुट्की पानी पनि पिउन सकिन्छ तर, धेरै पानी भने पिउनु हुँदैन ।
पानी कति बेला खानेः
- हामीलाई जब प्यास लाग्छ तब कम्तिमा १ गिलास पानी पिउनुपर्छ । यस्तो गर्दा हाम्रो शरिरमा हुने पानीको कमी पुरा हुन्छ ।
- शारीरिक परिश्रम गरेपछि सकेसम्म केही बेरपछि मात्र पानी पिउनु पर्छ । काम गरेको करिब आधा घण्टापछि मात्र पानी पिउनु स्वास्थ्यका लागि फाइदाजनक हुन्छ ।

Thought 4 the Day.......!

Thought

What is Positron.........................?

A positron is a particle of matter with the same mass as an electron but an opposite charge. It is a form of antimatter because, when a positron encounters an electron, the two completely annihilate to yield energy. The existence of the positron was predicted in 1928 by physicist Paul Dirac, and positrons were discovered experimentally in 1932 by physicist Carl Anderson.

Positrons are important in a medical technology called positron emission tomography (PET), which is especially useful in brain and nervous-system scanning. A PET scanner detects and maps the radiation produced when an ingested substance emits positrons that are annihilated by surrounding electrons.

The positron is not the only known antimatter particle. The proton and the neutron have antiparticles as well, known as the anti-proton and the anti-neutron, with negative and neutral electric charges, respectively.

Thought for the day

इबोला भाइरस

...................
- इबोला भाइरस सर्वप्रथम सन् १९७६ मा कंगो र सुडानको दुर्गम क्षेत्रमा देखिएको हो |
- यो भाइरस फैलिएको कंगोको दुर्गम क्षेत्रको इबोला नदीबाट यसोक नाम राखिएको हो ।
- सुरूवातमा यो चिम्पांजी तथा चमेरोमा देखा परेको थियो |
- इबोला एक किसिमको हेमोरेजिक फिबर हो | यो सरुवा रोग हो | यो पानी, हावा, रोग लागेको ब्यक्तिको शरीर बाट निस्कने बस्तुहरु जस्तै रगत, दिशा, पिसव, पसिना, र्याल, यौनिरस आदि माध्यमद्वारा सर्दछ । यौन सम्पर्क एवं संक्रमित लासबाट पनि यो रोग सर्दछ ।
लक्षणहरु
- संक्रमणमा आएको दुई देखि तीन हप्ता पछि लक्षणहरू देखापर्दछ । सुरूवातमा ज्वारो आउने, घाँटी, मांशपेशी एवं टाउको दुख्ने हुन्छ । यसपछी अरूची, वाकवाकी हुने, पखला लाग्ने, साथै लिभर र किड्नीको कार्यक्षमता ह्रास आउदै जान्छ । यो समयमा संक्रमित व्यक्तिमा आन्तरिक एवं वाह्य रक्तश्राव हुन पनि सक्दछ ।
कसरी जोगिने ?
- यो रोगको हालसम्म खोप बनेको छैन । यसको मृत्युदर ५० देखि ९० प्रतशत छ । सरूवा रोग भएकाले व्यक्तिगत सावधानी अपनाउनु नै रोगबाट बँच्ने मुख्य काइदा हो