Blue skies smiling at me

Try this

Blue Skies

for YouTube Harmonica rendition of Willie Nelson's "blue skies smiling at me". Irving Berlin's lyric (1961)is below:

Blue skies smiling at me nothing but blue skies do I see
Blue bird's singing a song nothing but blue skies all day long
I never saw the sun shining so bright never saw things going so right
Noticing the days hurryin' by when you're in love my how they fly
Blue days all of them gone nothing but blue skies from now on
Blue skies smiling at me...
Blue skies smiling at me...
Blue skies smiling at me...
Blue days all of them gone nothing but blue skies from now on

America: The Land of Opportunities

A person of Indian origin becomes a governor of a state; another woman is the CEO of PepsiCo, yet another goes to the space station, yet another becomes the President of a major public University in Texas. Only in America it is possible. I doubt if these people would have had the same opportunity in the country of their origin. A Barak Obama aspires to be the President of this land, a Hispanic becomes the Attorney general, an immigrant from Austria becomes the governor of California, and there are many such examples of rise to prominence of many personalities of diverse national origin or heritage in this land of opportunities. America offers "the" opportunity to excel if one is willing to try. In spite of all the problems we encounter it is still the land of opportunity and people flock to this land even to this day for life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. So, don’t bother about the ignorant that tend to label people in a stereotypical way because of their looks or accent or dress or religious beliefs. They do not understand America or forget what America is all about.

Calling a spade a spade takes courage too

During Ottoman Empire almost 100 years ago Turkey had wiped out the Armenians. If our congress calls that genocide (obviously it doesn’t necessarily reflect on today’s Turkey), Bush administration doesn’t like it for political reasons, neither does Turkey. The Spaniards had wiped out the natives in Argentina (Argentina is all white today). Japanese did it to the Chinese and finds it hard to accept. Europeans arriving in the New World did it to the native Americans. Yes, we have admitted our mistakes of “how the west was won” or past slavery.

Now when Jimmy Carter states that our country has abandoned the basic principle of human rights under the Bush administration and that our government thinks Geneva Conventions do not apply to the prisoners in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and that we can torture prisoners and deprive them of a due process, many including Bush and his cronies get upset.

It takes courage to call a spade a spade, to be able to tell the truth even if it hurts oneself. One cannot solve a problem or be fair in the eyes of the world if one cannot admit a mistake or accept the truth howsoever bitter it may be. This great nation must have the courage to accept the truth (and not redefine human rights violation or torture to justify wrong doing) and demand “fairness and justice for all” as it was envisioned, even if other nations fail to do so.

Trust

Trust is a relationship in reliance, a predictability of reliance of an action by the other party. Trust does not require two parties to be alike. Trust comes from having faith in someone to act as expected. Some people trust in God because they have blind faith in God. Trust may not cure the actual problem, but it may help face the problem by apparent lessening of pain or the suffering. Their trust in God helps them in the struggle of life.

When our daughter was just a baby, when she would scratch herself or hurt slightly, she would come running to me. I knew no first aid, no real medication. I would do this magical thing; close my eyes, mumble something, and blow air with my mouth on the spot where she was hurting. Suddenly her cry would turn into a smile and she was feeling better. She came to me because she trusted me that I could help ease her pain. I have been exposed over the years and I do not have any magical power. But I believe they still trust me for many things, because they know they can rely on me.

America as a country had an innocent trust in people’s goodness. 9/11 has destroyed that. Now we are afraid to trust. So, we want to tap into phone conversation, we are willing to torture our perceived enemies to force the truth, we do subtle racial profiling, we look at “hijab” with a jaundiced eye, we are willing to give up civil liberties for the sake of security.

The bottom line is when you lose trust you are bound to lose a lot more. I want to remain trustworthy, at the least to my daughters.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Today is Gandhi's birthday. Here are a few quotes from the Great Soul (Mahatma):

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born in in India on October 2, 1869, and educated in law at University College, London. After being admitted to British bar in 1891 he practiced law in India for two years and then went to South Africa. Gandhi remained in South Africa for twenty years, suffering imprisonment many times. In 1896, after being attacked and beaten by white South Africans, Gandhi began to teach a policy of passive resistance to, and non-cooperation with, the South African authorities. Part of the inspiration for this policy came from the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, whose influence on Gandhi was profound. In 1914 the government of the Union of South Africa made important concessions to Gandhi's demands, including recognition of Indian marriages and abolition of the poll tax for them. His work in South Africa complete, he returned to India.

Gandhi became the international symbol of a free India. Refusing earthly possessions, he wore the loincloth and shawl of the lowliest Indian and subsisted on vegetables, fruit juices, and goat's milk. Indians revered him as a saint and began to call him Mahatma (great-souled). Gandhi's advocacy of nonviolence, known as ahimsa (non-violence), was the expression of a way of life. By the practice of nonviolence, Gandhi held, Great Britain too would eventually consider violence useless and would leave India. During the riots that followed the partition of India, Gandhi pleaded with Hindus and Muslims to live together peacefully. Riots engulfed Calcutta, one of the largest cities in India, and the Mahatma fasted until disturbances ceased. On January 13, 1948, he undertook another successful fast in New Delhi to bring about peace, but on January 30, 12 days after the termination of that fast, as he was on his way to his evening prayer meeting, he was assassinated by a fanatic Hindu.

Gandhi's death was regarded as an international catastrophe. His place in humanity was measured not in terms of the 20th century, but in terms of history. A period of mourning was set aside in the United Nations General Assembly. The teachings of Gandhi came to inspire nonviolent movements elsewhere, notably in the U.S.A. under the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and in South Africa under Nelson Mandela.