Category: Humanity

Do not become a slave to society…!

DawnLeave a comment

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Last week I happened to watch a regional movie. It was funny with the name ‘Uncle, my dad’s friend’.

The name was such that one would only imagine what it could be…but anyway I didn’t put much effort to my mind.

As the movie was progressing it was kind of building a suspense as one can expect anything and when I say anything the hype is being created about a possible molestation or a rape only because there is a male and female are involved.

I agree with the kind of things happening in the society, people do make up their mind to tune to one aspect of it and always tend to think the worse than anything good.

“We are fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction.” ~ Suzanne Collins

Here the situation is a friend’s daughter is near the bus-stop to catch a bus to go home which is in another state. The guy who is this girl’s dad’s friend recognizes her helps to drop her home. Since the journey is long and tiring they do take a halt at one of the places and next morning they continue on their journey. During all this time the audience is built with suspicion is it here things will go wrong or yet to happen. Anyway, there is nothing between the two, but the society doesn’t seem that way and hence they create a fuss about this two traveling alone. Even when the parents accept that their daughter spoke to them and they are aware of their daughter being dropped by this family friend, society doesn’t see it right and they even blame the parents for sending a grown-up girl with a guy.

“A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.” ~ Milton Friedman

What makes me surprise is that even though the daughter and uncle and her parents all are on same page, but the society is so narrow minded that even a good man will be painted with rapist, womanizer and a molester – that’s the society we are living in.

“Society is funny. They ask you to be yourself and yet they judge you.”

These days it’s not limited to man and woman as it can be for LGBTQ members as well. When will society really mind their business and help the world navigate in the right direction? When will we start seeing through a lens where we are not discriminating and treating everyone as human? Society never comes to help when and where it is needed, they will always do the opposite – why?

On Twitter I read this, and it really made me sad …

Me: I’m just not happy.

Bishop: You need a family, it’s the only way to be truly happy.

Me: I’m gay.

Bishop: You don’t need a family, you can still take the sacrament as long as you don’t act on this.

Me: What do I do? I’m lonely.

Bishop: Pray, the Lord will help.

I am not here to change anyone’s belief, but I want to tell that look after for your happiness and protect yourself. Because if you don’t take care of yourself no Lord will do. Because the lord lives in you. Please do not suffer in silence.

There is a reason for your existence, and you must be strong to set example and help others who might be in the similar path of suffering.

“No two leaves are alike, and yet there is no antagonism between them or between the branches on which they grow.” ~ M.K. Gandhi

~ Dawn

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Peace and harmony

DawnLeave a comment
Many would get offended
Many would laugh too
Some may argue with purpose
Some may just wonder he is dumb
Few would say it’s a mockery
Few would call him crazy
Wearing the uniform proudly
Holding the gun lightly
Yet carrying peaceful mind
With a smile on his face
And flowers in his hands
A message to everyone
Humanity that loves
Peace and harmony
You only need roses
To spread the fragrance
Of love and happiness
~ Dawn
#happypoetrymonth

Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give…!

DawnLeave a comment

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These days we see so many incidents, messages, tweets, videos in social media talking about ‘stand up’!
Yes, I don’t want to mix this with the usual tech industry norms of ‘stand-up’ meeting.

Standing up for self and for others is basically asking defend and be strong. This is what I teach my kids because I always have this fact behind my mind that one day I will be gone and kids will have to face this world all by themselves.
We all know how this world is and it’s not easy to live in. My thinking used to be that as we move forward in life we will be more intelligent and will be more human but that’s not the reality.

“Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door” ~ Charles Dickens

My son is a big fan of Katy Perry the American songwriter and singer, since he was 5 years old. He loves her songs and he sings them as well. Since then he has been after me to go for Katy Perry’s concert and not only this but he would also check if she is performing anywhere. Years passed but he would come and tell she is performing in London or Costa Rica, can we go and I had to tell him it’s far and expensive to go for a concert in those places.
Finally, it happened and Katy Perry’s tour was announced on the 101.3 radio and I got excited about it only because I could imagine my son’s excitement if he would know about it.

I went ahead and booked the ticket even though it was way too early. His excitement and happiness had no limits and at the same time he thanked a million times for this opportunity to watch Katy Perry’s live concert.

He also requested if possible can we buy her t-shirt at the concert and I said sure!

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything” ~ Plato

The concert was good, we all enjoyed it as by now we knew all the songs that Katy Perry has sung and more over those who have attended her concert know that she is a great performer and entertainer as well. We bought t-shirt and my son was so happy and excited that he was ready to wear the t-shirt to his school and let the world know that he finally did attend Katy Perry’s concert.

I was really happy for him being a music lover I know the excitement of attending the concerts as I do all the time.

He went to school wearing Katy Perry’s t-shirt and couple of kids teased him why he is wearing a t-shirt that has a girl on it. We got to know all this only when he returned that afternoon from school. What I saw was a strong person in my son. He clearly told them he is a big fan of Katy Perry and he likes her and hence he is wearing the t-shirt. He also said, I support her, don’t you support your mom and/or sister?
I was amazed at his stand! However, I didn’t like when I heard his friend was nagging about this as why he wore that t-shirt. I felt this should be reported to the office, because no one should tell anyone what they should do. It’s everyone’s individual choice.
I was reading few quotes to my son on the internet and I showed some of Martin Luther King Jr. quotes which spoke about standing up for self and for others. I told my son, today what you did is for self and I am proud of you.

“Our children have to be educated in the values of equality, freedom of choice and democracy” ~Ehud Barak

Couple weeks went by and as I was folding the clothes from the laundry wash, he sees the t-shirt is washed and the response comes, yay! I see my t-shirt seems got washed, nice and clean so I can wear this tomorrow to school!
I was surprised and happy too!
I was surprised because last time when he wore that t-shirt he had an incident at school and now he is again going to wear it and I was nervous again things will be different. So, I asked my son, ‘are you sure? You want to wear this even though you know what happened last time?’

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My son’s response was cute, ‘I don’t care what anyone says. I like Katy Perry and I will wear the t-shirt again.’

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

This made me feel very proud about my son. It could be a small thing but this is important step in life, to stand up for self. One should have the freedom to choose what they want and not others to choose for them.

His best friend asked again, why you are wearing that girl’s t-shirt and my son had an answer for him.
‘Would you support your mom, sister and your girl cats?’ If your answer is yes, then this is for Katy Perry and I support her!’

It is very important to have that freedom to choose for self. Today he stood for himself and I am sure he will stand for others too!

“There is no such thing as freedom of choice unless there is freedom to refuse” ~David Hume

~ Dawn

Dear I Love You!

DawnLeave a comment

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Dear, I love You
Where are You
Why I miss You
When I know
I am far from You
These were the words
For You!
The voice came across

Dear, I love You
I am here for You
Always and forever
You!
They were far away
Not even reachable by highway
They were in different country
Yet,
They never stopped dreaming
For their togetherness
And kept accompanied with love
And hopeful words and expressions
The only thing kept them alive was and is
Love!

~ Dawn

“Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate.”

DawnLeave a comment

“A desire to help others and give to the world before saying adios to this place, it was that desire as a seed, seeded inside me and Good Gigs let that seed sprout out.

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What is born needs to be nourished well for it to grow and spread the good health across and hence Children were always special to my heart.

By helping and supporting the education for children will layout the foundation that will let these children to grow and flourish and spread the goodness across and this will multiply, so at Delta Utah my focus was children throughout and hence the planning to make sure the training we give to the teacher initiators and teachers are easy enough to adapt and in return the teacher’s roll this out to kids in an easier manner.

“Every child you encounter is a divine appointment” ~ Wess Stafford

In doing this, the preparation brought the best of the minds together to brainstorm and the outcome was incredible.

It was not easy to be frank. When we prepared our training deck, it was easy to believe that we captured every detail to show how the tool works. The challenge was how to deliver this simple deck to the teacher initiators who are actually well educated with full of awareness. Teaching a teacher is a challenge and believe me or not it needs lot of preparation, guts and confidence to hold their hands and walk along with them.

Good thing to be part of technology industry where it allows you to play with the tool and learn the hard way. To get to the level of each teacher initiator based on their understanding of the technology and then take that ride to a standard level was a worth learning experience for me personally, as it helped me to learn from the teachers and the details of the tools as well.

How to teach without intimidating and be part of the learner group to discover and explore the findings.

The teacher initiators and teachers loved each and every small thing that they learned about technology be it a copy/paste or right click and select. It taught me how simple things can bring happiness to you it doesn’t have to be expensive that costs money.

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated”~ Confucius 

Though VMware and Dell and other institutions took that expense to support this cause and the result was happiness, full of confidence, achievement and looking forward with technology in mind as a goal. It was an emotional ride for everyone be it the Millard School District High-School members, teacher initiators and teachers, people of Delta Utah or even the students of Millard School District schools – it is an emotional bonding that lead us to win everyone’s heart, it’s the people!

The personal touch with each training helped me to connect with each individual of Delta Utah that we associated with. Be it CoSN, SEDC, Millard District Office members, teacher initiators… the parting was painful yet the emails and connections through messages is keeping this bondage going with the hope to support each other going forward.

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The motivation, giving confidence to make that first mistake and letting them to correct themselves with support, perseverance, and letting others to grow is the key to be a leader.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you’re a leader.” ~ John Quincy Adams

While doing all this, there was not a single thought of what I am getting out of this because all my actions and thoughts were triggered towards to give the best to them to make a success for their day to day life. In doing so I learnt a lot from others about the approach, individual thought process, perceptions, emotions and vulnerability, those hugs and caring moments all adds up to climb the tallest mountain in the world. To let others to flourish with your support is the key I learnt in my leadership role.

There is no race, there is no game, because we all are in this game and have to make the team be comfortable. It doesn’t matter who made the goal in the goal-post as long as we have made efforts to make that goal to win the game. ☺

 

This Good Gig has given me an opening to the world which I was thinking to enter after my retirement but I guess I don’t have to wait that long if I have to do a good gig I can do it anytime. The journey continues for me… and I am happy if you want to hop along with me ☺

“Never get tired of doing little things for others sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts”

~ Dawn

The most COMMON way people give up their POWER is by THINKING they don’t have ANY…!!!

DawnLeave a comment
It’s really a crazy world, when you think of women going through the abuse and other physical and mental torture in life… there is more to it when things are all fine as you think to be!
Which woman doesn’t dream to have a happy life with her prince charming? Some get lucky to have that prince in life and some don’t. Those who don’t they have real challenge as to exist in that situation or to exit and make a new entry into life.

But imagine, a woman who has everything in life and is happily planning to grow her family by having kids and she realizes after many years of trying she is not able to conceive?
I mean when I used to think of such situations, all I used to tell to self is, if such things happen then you better both go and get checked by a specialist or infertility doctor. But, it’s not that simple as I used to think.
What women have to go through is worse what I heard today. I literally wanted to hug my friend when she said her friends were avoiding her because she was considered as bad omen because she had issues with infertility.

All of a sudden, I thought of my friends. Will they be like that? Did education bring anything to anyone? Or rather I ask are we even a HUMAN?

It is so sad that a time where a woman should understand another woman, you see a woman ill-treating and hurting other woman’s feelings only because they are not in that situation. That is so selfish and inhumane.

I pity such women and feel ashamed. If a woman, who is supposed to be that nurturing, loving and caring human – is behaving like this then I can’t think anything good from anyone. Today’s story about infertility really made me think of – what is the importance of women on this planet? Only to provide…. Either yourself to your man, provide kids to the family, make sure you have a son so that your man’s legacy will be carried forward and then you keep providing everything till you can. Because the moment you stop providing, you are useless!

“There is no tool for development more effective than the EMPOWERMENT of WOMEN” ~ Kofi Annan
All these thoughts and upbringings have made the mentality of people such that if a woman doesn’t become a mother, she feels humiliated and horrified. Where as in a normal situation, she should get it checked and if even medical treatments cant help she should just go and adopt a kid who is in much need of love, a home and a family who can take care of that kid.

All this can be changed only when we can flush the selfish thoughts from our mind and add some human values in it which teaches to love and support each other.
“Ekla Chalo Re”, is that platform which not only lets everyone to share their stories that they have gone through in their life, but also how they chose that path to break it and change it for their goodness and better life.
It is not about one woman, or one woman’s story – it’s about everyone. Whether you are a man or woman, help people who are going through such situations of infertility, or any abuse support them and guide them. “Ekla Chalo Re” is the program where we all women have taken that decision to help and support everyone to get up from his or her fallen situations and rise up and be confident in life. We only get one life and we must not waste it in some or the other taboo that our society or community live with. We all have to be part of the society and being in the society we have to bring that awareness and strength to people to be empowered.

Let’s live and Let Other’s Live too happily!

~ Dawn
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Being good is commendable, but only when it is combined with doing good is it useful ;)

DawnLeave a comment
It was last summer when I met this person Masood, whom I was introduced at one of the community event.

When I met Masood, I never knew what he must have gone through in the past. True everyone has a past but this person had a daring one and I mean it.

Masood had seen death close to him like an opening door and guess what last minute he got a donor and he got pulled back from getting into that door to this side of the door!
I see Masood –  full of life and many times I have thought myself, what this person would have been before all this happening? Indeed, a person who lived his life to it’s fullest. 
I believe in that even though I don’t know him prior to that incident but I believe he has to be a person who lived every moment of his life or else it wouldn’t be so easy for someone to live life so fully and happily after!!

I feel Masood is a good example for today’s generation and the older generation or present generation either way, a good example about living life fully and happily.

Life is a game either you win or you lose but till you are there one must play the game 🙂 that’s my strategy to life and I very quickly got connected with Masood and his family.

Everyone has issues and some can be very serious and some can be not so serious yet, we mustn’t forget to enjoy. Because when we sulk and be sad, we are actually losing the time which is for us to live happily. There are always ways we find out and when I say find out …believe me what Masood was going through was something really serious.

Such a happy go lucky guy didn’t stop there. After getting back a new life Masood  realized how precious is life and besides enjoying his own moments of life, he thought to extend that to others also. 

He went back home in India and started training every member of his town for CPR (CardioPulmonary Resuscitation). It is an emergency procedure, performed in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person in cardiac arrest.

When he went to his home town, he probably thought to enjoy the time there with good food, friends and all the fun things that he did in his childhood.
It was not only a fun trip for Masood this time. Along with his hiking, fishing and traveling enjoyment, he made sure his town is educated in the manner to save someone’s life whether its their dear ones or near ones.
There can be ample of reasons for people not to go for this training. There were rains all the time for an excuse but I am sure Masood has his own charm to make this work and it did it for people to come out of their houses irrespective of weather conditions or any other domestic concerns – men women, everyone came out to learn and save each other. It is a big step and a big movement if you look at it. This brings the entire town in one spirit as uniting together for a good cause with a great mission.
“Many small people, in many small places, do many small things, that can alter the face of the world” 🙂
I salute the people of that hometown where Masood comes from or belongs to… without their support probably this would have been a dream for Masood.

Today, Masood is a happy guy in true spirit. We don’t know what is our tomorrow but at least he secured and made sure people know what to do when someone gets cardiac arrest – an effort to rescue from death. 

I truly salute this soul for being that fun loving person there yet making sure all the serious matter is also taken care.

He is giving back to society and his community by being a live example and I am sure only he can prove that as what one feels to be back from the death bed – specially when you have lost all hopes – a small phone call 🙂

You never know when a phone call can save you and when it will release you.

A message I want to convey to all by viewing through Masood’s life- Live Life to the Fullest as no one is going to live here forever but while we are here let’s make it a better place to live happily with a smile.

“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” ~ John Holmes

~ Dawn

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