Black Eye

Black Eye
Journalist from Moscow (who asked not to name) told the story that did not want to use the material for the article.

She appeared on the day of my birth. This was an accident, but tea and a piece of cake, which symbolized the holiday table, it had been proposed. She immediately took the bull by the horns and began telling a very amusing thing.

Suliko (call it so) was a refugee. Along with her came to Moscow by her children, small-small smaller, it rented a room somewhere for the ring road, soap porches, chalk street for a living. The specialty is the masseuse, went through Moscow, if the case is such a success, massage, by "dumping."

Courageous woman, she called our respect and a desire to do anything to help her. His appearance at us, she explained that reading the newspaper, came face to face with the comments of various experts on all kinds of "anomalies." It is the desire to learn how to contact any of them, and brought her to us. In response to our natural curiosity: "What they do to you?" - Suliko tell his story.

It went from his native city, not only because the political and economic situation forced her to do it (after all, she left her native people and the capital of his home state - so now we have the "near abroad"), but primarily because it remains there was dangerous - her fame rooted "black witch", and the tension has increased to such an extent that she began to fear for their children and for themselves. This worries her, she wants someone she understands explained what was happening to her, and that was the reason for this attitude around.

Her sincerity was no doubt. We listened with interest and sympathy. It all started with the fact that once Suliko saw a woman who was about to cross the road unexpectedly for itself grabbed her arm and said, "Do not go there - you are hit by a car!" The street was deserted. The woman pulled her hand, shook his finger at his temple and went across the road. The alley suddenly turned the car and hit her.

With me, it's the first time - told our guest - and because I was terrified. And then it began to happen more and more often. Regardless of his desire, as I looked at the man saw the danger that threatens him. And without thinking about what I could say in response stuff, cursing, or even hit, I warned people. Somehow my words are treated with hostility. Sometimes it seemed to me that they are doing just to spite me exactly what I tell them not to do - and something happens.

The city crept bad rumors. People close to me were telling me that I should warn people, because they are stubborn and ungrateful. "Let them be what destiny is inscribed, - tell me - if they do not want to listen and believe." But I could not do anything with him. The legs themselves were carrying me to the people, and the word is pronounced as if by themselves ... Suliko tormented by the question: "I am clairvoyant and I have a" black eye "?". And she was looking for help to understand itself.

Together we drank tea and ate cake, we sat at the same table, and between us have developed some informal relationships. Someone once wanted to experiment on himself: "What will happen to me?", But someone else, smarter, immediately interrupted: "Suliko, do not answer!" We laughed, but insist no one. Like all journalists, we were skeptical, pragmatic, and even somewhat cynical. Having diagnosed "with compliments", we, nevertheless, gave our guest addresses, passwords, secret, and further communication is not lost. I will not go into details.

There are many, and they are very unpleasant and sometimes tragic. I will say that from this day all of us, those whose addresses we gave her, those with whom they tied Suliko - went trouble and unhappiness. To be honest, at the first stage occurring adverse event, we do not hesitate to contact our guest. But once someone does come to mind, and then we phoned those with whom it tied, and those - further up the chain.

The result exceeded all assumptions: broken arms, legs, divorce, unhappiness with family, job loss, heart attacks, accidents and even a death ...

Nobody knew Suliko address. Phone from her, according to her, was not. Communication was one-sided. Usually, she called herself. But after our "investigative journalism" - as if cut - no calls for over a year, although aware of our suspicions she could not. Suliko gone from our lives. Life was improving.

John-Roger, Peter McWilliams Life - is a classroom.

John-Roger, Peter McWilliams
 

Life - is a classroom.

You must agree that if we believe that life is for learning, then the process of life, we should provide classroom. But this is not a boring class room in which you sit,-even-rows-and-listen-boring professor. This (as we are sure you have noticed) - an experimental class. In this sense, life is more like a workshop.

It gives us pleasure to think that this class is for life seminar is designed so that we can learn what we need to learn in this way, and how should learn what you need.

Not adopted the word "want" and "need."

We do not always learn what we want to learn, when we really want to learn. In the course of biology in the tenth grade, we were interested in only one way of breeding animals, but we had to start with the division of amoebas.

We could only thank the heavens for "Playboy" and "Cosmopolitan."

I was a biology lesson plan, do not coincide with ours. It seems that in life too.

Lessons in life come to us in all shapes and sizes. As in school, the most important lessons sometimes come in informal, not similar to the lesson situations. On some days during the five-minute change between lessons you probably learned more than during the forty-five minutes of formal training.

Sometimes what we need to know, we know the formal means, such as reading a book or sitting in class. Sometimes we learn in an informal, seemingly random process: from the announcement, delivered over our heads when we went to the subway escalator from passing remarks thrown friend or a song, flowing from the receiver to the passer-hand ("Don't worry , be happy "- Do not worry, be happy.)

We are pleased to assume that there are no coincidences.

Positive lessons are not always positive knowledge. Blowout (it hardly can be considered a positive case, unless it is someone else's blowout or you are not the owner of the store tire) can teach you a lot of lessons: the willingness to accept whatever fate sent down, the value of planning, patience, and joy to be of service (if the puncture The tire was the other), thanks for the service (if you help), and so on.

We can also use the same punctured tire to pass (or repeated, or retries) lessons that do not cause anything other than depression: in this life, all arranged dishonestly; nothing can be trusted, and if something bad can happen, it will happen in the the worst possible time, a life - it's a pain, and then you die, nobody loves me, etc.

You begin to understand their role in all this? Class life is not like a third class, where each object and what you'll be learning every day, carefully thought out and planned, including errors and failures. You choose what you will learn from the many lessons taught to you, and that of your choice will depend on what did you actually learn.

Lessons can be any - and takes you up and down - we can learn from each life experience.

Experience, as they say, the best teacher - provided that we have the best students.

But who, in fact, a teacher?

 

(To be continued)

John-Roger, Peter McWilliams Life - a metaphor.

John-Roger, Peter McWilliams
Life - a metaphor.
There are many models of life - an analogy, allegory and metaphor, allowing us to understand such a complex, confusing and, at first glance, can not comprehend the phenomenon of life.

There is a school which teaches that life - this game (and its variants such as: life - it's a baseball game - life is a football game, life is like tennis, chess is like life - life is "monopoly" - life is croquet) .

"Life is like a game of whist, - said some time ago, Eugene Hare. - From the extracted hidden cards, and it all depends on your hands." Later, John Billing finished the thought: "Life is not how to have a good map, and to play well by what you have."

Some believe that life - is intricate machine (this approach is very popular in Germany). In Northern California believe that life is a computer. Vakminster Fuller joined these two characters: "The earth is like a spaceship, which can not be manual control."

So what is life - work or play? Karl Marx said: "Life - it's work," and Henry Ford was the only one who agreed. Disagreed Leon de Montenaken, who said: "Life - it is nothing like a game," and Liza Minnelli, who sang: "Life - is a cabaret."

Seneca said: "Life - a game. And the value it has at its length and its content."

What is this game? Jean de La Bruyere suggested that life - "it is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think." Kirk Douglas called life "screenplay." (From Seneca to Kirk Douglas in one paragraph. Average.)

Shakespeare, of course, called life, "the actor, who allotted him a watch is important to walk or suffering on the stage ...". Bernard Shaw to answer the question asked of art Bard: "Life for me is not just a short candle. This kind of magnificent light, which I had to hold it for a while."

Some people like a musical analogy. "Life is like a trumpet, - pointed out by-S.Handi. - If you do not invest in it, you get nothing from it." Samuel Butler said, "Life is like playing a violin in public, in which you develop this tool." Ella Wheeler Wilcox sang: "Our lives - songs. Lord wrote the words, and we put them to music, as we like - and the songs are happy, or tender, or sad, depending on the cycle in which we play music" .

One of the best literary analogy borrowed from the Jewish Theological Seminary: "Life - it is the only letter in the alphabet. It may not make sense. Or may be part of a great meaning."

One of the most famous Americans, Helen Keller, and proclaimed: "Life - it is either an adventure that requires courage, or nothing." Bernard Shaw agreed, albeit in his own way: "Life - a series of inspired follies. Challenge is to figure out how to make them work for you. Do not miss the chance: it is presented to you every day."

We relied on too esoteric things, let's go back to the ground.

How do you react to that to complete this chapter in a series of analogies "life - it's the food?" "Life - is a bow - wrote Carl Sandburg. - You clean it and weep." "Life is like eating artichokes, - tells us T.-A. Dorgan, - you have to go through so much to get so little." Or, perhaps, it is more like what Aunt Mom said: "Life - is a banquet, and some poor bastards are starving?" Don Marco called life "scrambled eggs." You can make of it whatever you want. The same we can say about life, is not it?

(To be continued)