Alcatraz Island

I visited an island which was a prison, which stop functioning on 1963 because of difficulties in maintainability. Visit was heart touching. It is an island which is a mile and a quarter away from the SanFranciso Down Town.

"You Are Entitled To Food, Clothing, Shelter, And Medical Attention, Anything Else You Get Is A Privilege". This is one of the rules and regulations of the Alcatraz prison which started on 1934. The cells are made of cement walls and steel frames. Even though everyone has a separate cell, there is no privacy. The man in the cell across can see you sleep, shave and use the toilet.

Before I entered the prison, they gave me a audio device which has keypad to play, pause and change the volume. The audio tour guided me through the entire prison till the exit. It was such a great experience, I can remember the prison as if I was an inmate once. It has a lot to tell me about the escape attempts, fights and frustrations of the inmates during its 29 years of existence.

One escape attempt in 1962 by 3 men, out of that two were brothers. They made a hole on the wall with the spoon. It is estimated that it took almost 1 year of effort to dig the hole. They kept cardboard on that to hide the hole. And on the day of escape, dummy heads made of soap were left in their beds as if they were sleeping. They were never seen again.

There were total of 14 escape attempts happened and all the convicts were shot dead or captured back except two attempts. The escape was not going to be easy. The freezing water (14 degree Celsius) and strong current of Bay cause the inmate to reconsider escape attempts.

There is a library. But is not allowed for everyone. It is a privilege and not a right. It is assumed that some of the inmates read 70-100 books an year.

Man was never intended to be a caged animal. He will seek for the freedom. While coming back in the cruise i thought of the escaped inmates. Even though I know they are criminals, i want to be on their side and i like to believe that they might have reached the mainland safely.

Capital Punishment

Law of capital punishment is justifiable if you think philosophically.
Most of the religion and philosophy says that the cycle of birth and rebirth are for enlightenment. Knowing others is called wisdom and knowing yourself is called enlightenment. For prevailing in peace you have to control your 5 senses.

People who has done a crime which result in capital punishment is no longer eligible to live anymore. Because it is the worst thing to do in a life. So actually law is helping him to die and rebirth again, instead of wasting more time in this incarnation.

So apparently the law of capital punishment are written based on religion and philosophy.

Manage Your Anger at Hard times...

When we are in a situation which causes us unhappiness or distress we go through many different emotions. Especially if the incident is one that is outside our controls and is of significant importance. When faced with grave personal loss we go through five stages: denial, anger, depression, bargaining and finally acceptance.

• Denial because at first you don't want to believe that this is true,
  
• Anger because you feel hurt that this should happen to you,
  
• Depression when you feel that nothing can be done about it.
  
• Bargaining when you start to look for alternatives or opportunities to minimize or overcome the hurt and, finally.
  
• Acceptance when you start to heal.
  

At times one may go through these stages very quickly. At times it may take months. At times one may go to acceptance and then relapse back to denial. These emotions are often felt when there is major personal loss. It could be an unexpected death, a job loss, someone special had left you, or a sudden diagnosis of a terminal illness. Academics say that it is normal for everybody to go through these stages. These feelings are not just unique to you.

However, the anger felt at such times needs to be managed because if one cannot get past this stage in a reasonable time it could lead to hatred, long term depression and emotional problems. If we can understand that everybody goes through these stages and that this situations is outside our control, we may , on our own, be able to manage it with time through acceptance and support from good friends. Some, however, may need a professional help.

As the cause of anger is craving, one often finds that intense anger is felt towards those we love the most. As such it is most important that we learn how to manage our anger so as not to hurt the people we love.

I came across these when my girlfriend broke up. It was my first love and it lasts for 3 years. I suffered a lot. And let me confess you one thing that i gave her a lot of trouble during that time, which i should not have. For me the purpose of living in the earth is to live with people. I like to believe she came to my life to make me stronger emotionally. Nothing else... I went through,

Denial. 'It can be over. She'll change her mind in a day or two'

Anger. 'How could she do this to me? I can't stand her'

Depression. 'I'm unlovable. No one will ever love me'

Acceptance. 'I m going to be all right. The breakup hurt,but I'm getting better'

Moving forward

Time can heals all wounds. A cut on your skin will heals in time, but initially it hurts. You have to clean the wound and need to keep from becoming infected. The same is true with a emotional wound. But there are steps you can take to keep the wound from becoming infected. Time will do its part, but you have to do your part.

Hope these will helpful for you,

1)Allow yourself to grief. I don't thing there is nothing wrong with having a good cry. I don't believe shedding tears doesn't mean i m weak. I cried many times and it helps me to release my pressure. Understand one thing, While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait untill it is digested.

2)Take care of your physical health. I used to threaten myself. Never do that. Physical exercise and proper nutrition will smoother recovery.

3)Keep Busy. Don't stop doing things that interest you. And more than that never isolate yourself. Try to be with someone who care, who gives something positive. I keep myself busy programming. I love Linux kernel. During that period i contributed my first driver to the kernel.
Then my friends helped me a lot, especially Jinto, Sachin, Jerry and Umesh. They used to hear patiently to all my worries even if I am repeating the same old stuff. Even I remember me calling Jinto at 2.00 Am breaking his sleep. Its the friends you can call at 2AM that counts.

Understand the law of impermanence in this world. You can recover form any distress or unhappiness.

All these words of wisdom are form Buddha and his advice is valid today as it was 2500 years ago.

One more thing " Don't accept anything blindly, just think yourself and if you can, accept it". Don't hate any day in your life, bad days give experience.
Study from the experience and life should move on.....

No where in the world you can find ultimate peace, but look in to you and find there instead. The peace no one can disturb.

With love,

Arun

written sometime around Aug 08.

LOVE is in the Stars

Love is a music that plays through the universe, holding the strings of your heart and filling you with positive energy, letting you tune into your soul... It all is really written in the stars and your soulmate will come along when the time is right, and the planetary positions are aligned accordingly! The journey of our soul on this earth between birth and death moves along a predestined path.
When you look across a room and feel drawn to a stranger, the pull can signal a karmic connecton. Feeling attracted to someone without having spoken a word or knowing their likes or dislikes or what we term 'love at first sight' is not a myth. It means you've known each other at some time, in another birth. It also means that there are sitll unfullfilled desires and emotions left form that past conneciton.

Not all such connections would necessarily end up in marriage,though. As it's often said, people may come into our lives for a reason or a season. If you've learnt your leassons from each other well, you may progress to the level of marriage in the present liftime. But, if there are still parts of you that don't connect, it might require another lifetime befor you can be said to 'complete each other' as lovers and partners. In fact, patterns can even repeat thermselves over several births, forcing you to rough out the tough times, till you finally learn the lesson, paving the way to being reunited.

A soulmate is one who makes you feel complete, fills the gaps in your life and helps you to realise your full potential. Love has the power to give you happiness and pain, grief and joy. Certain individuals that you meet in this life may make you feel complete, fill the gaps in your life and help you realise your full potential. There are others who have swords hidden to hurt you. In both the cases, you have to learn to keep the faith. Once the situation gets over, you will awaken to the reason why a particular person was in your life. Accept all the seasons of your heart.

Astrologically speaking, this year on Valentine's Day, the moon is in the sign of Libra, the goddess of love. This means a day when love and positive emotions flow, so let your inner light shine!

Courtesy--
Times News Network