Henri Dunant - The Unknown Swiss

"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime" - Ernest Hemingway

Henri Dunant, 30 yrs old, was a very wealthy Swiss banker and financier. His life would have probably have continued as much as it had except for that fateful day, 24th June 1859, that changed everything for the rest of his life. Henri had been sent by the Swiss government to speak with Napoleon III. He was to discuss a business deal between the Swiss and French that would benefit both countries.

But Napoleon was not in Paris; he was on the plains of Solferino (present Italy) about to battle with Austrians. Henri Dunant tried to read the scene before the battle started, but he was too late. His carriage reached the hill top that overlooked the battlefield. Suddenly trumpets blared, muskets cracked, cannons boomed. The two cavalries charged ahead and the battle was on. Henri Dunant, as if in a front seat of a movie theatre, sat transfixed. He could see the dust rising, hear the screams of the injured, the dying. Dunant sat as if in a trance at the horror below him. But the real horror was later - when he entered the small town after the battle was over. Every house, every building was filled with the mangled, the injured, the dead. Driven by pity at the suffering he saw all around him, Dunant stayed in the town for three days doing everything he could to help the people who survived. His life was never the same again.
The War was barbarous. He felt the world should abolish it. This was not the way to settle differences between nations. And most of all, there had to be a International organization to help people in times of suffering and chaos.
Henri Dunant returned to Switzerland, but in the next few years he became a fanatic on the subject of peace and mercy. He began to travel all over Europe preaching his message. Eventually his business suffered in the effort and he was soon broke. But he persisted. At the first Geneva conference, he carried on a one-man assault against war. As a result, the Conference passed the first international law against war - a movement that was to give birth to both the League of Nations and the U.N.
In 1901, Dunant was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize. And though he was penniless and living in a poorhouse, he gave the entire prize to the worldwide movement he had founded. Henri Dunant died in 1910 almost totally forgotten by the world. But Henri no monument to mark hid grave. As a symbol of the organization he had fathered, he had taken the Swiss flag, a white cross on a red background and reversed it: a red cross on a white background. The organization that became his everlasting monument was the "Red Cross".

Jaane Kahaa Gaye Wo Din

I was in khaki shirt and shorts – Navy Blue and Yellow Belt and a similar looking tie, a short “summer” crop of hair well-combed, a small bag slung over my shoulder and a lunch basket - on my way to school. When a neighborhood 'Uncle' asked me the name of my school in the evening, I still remember taking a deep breath before starting - 'St. John’s High School'- a mouthful for me even today. When it all started, I was just a shade less than three years old when my parents felt that my time would be far better spent amongst children of my age rather than a houseful of adults. So one fine day, I trooped off to my first school- Rinku Nursery - with my tiny hand firmly clenching my grand dad's thumb as he strode through the crowded lanes and by-lanes of Bangalore, past the busy Wheelers Road Railway Gate, past the every increasing traffic jams and honking vehicles and through the gates of my first school. I was so excited going past the railway gate every weekday morning, eagerly waiting for a chance to see the trains pass-by.

As year went by, I was made to switch my allegiance from Nursery Schooling to Kindergarten at St John’s High School in the summer of 1988; I remember spending most of my days in school in care free frolic. There was a definite thrill in going to school each day, opening a book and turning a fresh leaf that held with it images and experiences of places, times, things and a world I did not know. Teachers in all shapes and sizes filled up our days with charming, cajoling, strictures and detentions too! Till when I was nearing my ICSE board exams, I remember the heaviest part of my school going ensemble was my lunch-box, which my mother would assiduously pack every morning with piping hot food, that would remain a mystery till the mid morning recess.

Life was possibly easy then. We had friends, books, paints, squabbling siblings, playgrounds, alleys, the terrace and the sky. We didn't have Barbie, Lego, a certain Justin Beiber or the Jonas Brothers to contend with as we grew up along with our friends. (We just had our own heart throbs in Knight Rider, Peter Parker, Prince Adam a.k.a He-Man and Jesse of Street Hawk fame). What we also didn't have is the huge pile of books that kids of today have to drag all the way to school regardless of their age, aptitude or the list of subjects on the schedule each and every day of the year. And while I can't say that things continued this way all the way through school, college and University for me, the fact is that I spent the most unforgettable years of my childhood enjoying my childhood both at home and at school.

The youngsters of today are a lot smarter, significantly more aware, and considerably more tech savvy than we were at their ages. The present generation of plenty has provided them with easy access to science, Technology, information, knowledge and learning that we had never dreamed of. What it is also provided them with is a bulging bag of books that is perhaps much better consigned to the weight trainers at the gym than to the overflowing classrooms of today. Today’s smart phones are faster than the fastest home computer that we could afford fifteen year ago as a middle-class family.

As I drive to work every morning, I see school children at the Pontiac District School getting off their school buses, cars or just walk to school. The smiles that I remember, the carefree laughter, the splashing in the pool and the childhood pranks seem to have paled and faded into the background, as has their childhood. They have IPods, smart phones and other fashion gears that define their socio-economic status today. The days once filled with games, friends, cousins, picnics and outings are now filled by tuition classes of every conceivable nature and hue; homework by the sack full; and finishing classes that were far out of their reach.There is an added pressure from parents to perform and excel in academics and extra curricular activities.

Harried mothers and preoccupied fathers hurry back from their chores to attend Parent-Teacher meetings in the hope of ascertaining that single flash of brilliance that will put a alliance between their children and the mass. And teachers, eager to bask in the glory of their accomplishments, focus all their dynamisms and profligate all their praise on the same set of students who, they believe, will bring laurels to their roost. What do we really hope to achieve through this mindless pursuit of success? As Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad says, “Pursue excellence, and success will follow, pants down.” A generation of androids who have been obligatory to sacrifice their childhoods at the altar of adult triumph. A race of self helping prodigious children who even Darwin would be proud of. Or a breed of mature young adults to whom we can bestow the heritage of the planet. I don't know about you, but I definitely want the last.

Decisions

From the record, it might be an inoffensive to absolutely earth cataclysmic event but decisions put pressure on our minds. And, sometimes the harmless ones are more difficult to take.
For me the most difficult decision every day is to decide what should I wear to work & how do I make a difference today at work? Each morning the question fragments the morning peace as I reverberate with the silent scream in my head. I force my inattentive brain, taken up with matters I consider more cerebral, to visualize the weather. Another part of my brain focuses on the fixed prejudgments of the traffic & breakfast. But then, as my mind starts calculating the food calorie value & when it was last prepared, in extreme anxiety I give up & leave to work, prepared to fight it out another day at the table!
Shopping becomes another nerve-wracking experience. At least it isn’t for me- men have lesser shopping to do. Invariably I end up with more of impulsive buying but when wife accompanies me, I have to be prepared to spend 98 per cent of the time & hear her say “It’s no harm to just walk-in & check for the latest trends”! & by the time I reach home, I am convinced I must have stayed home for the better choice!
Most of us do not like taking decisions. We go through demonstrative debacles, mental tautness & are more often than not inclined by external statuses. Aficionados of science say that the decisions we do take are based on the temperament of the moment, oversimplification of a problem, refusal to apply ourselves or sheer chauvinism. Our intuitiveness & the environment also play their role in misguiding a decision. & of course, emotions play a huge part in persuading what we decide. Not a very sane portrait!
Normally the decisions one has most trouble making are the ones that involve too many factors or offer too many options, where one expects maximum confrontation, & where the influence is going to be a rather big one!
The judgments a person is sure about are in areas that have been mastered, the factors deliberated rationally, the disorder brushed away & the focus solely on the problem in hand.
The process is simple though logical, & one that would be approved by scientists & mathematicians alike. Each time you have a problem, you will habitually also have many factors that need to be weighed against each other. Identify these factors & write them down. You can even consolidate them in order of priority, or rate them in a completely mathematical manner.
Many factors can inspire decision making. Horizon, the BBC popular science & philosophy documentary programme, identifies perception of loss or gain as a primary influence in decision taking in their programme, How To Make Better Decisions. Using the example of cab drivers in NYC, the footage shows how cabbies on fast days, make as much as they are used to making & drive off straight home. On slower days however, they work longer because they feel they have made a loss. The rational thing to do of course would be to work extra on fast days to earn more & on a slow day, cut your losses & go home early!
But we are not always rational about our decisions. Horizon goes on to say that though we should accept that everybody has an initial emotional response, we shouldn’t let emotions have an upper hand in the decision m a k i n g progression. To prove that our choices can be manipulated by something as random as temperature, the footage shows how people who have been made to hold a warm drink in their hands had a far more favorable opinion of a man than those made to hold a cold drink just prior to meeting the same guy.
One of the most treacherous factors in wrong decision making can be the influence of the outside world. Priming is one factor that contributes to this. Prof John Barg of Yale University claims that our decisions can be subliminally manipulated. Images, words, movies slip feelings & thoughts into our heads & those then are responsible for affecting our comportment & decision taking.
Apart from these points, there are all kinds of people around us who have a share in persuading our decisions & their unscrupulous powers cannot be challenged. & so while being logical, overlaying sentiments & considering choices statistically, we also need to be aware of outside influences if we are to take rational decisions. & last but not the least; we must give some credence to our intuitive powers when making a decision. Even as we fight over the pros & cons, somewhere within us we already know what we are going to decide. As they say, whenever in two minds, toss a coin — not to settle the question, but because while it is in the air, you will know what your heart is hoping for!

Murphy's Law - Isn't this true ??

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

You will always find something in the last place you look.

No matter how long or how hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper.

The other line always moves faster.

In order to get a loan, you must first prove you don't need it.

Anything you try to fix will take longer and cost you more than you thought.

If you fool around with a thing for very long you will screw it up.

If it jams - force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.

When a broken appliance is demonstrated for the repairman, it will work perfectly.

Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will use it.

Everyone has a scheme for getting rich that will not work.

In any hierarchy, each individual rises to his own level of incompetence, and then remains there.

There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over.

When in doubt, mumble. When in trouble, delegate.

Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.

Murphy's golden rule: whoever has the gold makes the rules.

Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

A Smith & Wesson beats four aces.

In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.

Never argue with a fool, people might not know the difference.

Fifty Inspirational Quotes to get your day started

1. Think like a man of action, and act like a man of thought."
2. "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."
3. "Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough."
4. "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there"
5. "Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning."
6. "You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore."
7. "To a brave man, good and bad luck are like his left and right hand. He uses both."
8. "When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we took so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened up for us"
9. "We don't see the things the way they are. We see things the way WE are."
10. "Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don't have any problems, you don't get any seeds."
11. "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
12. "The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem."
13. "Pessimist : A person who says that O is the last letter of ZERO, instead of the first letter in word OPPORTUNITY."
14. "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."
15. "Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting"
16. "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present."
17. "When you get to the end of the rope, tie a knot and hang on."
18. "Your attitude, not your aptitude, determines your altitude."
19. "If you're going through hell, keep going."
20. "The secret to success is to start from scratch and keep on scratching."
21. "Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."
22. "Most of the important things in the world have been accompanied by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."
23. "So many of our dreams at first seems impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."
24. "Hard work spotlights the character of people. Some turn up their sleeves. Some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."
25. "There are those who work all day. Those who dream all day. And those who spend an hour dreaming before setting to work to fulfill those dreams. Go into the third category because there's virtually no competition."
26. "Our greatest glory is never in failure, but in rising every time we fall."
27. "Many of life's failures are people who had not realized how close they were to success when they gave up."
28. "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."
29. "Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things."
30. "Do you know what happens when you give a procrastinator a good idea? Nothing!"
31. "Success is what you attract by the person you become."
32. "You have to 'Be' before you can 'Do' and 'Do' before you can 'Have'.
33. "You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people to get what they want."
34. "The test we must set for ourselves is not to march alone but to march in such a way that others wish to join us."
35. "Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus when the limo breaks down."
36. "Formal education will make you a living. Self education will make you a fortune."
37. "It isn't what the book costs. It's what it will cost you if you don't read it." 38. "You must be the change you want to see in the world."
39. "The future has several names. For the weak, it is the impossible. For the fainthearted, it is the unknown. For the thoughtful and valiant, it is the ideal."
40. "There is nothing more genuine than breaking away from the chorus to learn the sound of your own voice."
41. "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
42. "Use what talents you possess, the woods will be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."
43. "Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric."
44. "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it."
45. "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life's about creating yourself."
46. "Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vintage point."
47. "The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach."
48. "More often in life, we end up regretting the chances in life that we had, but didn't take them, than those chances that we took and wished we hadn't."
49. "An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded."
50. "Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don't wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom."