Of Happiness and Of the Past

I like the definition of happiness by Dr Gordon Livington:

Happiness is to have something to do; someone to love and something to look forward to.

Memory is often not an accurate transcription of past experiences. Rather it is a story we tell ourselves of the past, full of distortions, wishful thinking and unfulfilled dreams... all from our perspective, selectively.

The past is often like an endless entertaining, if frequently painful, movie being played over and over. It contains all the explanations, all the misery, all the drama that went into making what we are today. Coming to terms with our past is inevitably a process of forgiveness, of letting go, the simplest and most difficult of human endevours. It is simultaneously an act of will and of surrender.

Something to think about seriously as one grows old and still remains relevent.

A US Army Deserter's Tale

Read this book on the story of an ordinary soldier who walked away from the war in Iraq, after being posted there for 7 months. During his 2-week leave back in the US, he went AWOL (absence without leave) and became a fugitive in his own country, until several months later, he managed to escape to Canada where he is now awaiting court order for a full asylum.

In his military training, prioties are set as Army First, God Second and Family Third (unlike Tiger Woods' Family First, Golf Second???). One of the army's chants is this: " One shot, One kill, One Arab, One Asian".
The Iraqi and Muslims are not considered as civilians or people... they are snad niggers, ragheads, habbis, hajjis and terrorists.

According to Joshua Key,US Army Private First Class, the indiscrimatory house raids of the Iraqi homes with C4 and the men, women and children being hit and zipcuffed and killed (and severed heads being kicked around too) by frustrated US soldiers, have made the US army a terrorist group in Iraq.

Other published stories about the US Army atrocities and tortures employed in Abu Ghraib detention centre and Guantanamo Bay Prison in Cuba, testify to this on-the ground account of terrorist acts by a great military power in the world. No wonder the Muslims hate the USA and want to kill their citizens at any opportunity!! If the Commander in Chief is from Slovia or Slovenia, he will be brought to the International court for trial as a war criminal.... but Bush is from the United State of America.....this is an economic power which currently determines the world order!!

This is a story about a family man and a patriot in his mid-20s, who joined the Army believing unquestionably in his government's commitment to integrity and justice. But what he experienced and saw in his 7-month duties in various places in Iraq in 2003, he was transformed into someone who could no longer serve his country.

Learnt two Iraqi phrases from this book which are often used by the American soldiers away from the comfort of their homes and military camps back home....
"Sofeeni deeaytcha" and "Sofeeni goose goose".

President Obama, the Nobel Prize for Peace winner 2009, is sending in more troops into Afghanistan to undo all the wrongs initiated by the Bush Adminstration. Is he really?

Transgressions in Golf

Golf is a social game, usually a flight of 4 players and yet a very individual game - you and the course. In a friendly, you may compare scores with your playmates and that is a side competition or challenge (for a beer or for veterans, $2). It is precisely because of this 'challenge', each player would tend to focus and better his game and game plans, for personal satisfaction.
Of course, there are times, when a tournament is organised, the whole field would be competing for honours to win the top prizes.... not those $ million for the professionals. Still, it is the desire to win would spur each player to excel.
Being amateurs, we frumble, we make silly mistakes, we often tell ourselves, "if only".....
Golf is also a gentleman game and a game of integrity... and in a social, amateur setting, where there is no live TV crew to film your shots, it is even more important for individuals to be honest, alert and in compliance with the 'Golf Etiquettes", so that all would enjoy the rounds.
From my 2 years of experience in NZ golfing, because the system here allows you to fix your playmates, you are in familiar company and therefore it requires self-discipline and self regulation. My friend Muthu is recognised to be a very strict disciplinarian on rules. I respect him for that reputation.
However, sometimes, the human weaknesses of greed and "innocent" cheat come to play.
The occasional mistake in counting the number of strokes taken or played, would be excusable but if this is a 'deliberate' mistake, then it would make the person marking your scores, a very stressful job.
Other etiquettes not practised ....... standing in the line of putting; not taking turn to hold the flags if you are near to the pin or if your ball is marked nearest to the pin; not completing the hole by holing out or if it is putter length, it must be strictly putter length and not based on your own measure of "give me"; not taking time off to look for playing mates' stray balls from tee box to the green; "sudden appearance" of lost ball in the rough/fairway; not respecting the honour or the turn to tee off ; non-stop chatting whilst others are teeing off ...etc.
My friend Mak Kor would say,"Golf is a selfish game."
It is true but it is also a fair game where players are graded, from time to time, based on their play and score history, using the handicap system.
Again, the handicap system is sometimes manipulated by some... to mask the actually capability during non-competition rounds, so that a higher than actual handicap would enhance the chance of scoring high in a competition round.
In golf, you also see the true characters of your play mates. Sadly, over time, you tend to give more and more discounts to the integrity of some. Gradually, you may not enjoy spending the 4-5 hours hitting the ball with such company....

US Big Brother Wars

President Obama yesterday ordered the deployment of another 30,000 troops into Afghanistan, with the aim to put an end to the 8-year old war (todate) with an exit strategy by July 2011.

History is being made or being repeated???

Any parallel in these two wars?

Vietnam War Afghanistan War

Domino Theory Treat to Free World Al Queda
Communism Ideology Terrorism
Viet Cong Enemy in Hiding Taliban
Underground tunnels Terrains Mountainous caves
North & South Vietnam Border lines Afghan- Pakistan
Ho Chi Minh Trail Supplyline ?????????????
1964 - 1975 Period 2002 - ??????
Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon Commanders-in Chief Bush, Obama....
58,000 killed, 153,000 wounded US Casualities ???? still counting
75m litres of Agent Orange New WMD ?????????????

Withdrawal and defeated Outcome ?????????????