POLITICAL LOYALTY

 

                POLITICAL LOYALTY

Political loyalty is as necessary as any other loyalty. It is an unchangeable commitment and should not be abandoned in any adverse or unprofitable circumstance.

Politics is not commercial business. It is patriotism. It is love of a moral ideology. It should not be adopted for loaves and fishes but for self-sacrifice.  

It is a common phenomenon that a political party becomes financially weak, politically un-rewarding and less fruitful than it used to be. It may be a critical time for the party and its members. It is however also the time for its member to remain loyal and contribute their abilities to re-strengthen their party, not to leave it like a sinking ship.

            It is not wrong to say that most modern politicians go for what they regard the seven cardinal principles, namely the five loaves and two fishes.

            It is also correct to say that party standards are the shadows in which patriotism is buried.

            Most of the politicians say we want to serve the country which is not fully correct. They want to serve themselves more than the country. Gains from so-called patriotism have different forms.

Finally, the views of the French statesman Alexis Charles Henry de Tocqueville (1805 – 1859). He said : The political parties that I would call great, are those which cling more to principles than to consequences; to general, and not to special cases; to ideas, and not to men ---Such parties are usually distinguished by a nobler character, more generous passions, more genuine convictions and a more bold and open conduct than others.

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G.R.Kanwal

30 March  2024

 

WHO WAS KHALIL GIBRAN?

 

WHO WAS KHALIL GIBRAN?

Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese American writer. He was born on 6^th January 1883 at Bsharri in Lebanon and died in a hospital on 10^th April 1931 at the age of 48. In 1932, he was buried in Khalil Gibran Museum, Lebanon.

Gibran wrote quite a few famous books including ‘The Prophet’ which has  been translated into more than 100 languages.

He is a philosopher and spiritualist. That is why there is novelty in his sayings which run into hundreds and are quoted universally.

Here are some of them:

1.     I discovered the secret of the sea in meditation upon the dewdrop. 2.Of life’s two chief prizes , beauty and truth, I found the first in a loving heart and the second in a labourer’s hand. 3. To be closer to God is to be closer to people. 4. He brings disaster upon his nation who never sows a seed, or lays a brick, or weaves a garment, but makes politics his occupation. 5. The spiritual man is he who has experienced all earthly things and is in revolt against them

Finally, the following quote in a poetic form;

When I wrote on my door:

“Leave your traditions outside,

Before you come in,”

Not a soul dared

To visit me or open my door.

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Note:Translations from Arabic are by

Anthony Rizcallah Ferris             

G.R.Kanwal

29 March 2024

 

 

 

 

SELF-LOVE

 

          SELF-LOVE

Self-love is a virtue. Those who do not love themselves cannot love others. It is our duty to love our qualities like good health, hard work, intelligence, honesty, unselfishness, patriotism, self-improvement, dynamism,  charitableness, helpfulness, truthfulness, godliness, lasting morality, etc.

In a sense, self-love is also self-respect. It is self-regard, pride in one’s abilities and  belief in one’s worth.

However, self-love should not make us arrogant, egotistical, haughty or swollen-headed.

Somebody rightly said that self-love is a cup without any bottom; you might pour all the great lakes into it, and never fill it up.

Finally, as the French writer Voltaire (1694-1778) said :  self-love is the instrument of our preservation.; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind. ---it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must possess it.    

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G.R.Kanwal

27 March 2024

 

SOME QUOTES ON LIFE

 

          SOME  QUOTES ON LIFE

Life is defined in many ways. A few of them are : existence, aliveness and animation.

 

The opposite of life is death which means the body stops breathing.

 

Quotes on life are thoughts on life which describe the nature and purpose of life.

 

For example, according to American journalist Gamallel Bailey (1807-59): We live in deeds , not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings ,not in figures on the dial; we should count time by heart throbs. He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.

 

Another anonymous quote says : Life is a journey, not a home; a road, not a city of habitation; and the enjoyments and blessings we have are but little inns on the roadside of life, where we may be refreshed for a moment, that we may with new strength press on to the end --- to the rest that remaineth for the people of God.

 

Finally, a quote by philosopher - writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) : To live is not merely to breathe, it is to act; it is to make use of our organs, senses, faculties, of all those parts of ourselves which give us the feelings of existence. The man who has lived longest is not the man who has counted most years, but who has enjoyed life most.   

 

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G. R. Kanwal

26 March 2024

 

LOYALTY

 

LOYALTY

 

It is a universal truth that prosperity makes friends; adversity tries them.

Enduring loyalty is lasting faithfulness. It is steadfast, constant, trustworthy and reliable. It is greedless; does not change itself in the face of inducements, temptations  and personal gains of any kind.  

                      Unfortunately, loyalty has now become a rare thing.  It is a dangerous phenomenon.  A disloyal member not only defames himself but sometimes   destroys the existence of the whole group. It is usually true in politics.

However, to retain loyalty in a group no chance for dissatisfaction should be given to any member.  

It has been truly said  that trust is earned, respect is given, and loyalty is demonstrated.

Loyalty is the pledge of truth to oneself and others; and without loyalty it is difficult to accomplish anything.  

Finally, a healthy loyalty is not passive and complacent, but active and critical.

                                    ******                                

G.R.Kanwal

25 March 2024

 

 

           

FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIP

 

                   FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIP

True fiends are boon companions, comrades, cronies, soul mates, allies, helpers, associates, supporters, benefactors, well-wishers and our second-selves. They are with us in thick and thin.

False friends are selfish. They meet us only in fair weather. It is better not to have them because they cause us pain not pleasure. They are cheats. They are full of excuses. They exploit and impoverish us whereas true friends enrich us in many ways. They heal us when we are sick.

            Friendship is fellowship. It is intimacy, close relationship, mutual affection, harmony, attachment, alliance, cordiality, kindliness, co-operation, helpfulness, self-sacrifice and love.

            It is a blessing to have a life-long true friend. A true friend is said to be the gift of God who unites hearts. According to Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667 )who was a cleric in the Church of England by friendship we should mean the greatest love, the greatest usefulness, the most open communication, the noblest sufferings, the severest truths, the heartiest counsel, and the greatest union of minds of which brave men and women are capable.

            And finally as the Greek tragedian Euripides said life has no blessing like a prudent friend.  

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G.R.Kanwal

23 March 2024

 

 

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT FORGIVENESS

 

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT FORGIVENESS

Forgiveness is a religious virtue. It is one of the essential qualities of a noble man. The common proverb: to err is human; to forgive, divine; cannot be challenged because God is really kind and forgiving; but humans, too, should have this divine quality in their spiritual build up.

Some synonyms of forgiveness are pardon, mercy, acquittal, absence of malice/grudge/revenge and retaliation.

Only a large-hearted person can possess the virtue of forgiving. Talking about a forgiving man American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson says “his heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong.”

 It is also true to say that never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it foregoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury.

According t English writer Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield (1694-1773)  little, vicious minds abound with anger and revenge, and are incapable of feeling the pleasure of forging their enemies.

Finally, remember that humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.

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G.R.Kanwal

22 March 2024            

 

SOME THOUGHTS ON POETRY

 

 

                   SOME THOUGHTS ON POETRY

Today, 21 March is world’s Poetry Day. There are too many thoughts about what poetry is. I call it language of the heart. William Wordsworth describes it as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. For Matthew Arnold it is the criticism of life, governed by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty. Briefly speaking, it is the aesthetic expression of feelings, emotions, passions, thoughts, ideas and imagination.

Some other definitions are: 1. Poetry is the music of thought, conveyed in the music of language. 2. Poetry reveals to us the loveliness of nature, 3. Poetry is the sister of sorrow; every man that suffers and weeps, is a poet; every tear is a verse; and every heart a poem. 4. Poetry is the utterance of deep heart-felt truth. 5. According to Plato the Greek philosopher poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.

Finally, as the American poet J.R. Lowell (1819-1891) says poetry is something to make us wiser and better, by continually revealing those types of beauty and truth which God has set in all men’s souls.

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G.R.Kanwal

21 March 2024   

 

THE WIND

 

                THE WIND

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you.

But when the leaves hang trembling,

The wind is passing through.

 

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I.

But when the trees bow down their heads,

The wind is passing by.

            This reflective poem is about the wind which is invisible but active . It was written for children by the English romantic and devotional poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894).

 

The poem tells us that even invisible things exist and perform their allotted actions.  The wind is invisible but shows its existence when it passes through the leaves and makes them tremble by its touch.

 

Some other examples of invisible things are smell, fragrance, coolness, heat, etc. We know them by their action – not by their visibility.

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G.R.Kanwal

19^th March 2024                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

SHELLEY’S OZYMANDIAS

 

SHELLEY’S OZYMANDIAS

Percy Bysshe Shelley was an English romantic poet. He was born on 4 August 1792 and died on 8 July 1822. “Ozymandias” is the title of the sonnet which he wrote on the futility of power held by unjust kings and rulers.

This sonnet was originally published on 11 January 1818 and is still considered  one of the best English sonnets. Its message is that all power is transient, futile and ineffectual.

Ozymandias was a king of ancient Egypt. He was also called Ramesses II. His period is stated to be 1279-1213 BC.

As for holding  power,  an English clergy Caleb C Colton (1780-1832) says: Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads, No man is wise enough, not good enough, to be trusted with unlimited power.

Ozymandias was a merciless king. This was reflected in the statue which  motivated Shelley to write his sonnet which reads as follows.

                                    OZYMANDIAS

I met a traveller, from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert…Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear”

‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!’

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.    

 

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G.R. Kanwal

18 March 2024

           

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT AMBITION

 

          SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT AMBITION

Ambition is desire, aim, aspiration, goal, objective, hope, enterprise, dream, longing, etcetera. It is there with everybody. In fact, all of us must have some ambition according to our talents. Life cannot be purposeless. It cannot be void of some objective. But we must cut our coat according to our cloth.

Legitimate, realistic and adequate ambition is okay. What is faulty and unappreciable is over-ambitiousness. Unlimited ambition is like greed which is ignoble and even dangerous. It invites displeasure not only from rivals but also from people at large.

Over-ambitious people lose their physical and mental health and  poise.

William Shakespeare (English poet and dramatist,  1564-1616) says fling away ambition. By that sin angels fell. How then can man, the image of his Maker, hope to win by it?

According to the English writer Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same posture as creeping.

Finally this quote by English dramatist Thomas Otway (1651-85}:”Ambition is a lust that is never quenched, but grows more inflamed and madder by enjoyment.”

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G.R.Kanwal

17 March 2024

 

       `

SILENCE IS SOUNDLESS SPEECH

 

          SILENCE IS SOUNDLESS SPEECH

Silence is quietness, , soundlessness, wordlessness, muteness, uncommunicativeness, etc.  It speaks without words. It is not meaningless. Many a time it is more pleasant than unwanted speech. It preserves strength and prolongs life. It is non-disturbing. There are places like hospitals, nursing-homes, sensitive  areas, etcetera, where silence is legally necessary. Un-necessary speech is noise. It irritates, while  silence soothes. Silence is also meditation; it has a spiritual touch.

Scottish essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) says speech is great, but silence is greater. American scholar Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) said : Let us be silent that we may hear the whispers of gods. French mystic Madam Guyon (1648 -1717) speaks of three kinds of silence. Silence from words is good, because inordinate speaking tends to evil. Silence, or rest from desires and passions is still better, because it promotes quietness of spirit. But the best of all is silence from unnecessary and wandering thoughts because that is essential to internal recollection, and because it lays a foundation for a proper reputation and for silence in other respects.

Finally, a familiar suggestion: The world would be better if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.

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G.R.Kanwal

16 March 2024l

 

 

 

  

SLEEP IS A BLESSING

 

SLEEP IS A BLESSING

Sleep at night is rest, relaxation, repose and slumber. During the day for a short time,  it is siesta.

Sleep is the opposite of work which consumes energy, creates tiredness and stress. Sleep reproduces energy, relaxation and ability to work again whether it is physical or mental.

Health experts advise seven to ten hours of sleep every day.

 If you have a non-guilty mind and well-nourished body sleep will come naturally; it won’t  need  artificial aids including sleeping pills.

Guilty people divorce sleep.

Insufficient sleep becomes responsible for various health problems like tiredness, stress, fatigue, inefficiency and anxiety. To avoid these symptoms sleep deficiency must be made up  by sleep itself because medicines don’t help sufficiently.

Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) says blessings on him who first invented sleep.---It covers a man all over, thoughts and all, like a cloak. It is meat for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, heat for the cold, and cold for the hot. It makes the shepherd equal to the monarch, and fool to the wise.

According to the English poet-dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616) “our foster-nurse of nature is repose.”

Finally, the following words of the Persian poet Sheikh Saadi Shirazi (1210-?) “God gives sleep to the bad, in order that the good may be undisturbed” and of the English writer and magistrate Henry Fielding (1707-1754) “one hour’s sleep before midnight, is worth two after.”  

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G.R.Kanwal

!5^th March 2024

 

SOME THOUGHTS ON SUFFERING

 

                SOME THOUGHTS ON SUFFERING

Suffering is the fate of human beings. It is pain, agony, discomfort, disease, distress, hardship, misery, disability, old age, etc.

According to Buddhism the world is a place of suffering. It has its causes but there is also a way to get rid of them through enlightenment which comes through right understanding; right thought; right speech; right action; right livelihood; right effort; right mindfulness; and right concentration.

Subhadra Bhikushu, a follower of Lord Buddha,  has this to say about suffering. To be born is to suffer: to grow old is to suffer; to die is to suffer; to be tied to what is not loved is to suffer. In short, all the results of individuality, of separate self-hood, necessarily involve pain or suffering.

  It is also true that forgiveness is rarely perfect except in the breasts of those who have suffered.

Suffering is a purifier.  It compels the sufferer to introspect; to improve him/her self; to avoid pitfalls; to think of merciful God; to embrace simplicity; to adopt the middle path; to shun vices like greed and gluttony; to avoid hatred and adopt love.

Finally, Suffering can be the greatest blessing if it enlightens you thoroughly.

                                    *******

G.R.Kanwal

14 March 2024   

 

UNKINDNESS

 

UNKINDNESS

Kindness is a virtue; unkindness is a vice.  Kindness wins friends and influences people; unkindness repels them and makes you lonely. Kindness is attractive and magnetic; unkindness is repulsive and offensive.

            If you are unkind, you are unfriendly, ungenerous, cruel, vicious, harsh, heartless, nasty, ruthless and unsympathetic.

            Kindness has innumerable advantages. It is a divine quality. It gets you blessings from everybody except from those who are thankless. It is not only humans who deserve your kindness; birds and beasts, insects and worms, too, have pitiable life.  In fact, there is nothing in creation which has no life, short or long. Be unkind to your mirror, you will lose it hastily; be kind to it and it will remain your companion for decades to come.

Kindness is generosity of the heart and the strength of the soul. It is an imperishable virtue. If you have it, preserve it. If you lack it, cultivate it.

            Finally, as the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) said: “Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.”

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G. R. Kanwal

13 March 2024

 

NO HATRED, PLEASE

 

NO HATRED, PLEASE

Hared is an undesirable quality in any human being. It is antipathy, dislike, revulsion, ill-will, hostility, grudge, enmity and much more that is antagonistic. It can hardly be tolerated by the one whom you hate and makes him/her revengeful.

French novelist Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) said hatred is the vice of narrow souls ; they feed it with all their littleness, and make it the pretext of base tyranny.   

According to English clergy Caleb C. Colton (1780-1832)  we hate some persons because we do not know them; and we will not know them because we hate them.

Not men and women, but there are many defects, drawbacks, foibles  and vices which one can and must hate. Some of these are hypocrisy, intolerance, injustice, oppression, communalism, casteism, untouchability, narrow-mindedness, war, selfishness, greed, gluttony, anger, revenge, ugliness, revenge, cruelty, mercilessness godlessness, etc.

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G.R.Kanwal

12^th March 2024

 

 

,  

DON’T THINK OF WAR

 

DON’T THINK OF WAR

Hon’rable men and women, rulers and the ruled, never think of war because it is an evil, not a virtue; destructive, not constructive, a wastage, not a utility.   It produces tears, not smiles. It is itself a problem, not the solution of any problem.  It is anti-life and anti-creation; pro-death and  pro-devastation. It is expensive with no gain. It stops prosperity and starts breeding misery. It has no victory to be proud of. It ends in repentance. It is a murderer of humanism and human values.

A thinker on war has  said somewhere  that if war has its chivalry and pageantry, it also has its hideousness and its demoniac woe. Bullets respect not beauty. They tear out the eye, and shatter the jaw, and rend the cheek.

According to former French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte  (1769-1821) war is the business of barbarians.

And finally as the English writer and historian H. G. Wells (1866-1946) said militarism and warfare are childish things, if they are not more horrible than anything childish can be. They must become things of the past.

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G.R.Kanwal

10^th March 2024.

 

S0ME IDEAS ABOUT GRATITUDE

 

S0ME IDEAS ABOUT GRATITUDE

Gratitude is thankfulness towards anybody including GOD for any favour or good done to you. It is appreciation, sense of obligation, acknowledgement of some help provided to you. It is a sign of good character. An ungrateful person is a thankless guy and therefore unappreciable.

God deserves gratitude unconditionally. He has given us life and so many supports to maintain and preserve it.

American author N.P.Wills (1806-!867)  says gratitude is not only the memory but he homage of the heart---rendered to God for his goodness and according to Sir Roger Lessing  (1729-81) a grateful thought toward heaven is of itself a prayer.

Roman statesman Marcus Tullius  Cicero (106 BC—43 BC ) calls gratitude  the mother of virtues , the most capital of all duties, and uses the words grateful and good as synonymous terms, inseparably united in the same character.

It is right to say that our thanks should be as fervent for mercies received as our petitions for mercies sought.

And finally what Roman writer Seneca the Elder (54 BC –39 AD} said: He that urges gratitude pleads the cause both of God and man, for without it we can neither be sociable nor religious.

Believe me before I sleep I utter the words: Thank You, My Lord.

G.R.Kanwal                                      *******

8^th February 2024

 

SOME THOUGHTS ON HAPPINESS

 

                    SOME THOUGHTS ON HAPPINESS

Happiness is joy, joyfulness, delight, gladness, bliss, euphoria, etc. According to English divine JohnsonTillotson ( 1630-94 ) , man courts happiness in a thousand shapes; and the faster he follows it the swifter it flies from him. Almost everything promiseth happiness to us at a distance, but when we come nearer, either we fall short of it, or it falls short of expectation; and it is hard to say which of these is the greatest disappointment. Our hopes are usually bigger than the enjoyment can satisfy; and an evil long feared, besides that it may never come, is many times more painful and troublesome than the evil itself when it comes.

English clergy Caleb C Colton (1780-1832) distinguishes between happiness and wisdom and says he that thinks himself the happiest man , really is so; but he that thinks himself the wisest, is generally the greatest fool.

And finally as the English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) says happiness is an occasional episode in the general drama of pain.    

                                                                        *******

G.R.Kanwal

6^th March 2024                                                                                                                                                      

 

SOME QUOTES ON SELFISHNESS

 

                SOME QUOTES ON SELFISHNESS

Selfishness is not a virtue.  It is a weakness. Man is known as a social animal. Great sages said: Love thy neighbor as thyself. Unselfish people share their amenities even with their pets.

A selfish person is self-centred, self-interested , egotistic and self-absorbed. He who is unselfish is selfless, self-denying, altruistic, generous and liberal. He is self-denial and helpful to others. The poor are more unselfish than the rich. Whenever my car broke down on a road, the rich denied me any help. It was the poor who came to lend their helping hands.

Here are a few quotations on selfishness:-

1.The  worst education which teaches self-denial , is better than the best which teaches everything else and not that,---John Sterling, English poet (1806-1844).

2. Aman is called selfish, not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbour’s.---- Richard  Whately , Archbishop of Dublin (1757—1863).

3. The selfish man suffers more from his selfishness than he from whom that selfishness withholds some important benefit. –Ralph Waldo Emerson , American author (1803-1882).

4. Deliver me, O Lord, from that evil man myself. ----T. Brooke, English divine( 1608--1680 ).

5. Make use of every friend and every foe.--- Alexander Pope, English poet (1688-1744).    

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

5^th March 2024

 

SOME VIEWS ABOUT TRUTH

 

SOME VIEWS ABOUT TRUTH

‘TRUTH” stands for accuracy, correctness, rightness, fact, actuality, factualness , reality, sincerity, uprightness, candour,  genuineness, etc.

             What follows are some important quotes about truth.

1.Truth fears no examination---A proverb.  2. General , abstract truth is the most precious of all blessings; without it man is blind, it is the eye of reason. ----Rousseau, Swiss philosopher (1712-1778).     3. Every violation of truth is a stab at the health of society. ----Emerson, American poet (1803-18820.     4. If a thousand old beliefs were ruined in our march to truth,  we must still march on.  ------Stopford  A. Brooke, English author (1832-1916).     5. Falsehood is in a hurry; it may be at any moment detected and punished; truth is calm, serene ; its judgment is on high; its king cometh out of the chambers of eternity, -----Joseph Parker , English divine (1830—1902).  6. You need not tell all the truth, unless to those who have a right to know it all. But let all you tell be truth. ----Horace Mann, America educationist (1796—1859) ,

 And finally, what we have in us of the image of God is the love of truth and justice.  

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G. R. Kanwal

2^nd March 2024