TRUE Essence of Christmas

    Everyone wants Christmas to be meaningful. Christmas is definitely the season for gifts and shopping. During Christmas, a lot of people go to malls to buy various gifts to be given to their friends and loved ones. People just need to spend more during Christmas season. The effect? – traffic jam, growing credit card debts, lots of to-do lists, etc. I came across to a different view about Christmas and it’s what they call the “Advent Conspiracy Movement“. It is a movement started by Rick McKinley, a pastor of Imago Dei in Portland, Oregon. It capitalizes on this feeling by encouraging people to “spend less” and “give more” which is the true essence of Christmas.

     The wisest man who ever lived said, "There is more happiness in giving than in receiving." Do you believe in this principle? If so, the perhaps you have wandered what kind of giving really produces that deep sense of happiness that eclipses receiving? Or have wondered what kind of giving is the most valuable. There are a lot of things to give but I came to think of seven avenues of giviing that can provide sense of happiness and satisfaction beyond the retailers bottom line. Honesty, Respect, Openness, Concern, Enthusiasm, Assistance and the most valuable one, Time. These things all come the heart. When you give from your heart, you put yourself in line to experience a deeply rewarding truth. There really is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving. 

    I guess with the current recession, this Advent Conspiracy Movement is appropriate for us. It goes by the line ”Love All, Spend Less, Give More.” The true essence of Christmas relies not on the gifts which commands you to spend more but on the love and unity that each one of us should build. Spend less on gifts and more on relationships! Merry Christmas everybody! :)

Together, We Can Stop Climate Change

     According to an analysis by NASA scientists, Earth's average temperature has increased about 1 degree Fahrenheit during the 20th century. What's the big deal?

      One degree may sound like a small amount, but it's an unusual event in our planet;s recent history. Earth's climate record shows that the global average temperature is stable over long periods of time. Furthermore, small changes in temperature correspond to enormous changes in the environment.

     Climate change is already beginning to transform life on Earth. Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result to global climate change are now occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves. Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges ted have shifted and trees are flowering sooner. These are only some of the effects of climate change.

      Repeatedly, we hear or read the same suggestions as to what you can do to prevent or stop climate change. We can do something to solve this issue by conserving energy, planting trees, decreasing the use of air-conditions and many more. We should take responsibility of every action we make. In these simple ways, we can contribute in mitigating CLIMATE CHANGE.

National Reading Month Celebration Theme: "Outpouring Hearts and Minds Through English Proficiency and Literacy"

    We have a general sense that Book Stores or Book Shops are filled with things that are deeply important, but what exactly is literature good for? Why should we spend our time reading novels or poems when out there, big things are going on?

    Let's have a think about some of the ways literature benefits us. First, it saves our time. Of course, it looks like its wasting time, but literature is ultimately the greatest time-saver for it gives us access to a range of emotions and event that it would take us years, decades or millennia to try to experience directly. Second, it makes us nicer. Literature performs the basic magic of showing us what things look like from someone else point of view. It allows us to consider the consequences of our action on others in a way we otherwise wouldn't. And it shows us examples of kindly, generous and sympathetic people. Third, it's a cure for loneliness. We are weirder that we're allowed to admit. We often say what's really on our minds. But in books, we find descriptions of who we genuinely are and what events are actually like. In the best books it's as if the writer knows us better than we know ourselves. They find the words to describe the fragile, weird and special experiences of our inner lives. Writers open our hearts and minds and give us maps to our own selves so that we can travel in them more reliably and with less of a feeling of paranoia and persecution.

     It is very important to instill in the minds and hearts of children at their young age the value of reading for once he or she develops the passion of reading, other skills will follow. Let us be reminded that reading is still an aspect of life that we should not neglect at all times. As the writer Emerson remarked, "In the works of great writers, we find our own neglected thoughts".
     This November is the scheduled month for the English Month Celebration. The English Club together with its affiliate is conducting many activities in order for the students to enhance their English potentials.

Equal RIGHTS...Equal OPPURTUNITIES

    Equality between men and women is one of the fundamental principles of community law. But before, women did not have the right to be in the same level as men. It has always been like that since decades.

     People always thought that women had to do all the hard work at home and carry their children while men were working and getting paid. They considered women as weak and dependent people and men as the strong ones who were able to accomplish everything. Women are asking for equality because they don’t want to be dependent and they claim their equality with men. Actually, men are stronger physically and more rational in situations but it does not mean that a woman can’t accomplish what a man is able to do.

     Everyone should be treated equally no matter what your gender, race, height, religion, weight or amount of education. Gender and skin color can’t decide the equality. God created everyone to be equal and that is how we should keep it. Everyone should have equal rights so that everyone will be given equal opportunity to prove his or her worth as a human being.