Historic Sites Under Threat

Can you picture Greece without ownership of the ancient Parthenon?

Photo from stock.xchng

Greece sunk into debt in recent years. We hope to see a vicious Spartan fight against bankruptcy, but German politicians suggested a curt solution: sell the Parthenon, Acropolis and Aegean islands. Should the Greeks continue preserving the reminder of their history, or should they be smart to let go of the ancient sites for the sake of their economy?

Cling to the past or focus on the present? This is a countrywide scale of past-present dilemma.

Unstable economy is a peril to the historical sites of Greece. There are other factors that endanger historical sites.

In just one hour, Mali Islamists has destroyed three Mausolea in Timbuktu. All of it are U.N. World heritage sites and served as religious and historical landmarks. Rebellion seems to be a fast way to eradicate historic sites.

Visiting can harm too. Over a million tourists came to Machu Picchu in 2011. The ancient city that survives centuries of calamities and invasion is now an “endangered architectural site” (TravelVivi); the influx of tourists contributing to its springing demise.

But Ecuador is on track of people coming to Galapagos Island. They are limiting the number of visitors and the length of stays. Fuel consumption and pollution are also regulated to maintain the pristine of the island. Many countries may find it hard to follow Ecuador’s steps since tourism is an industry that feeds economy. Historical sites are competing against money.

Political decisions can also affect the duration of historical sites. U.S. cuts funding for UNESCO, an organization that protects world’s heritage sites.Without the priority, historical sites won’t be secured.

If they do vanish, how long will the memory remain?

Sources:
Mali Islamists destroy tombs in Timbuktu; CNN
Ecuador to limit number of visitors to Galapagos Islands; Travel Weekly
8 Places Almost Destroyed by Tourists; TravelVivi

 

Let’s Talk About Not Talking About Politics

Every four years, this country is afflicted with temporary madness.
by Elizabeth Lee of elizabethly

Photo from Lindsay G’s flickr

I am tired of hearing about politics, tired of 75% of my Facebook news feed being comprised of those viral photo+text propaganda images that get spread around like wildfire, as though that’s why I get on Facebook every day.  (Hint: it’s not.  I’ll take your baby and dog pictures any day over that nonsense.)  I cannot wait for this election to be over and done.

Tax returns!  Birth certificate!  Health care!  Dog on the roof of his car!  Socialist!  Elitist!  Muslim!

Really?

Much of this stuff comes from otherwise intelligent people, who in every other facet of life seem capable of having opinions that weren’t prefabricated by their favorite sensationalist news source.

Let’s face it, folks – we the people are not in possession of all the facts.  What’s more, for many of the accusations I’ve come across, the only person who knows whether they are true or not is the person who stands accused.  So much of what’s said is conjecture, designed to invoke an emotional reaction, and it comes from every camp.

I don’t enjoy being bombarded with political sentiment everywhere I go – whether I’m being preached at directly, or simply overhearing a little mudslinging in the local bookstore.  It’s all abrasive to me.

What baffles me most is how public people are with their pontificating.  I prefer to keep my beliefs private.

When I was a kid, my parents never even would tell me who they were voting for.  I’m sure they talked about it with each other once I was in bed, or out of the house somewhere, but in front of me, they remained pretty neutral about who they supported and what party they backed.  I always found their reticence thought-provoking.  They got a bit more outspoken as I got older, probably because they figured I had already formed some theories of my own and was less impressionable.

Right from the beginning, Mom and Dad have been very good about encouraging me to come to my own conclusions about life.  I guess they must be advocates of individualism.  Some parents seem to expect their children to become ideological clones, and are then shocked when the kids turn out to have their own opinions.

This was never the case in my house while I was growing up.  We would sometimes butt heads over issues, but never did I feel that to disagree with my parents was wrong, in and of itself.  I know they wished I shared their beliefs, but they seemed to accept that I was going to have my own convictions, and that they could steam about it all they wanted, but it wasn’t going to change me.

Mom and Dad, I appreciate that.  I don’t know if I’ve told you that at all, or if I have, if I’ve said it often enough.  Thanks for letting me become my own person, even if you weren’t sure you were going to like how I ended up.  Thanks for providing me with the opportunity to form a distinct ‘self.’

I’ve gone through just about every shade of the political and philosophical spectrum, which was probably pretty amusing from my parents’ perspective.  Funnily enough, I ended up coming around to their way of thinking about some things, after all.

I will admit that much, but I’m still not going to tell anyone who I’m voting for.  That’s Top Secret husband and wife stuff.

I’m Elizabeth.  I cook, read, and write, adore my husband, spoil my cat, drink tea, take pictures, do crosswords and Sudoku, thirst for knowledge, and get enormous enjoyment out of little things.

Yes to Euthanasia?

If we all strive for more freedom in our lives, if we have the right choose our own jobs, our own way of living, may we not decide whether we want to live or not?

Photo from dailyrecord.co.uk

Euthanasia has been the cause of many debates worldwide. When we kill animals we do it fast to stop them from experiencing unnecessary pain. Do those animals want to die? Maybe so, their living conditions aren’t very good when humans put them in small cages. Animals can’t communicate with us, they can’t tell us if they agree. Would we let them live if they’d disagree? Maybe, if they could communicate, we might consider them equal to us, and we wouldn’t kill them. How can we be sure animals experience any pain at all? It is impossible, but we expect them to, it would be rather strange if they didn’t.

Tony Nicklinson was no animal. He was paralysed in 2005, and could only communicate with his eyes. Did he suffer from pain? Yes, he said his life had become a ‘nightmare’. Did he want to die? Yes, he lost many cases fighting for his right-to-die. Could he communicate, could he tell us he didn’t want to live anymore? Yes, he could and he did. Did we kill him, did we let him die without experiencing unnecessary pain? No.

Why didn’t we? Becauce the law says so? Is that a valid reason when someone has to live 7 years, paralysed? A healthy person who wants to die has many ways to do this. Tony didn’t, you can hardly kill yourself with your eyes. Doctors couldn’t because they would be murderers. His living conditions were worse than the animals we kill for food, living in small cages. If his living conditions are inhumane, does the law still apply to him?

After Tony lost a case in the High Court, he stopped eating, which was his death’s cause. It was his only option left. How could he enjoy living a life he didn’t want? How can you enjoy living if you’re forced to?

What is your opinion on the subject?

Bullying Helps

It’s all about preparations for advancing life.

Boy is Bullied. Photo from singlemindedwomen.com

It is not preferred for any child to be bullied at all. Yes, in a perfect world; but ours was imperfect. Regardless of one’s developmental stage, class or any demographics you can think of, bullies are sure visitors.

It’s true, a fact of unfair life. I’ve seen (and known) many adults who would break into a fistfight just because someone accidentally stepped on him, or would rant publicly in a waiter’s degraded face because of a trivial mistake of dropping an onion on her lap. These people don’t know how to handle unexpected and disadvantaged events, and it may perhaps because the likes of similar events are never experienced before.

A bullied child will learn how to fight later on. I’m promoting fighting; not to harass but to defend, not to be violent but to be vigilant, and not to be purely emotional but to be justly rational. It’s so easy to punch back or pull the hair of your bullies, but you’ve learned a valuable lesson when you restrained yourself and fought back with integrity.

Experiencing pain early in life only increases your threshold of it. Indefinitely, next time an oppressing force strained you, you knew you got over it, that it’s nothing beyond manageable. I see bullying as a practical teacher from life for the rest of life.

On finale note, there are two sides. It is better to be bullied, that to be the bully.

What’s your view in bullying? Has it changed you?

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What if.. Crime Commit

What if you could commit a crime and get away with it..

Photo from photoXpress

What crimes have you committed in your thoughts?

Don’t come clean here, I know at some point in our childhood and especially adulthood, we fantasized stabbing our enemies in the most epic possible way. I do that a lot with movie villains.

The Bling Ring gang had it groovy. They robbed the settlements of A-list celebrities including Paris Hilton, Rachel Bilson, Megan Fox, Orlando Bloom, Lindsay Lohan and more. They executed it between 2008 to 2009, got caught and now a movie in production. How can you get away with that, with Millionaires against you.

I don’t intend to promote crimes here, but to just play around the neat idea.

Toptentopten.com listed the rad crimes to commit.  Among my favorites is hacking “the cities street light operating system and change all the lights to green”, or better make the lights dance like it’s Christmas.

On the said list as well is stealing a tank and driving it all around New York City. Yeah, that was like playing Grand Theft Auto in real life – awesome! Or pulling your pants down and running nude in a live presidential speech – you get to steal the focus.

The rest of their badass crimes are in the list – The Top Ten Coolest Crimes To Commit.

LG, a multinational electronics company, suggested a way to rob their stores. Watch their ad:

I’m a simple dude, my crimes would be tax evasion (understandable, right?), beating traffic laws then bribing the police officer and sneaking into a cinema. I may also want to hack computers of important people, or the Twitter account of the famous. Then I’ll fill it up with untamed viruses. What’s your crimes?

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