Nobel Peace Prize? How bout a noble piece of my mind...

I'm sure it comes by no surprise that I am less than pleased with Obama's recent Nobel Peace Prize award. There are many people out there that do so much good in the world. They are the ones that deserve special recognition....not the President of  The United States! Hasn't he gotten enough praise? Everyone knows his name, his causes, his purpose. Have you heard of any of the people listed below? Maybe if they had been awarded the "prize" you would get to hear more about them and their hard work to create a better world. Politics aside, I feel like this year the nomination committee got a little lazy and I am disappointed with their decision. Below is a quick list of people who were passed over so that Obama could win.

(from http://www.weeklystandard.com/)

Sima Samar, women's rights activist in Afghanistan: "With dogged persistence and at great personal risk, she kept her schools and clinics open in Afghanistan even during the most repressive days of the Taliban regime, whose laws prohibited the education of girls past the age of eight. When the Taliban fell, Samar returned to Kabul and accepted the post of Minister for Women's Affairs."

Ingrid Betancourt: French-Colombian ex-hostage held for six years.

"Dr. Denis Mukwege: Doctor, founder and head of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. He has dedicated his life to helping Congolese women and girls who are victims of gang rape and brutal sexual violence."

Handicap International and Cluster Munition Coalition: "These organizations are recognized for their consistently serious efforts to clean up cluster bombs, also known as land mines. Innocent civilians are regularly killed worldwide because the unseen bombs explode when stepped upon."

"Hu Jia, a human rights activist and an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, who was sentenced last year to a three-and-a-half-year prison term for 'inciting subversion of state power.'"

"Wei Jingsheng, who spent 17 years in Chinese prisons for urging reforms of China's communist system. He now lives in the United States."

Maybe they'll do better next time...

 

On a lighter note:

Brett really is quite the handy man. I am lucky to have him. However every handy man has their "off" day. Sadly, last Saturday was Brett's. After successfully installing this lovely new porch light, he had a bit of an "accident."

Take a look at the new skylight Brett installed in our living room....with his foot. You see he was up in the attic, installing the porch light and on his way back through the ceiling to the stairs down from the attic, he slipped and his foot came crashing through the ceiling. Luckily, I was sitting almost directly below him when it all happened. I'm truly lucky he didn't fall in my lap and hurt himself or me.

And here is the aftermath from the hole...Brett is so thoughtful that he wanted Christmas to come early for me so he made it snow in our living room! : )

As bad as things seemed last weekend, I am happy to report that we (meaning Brett and Uncle Paul) have successfully patched the hole in the ceiling. We simply weren't ready for a skylight and all that extra sunshine in our living room.

At times like these, all you can do is laugh. And now, we can look back on this as a funny little memory!


Sunday, a time for reflections and conspiracy theories

Brett and I were sucked in by the History channel today. We woke up and there was a JFK Special on. Well, little did we know that it was an all day event. I could barely get away from the TV. I mean, maybe the mob did kill JFK, maybe it was another group who did it. Why do all the Kennedy's die? Doesn't it seem a little weird??? I dunno the answers but sometimes its fun to listen to the theories...they can get a little far fetched. And yes, I did spend quite a lot of time watching but hey, it's educational...right??

Then, as the JFK programming was ending and I thought I might actually be able to get away from the TV, the history channel jumped right into a special on 9/11 conspiracy theories. I guess I've been under a rock for the last 8 years but I had no idea that people really thought 9/11 was this huge conspiracy. And although I found it quite interesting and entertaining to listen to, I can't help but think there is something wrong with people that think the government is wicked enough to fabricate such an elaborate and devastating event. Don't get me wrong, I think the government is corrupt in many ways, but to kill thousands, or to allow thousands to be killed sounds too far fetched. Anyway, if you are curious, you can google "9/11 Conspiracy" or "Loose Coins" to hear more of these theories.

Outflow - outward-focused living in a self-centered world:

My mom gave me a new book to read today. It's actually more of a 5-week study on how to better yourself and others by living a life focused on others. I'll admit it: I'm self-centered and self-absorbed. I often worry about myself and only myself, my problems, my life....but that's not how it should be and that's not how I want to be remembered. On the very first page of the introduction, I read something cool. It's a pretty simple, but profound concept:

The glass is not half empty, and it's not half full, it's overflowing. 

Despite all the problems we face daily, don't we all have gifts, that are overflowing that we could and should share with others? Instead of focusing on ourselves and our situations, we should look to others to see how we can help them. If we all did that, then there would be others looking to help us, while we were helping others. We'd all reap the benefits. Make sense? Have you ever taken note of something nice someone has said to you, or something thoughtful they've done for you? Think about what an impact it would make if we all did more....even just little things for other people. Sometimes I get bogged down with thinking I need to make these grand gestures or come up with elaborate ways to give back....I think to myself, when will I ever find the time, the money, the resources? Before I even do anything, I get overwhelmed and then as a result, do nothing. Well, not anymore....or at least hopefully not anymore!!

You've Got Mail - 

Some of my readers (hum, hum) ok, all of my readers have gotten a little lazy and rely soley on my emails, to plop in their inbox, so they can read all of my profound thoughts. That is NOT the way a blog is supposed to work....at least I don't think it is. A blog is an actual website that people are supposed to visit regularly. I've been babying all of you and for this reason, nobody reads what I write unless it is emailed to them. So, in the near future, I am going to stop sending my posts via email. Hopefully this will encourage everyone to visit the website and if you want to...make it a "Favorite" or "Bookmark" it so you can visit again and again. And trust me, I have some GOOD stuff coming up in the near future.....so you won't want to miss a post! : )

So that there's no confusion the website is:

http://bplusmcox.blogspot.com