I do not like sending out ready made e-mails as a means of keeping in touch with friends or vise versa. I loath reading the ones which advises what food to eat inorder to live longer. I believe in moderation and sensible eating. The rest is in God's hand. I do not like the ones with heavy religious tones and advises.  I think people are hiding behind them. I don't mind the occasional ones when friends wants to share some thoughts or feelings. I like best the ones on nature which give glory to God. I like clean humorous ones too.


My friend who never sent me ready made e-mail in the past 15 years made an exception of sending me two of the most favorite ones I ever received, after she lost her daughter this past January (she also lost her husband two Christmas ago while her daughter was fighting with an aggresive cancer.) The first one was matching up dogs with kids look alike :) Another one - 'philosophy among orchids'. Too bad, I can't include the beautiful pictures. But here are the words:


We never get what we want,We never want what we get, We never have what we like, We never like what we have.And still we live and love. That's life...
The best kind of friend, Is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, Never say a word,
And then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.
It's true that we don't know What we've got until it's gone. But it's also true that we don't know What we've been missing until it arrives..
Giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they'll love you back!
Don't expect love in return; Just wait for it to grow in their heart. But if it doesn't, be content it grew in yours.
It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone,
An hour to like someone,And a day to love someone, But it takes a lifetime to forget someone.
Don't go for looks; they can deceive. Don't go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile, Because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the friends that makes your heart smile! (But don't rule out those who also comes with the look or wealth, though they are very rare.)
May you have Enough happiness to make you sweet, Enough trials to make you strong, Enough sorrow to keep you human, And enough hope to make you happy.
Always put yourself in others' shoes.
If you feel that it hurts you,
It probably hurts the other person, too.
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; They just make the most of everything that comes along their way. Happiness lies with Those who cry, Those who hurt,Those who have searched, And those who have tried, For only they can appreciate the importance of people Who have touched their lives.
When you were born, you were crying And everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, You're the one who is smiling. And everyone around you is crying.

How Canadians should speak and stand up for our value to make the true North strong and free.
http://www.livestream.com/ideacity/video?clipId=flv_fd017d81-dc18-42cc-821a-18b86fdea840


From the Calgary Herald ...

This is truly worth reading. Mr Kanwar's views should be passed along to every Canadian. An excellent read!Mahfooz Kanwar, PHD, is a Sociologist and an Instructor Emeritus at MountRoyal College . This very wise, educated gentleman is a first generationCanadian whose parents immigrated from Pakistan . He is also Muslim, buttruly understands what it is to be Canadian first, even though he and his parents are from another country.What is Canada becoming? Canada 's tolerance misplaced?By Mahfooz Kanwar, For The Calgary Herald, March 30, 2009C Copyright (c)

The Calgary HeraldCanada's Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is getting flak from the usualsuspects, but he deserves praise instead.Recently, Kenney pointed that out while at a meeting in Toronto . Members ofCanada 's Pakistani community called on him to make Punjabi one of Canada 'sofficial languages. It makes me angry that such an idea would enter theminds of my fellow and former countrymen, let alone express them to aMinister of the Crown.A few months ago, I was dismayed to learn that Erik Millett, the principalof Belleisle School in Springfield , N.B., limited playing our national anthem because the families of a couple of his students objected to it.As a social scientist, I oppose this kind of political correctness, lack of assimilation of new immigrants to mainstream Canada , hyphenated-Canadian identity, and the lack of patriotism in our great nation.Increasingly, Canadians feel restricted in doing things the Canadian waylest we offend minorities. We cannot even say Merry Christmas without fearof causing offence. It is amazing that 77 per cent of the Canadian majority are scared of offending 23 per cent of minorities. We have become so timid that the majority cannot assert its own freedom of expression. We cannot publicly question certain foreign social customs, traditions and values that do not fit into the Canadian ethos of equality. Rather than encouraging new immigrants to adjust to Canada , we tolerate peculiar ways of doing things.We do not remind them that they are in Canada , not in their original homelands.In a multicultural society, it is the responsibility of minorities to adjust to the majority. It does not mean that minorities have to totally amalgamate with the majority. They can practice some of their cultural traditions within their homes -- their backstage behavior. However, when outside of their homes, their front stage behavior should resemble mainstream Canadian behavior. Whoever comes to Canada must learn the limits of our system. We do not kill our daughters or other female members of ourfamilies who refuse to wear hijab, niqab or burka which are not mandated by the Qur'an anyway. We do not kill our daughters if they date the "wrong"men. A 17-year-old Sikh girl should not have been killed in BritishColumbia by her father because she was caught dating a Caucasian man.We do not practice the dowry system in Canada , and do not kill our brides because they did not bring enough dowry. Millions of female fetuses areaborted every year in India , and millions of female infants have been killed by their parents in India and China . Thousands of brides in India are burned to death in their kitchens because they did not bring enough dowry into a marriage. Some 30,000 Sikhs living abroad took the dowries but abandoned their brides in India in 2005. This is not accepted in Canada .In some countries, thousands of women are murdered every year for family or religious honour. We should not hide behind political correctness and weshould expose the cultural and religious background of these heinous crimes,especially if it happens in Canada . We should also expose those who bring their cultural baggage containing the social custom of female circumcision.I was shocked when I learned about two cases of this barbaric custompracticed in St. Catharines, Ont. a few years ago.I have said it on radio and television, have written in my columns in TheCalgary Herald, and I have written in my latest book, Journey to Success,that I do not agree with the hyphenated identity in Canada because itdivides our loyalties. My argument is that people are not forced to come to Canada and they are not forced to stay here. Those who come here of theirown volition and stay here must be truly patriotic Canadians or go back.I am a first-generation Canadian from Pakistan . I left Pakistan 45 yearsago. I cannot ignore Pakistan , because it is the homeland of my folks, but my first loyalty should be and is to Canada . I am, therefore, a proud Canadian, no longer a Pakistani-Canadian. I am a Canadian Muslim, not aMuslim Canadian.I do not agree with those Canadians who engage in their fight against the system in their original countries on Canadian soil. They should go backand fight from within. For example, some of the Sikhs, Tamil Tigers,Armenians and others have disturbed the peace in Canada because of their problems back home. Recently, a low-level leader of MQM, the Mafia of Pakistan , came to Canada as a refugee and started to organize public rallies to collect funds for their cause in Pakistan . On July 18, 2007, the FederalCourt of Canada ruled that MQM is a terrorist group led by London-basedAltaf Hussain, their godfather. As a member in the coalition government of Pakistan , this terrorist group is currently collaborating with the Talibanin Pakistan . That refugee was deported back to Pakistan .Similarly, I disagree with newcomers who bring their religious baggage here.For example, Muslims are less than two per cent of the Canadian population,yet in 2004 and 2005, a fraction of them, the fundamentalists, wanted to bring Sharia law to Canada . If they really want to live under Sharia, they should go to the prison-like countries where Sharia is practiced.I once supported multiculturalism in Canada because I believed it gave us asense of pluralism and diversity. However, I have observed and experienced that official multiculturalism has encouraged convolution of the values that make Canada the kind of place people want to immigrate to in the first placeHere, we stand on guard for Canada , not for countries we came from. Like it or not, take it or leave it, standing on guard only for Canada is our national maxim. Remember, O Canada is our national anthem which must not be disregarded by anybody, including the teacher in Springfield , N. B.Mahfooz Kanwar, PHD, Is A Sociologist and an Instructor Emeritus at MountRoyal College .C Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

When we think of desert, our mind see the vast and endless sand dunes flowing in front of our eyes. Though there is certain beauty in it, few of us desire to go there. But one tends to forget there are oasis dotted among the desert.

So there was one for me in the harsh years of growing up - There were 2000 children in 'True Light' school. age 3 to 18. It is half way up on a hill. It occupies quite a few acres. It is the envy of many other schools because the land was granted by the government, as a reward to the principal who held a PhD in education from a famous university and had a distinctive track record in her profession. Children all wore white and sky-blue uniform.

Unlike some other luckier families who lived closer to the school, my sibling and I had to walk 45 minutes up the slope to get to the school. (It would be wonderful news for nowadays parents if their grade school children can be out of the house independently and get some needed exercises.) We never missed a beat except when typhoon struck and school had to be closed.

Some days, the sky poured down torrential rain, even with our oil cloth rain jacket, we were soaked from head to toe, school would still take us in. There was a large playground for the primary grade. It was equipped with fantastic but basic equipments - a large climber where we like to play 'catch' on it while no one's foot was allowed to touch the ground; swings which we could fly off midway and a 'swinging bridge' on which a very long square log was hung from a swing. Two kids pumped it like a swing on both ends and the dare devil boys would stand across the log, holding onto nothing while it may be pumped four to five feet high. Those were good sources to let out the steam in strict classroom environment.

There were two democratically voted prefects in each classroom (but of course it was usually the few high profile kids got voted in, year after year.) But I can't remember what they do except to hit the bell when the teacher stepped in or out of the class while the rest of the kids all stood up to greet him/her. There were one row monitor assigned by the teacher for every 6 or 7 children in class with actual responsibility, like collecting home works, giving out papers, buying stationary at the school, keeping their row quiet (after all there were 40 children in each class.)

Each student had a diary where we record our homework assignment and a special column listed with different virtues where the teacher would put a check mark beside if any one made a distinctive effort on that day and was recognized by the teacher. She would also make a cross mark beside any virtue which we broke. So parents can be notified by a simple sign. (I feel so sorry for nowadays teachers who have to put so many kind words in report cards even for the rotten students in order to be politically correct.)

We had favorite teachers who would tell us stories if we get our class work done quickly. I don't remember any teacher stood out poorly. Some might be straighter than others but they were all very kind. We had school assembly under a large shelter with no walls. In the winter, it could be quite cold trying to sit still. We sang a lot of school songs, which encourage character building, school family life (yep, that was what we learned, school is like a family to us.) and lots of encouraging songs of God's love (which was the only love we ever heard in my family.) No need to say, it really help our reading skill by singing the words on the songbooks.

Every two or three weeks, different classes would put on skits, plays, special singing or talent display at the assembly. I was selected one time to say some English poem on stage but my teacher kept telling me to slow down (which I didn't see the point.) There was a small plot on a little slope made into stairs about two feet wide for grade 6 students to grow vegetable. Though the harvest was meager, we took great fun and pride in it. We also learned about where organic fertilizer come from - only the brave ones would used it sparingly, may be that's why our vegetable was always slinky.

There were also display boards along the wall outside each classroom displaying the students' work, be it calligraphy, drawings, painting, handcrafts etc. I love art. I remembered spending a lot of time painting, crocheting, making needle points, embroideries, so my work could get onto the display boards. One time, my adorable art teacher (he was a professionally trained art teacher and very serious one too) chose me and another friend to paint a big Christmas mural framed with poinsettia for the whole primary school to sign their names on. I was so proud of it.

The school also had a big athletic field, which, amazingly still exists consider the astronomical cost of per square foot of land. Even the fairy tale garden, which used to situated across from the school had been demolished in order to build expensive high rises. We had sport days once a year. We had so much fun in different races. It was always team effort. All the winning teams got 'praise' as reward. The high school students would carry out their lantern ceremony close to their graduation day. The primary students would carry out the promotion ceremony along the corridor outside their classroom facing the playground. We would sing songs designed for the occasion and climbed up one flight of the building as a symbolic gesture.

The school was run so orderly as a perfect little community. Everyone felt safe in it. There are monitors on each flight of the wide stairway which had a red line run right in the middle, so people would keep the courtesy of going up or coming down on the same side. If one trespassed, his name will be taken down by the monitor. We also have playground monitors to make sure the rules are followed.

Oh yeah, every year, the school would also have a bazaar for fund raising. Every class would think of games which would lure people to spent their tickets on in order to play. It was so fun. The midway in N. America would look pale compare to it. I loved the eating parlor of the senior students the best. Mmmmmmmm..........the wonton noodle soup..........etc. School was my home in those years. I thrived in it. Nowadays, it gives me joy to hear my sponsored children love going to school, which is their lifeline.