What do people really want?

People say you are stubborn,
If you don’t.
People say you are gossipy,
If you stand for the truth.

If you dress smartly,
People say you are proud.
If you dress simply,
People say you are old-fashioned.

If you like responsibilities,
People say you like things.
If you don’t
People say you are good for nothing.

If you like talking and laughing,
They say they cannot trust you.
If you are cool and polite,
People say you are dull and boring.

If you walk with girls or boys,
People say you are a bad boy or girl.
If you don’t,
They say you are anti-social.

If you are rich,
People envy and hate you.
If you are poor,
They despise you.

source: http://www.info.bw/~maunsss/ipalele.htm

Just say no

I am seeing and observing that more and more social problems among youths and those older are caused by peer pressure. While I was a teenager, in the US, the social whatsthename people would come to our classes and teach us about peer pressure and the phrase "Just Say No". I always remember this phrase since then as I feel it has complete and powerful meaning. So the next time your peers put any kinds of pressure on you which you feel is negative or would negatively affect you or your family in anyways, JUST SAY NO.
If they pressure you to drink alcohol, JUST SAY NO.
If they pressure you to go out when you don't feel like it, JUST SAY NO.
If they pressure you to skip class, JUST SAY NO.
If they pressure you to ..........., JUST SAY NO.

To hell with peers who pressure. To hell with negative peer pressure.

If they keep talking and talking and trying to make you feel guilty, JUST STOP LISTENING. If they cared to be your friends, they wouldn't do this on you. So why do you care for them?

You might feel bad for saying no to them now, but as you come to your full and righteous sense you will feel proud for having said no. You may satisfy your peers now and say yes, but you may regret it for the rest of your lives. So, JUST SAY NO and MEAN IT and STICK TO IT.

Mantra of Good Karma

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s: Respect for self, Respect for others, and Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation foryour life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Some things I picked up today

Quote:

“If those who are better off do not act in a more socially responsible manner, our growth process may be at risk, our polity may become anarchic and our society may get further divided. We cannot afford these luxuries” (India's Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh). I think this quote flawlessly applies to Srok Khmer, especially to the "neo-rich" folks.

Some health facts:

In Southeast Asia, 40% of anti-malarial drugs were found to be ineffective fakes.

Many low-income countries have less than 1 health worker for every 1,000 people.

Coordination problems are created by 26 UN agencies, 20 global and regional funds and 90 global health initiatives.

Improvements in water, sanitation and hygiene can prevent nearly 2 million deaths from diarrhoeal diseases each year.

The average health spend per person per year in the UK is 1,400 Pounds. In Sub-Saharan Africa it is 5 Pounds.

There are almost 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS, with 4 million new infections each year.

Source: Developments magazine, issue 39, 2007, DFID.

Some more favorite Quotes

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment - Benjamin Franklin

Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say but keep on saying it - Robert Frost

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Random pics:

SIC's Valentine 'Fund-raising' Dinner on Cambo Maru, Tonle Sap river

--KK, Nina, QG, Bong KC, Mealea, Davy, Arrex, Lucky--

W/ Nina @ Kien Svay

3 Quotes of the Day

Friends

Friendship, like the immortality of the soul, is too good to be believed. When friendships are real, they are not glass threads or frost work, but the solidest things we know. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth. – Robert Southey

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

3 Quotes of the Day

Charity

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. – Mother Teresa

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work. – Mother Teresa

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. – Mother Teresa

3 Quotes of the Day

Talking

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." – Plato

"If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut." – Albert Einstein

"Never interrupt me when I'm trying to interrupt you." – Winston Churchill