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25 Tiny Gifts – Ideas for a Stocking, Surprise Jar, Surprise Ball or Advent Calendar

The problem is finding enough small and interesting items. Of course, one could fill the whole calendar, stocking or surprise gift with small, edible items, like candy, chocolate or chewing gum, but that’s not as much fun as finding something different from your gift.

I also love giving gifts, so I have been thinking about what I could put in gifts like this. I decided to share a generic list of items that are good for anyone. Choose something from all of the groups, several items from a few groups or all items from one group. Just choose the style and colors according to the receiver.

Key rings

Even though one gets key rings as ads from all sources, there seems to be always need for some more. It isn’t unusual that even children are carrying keys today.

Brooches, pins and buttons

My 18 years old niece collects buttons and pins and her back bag is filled with them. A brooch doesn’t need to be flowery and girly.

Magnets

I love fridge magnets and buy these as souvenirs and mementos. Magnets are nice for a magnetic memo board too.

Decorated clothes pins or clips

Clothes pins can be used as clips to keep papers together or to hang notes on the wall.

The receiver’s initial

It could be a metal key ring, wooden shape or embroidered badge.

Candy, chewing gum, other edibles

Edibles are a quick and easy way of satisfying the gift opener, and the only way to appeal to taste buds.

Teabags, small packs of coffee or cocoa

If your target likes hot drinks, you can add a couple of portion packages of his/her favorite drink.

Miniature packages of cosmetics

Boys aren’t usually very interested in this kind of things, but could use a small bottle of moisturizer or cologne. Girls are usually happy about a tiny bottle of nail polish or perfume, but here too, choose the gift according the receiver. Tomboys won’t get glad about girly stuff. This is also a good gift for travelers.

Lip balm

There are neutral packages of these too, and even boys can have dry lips.

Tiny case of tiger balm

I carry a tiny, red tin of tiger balm in my handbag all the time. I like the visual package and I think tiger balm can be used for many purposes. The tiny tin lasts surprisingly long time.

Small case

Small, sewn case can be folded into a very tiny item, and these are very useful, to hold together your cards and tickets; to protect and personalize your iPod, MP3 player, Game Boy, mobile or other gadget or for other purposes, like for paper tissues or feminine sanitary accessories.

Flash drive

Another small and useful item in today’s computerized world.

Stationery

If the gift receiver likes “back to school” items or stationery, add erasers, pen sharpeners, miniature pencils, pens, crayons or colored pencils in the package.

Rubber stamps

Especially children love rubber stamps and stamping.

Tiny craft supplies

If the receiver is a scrapbooker or works with altered books and art journaling, there’s a lot of different supplies that can be put into small places, like brads and embellishments. Also beading and sewing have many options for small items.

Stickers, scraps, ephemera, stamps, tiny artwork

Pretty, funny, colorful pictures, pictures of the receiver’s favorite subject, can be fun to get, even when one doesn’t use these in their craft or art.

Vintage toys, miniatures and figurines

It seems the items were smaller back in time. I remember these tiny plastic horses and cows from my childhood, tin soldiers, small cars and other such things one could find inside Easter chocolate eggs. When I was little, a friend of mine had an Advent calendar with a tiny plastic toy in each calendar box, and I remember being very envious. One can find a box of diverse items from flea markets and car boot or garage sales.

Tiny toys

They do make small toys even today, like plastic animals or marbles.

Tiny Stuffed Animals

These are especially suitable for the outer decoration of the gift, peeping out from a stocking or hugging the surprise ball.

Miniatures

Visit a store selling items intended for doll houses or miniature railways and you’ll find a lot of tiny things to hide inside a surprise ball or Advent calendar.

Worry dolls

Worry dolls are tiny, Guatemalan dolls made of wood and yarn. They are traditionally used to transfer the owner’s worries and nightmares into the doll and thus removing them.

Jewelry

Jewelry can be very small items, like rings, pendants, chains and earrings.

Charms

You could give someone a whole charm bracelet in an Advent calendar. Give the bracelet itself on Christmas.

Polished stones

In some New Age stores they sell polished stones. These are very pretty to look at and nice to hold, and usually inexpensive.

Matchbook items, like matchbook notepads, sewing kits etc.

I have seen matchbook notepads, matchbook games, matchbook sewing kits, matchbook nail files, matchbook art, matchbook poetry, matchbook candy favors, even a matchbook first aid kits.

Lottery tickets

I would like to find a scratch ticket from the surprise present.

Gift cards and money

You can always give the receiver a gift card. If the gift card doesn’t fold into small enough, you can add a note with instructions on how to find the gift card or just telling that the gift is a gift card.

Self-made gift cards are also an idea.

If you can’t think of anything else, give money. Especially children and teenagers appreciate this present very much.

Ketutar is a witch and a writer, interested in many things.

About the Author

What was the worst injury you got on the playground?

I was in the second grade, and I was getting in line to go back inside. This boy and girl were horsing around, and the boy hit the side of my head with his head. The back of my ear where it connects to your head started to bleed. I was holding my ear and crying. I went to the nurse, and the nurse called my mom. My mom took me to the hospital. The doctor looked at it, and she cleaned it up. She said that if it was any deeper; I would have needed stiches. The doctor said I was so brave because I wasn’t crying while she was cleaning it out. I got a coloring book and stickers; I also got out of school for the rest of the day. Talk about a hard head.

It’s close between two. Both involved a significant amount of flesh being ripped from my knees. One was on those spinning wheels kids would puch and the ride around in a circle. I have referred to these as spinning wheels of death ever since an incident at a local playground when I was 6. I fell off the thing while it was in full spin, but my jacket caught on the metal handle, dragging me along under the darn thing at the edge on my knees. I followed this stunning performance with a ride from school on a Big Wheel (plastic, low slung tricycle kind of thing in case I am an old fart and you are not) when I jumped a curb/ The Big Wheel rotated in front of me in midair so it was upside down infront of me as opposed to under me. This was bad because I had been coming down a steep hill and the curb I hopped was onto a GRAVEL street. Note to self, one should not slide on gravel at a high rate of speed. When I heard that Daunte Culpepper had torn all three ligaments in his knee and would be out all year, I thought to myself……WIMP!

Painting Horse – Horse Training – www.horsetraining.org

Some Books for Cat Training

A cat lover needs a reliable guide or manual to get through his cat’s training. It is not enough to just browse over websites for tips and other feline know-hows. What he needs are trusty cat training books ! Here are some of the best-selling and truly amazing cat training books that can have one’s pet cat do more than meowing and scratching:

1. “Guide to Well-Behaved Cat: A Sound Approach to Cat Training”  The book says it all. It aims to train the cat to behave. Written by Phil Maggiti, this book is packed with rich information and divided into four parts. The first chapter tackles the cat’s evolution, while the second is all about its domestication. Design and function of an ordinary cat is discussed in chapter three, while chapter four talks about human-pet relationship topics such as why does a kitty disobey the owner when it is called?

2. “Understanding or Training Your Cat or Kitten”

This acclaimed book is from H. Ellen Whiteley, a veterinarian who understands cats more than an average person does. This book contains 292 pages of important information that can truly make you understand, train and appreciate one’s pet cat.

3. “Handbook of Behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat”

This book is a collaboration of Gary M. Landsberg, W. Hunthausen and L. Ackerman. Published by Elvesier Health Sciences, this is one of the most reputable books in cat training. Okay, so it is dual purpose – it is about cats and dogs, but it doesn’t matter. It is as informative as any other cat training book out there.

From discussing kitten development to suggesting therapy for behavior and diet-related problems, from approaching feline agression to finding out what the “European approach to behavior counseling” is, this book is indeed helpful.

4. “Cat Training in 10 Minutes”

The “Cat Training in 10 Minutes” is 142 pages of quirky information on how to communicate effectively with cats. Written by Miriam Fields-Banineau, a certified cat lover, this guide is easy to read and highly effective. Every cat owner can toilet-train his kitty in just a few reading sessions! It will not be long before the cat also follows the owner’s commands!  The photographs in the book are very attractive as well.

Nobody says cat training is going to be easy. That’s why cat training books are available online so one can get the gist and be the best cat owner in town.

About the Author

Visit the Animals Facts website to learn about lion facts and monkey facts.

Horse Trailers: A publisher I know needs a Horse Trailer expert to write a book. Know any suitable authors?

The book would be on how to buy the right horse trailer, new or used, and how to train one’s horse with horse trailers. More details will be provided by my publisher friend.

Cherry Hill is a great author that has already written a book called “Trailering Your Horse” have your friend contact her and talk to her.
Media Contact:
Richard Klimesh
970-221-2948
r.klimesh@horsekeeping.com

Business with Cherry Hill
FAX: 360-234-7118
horsekeeping-manager@horsekeeping.com

also here is her home page

http://www.horsekeeping.com/

good luck let us know if she writes the book or not

Iberian Horse Jumping Fire Wall

Keeping Track of Horse Training

When training your horse, it is a smart idea to keep a training diary. This is a book in which you keep track of what you have done each day, and how that training session went.

Training diaries are useful for a number of reasons. Have you ever felt that you are in a rut with your training and that nothing is improving? With a training diary you can go back and see if that feeling is justified. You might find that while it seems that you have made no progress, in fact you and your horse have improved steadily over the last few weeks without your even noticing it. If things are not going well, you might see that your training pattern has fallen into a rut and that you need to try making changes to your schedule to help jump start your training program.

If you have noticed that your horse is sore, or unhappy, you can use your training journal to find out if this is something that has been creeping up over time, or if it is a sudden development. A journal also allows you to take a look back a few months to see if that lameness in the right hind is the same as you remember from before, or if it is in fact something different.

What should you keep track of in your journal?

While it may seem obvious, you should keep track of all your training sessions. You should record how long the session was, what you did, and point out any improvements or set-backs you may have had. If your horse does anything unusual, even if it seems inconsequential, you should record it. Likewise any things you did differently, positive or negative, should be recorded.

Other things worth recording are any visits made by the vet or the farrier. Keep track of any cuts or scrapes, and how they happened if you know. If your barn owner makes any changes in your horse’s feed, record it so that you can see if it makes any difference to his attitude or performance. If you try a new supplement, a new piece of equipment, or anything else new, be sure to record it.

Of course, it is great to keep track of any upcoming events and record your training plans for those events. If possible, keep a separate section for all of your show results. By comparing your training plans with what you actually did, you will be able to see if your training plan is sensible and if it is working.

What type of journal works best?

There are lots of options to consider when choosing a journal. For some, having a paper trail at the barn is absolutely necessary. Trying to remember everything by the time you get home can be very difficult.

One option is to buy a regular journal or diary from the store. Because often weekends have abbreviated pages, be careful to select one that has full weekend pages, or if you take days off mid week, try adjusting the days accordingly. Make sure that there is enough room to record everything.

A journal that does not have specific dates may be a better option. You might even find that a blank, bound book with lined pages does the trick. These are usually available at the dollar store, saving you lots of money.

You can buy special riding journals at the tack store if you look around. They are designed for the purpose. These often cost a fair bit of money, but are organized to suit the purpose.

Another option is to keep an online journal or a computer-based journal. The only difficulty is that most barns don’t have computer access, so you would need to update things at home. One idea would be to create pages that you keep at the barn in a binder to fill out, then bring them home and update your computer journal with the information you recorded.

The type of journal that works best is really a matter of personal preference. It is more important that you are comfortable with your recording system than that it fits in with the norm. Use whatever works best for you, and be sure to keep it up to date. In the long run, the journal will be an excellent resource, and will also serve as a wonderful way to remember your experience years after your horse is gone.

About the Author

Lydia K Kelly is a writer for HorseClicks, classifieds of
horses for sale North Dakota
,
horses for sale Ohio
,
horses for sale Oklahoma
and other states. Lydia is also a featured author at
www.ArticleKing.com

I have questions about horse breeds?

I have a question about horse breeds! Okay so I am writing a children’s book about horse (6-11 year olds will probably be the age range of readers)! I have a question about horse breeds because in my book the horse will be doing many different types of riding there will be Races, Jumping, Hunt Seat, Dressage! I am wondering if there is a horse breed that is good at all those things! (Keep in mind this is a children’s book so it does not need to be that accurate, I know that a race horse would not jump and I know that a Dressage horse would never race but kids don’t know that)! I was thinking thoroughbred! What do you think?
Could a Hanoverian do all of these things?

The Thoroughbred is the only breed that has excelled at an international level in all those disciplines.

Thoroughbreds are the go-to breed for racing. While other breeds, including Quarter Horses, Arabians, Appaloosas, and even mules race, Thoroughbreds have an established history of racing that goes back over 200 years.

Thoroughbreds have medalled in Olympic jumping, in three-day event and in dressage. There are also Thoroughbreds who have won show championships as hunters, in English Pleasure, and in other English disciplines.

If your story was going to include just the show disciplines, you could go with a warmblood; but there is no racing circuit in which warmblood horses compete. Arabians have an established racing circuit both in the US and Europe, but it’s small-scale compared to Thoroughbred racing and many people are unaware that Arabians do race.

Quarter Horses have a better-known racing organization with some very well-known races, but not as well-known as Thoroughbred racing. (And most of the Quarter Horses that compete in QH races are at least 1/2, more often 3/4, Thoroughbreds).

These are some websites that might help you with regards to Thoroughbreds:

http://www.tbheritage.com/

http://www.phr.com/history.asp

http://www.equisearch.com/horses_riding_training/english/dressage/thoroughbredsporthorse_030206/

http://www.horsenetwork.com/secondchance/

Good luck!
************************

Edit: with regards to “… I know that a race horse would not jump and I know that a Dressage horse would never race…” Joe Fergis’ Olympic champion jumper, Touch of Class, who won the gold in the 1984 Olympics, was a former race horse under the name Stillaspill: http://www.pedigreequery.com/stillaspill Hilda Gurney’s dressage champion Keen was also a former racehorse under the name Willoughby: http://www.pedigreequery.com/willoughby4.

While it’s unusual for a horse to go from a show discipline to racing, it isn’t necessarily unprecedented. Jonathan Shepherd, the trainer who trained the great Thoroughbred sire Storm Cat for his racing career, gives a lot of his young horses some experience over fences while prepping them for the races. He’s uniquely suited to do this, both in the facilities he trains from and his experience as a steeplechase trainer (he’s trained many horses to steeplechase championships). http://www.ntra.com/stats_bios.aspx?id=2338.

Wild Horse Annie Book Trailer

Caste in India

Caste in India – A Quantum View

As Shri Bhimrao Ambedkar says “Subtler minds and abler pens than mine have been brought to the task of unraveling the mysteries of caste; but unfortunately it still remains in the domain of the ‘unexplained’ not to say of the ‘ununderstood’1a”. Never has this observation been more apt than now, when no aspect of social and political life of India is free of its influence. And this influence seems to be on the rise. To unravel some of the mysteries this institution holds within, let us take a journey through its origin and development.

“Caste “”, as defined, for example, by Lundenberg2 “is merely a rigid social class into which members are born and from which they can escape or withdraw with extreme difficulty”. In other words, it is a type of stratification system, which is most rigid in matters of mobility and distinction of status. Much need to be explained about the genesis of this system, though a good deal has been written about its nature, especially the various features of control influencing its members, its origins does not seem to have received enough attention. Some of the theories proposed are, racial theory -that caste system is a gift of Aryans, political theory -that caste system is an invention of Brahmins, occupational theory -that caste system is functional differentiation of occupational differences, traditional theory -that caste system is of divine origin to maintain social harmony, guild theory -that caste system is the product of interaction between guilds, tribes and religion, religious theory -that caste system is the institutionalization of prevailing customs, each caste being the followers of certain deity and evolution theory -that caste system is a result of social evolution moderated by various factors, like prejudices, lack of control mechanisms, geographic isolation of Indian peninsula as well as conquerors’ policies, especially that of the British, to name a few.

1 THEORIES OF CASTE ORIGIN-AN EXAMINATION

1.1 Racial Theory: The fact that caste names Brahmana, Kshtriya, and Visya are frequently mentioned in the RigVeda along with words like ‘dasa’, ‘varna’, gives credence to the theory that caste is an invention of IndoAryans. In ‘cultural history of India’ Al Basham mentions that caste system evolved to accommodate large variety of tribes into Aryan society during expansion of vedic Aryan territories.

However, such delineation does not take into consideration the importance generally was ascribed to ‘the moral worth’ of a man rather than his ‘birth’, which, we can see at many places in puranic literature, ‘mahabharata’ et al. Also, caste differences and demarcation of people on that basis was not considered as seriously as we do these days. In Al Baroonis India, he describes human, according to Indian thought, as “consisting of 25 elements, soul (sattva, tamas, rajas), matter, nature, will” etc, learn all these and one “will achieve salvation whatever religion one may follow”. Similar is the opinion of Sir Vincent Smith, who in ‘Asoka-his History’ says “Though each caste has its own dharma, the conduct is less rigid than it has been since Moslem invasions”. From all these, a conclusion one can reach is that, caste, as we see now, needs some more explanation, than that,” it has been evolved during intermingling of Indo Aryan local tribes.

1.2 Political Theory: In Mahabharata(shantiparva) creation of caste is given thus: “Brahma created the world entirely Brahmanic1b. Later, those Brahmins fond of sensual pleasure became kshtriyas. Those Brahmins who subsisted by agriculture neglecting their duties entered the state of Vaisya and those who were fond of mischief and falsehood sank into the condition of Sudras”. In ‘Hindu Caste System….’3, Dr Sharma explains the formation of caste thus: To meet liturgical needs, the society from among themselves would select, on the basis of skills of elocution, the Brahmins. Similarly, for administrative purposes, those with qualities of leadership would be selected….. Furthermore, visha(clan or tribe) also embodied people known as Shudra(meaning not of tribe, newcomers) representing all new comers to that particular tribe….Thus all responsibilities related to a visha could be grouped into four subcategories”, each having “their duties and skills”.

Though caste can thus be seen as having been a useful tool for maintaining social order, the fierce form it is having now needs much more explanation than what is offered by this theory.

1.3 Occupational theory: According to ‘Theodosian’ code, in early Roman Empire, son was required to follow fathers’ profession, thus maintaining availability of skill while solving the question of continuation of enterprises. That such an arrangement was widely followed can be observed in many of the popular surnames of today, Smith, Miller, Potter, to name a few.

How these occupational guilds and other family groups metamorphosed into castes, in India, while they amalgamated fully into the larger social canvas in rest of the world, is a question, needing finer minds and greater efforts perhaps, to answer.

1.4 Traditional theory, Guild theory and Religious theory: These theories propose divine intervention in human affairs. Such intervention regulates society by bringing harmony in all essential functions for social well being, mankind being left free in search of bliss. Occupational groups, which originate as a result of such harmony, on passage of time, converted themselves into castes by following endogamy. In this phenomenon of caste formation, some groups find themselves becoming endogamous and others find themselves forced into becoming so by society(by closing all avenues of social interaction).

Such a theory may be able to explain the formation of castes as a singularity in social evolution, but fails in providing rationale for the vast expanse of caste in Indian society.

1.5 Evolutionary theory: This theory, in fact, is not a new or different theory. It states, in effect, that over the years, formation of caste is influenced by all factors we have seen earlier, in some form or other.

2 THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT OF CASTE-A STUDY

1.1 The origin and development of caste therefore narrows down to the peculiarities of Indian social evolution which could transform into castes (as they are now) under the influence of factors like the ones mentioned in these theories. The stratification property of caste, one such peculiarity, in fact, is not a monopoly of India, its mention being found at many places. History by Herodotus, Mande or Osu caste systems of Africa, division of people into four estates in medieval Europe, of feudal barons, clergy, urban merchants and the mass of people as well divisions among old Israel population having ritual ramifications are a few places where one can find a system of differentiating humans to varying levels.

Such a process of division, in fact, has been a subject of study by sociologists, notably, Herbert Spencer, who in his sociological theories have put forth following generalizations:

• The larger the number of people and internal transactions, greater will be the size and degree of internal differentiation of government.

• The greater the actual or potential level of conflict with other societies and within a society, the greater will be the degree of centralization of power in a government.

• The greater the centralization of power, the more visible class divisions will be and the more these divisions create actual or potential conflict.

Like colonies of all living species, powerful leadership and consequently concentration of power did happen in all cultures giving rise to class structures.

1.2 Thus we see, though the tendency to form social class is present in every society, in our case, the stratification became increasingly stable, crystallizing into castes. The main factor which effected this transformation, of a social class into a caste, is another peculiarity of Indian social evolution, endogamy. Says Ambedker “Remember that endogamy is foreign to the people of India…It is no exaggeration to say that with the people of India exogamy is a creed and none dare infringe it…there are more rigorous penalties for violating exogamy than there are for violating endogamy. Castes, as far as India is concerned, means superposition of endogamy on exogamy”. He further elaborates how, sati or enforced widowhood (where widow is not allowed to remarry), imposition of celibacy on widower as well as girl marriage came to be part of Indian “uxorial customs to maintain numerical parity between the two sexes”, making endogamy workable leading to perpetuation of caste system.

1.3 S Charles Hill says 1b”Instead of allowing ourselves to be misled by the outward show of Hinduism we must concentrate our attention on what the Hindu writings tell us … According to the Bhagawat Gita, to be truly wise one must have learnt:

• To control the body in its appetites and desires so that it does not injure itself or impede the free action of soul

• To act for benefit of the community without hope of reward… so long as ones duty as laid down by the requirement of caste is performed

• To resign oneself with absolute patience to pain and suffering and loss and feel no exultation in success

…………………………………………………………………

In other words, to fit oneself for the position of a ruler one must have overcome all human weaknesses and renounce all material rewards…………… It is not necessary to enter upon the requirements of other castes, for the above is sufficient to show that what differentiates them is simply character”. He continues, stressing the fact that more than one observer has commented on the purity, regularity, equity and strictness of the ancient Indian government, “The ideal Hindu kingdom is not an utopian dream, still exists in the hearts of Hindus, that it was based upon a social system which secured the happiness and contentment and loyalty of all classes of the people, and that the later stages of corruption and confusion have been due to foreign intrusion whether from central Asia or from Europe, whilst whatever unrest now prevails in India is caused by the incessant struggles of the Hindu caste ideal against alien influences.” About the caste system existing then, he says, “….. as a matter of fact, though we talk of upper and lower castes, no caste was originally considered superior or inferior…..though in the Sudra the body is predominant, in the Vaisya the reason, in the Kshtriya the heart and in the Brahmin the soul, all castes are equally manifestations of Brahma though of different qualities. The relation between a higher and lower caste is then more like that between an adult and a child than that between a noble and a serf.” He says further, “It provides every member of the community with a position which, though rigidly fixed, is fixed only by his natural limitations, and so allows him every opportunity of using to their full extent whatever abilities he may possess to the general advantage.”

The views expressed by O P Gupta5a also are not dissimilar, “Supporters of casteism oftenly quote two slokas viz. (IV.13) and (XVIII.41) of Shrimad Bhagwat Gita to support four castes by birth. Let us examine. In sloka (IV.13) Lord Krishna says: “Chaturvarnyma mayaa sristam gunkarma vibhagsah” i.e. four orders of society created by Me according to their Guna (qualities/behaviour) and Karma (profession/work/efforts). Lord Krishna does not say guna and karma of previous life. In sloka (XVIII.41) Lord Krishna says “Brahmana Kshatriya visham sudranam cha paramtapa, karmani pravibhaktani svabhavaprabhavaigunaih.” It means people have been grouped into four classes according to their present life karma (profession/work) and svabhava (behaviour). `The division of labour into four categories – Brahman, Ksatriya, Vaishya and Sudra – is also based on the Gunas inherent in peoples’ nature`. Had this division been based on birth, Lord Krishna would have naturally used phrase ‘Janmani pravibhaktani’ in the very shloka (XVIII.41). In sloka (XVIII.42), Lord Krishna prescribes duties (karma) which one must do in order to qualify as a Brahman i.e. among other duties (karma), he must have studied Vedas and must teach Vedas to others. Thus, if a person has neither studied Veda, nor teaches Veda to others, he is not a Brahman. “

During the journeys of Hieun Tsang, he is said to have mentioned5b “…society consists of four caste groups. These four castes form classes for ceremonial purity.”

Such a system, where social life is entirely independent of political government naturally disintegrated when Indian society came into contact with various invading societies, the most potent western invasion being the one beginning with landing of Portugese adventurers at Calicut with VascoDaGama, who utilized the differences in social positions among Indians as a convenience in governance by according political legitimacy to existing differences. These differences, which were of academic interest in life thus far, might have been of great use to the invading group in governing the land.

1.4 Endogamy as a custom might have got instituted in such a social system to safeguard the thus legitimized privileges as close to oneself as possible. Ronald Inden4 in his ‘Imagined India’ argues that caste is almost a creation of western efforts to orientalise their conquered subjects. Moreover, genomic studies pertaining to origins of castes have been able to identify differences in distribution of genetic material among different caste groups. While many of those point to similar inferences, that lineages of caste groups(non tribal population) show relationship with central Asia while lineages of tribal groups are predominantly from original Indian gene pool and that genes of upper caste population have greater affinity to Europeans than to Asians7 compared to genes from lower caste population etc, Partha Majumdar et al(ISI Calcutta)8 reports after a comprehensive statistical analysis of data from ethnically diverse populations of India, that, tribal and caste populations are highly differentiated and genetic histories have been considerably obliterated making it impossible to see any clear congruence of genetic affinities.

1.5 Whatever may be the case, meaning of caste changed much, from, what Charles Hill observed1c “No caste was originally considered superior or inferior, except in sense that its bodily type represented a more or less advanced stage in human habitations which must be, in turn, occupied by the soul” to one dividing people into, groups with different responsibilities, functions and rights, i.e., different societies.

1.6 Endogamy as well as measures instituted by the invading group in governing the land might be able to put forth a rationale for development of caste, however fails in providing a reasonable explanation to the fact that we have myriad of castes, each having discernable difference in ability when compared with another caste.

3 BEGINNINGS OF CASTE EVOLUTION

1.7 Whatever the shape the evolution of caste took, it certainly resulted in a large multitude of castes, each having discernable difference in ability when compared with one another, especially intellectual. As we have seen earlier, all theories of caste formation and development fail in providing a satisfactory explanation to this phenomenon.

1.8 This could have been caused by singularities in Indian social evolution, mainly owing to changes brought in by external stimuli, two of such being:

-Foreign occupation. Conquests by Muslims, Europeans and the British, and lately

-Russian revolution and the influence of communism on Indian thought

As a result of these, caste became entrenched in Indian society, the stratification property offering much convenience in administration, each caste being a form of professional guild with more or less assured income opportunities, offering social stability. Caste being an idea which is of esoteric nature, such stratifications might have caused least consternation in everyday life.

1.9 That many parts of India, such as, parts of Himachal Pradesh, Northeast including Assam and some parts of central India appear to have been having village communes, where all forms of labour were valued equally, probably points to the nonexistence of any form of caste-like discrimination9a. Also, it may be worth noting that, castes like divisions are found in the history of most nations, in American continent, Africa, Europe or elsewhere in Asia, some societies having complex divisions and others’ relatively simple. Samurais and priests of early Japan and feudal lords of Europe are examples, the study of which will indicate existence of social stratification including hereditary progression, in the lines of caste system of India. Over and above this, a few among these could also boast of social inequalities manifested in institutions of slavery, a cruel practice, if not worse.

1.10 Even untouchability, which find no place in Indian history, is mentioned in the history10 of Herodotus, “the pig is regarded among them as an unclean animal….. are forbidden entry to any of the temples…. and no one will give his daughter in marriage to a swineherd or take a wife from among them so that swineherds are forced to intermarry among themselves.”

4 EVOLUTIONOF CASTE IN CHANGING SOCIAL ORDER

1.11 In short, Indian society, which welcomed the first invader, was having certain abstract notions of stratification, encompassing all aspects of life and society. Thus we have categories or different types of, men, women, guests, maidens, other beings like horses, dogs, cows, activities like sleeping, eating, other abstractions like friends, enemies and others with further subdivisions leading to myriad of esoteric classifications, each possessing unique functional properties; caste being one such subject of classification.

Such abstract nature of caste will be much clearer if we are to note that Hindu puranaic texts contain many instances where the moral worth of a person is seen as having been given greater emphasis compared to other attributes, say caste or family. For example, “truthfulness, generosity, restraint, tapas, constant adherence to dharma- these always lead men to fruition (of their goal) and not caste nor family”, or “Truthfulness, generosity, freedom from hatred, humility, kindness and tapas- he is known as Brahmana where all these are seen” and “if these are seen in a Sudra and they do not exist in a Brahmaa, the Sudra would not be a Sudra and the Brahmana would not be a Brahmana”12.

1.12 Before British: Early invasions to India, almost all, resulted in Islamic rule in India which created “a much stronger and much unified elite, which made it difficult for the ordinary masses to resist social changes, particularly in the realm of philosophical choice, religious pluralism and other personal preferences”9b. Notion of sexual prudery and gender separation infected Hindu households as well. “The overall effect of this cultural, military and political intercourse did not seem to have made any other revolutionary impact on Hindu society or alter the equitable social relations drastically”9b. Long before the arrival of Islam, new religious or reform movements within India opposed the caste system. In 6th century BC, Budhism started it. On casteism as a whole, how much of an effect Budhism could produce is not known. In fact the very nature of caste in the early days is not clearly known. For example, John W McGrindle mentions20, “According to Megastanes, race of India is divided into seven castes.

1 Philosophers- Only they are allowed to marry outside caste.

2 Husbandmen- They cultivate land

3 Herdsmen and hunters- They lead a wandering life

4 Tradesmen- They work in trades like weapon making

5 Fighting men

6 Overseers- They conduct general supervision and report to king

7 Assessors and councilors- They conduct justice, public matters etc

Also, in ‘Inscriptions of Nepal’21, castes are mentioned to be resulting from “the intermingling of varnas” and Vincent Smith22 writes “Though each caste has its own dharma, the conduct is less rigid than it has been since Moslem invasions”.

1.13 Effects of British ascendancy: In the beginning the British did no attempt to interfere with the caste system prevailing in India. In his observations on India, Karl Marx writes 14a”The village isolation produced the absence of roads in India and the absence of roads perpetuated the village isolation. On this plan a community existed with a given scale of low conveniences, almost without intercourse with other villages, and without the desires and efforts indispensable to social advance”17. The British, by bringing steam and railways into India initiated regular and rapid communication. Further introduction of roads breaking up the “self sufficient inertia” of Indian villages are some of the effects of British rule, though aimed at confiscating from India wealth in every possible form while “forbidding at the same time propagation of ideas which might not have been favorable for such ends. The modern industry resulting from railway system will dissolve the hereditary divisions of labor, upon which rests the Indian castes”14. But that did not take place, the changes in social atmosphere brought in by modern industry happened to get expropriated to suit the ordering of caste system.

In a paper ‘The Indian caste system and the British ethnographic mapping’15, Kevin Hobson says,” The caste system had been a fascination of the British since their arrival in India. Coming from a society that was divided by class, the British attempted to equate the caste system to the class system. As late as 1937 Professor TC Hodson stated that: ‘Class and caste stand to each other in the relation of family to species. The general classification is by classes, the detailed one by castes. The former represents the external, the latter the internal view of the social organization.’ The difficulty with definitions such as this is that class is based on political and economic factors, caste is not. In fairness to Professor Hodson, by the time of his writing, caste had taken on many of the characteristics that he ascribed to it and that his predecessors had ascribed to it but during the 19th century caste was not what the British believed it to be. It did not constitute a rigid description of the occupation and social level of a given group and it did not bear any real resemblance to the class system. However, this will be dealt with later in this essay. At present, the main concern is that the British saw caste as a way to deal with a huge population by breaking it down into discrete chunks with specific characteristics. Moreover, it appears that the caste system extant in the late 19th and early 20th century has been altered as a result of British actions so that it increasingly took on the characteristics that were ascribed to by the British.

1.14 “What the British failed to realize was that Hindus existed in a different cosmological frame than did the British. The concern of the true Hindu was not his ranking economically within society but rather his ability to regenerate on a higher plane of existence during each successive life”. He goes on to say “A census was undertaken in India, in 1872 for the first time, as one of the main tools used in the British attempt to understand Indian population. The census forced the Indian social system into a written schematic in a way that had never been experienced in the past. While the mughals had issued written decrees on the status of individual castes, there had never been a formal systematic attempt to organize and schedule all of the castes in an official document until the advent of the British census. The data was compiled on the British understanding of India”. Based on the census results, the British formed certain notions about Indian society and “these notions led to classification of intelligence and abilities based on physical attributes and this in turn led to employment opportunities being limited to certain caste groupings that displayed the appropriate attributes. Indians attempted to incorporate themselves into this evolving system by organizing caste ‘sabhas’ with the purpose of attaining improved status within the system. This ran contrary to traditional purpose of caste system and imposed an economic basis. With this, the relevance and importance of the spiritual, non-material rationale for caste was degraded and caste took a far more material meaning. In a sense caste became politicized as decisions regarding caste increasingly fell into political rather than spiritual sphere of influence. With this politicization, caste moved closer to class in connotation… In expropriating the knowledge base of Indian society, the British had forced Indian society and caste system to execute adjustments in order to prosper within the rubric of the British regime”. Thus we can see that caste was appropriated and in many respects reinvented by the British to create what it is now, with Brahman clearly at the head. That such was not the case in earlier times is mentioned, among others, by Dr Subhash Sharma16, who says that “the evolution of the society and customs were mainly due to individual and collective needs and choices. In addition, role and influence of various espoused or suggested proclamations such as, involving ‘varnasrama dharma’, manusmriti, on the development and progress of society at large was rather insignificant.”

5 CASTE- NATIONALIST MOVEMENTS AND BEYOND

1.15 History of India is replete with stories of social moderation efforts or other rearrangements in our multi faceted society. In the early times, if Budhism and Jainism heralded such efforts, we have Sikhism of relatively recent origin, all forerunners of social reformists. Raja Rammohan Roy, who could be called the father of Hindu reformation, gave leadership to Hindu revival in modern times. Dayanand Saraswati and Arya samaj, Annie Besant and Theosophocal society, Ramkrishna, Swami Vivekananda are some of those great ones who tried to cut through the sectarian lines of Indian religious organization, whose life and times certainly had been a source of inspiration for such efforts during freedom movement. However, those not belonging to upper castes, on becoming members realized that these organizations were primarily concerned with resurgence of Hinduism rather than reform as exemplified in the case of Swami Achyuthanand16, one of the important scheduled caste leaders of UP in 1920-30, who was a member of Arya samaj. The untouchables and other low castes resorted to ‘low caste movements’ of various nature, all of which can be broadly classified into two groups, those advocating resilience of hierarchy while adopting the basic notions of caste system or those suggesting adjustments in practice of caste system to include egalitarian precepts, an exception perhaps being found in Mahatmaji’s views on social struggle.

1.16 Mahatmaji’s views, about caste and the many facets of such social ‘ills’, underwent a gradual change, from 1920’s to late 1940’s.

- In 1920, he believed in the inevitability of caste system and that the many fruits that Indian society reaped over centuries were mainly owing to this. As examples, “I believe that caste has saved Hinduism from disintegration18a”, or, “In accepting the fourfold division, I am accepting the laws of nature.18b.”, can be quoted.

-By mid 20’s, he would start downplaying the inevitability of natural division, “In my conception of the law of varna, no one is superior to any other… A scavenger has the same status as a Brahmin18c”.

-As 30’s reached, he started observing that “unequal economic and social status perhaps existed, over the ages, and we have to enrich the inheritance left to us18d” and by 1935, “caste has to go. The sooner the public opinion abolishes it, the better18e”.

-In 1940’s he started expressing the importance of marriages between ‘atishudras’ and caste Hindus. From according “highest importance to marriages between atishudras and caste Hindus18f” and declaring that he will bless a couple “if the girl is from another community only18g”, he reached, by

-1945, understanding inter-caste as well as inter-religious marriage (if necessary, civil marriages), as a welcome reform. And by 1947, he welcomed “inter-religious marriages whenever it took place18h”

Had it not been for his assassination, we would have been witnessing Indian society, more as Gandhiji expressed on numerous occasions, “entire Hindu society converted to my view18i”.

1.17 The path caste took, during birth of free India and her democracy can be summed up thus: “Nevertheless, whether in relation to history of gender, the victimization of dalits, or the rise of anti Brahmin and backward caste politics, caste has worked to compromise the easy applications of national unity and civilized history. Caste has become the focus of progressive movements and of debates about the character of post colonial politics. It has also become the uncomfortable reminder that all claims about community are claims about privilege, participation and exclusion… caste has simultaneously preserved the patriarchy of pre-modern society and worked to sanction the continued oppression and exclusion of women in nationalist re-imaginings of the past. Caste may be the precipitate of the modern, but it is still the specter of the past19”.

6 CASTE – MY SIDE- A History of singularities

While studying the origins of caste system, an error seems to have crept into all the theories mentioned earlier, is that no theory, takes the philosophical plane of existence of caste (referring to caste as ‘varna’, an abstraction), into account. Though some authors23 tend to believe that castes are ‘hardened’ form of social classes (with implications such as ‘the upper caste might have been formed from the existing higher classes in society’), this is only a conjecture. Social classes are not founded upon occupational limitation where as castes certainly are. The class can be thought of as ‘presenting the external view of social organization’, caste, ‘the internal, abstract view’. Also, with further delineations, caste must have originated from varna as a mechanism for enabling selection of marriage partners. A ‘caste’ system on similar lines is followed among Australian aboriginals31, as described by Felix Keesing, where caste groupings play an important role in selecting partners in a way suitable for preventing progression of many problems where heredity plays a part. (For such a property of caste to manifest, it is necessary that caste is not fixed at birth as it is done in India)

An examination of our ‘puranic’ texts reveals that our forefathers spent much effort in ‘classification’ as a primary step in learning or understanding. Thus we have all objects, animate or inanimate, all actions and other abstractions classified into esoteric groups or subgroups, each having identifiable properties. Many methods are mentioned about stratification, say, of men and women into ‘varna’ based on intellectual orientation, of women into different types based on certain social nature (‘Kamasutra of Vatsyayana is a detailed treatise of this), of maidens, liars, thieves and other activities of war and love, to list a few. ‘Arthsastra’ of ‘Chanakya’ contain much dissertation on such topics.24

Nowhere in later writings or in social customs can these romantic delineations be seen as having been practiced widely. Of the myriad of themes our ‘puranic’ texts contain, caste alone became instituted in later social life, and this can be attributed to the ‘singularities’ in social evolution in India.

6.1 The first singularity is our philosophy or the way in which we understood our philosophy. For example, it treats possessions as bringing misery to man, leading therefore to a life, where, lesser the possessions, more desirable the life becomes. We, I think, do not realize that story of progress humans made so far is the story of our efforts, in adding new possessions, retaining a few or in the destruction of some. This did lead, as Marx observed earlier14, to formation of caste as the result of ‘the total lack of social intercourse’ compounded by ‘absence of desires and efforts indispensable to social advance’.

6.2 Next singularity is the attack by various invaders, almost all of them contributing to changes in social appearance of caste system, due to, their inability in appreciating Indian caste system as well as their ability in shaping caste system to suit the needs of governing the vanquished. British, though had to the longest lasting empire in India, did nothing to alter the existing caste equations or for social restructuring. This stands in opposition to their efforts in the direction of welfare of aborigines and their integration in another part of British Empire, Australia, even though “several of the tribes of southern India, who were of the race ‘Homo

Dravida’ (as he called it), had more in common with Australian aboriginals than their Aryan or high caste neighbours.”30

. For example, “When Dr Cecil Cook was appointed Chief Protector in 1927; he was wholly unsupportive of the missions. This was partly because of the poor conditions. More importantly, Cook had a similar vision of assimilation as West Australian Chief Protector A.O. Neville. Cook supported biological assimilation. Generally by the fifth and invariably by the sixth generation, all native characteristics of the Australian aborigine are eradicated. The problem of our half-castes will quickly be eliminated by the complete disappearance of the black race, and the swift submergence of their progeny in the white29.” The British view is better expressed thus, which perhaps explains why caste is still a problem in India, we are dutifully preserving a British legacy: “As Lord Dufferin put it: ‘The diversity of races in India and the presence of a powerful Mohamedan community, are undoubtedly favourable to the maintenance of our rule…”31

6.3 Another singularity is Mahatma Gandhi. His views contained “I believe in ‘varnashrama’ of the Vedas which is based on absolute equality of status, notwithstanding passages to the contrary elsewhere”,…”The most effective, quickest, and the most unobtrusive way to destroy caste is for reformers to begin the practice with themselves…” and “The higher classes will have to descend from their pedestal…”18e. His advice to the lower caste was that they should “endeavor to merge themselves in the ocean of Hindu community” and “trust merit to command attention”18j. On another occasion, he is seen as proclaiming that reserving seats (for positions) is a dangerous principle. ”Protection of neglected classes should not be carried to an extent which will harm them…” and a person after he has secured a seat in an elected body should “depend upon his intrinsic merit and popularity to secure coveted positions”18k. To the castemen, on the other hand, his advice was that they “should prove that they had obliterated caste by their readiness to take up all those occupations which the ‘untouchables’ engaged in. Thus they should be ready to do a scavengers work….. The system of cleaning toilets would then be automatically transformed. In England real Bhangis were famous engineers and sanitarians… who had a perfectly clean way of dealing with human excreta… Needless to say, the Harijans will live in the same streets as others without any segregation…”.

Given that the prestige and influence Gandhiji had at that time, above mentioned changes would have taken place, leading to a social revolution as he would have been hoping for, resulting in a generation having, greater degree of cohesion in society, upper caste much less ‘upper’ and lower caste none ‘lower’ than any other, but for the social and political changes brought in when we introduced draft constitution with certain provisions, like reservation, for dealing with caste problem. Perhaps the very adoption of the idea of reservation without much debate25 by framers of constitution might have been hastened by the ‘preposterous’ suggestions of Gandhiji, the acceptance of which would certainly have resulted in them or their progeny (for sure) to have lost their exclusiveness (which caste status brought).

6.4 Communism presented another singularity. Our idea of caste and the way we found solutions to the problems it posed was altered much under the influences of communism and the revolutions in Russia and China.

(Communism in fact has more than on face. What we commonly see, a group of young (and may be not so young) men and women charged with ideals and the desire to see the ‘plight’ of many changed for the better, is one. A group (this may be a smaller one) of ‘intellectuals’ who manufacture propositions convincing enough to inspire, propel and guide them in their quest, making them move forward with incessant thrust, is another. The former is responsible for all that we welcome in a change, the alacrity, the selfless devotion of protagonists and absence of any motive or consanguineous profit other than for benefit of all. In short, in communism, those who follow the precepts are the best of humanity and the system hence produce good results even though they the philosophy is flawed. Also, as there isn’t any self interest, in communism, every effort yield favorable results, and that might be the reason that no one noticed the contradictions it contained, till communism collapsed.)

During communism in Russia26, the famines of 1921 and 1932-33 resulted in the death of more 5 million people each (Not counting additional deaths of 7-8 million people in the violence involved with ‘dekulakization’ during the period 1930-37)

In China, communists adopted genetic theory ‘lysenkoism’27, a modified form of Lamarckism, one of the main beliefs of which is that, like species help each other whereas unlike species do not, in guiding state farming policy. Accordingly, Mao ordered, organization of agriculture into collectives, introduction of certain farming practices like close planting, deep plowing, non use of chemical fertilizer etc, resulting in massive fall in agricultural output giving rise to a famine on a scale never before seen in China, in the period 1958-61, resulting in the death of a staggering 30 to 40 million Chinese.

In India, ‘lysenkoism’ and the possibility of inheriting environmentally acquired characteristics proposed by that theory perhaps supported the ‘reservationists’, as well as providing them with the necessary scientific foundation to ‘reservation’ as a panacea for all social inequalities. This also might have been the reason that none of the eminent reformers could see anything disadvantageous in it.

6.4 Next singularity, the most potent of all, is reservation or its euphemism, social justice. Wide acceptance of reservation as the panacea for all the ills associated with social stratification is, I think, due to the influence of communism, specifically, of the ‘scientific’ tenets propounded by Lysenkoism. The romantic thought, of lower caste brethren being uplifted enmasse by a small degree of social adjustment on the part of upper caste people must have influenced our constitution makers.

The desirable changes reservation system did bring in, and is doing so have been discussed at length, the general idea emerging from all these is that,

- Reservation system offers many advantages to the downtrodden, marginalized sections,

- The disadvantage of reservation system is that(mainly) opportunities are being denied for upper caste people, that is to say,

- Advantages of ‘reservation’ shall be to lower castes, and

- Disadvantages of ‘reservation’ shall be felt by upper castes

Such an idea is preposterous. Reservation system may be providing certain advantages to marginalized sections, however, some disadvantages also is their share. The most substantial of such disadvantages is that, it reduces or takes away opportunities of competition. As competition is removed from those from lower castes, they also are denied the fruits of competition, which, as is well known, is growth, intellectual et al. This is the most serious effect of reservation, and if we are also to consider the fact that, simultaneously, upper castes, due to greater opportunities of competition(or opportunities for sharper competition) made available to them as a side effect of reservation, are growing further in all faculties at a faster rate, the intellectual(for one) gap between lower and upper caste people will be on the increase, as generations go by, making it difficult to cohabit, at least as equal beings.

Even this could have been introduced in a manner befitting, or as an incentive to, growth. For example, ‘reservations’, if limited to jobs needing higher educational or academic performance shall be forcing lower castes to attain greater standards in learning. As mentioned earlier, the desire in providing an alternative to ‘wild’ suggestions of Gandhiji might have blinded all reformists from seeing any such possibilities.

In a study focusing on the ‘role of education in social mobility within the context of class structure’ by Hiroshi Ishida et al27, class origin (corresponds to respondent’s father’s class) and class destination (current class of respondent) are seen to have been influenced by

- Unequal access to education for different class origins. ‘two forms of educational advantage to sons of professional and managerial class(read upper castes), a better access to higher levels of education and an avoidance of lower levels’.

- Allocation of class positions(of destination) influenced by class origin. ‘Here also, highly qualified people have advantage in access to professional and managerial positions, but they also may be successful in avoiding manual positions. Conversely, poorly qualified are not only excluded from professional and managerial positions, they are more likely to be recruited to manual positions’. (Reserving such jobs for low castes is, adding fuel to fire)

Effect of education on class reproduction and mobility is remarkably uniform across nations with the exception of two socialist nations, namely, Poland and Hungary, of this study, where, more people can be seen as choosing manual and unskilled classes as destination, irrespective of class origin. In this, a major obstacle to equality of educational opportunity probably comes from the resistance of service class origin (e.g. managerial classes) to low qualifications, in addition to having access to high qualifications. While in case of lower classes, even when they were provided with access to high qualifications, as they are now, “the easy availability of low qualifications and the possibility of finding a livelihood effectively prevented them from reaching higher destinations”. Also, the low classes lack the ‘cultural traits’ necessary for entry into higher levels of education. Thus, as the cultural needs and desires, the fulfillment of which is the yearning of all who try to achieve better positions in life, are not fully developed in the case of lower castes, it is all the more important that this possibility of ‘finding a livelihood with low qualifications’ is eliminated, for education to be of use as an expedient.

6.5 Next and probably the last singularity may happen sometime in the future, many (or may be few) generations from today. In his well known essay on “Biological Possibilities for the Human Species in the Next Ten Thousand Years”28, JBS Haldane mentions of the possibility of human species “dividing into two or more branches for development of different human capacities. To me this is a terrible danger, as such species should fail to understand each other… and such misunderstanding can generate quarrels and even war.” This singularity though shall be befalling on all cultures, its effect on the already stratified (intellectually) Indian society shall be momentous, we might be on that ‘branch’ of the ‘species’ we wouldn’t want to be.

7 Caste – a summary

Caste is a relic of dark ages. It did not evolve into a modernized version naturally as we were not the real custodians of our society, having been under foreign rule for many years and those ruled over finding great use in caste, halting any such prospect. Other countries had their share of such customs which are even more shocking, like lynching or burning at stake, various entertainments of Roman Empire, all of which, evolved into something less obnoxious, as time went by. Even in recent times, some countries continued following many questionable practices and one such in the area of eugenics can be cited as example, where, compulsory abortion or other control over reproduction is imposed32.

Only one medicine has been tried so far towards demolition of caste and that is reservation. It is only logical to realize that as the cure did not work, we need to change medication.

NOTES

1 The Indian Antiquary

a) May 1917 ‘Caste in India, Genesis, Mechanism and Development-

BR Ambedkar This theses describes the role of caste system in establishing the customs of ‘sati’, ‘girl marriage’ as well as perpetuation of widowhood et al,,., in Hindu society.

b) March 1930 “Origin of the Caste system in India’- S Charles Hill

c) April 1930 ………………………do…………continued

d) October 1930 ……………………….do…….…..continued

1 An Introduction to Sociology

DR Sachdeva and Vidya Bhushan

3 ‘Hindu caste system and Hinduism- vedic vocations were not related to heredity’- Dr Subhash C Sharma

www.geocities.com/lamberdar/_caste.html

4 Quoted in ‘Caste race and sociologists’- Gail Omvedt

5 a)Caste and Bhagawat Gita – Ambassador(to Finland) O P Gupta, IFS http://sify.com/news/othernews/fullstory.php?id=13167991

b)http://www.palikanon.com/

6 ‘Origins of Castes and Tribes in India’

R Cordaux et al Current Biology 2004 14:231

7 ‘Molecular Anthropology’ M Bamshad et al

http://jorde-lab.genetics.utah.edu/elibrary/Babshad_2001a.pdf

8 ‘Ethnic India- A Genomic view with special reference to peopling and structure’ Partha P Majumdar, Anabala Basu et al.

ISI Calcutta etc

9 ‘Caste and gender equations in Indian history’

a) http://india_resource.tripod.com/social.htm

b) http://india_resource.tripod.com/sahistory.htm

10 ‘The history of Herodotus’, Book I CLIO

Translated by George Rawlinson

http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html

11 ‘Battle for Liberation, Then and Now’

Annie Namala and Paul Divakar www.labourfile.org

a treatise tracing the efforts in rehabilitation of scavengers over the years. It mentions that, ‘Narada smriti’, though enumerates 15 kinds of slaves including those engaged in disposal of human excreta; there is no reference to untouchability.

12 History of Dharmasastra

13 ‘The race war’ Ronald Seghal JonathanCape 1966

14 ‘The future results of British rule in India’ Karl Marx, New York Daily Tribune 8 August 1853 www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1853/07/22.htm

15 ‘The Indian caste system and the British- Ethnographic mapping and the construction of the British census in India’ Kevin Hobson

www.infinityfoundation.com/ECITcastebritishframeset.htm

16 mentioned at http://kellog.nd.edu/events/pdfs/Jaffrelot.pdf

17 This could explain how endogamy came to be instituted in Indian society. Absence of roads perpetuating village isolation, the only way to ensure continuation of species might have been adopted, endogamy. That such isolation affected our society, in more ways than one, can be seen, in the interesting fact that even in 19th century kerala, those who cross river ‘Bharatapuzha’ were liable for excommunication, or from observing that one of the significant sources of state’s income(in Kerala ) was tax imposed on lower caste men for sporting a moustache.

18 ‘Mahatma Gandhi – the collected works’ Delhi(58-94)

a) Vol XIX p 83

b) Vol XXIX p 410

c) Vol XXXV p 260

d) Vol LIX p 319

e) Vol LXII p 121

f) Vol LXXX p 77

g) Vol LXXX p 99

h) Vol LXIV p 35

i) Vol LXLI p 318

j) Vol LVIII p 163

k) Vol LXXVI p 314

A detailed study, tracing ‘the change in Gandhi’s ideas about varna and intermarriage over the years’ is “HOW GANDHI CAME TO BELIEVE CASTE MUST BE DISMANTLED BY INTER MARRIAGE”

-Prof Mark Lindley

http://www.bfg-muenchen.de/caste.htm

19 Caste as India

http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s7191.html

20 ‘Ancient India as described by Megastanese and Arrian’

John W McGrindle(Retired principal Patna college)

21 ‘Inscriptions of Nepal’ DR Rajmi

22 ‘Asoka- His history’ Vincent Smith

23 ‘Caste class and race’ Oliver Cromwell Cox

24 Had this propensity for classification been continuing as such, much contribution could have come from Indian culture, towards scientific development, to note one possibility. Like most of the scientific terms having a Greek origin, we could have been having such terms in many an area, having Indian origin.

25 constituent assembly debates

http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/vol7p3b.htm

Pandit Thakur Dass Bhargava: opposes reservation during the debates while discussing art 294 of Indian constitution. “…… it may be said that in wealth, social influence and social status they are inferior, but all the same I want that their position may be leveled up in ways other than by reservation of seats… will be very harmful…”

http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/vol9p17b.htm

Shri Brajeshwar Prasad: “…The problems (the scheduled castes face) are primarily educational and of an economic character. They are of a cultural character. We want to raise the cultural level of these down-trodden and oppressed people. I do not see how their representation in the legislatures will in any way alter the material and the moral level of these people. Representations here and there will provide opportunities for a handful of leaders but it will not in any way materially alter their economic or their educational level. Better lay down in the Constitution that a fixed percentage in the budget, both Central and Provincial, shall be exclusively devoted for their welfare…I am quite clear in my own mind that by giving them a few seats here and there, their economic condition and their education level will in no way be improved”.

26 http://www.overpopulation.com/faq/health/hunger/famine

The Soviet Famines of 1921 and 1932-3

Ukrainian agronomist, Trofim D. Lysenko, well known for ‘scientific declarations’ regarding the perniciousness of genetics.

In the U.S.S.R. of the 1930s, Trofim D. Lysenko rose to considerable power by claiming that his version of genetics, rather than that of Mendel and Darwin, could assist in the development of socialist ideology. If each successive generation of citizens had to be educated in Marxist ideology, he claimed, the utopia they envisioned would take too long to be realized. Rather, Lysenko rejected Mendelian heredity as bourgeois, and interpreted Marx as stating that man and nature are improvable and perfectable. He claimed, for example, that a winter wheat could be changed to a spring variety simply by altering the temperature at which it was grown, and that, by similar means, he could change wheat into rye in one generation. Darwin’s struggle for existence, too, was dismissed as a bourgeois tool used to justify competition-based capitalist society. His erroneous assertions dominated Soviet biology for 30 years. He was eventually ousted, in 1965, due to rampant crop failures and shortages. Lysenkoism has come to represent the devastating consequences of marrying science to ideology. http://www.galafilm.com/afterdarwin/english/glossary/lysenkoism.html

http://www.genetics.org/cgi/reprint/165/1/1.pdf

http://www.softpanorama.org/Skeptics/lysenkoism.shtml

27 Hiroshi Ishida, Walter Müller, and John M. Ridge. 1995. “Class Origin, Class Destination, and Education: A Cross-National Study of Ten Industrial Nations”. American Journal of Sociology 101: 145-193.

28 “Biological Possibilities for the Human Species in the Next Ten Thousand Years” J. B. S. Haldane

http://www.transhumanism.org/resources/Haldanebioposs.htm

One possibility mentioned in this essay is production of a human clone, which, of course, has already taken place.

29 Bringing them home – The History

http://www.hreoc.gov.au/bth/text_versions/map/history/nt.html

30 Race, Caste and Tribe in Central India: the early origins of Indian anthropometry – Crispin Bates

http://www.csas.ed.ac.uk/fichiers/BATES_RaceCaste&Tribe.pdf

31 Cultural Anthropology Felix M Keesing,

The aborigines have an intricate classification system that defines kinship relations and regulates marriages, men and women grouped as Banaka, Burung, Karimera and Palyeri. Rules of marriage, descent, and residence determine how these sections interact: Karimera men must marry Palyeri women, and their children are Burung, Banaka men must marry Burung women and their children are Karimera and so on. Sons live in the same hordes as their fathers, so the composition of hordes alternates every generation. The complex system, by requiring each man to marry a woman from only one of the three possible sections, fosters a broad network of social relations and creates familial solidarity within the horde as a whole. Aborigines maintain elaborate systems of totemism (the belief that there is a genealogical relationship between people and species of plants or animals). They see the relationship between totemic plants and animals as a symbolic map of the relations between different people.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17404/17404.txt lists ‘caste’ names as

Burong (Parungo),

Ballieri (Parajerri; Butcharrie),

Banaka (Boogarloo),

Kymerra (Kaiamba), for example for one tribe, each tribe having different ‘castes’

32 htttp://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa49740.000/hfa49740_0.HTM Civilizations can be judged by how they treat women, children, old people, and strangers. Vulnerable people bring out the kindness in every society and also the cruelty. Every so often, they become the object of practices so vile that they will cause people to recoil in horror across the centuries. One such practice is forced abortion, another is forced sterilization. The world has known for well over 15 years now that the Government of China routinely compels women to abort their unauthorized unborn children and that the Chinese men and women are often forcibly sterilized.

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=D32EE0B42BA9215764FCF0CAC4F9A7E6.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=255383 The recent development of molecular genetics has created concern that society may experience a new eugenics. This paper argues that the dominant view of eugenics as morally and scientifically illegitimate is not tenable when it comes to the uses of compulsion, political motivation, and scientific acceptability. In spite of a general condemnation of eugenics, health authorities today are trying to prevent individuals with deviant behavior from reproducing or at least from rearing children.

About the Author

A retired naval officer

Goofy Horse Names?

I was looking thru some old boxes this weekend and ran across a copy of a set of papers for a gray gelding that I owned ages ago. I got a good laugh as I remembered the embarassment of winning a class with him and having the annoucer boom out “Placing first in the class Big Daddy Warbucks”. (think Little Orphan Annie and since I have red hair this always got a few snickers). I have also had a horse registered as “On Occasion”. Which was always good for a few laughs. Since it came out on the placings that I showed “On Occasion”. It makes me laugh (and wonder) about the wicked sense of humor that some horse folks have when naming their animals. So lets have a few laughs and share some of the wilder registered names that you have heard (or owned) over the years. Just a fun question for today.

Wow I have heard a few! lol
My friend has a mare named Whatabootie. I’ve seen a horse shown that was named Bootyliscious (spelling) there was one named Booty Call ,. my old stud was named The Money Trap (b/c that’s all he was a money trap…. I sunk a ton into him lol) A friend has one named Cowboy Eater (he’s one mean appy that no one could break to ride…. he’s still not broke completely and he’s 12!!!! A famous race horse in the 70’s was Hot ‘N Nasty. Then there was a trainer who named his racers “Isn’t It Good” and “Is It Ever” The funniest and most ironic is a mounted patrol officer near me has a huge 18 hand Belgian and his name is Tiny Touch of Class aka Tiny… this things hoof was bigger than my head!!!!! Ad his name was Tiny

Equestrian Pilates with Gemma Tattersall DVD – Promo

Take your Chances With Freedom

There is so much to ponder as we try to operate in our daily lives and continue in charting a certain path the concept of freedom comes into play. Some people have gotten fired from a job only to find it was a relief. What does that say about where they were then? There are so many other possibilities further down the road not even pondered. The concept of further maneuvering or going in any given direction has dealings with freedom. Give me some space, give me a little time, give me some breathing room, or at least give me a chance. Give me a chance to get to the next page, turn a new leaf, and close this chapter finally. You never know how things are going to some move or at what at least one move on the chess board might give you. Sometimes what I want to do is monitor a situation for its movement. Other barometers commonly used such as cash flow may not be good enough. Is the t movement I want or like within all this? Or do I really want to catch that first big wave out of here? Also related is the concept of personal autonomy, of being or doing things on my own, assisting my own cause. Maybe freedom will bring a new dawn for you, it is a new Century and we are past the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Somewhere out there is a happy future for you and me that might yet come into view.

To recover is something that might not always be as big or as steep as you think it needs to be . Sometimes a recovery process might be monumental. Then we think, everything I need to recover from is monumental when in fact it might not be as big a recovery involved in other cases where things could be on the mend rather quickly and easily. For example, my finances might have me in trouble to the point that I can’t picture it otherwise. But maybe the right scenario would come along and it would be a rather easy and not so big a deal to recover my financial position. It might take only one or two things to happen to pick me up and get me back on the horse again.

Try to view each of your options in very optimistic fashion, even if you are only exercising one option at a time. For example, I might be trying out a new field, really on a trial basis and it is going fairly well. I don’t want to disparage what other real options could also still be for me career wise. Sometimes we artificially devalue other options to justify the choice we are making. By doing this, I am trying to narrow the field, but I am also narrowing my outlook by bringing clouds into a projected situation that in fact might not be there People might do this in dating, when they more look for something wrong, and never picture the optimistic view of this person, even momentarily. At least momentarily, try to view all your options optimistically as this is more of a freedom view of the situation. I’m having a bad job interview; I can say that I can still be President of the United States .

There is a lot of what we deal with that hits on issues of personal autonomy and has dynamics related to this. We might be searching for that lacuna, the missing part of our personal landscape that might seem to complete our dreams for the time being.

This is not just ceremonial freedom for all but freedom with a substantial purpose to me. Not necessarily that elusive freedom but that which pertains to something that is eminently possible.

There needs to be a freedom to address that which stays with us, those issues that hang around and keep knocking at our doors must then be addressed in some fashion and my stuck feet can only move if I can somehow find that freedom.

A question for anybody is how can I best use this. I still have this talent, this circumstance, this understanding, and this enlightenment. How can it be used to its utmost advantages for myself and possibly others? We can look to freedom and how it can still to be extended while we still have a chance. Freedom to look at and summon evidence from afar and the evidence that is close by, observing that which seems to stay with us. What do I still have? Do I still have the ability to read a book even though I have not read anything in weeks? Does its use extend into the idea of free use, and do I need to extend into free paths or free lanes on the highway of freedom to use these gifts?

One of the things I might be doing is trying to pinpoint something. However, my ability to pinpoint my way just may not be there at least to the degree I hoped for. I may be trying to pinpoint in major or minor ways. If I can pinpoint the lottery numbers, I might well be on the way to a financial fortune. I can steal the day.

Not everything is going to be a straightforward find. You might have to meander to find something or stumble upon something you want. You don’t want to discount the finding, or discovery, just because it didn’t appear in a straightforward manner, as an option or opportunity is just as real and valid even if found in less than expected ways.

Don’t say I’m 100 percent this or 100 percent that because you end up taking away freedom from how you view yourself and you want to peruse different aspects of yourself and your personal gifts. If you’re transitioning in terms of your career, you could still look back and see parts of the career you are leaving as highlighting some talents, even though you weren’t a 100 percent into it. Someone dating is taking away options if they say they are 100 percent this way or that way and it might also take away from adjustment processes that can be made.

If someone goes on a date, and there isn’t a fraction of an interest on the other person’s part, then they can call it a day. But there might be fraction of a interest and you may or may not wish to proceed. And this can apply to reading interests or other interests as well where a fraction still remains, and you can take a chance on fractions if you wish to.

I was talking to a friend who hesitated to go back to a scenic locale she spent some time in, because she had such a good time, she didn’t think her next experience could match this. The subtle psychological ploy here, is that people do not want to dilute their experiences. They don’t give themselves freedom to go back to something that has gone well, because if it doesn’t continue to go well, then they have diluted the initial experiences which did go well. It does tie in a bit to the fear of success syndrome, going into the idea that I had a little success, I had a good time, lets just leave at that, preserve the experience and forget about trying for more. There could be some truth to this, how many times have movie buffs seen back to back movies, and the second movie dilutes the impact of the first in the moment. At the same time, I need to be aware just how in reality, I might not go forward because I just don’t want to dilute what has already gone well. It would be like someone taking and enjoying a course and also getting an A. Maybe they liked the teacher, the coursework and feel proud of the A. Taking another course, not liking it as much, and maybe not getting an A, would seem to dilute that experience. So I don’t give myself the freedom to try another course.

I can try to pinpoint, but I might be crossing into more difficult terrain here and there might be other things then that I could do that would be far easier. Sometimes the easier way is actually better; the easiest golf swing might get me the most in distance and accuracy.

An example of trying to pinpoint is reviewing financial data and trying to correlate this with a potential stock price or range for the stock price. Not only do I have to write this story, but I have to pinpoint just how this might be correlated to a stock price, and I just may not be able to pinpoint this, even if I am a pro. If even the pros have trouble pinpointing things, that says something about the endeavor itself. Already then, I can first come to an awareness, that I am to a degree trying to pinpoint, and I can freely lessen my attempts on this or increase them depending on what I want to do.

The survivalist mentality is not always where I want to be. For example, I go into a job, and I’m thinking, I just want to survive this day, or I go on a date, and I just want to survive it. In the meantime, for the situation to actually work well for you in the long run, it should more have the feel of a thriving situation.

I don’t when to set up protocol where the criteria are very strict and narrow before I do this. After all, who is to say if the opportunity is automatically going to be found in the stricter protocol I have set up, when the boundaries are often not up to me no matter what criteria I have set myself.

In sports, there is such a thing as for example in tennis tournaments as single game or double elimination, where you have to lose two games to be shown the exit. By what not in some of life’s other situations, where I make my own rules to an extent, can’t I eliminate on my own terms, maybe saying I’ll lose or give this ten tries before I take the fall?

Someone joked you complement my colors in talking about clothing. Maybe you can still get a woman to like you. Maybe you would complement her personality, her style, her humor, her looks or some of her other good qualities. Well what then are the colors of freedom that complement you and your hopes?

I spoke to someone who said about her job, sometimes when I take a walk at lunch, I want to just keep walking. If she did keep on walking, having felt this way about her job, did she really lose anything significant or that mattered to her. She would have probably laughed about her experience a few weeks. I might feel like I want to just keep on walking by sometimes.

We do need some adherence to norms, standards, to operate successfully in a systematized society. You and I are free to come 5 minutes late for a train but the train is not going to wait for us, because this train didn’t know you were coming. If the train had known you were coming, it would have waited, because you are the best. At the same time people find a real encroachment on their time, their focus, their ability to walk in the land, by outside forces. These forces can be institutional in nature or from institutions we have created. What happens is when we are walking on a course that seems to be less free we are compromising distinction. There are distinct ideas, distinct passions, distinct ways that can be examined if we stop compromising our freedom to go ahead.

The scientist needs some freedom to operate and further distinguish and identify what can be identified. In the animal kingdom there are a distinct number of classifications of animals, in the Brazilian forest a distinct range of plants and herbs some of which have been found to be useful for medicinal purposes. In the seas, there are distinct kinds and varied forms of aquatic life, some of it found at enormous depths of the sea beyond the reach of submarines. On the land, there are distinct views, from many places on the earth. In the movie Castaway, Tom Hanks turns in each direction from his view at the very top of the island and then his facial expression is telling when he observes the gigantic waves close to the islands shores on all sides will indeed, keep him away from the vast open calm sea,, that he is indeed surrounded by the huge waves at each run, castaway at every side and his expression is telling to his realization that this is what is. The planets and the stars are mysteries that can be observed. The Milky Way has distinct star systems that can be partially observed by eye in certain locations at certain times from the earth. Of course we can only get the view of the Milky Way from our particular location and vantage point.. But amongst such classifications such as these, the rivers, the classification of different plants, sea life, all yield to continued distinctions. So we need the freedom to find and make and determine distinctions.

Something to ponder for any situation, is where it the freedom located and where can I find the place of freedom in this situation? Is it close by, within the reach of who I am now, and where are the actual points of freedom to contend with?

Freedom from can involve a decision to circumvent or just not take that leap into a situation, not partake with the masses. This cause, that course can be bypassed or set aside for good. It is interesting how if people were involved with a course where they could design their own landscape, they would not include this and would never include that. Or they would always want this and never exclude that on the other side. If given the symbolic blank check what would people actually do with this? But some of the gifts we actually have can amount to blank checks that we can cash in on at some point with some freely applied effort, that concept doesn’t only apply to money and it’s remuneration but other maybe less tangible gifts. A great singing voice could be a blank check to the holder. But only you can cash that check because its your voice. The ability to appreciate the written word can be a blank check. Some athletic, intellectual, spiritual gifts and talents could constitute a blank check if you actually do something with these gifts in freedom, bypassing the previous restrictions coming from anyone including yourself. We have the blank check in so many ways we just don’t know how to cash it.

And then maybe we need to try again. We can’t do this unless we are free. If I seem to fail, and that failure is final, then I’m not free to try again. But the idea of trying again refers to the concept of freedom. It is documented that Thomas Edison needed to try again and again before he came to his famous inventions and discoveries that are still having a profound impact and spun at the time into whole industries. Results did not always come through right away for him, but often they came later on, after numerous tries.

The situation is that we might find ourselves in is getting into problem after problem. How free are we going to feel if we are always in the problem-solving mode, and nothing seems to feel right? The ground I walk on always seems to be falling out from under me. I can get to the starting line, but my sneakers can’t grip the track. How can I race for the gold? How can I erase this sinking feeling? At this point it would be great to just walk on solid ground again.

And what are my primary interests and what radiates from that in freedom. My first interest might be to read historical fiction but that could radiate entertainment, diversion from the routine, stimulating my imagination, stirring forth emotions and obtaining some factual history which was weaved into the fictional account. Does friendship radiate from romance or does romance radiate from friendship? It all depends on the individuals involved and how they see it, and it can change for each of them as they go along. Friendship could have been the primary motivation, which then radiated into romance, or the reverse may have been true.

All this calls into question the idea of ownership. We work with these ideas when we say we have x amount of dollars, we own a certain amount of property or we own a variety of material items. If we are going to work with the concept of ownership, maybe we should consider the idea of having friends, contacts, good health, native intelligence and common sense, life experience, a given set of knowledge, an ability to generate new and exciting ideas or any other concept that has personal meaning to us can be put under the conceptualizations of ownership. I own this experience, at least for a while. Maybe we need to bring more under the concept of ownership to move forward in freedom. Ability at times justifies its use in freedom. Substitute the word power for talent or for ability. I have the power to sing for example.

And then who owns the sun? Who owns the ocean, the rivers, the mountains and the falling snow? There was a movie, the journey to the center of the Earth. Who was owner of that center of the earth?

Say you go to the beach. They charge you 12 dollars at the toll for the beach, 5 dollars for the parking, 2 dollars for the sun, 2 dollars for the ocean itself, a dollar for the sea breeze, and another two for the sea air. Could something like this happen? Look at how many of us pay 2 dollars a bottle for water.

Does the sun make its appearance just for you? Maybe it does at times. But that doesn’t mean we own it. Is it yours, is it mine, would you be my Valentine?

I might have stockpiled all sorts of assets never to use them. Ever hear of the expression, the state has seized their assets. This applies to bankruptcy or similar legal proceedings. But maybe we should seize our own assets and do something with them before its too late.

And then we can consider whether we should refer anything to the concept of ownership. Do I own anything at all? Even the money I have in the bank has no value except as a form of correspondence that will get me some other form of correspondence. Many things I have don’t take on its value until it’s used. So the paradox is, if I don’t use something, I don’t put as much value on it. I can hit a baseball 400 feet plus, but I almost never play baseball. So the value of being able to hit a baseball 400 feet goes down for me. I could potentially run a 4-minute mile, but I haven’t run in 2 years. So I do not value my running ability as much as when I am running or did actually run.

So we can look at almost anything and say, what do I own here, should I refer this to the concept of ownership. Anything that is suddenly taken away from you or me is probably something we felt we owned. So our good health, if it is suddenly compromised, is something we would love to have back. Take this test, what do you have that if you lost it, you would love to get back? I might be more likely to sing if I felt I owned a good voice. I might be more likely to talk to people if I felt I owned good conversational abilities. So we can adjust our thinking back and forth based on whether we want to refer an individual situation to the concept of ownership or not refer to this concept at all. If we do that then we can say we don’t own the money in our personal banking account, it is just another good flowing into and out of my life and it is not something that I actually own. It all depends how we want to work with the concept. We could put time to the concept of ownership as an example. I own these hours. Anything that someone would pay for, that you have and they might not have or vice versa, is something that we could refer to ownership. Maybe you have a luxurious head of hair, and the person next to you on the train just wishes he or she that had that and would pay for that for themselves if it could be brought.

So the concept of ownership can cut across many personal landscapes. And the concept of ownership does have some relations to freedom. I don’t own this or I am not even renting it, so I can’t use it. We can take this concept across most of our dealings and we can see that it often does have subtle relations to freedom. Realistically, though, the concept of ownership does become vague as I stray away from the more concrete examples of this. Yet, this might be what stops me. I feel I need to own the situation, the opportunity, the chance, the moment, when, this is just the left over effect of feeling I need to own things before I proceed. Even, if I am a rich man or woman, technically just about all of what is out there I can’t legally claim ownership too. Even the richest people on the planet, can’t claim to own all that much. So I’ll have to proceed in with a sense of worthiness derived from some other source of thinking, depending on what I am doing. Getting back to the beach example, I pay 10 dollars to get on the beach, but after that, everything is free, such as the swim. Maybe I can say, I own this wave coming to shore. But the wave really could be for anyone.

I might possess this or be in possession of say a good sense of humor. The next step might be to activate on this, which might be hard to do in a gloomy atmosphere. Generally, I can think about some of the good assets and qualities I do possess, and why I have or haven’t chosen to activate upon them. If a firm gives me a debit card, I have to freely go and active on this card, before I put it into use.

So in designing a given landscape, there are some if not many options. Most people if they planted a garden might want strawberries, but if you really don’t want strawberries in your garden, why have them.

And leave some room for mercy in your personal garden for all things. Maybe we want freedom from certain individuals and the agenda they espouse, thereby leaving them off from our own personal landscape.

Say I have a job and it is to tie up the lines and throw out the anchor, or man the ropes in this boat. Legitimate hard work, but I really want another job on this boat, or maybe I don’t want to be on this boat at all. I can take my party elsewhere. I can jump ship to another job on the ship or I can literally jump ship, so in one fashion or another, I am free to do this, I am free to stay or leave.

Another thing that we see is that people come under a seeming umbrella that partly forms through their individual upbringing and the people and circumstances around them. Witness the movie the Godfather with Al Pacino and Mr. Brando. It was all within the big or enlarged family that the huge and uncertain drama takes place with some violent overtones. Not that this is necessarily bad to all viewers, but do I have the freedom to come out from under an umbrella that has set my feet on a certain path, if I wish. Even my concept of righteousness might form into a type of unseen umbrella, which keeps out the rain but also the sun, keeping me away from the bad and also some of the good. Can step off my personal high mountain and come into the valley of possibilities that were still waiting for me.

One possible way to seek out freedom in our thinking it to put equal weight on all considerations really just for the keep up of our thinking. If one of the considerations begins to lose weight, then that begins to tell us something. Fill all the balloons with air and due consideration and see which one loses air and loses it quickly. So you gave each balloon a chance.

Maybe I just want to be less weighed down. Look at the Olympic swimmers do they swim in blue jeans while going for the gold?

They were these special Speedo trunks which have the least resistance to water and weigh them down the least so they can move more freely towards that vaunted gold medal or even a silver or bronze medal.

You don’t have all the power but you need some freedom to play your part. And freedom does relate to power even if only in small ways. How can I be romantic with a girl if I can’t hold her hand? Denzel Washington gave a critically acclaimed performance as Ruben Carter in the movie Hurricane. He spends half the movie in jail, but even in jail he needed the leeway to give a charismatic performance.

Picture yourself at both ends of the spectrum you are considering. It is like being in a marathon and the middle of the race, make believe at that point you are at the end, or make believe you are at the beginning, even though you are still half way through. Then you might not get stuck in the middle in your thinking. I feel old at 30. Well fathom yourself at 40 and see how that feels and fits. Fathom yourself at 20 and see how you think about that. Take your thinking to each end of a given spectrum. Don’t always keep your thinking right in the middle, even if you actually happen to be located in the middle.

But the absolute key word to this particular process is the word apex. Are you at freedoms apex? We may have tripped several times or even have outright fallen. But we might still be at an apex for this opportunity. We have to at least consider the possibility that as much water as has gone over the fall or has not gone over the falls; we could be at the very apex right now for something we want to do. So we can’t say it’s too early or too late. Freedom does have its situational apex and we have to consider where and when it will be found.

I might have abandoned parts of myself to routine, isolating myself from the pomp and circumstance that I still look to with an envious eye, I’m almost married to the paycheck and the hours, holding on to this or that with the inability to let go and let live in the present, still waiting for that distant self I have yet to become before I say yes, or when my ruminations will finally bring me into the present time or find some landing point back in the real world I live in now. So maybe I’m ditching who I am today to my own loss, saying an early goodbye to my present concerns while trying to pinpoint them somewhere on that mostly uncertain, even mostly unknown map of the future. I am putting myself and my resources on a map I can’t even see yet because the arrival is to far in the distance time wise, a map that might not have formed in reality yet or may never form.

But for any difficulty or problem where are the points of freedom. Maybe I don’t do some of these things because I don’t feel free to having anything but a certain result. Then certainty becomes the manner of rule.

I’m operating within certain confines as to the results that I must have. I’m confined to my agenda of the moment, my most present agenda which I can’t seem to mix and match to the ever changing circumstances of the moment. Yes, I’ll go skiing but only if I get the most excellent rides down the slope and the snow is 2 feet deep… Yes, I’ll go fishing but only if they are running well and in visible schools and I’m certain of the catch. So, I control the D.J. as well. Play my songs, baby. Yes, I’ll go dancing but only if they play my songs all night long. Yes, I’ll listen to you in the here and now but only if you say what I want to hear and say it now.

There is no pat answer no guaranteed reference point no one size fits all. Our reference points themselves might be in motion, and we could be stymied by trying to run in tandem with them, or I hold on to my misguided belief that they remained stationary just for me. Does the world stand still for you and me? It used to. The party might be over by the time you get there. I ran all day, I got myself in great shape but the party was over. Why didn’t they wait for me? Maybe the trains will leave the door open for you and you can still catch it running. They actually depict this idea in some Westerns where they jump a moving train. Or even if our reference points aren’t in motion they seem to be. Ever park at a crowded beach parking lot and they go back and try to find where you actually parked among thousands of cars? Or sat in vast rows of people, and went out and came back trying to find exactly where you were sitting in the first place? Neither the car nor the rows moved from their original point but you lost your frame of reference, whatever that was. Maybe you parked next to a light post and you forgot that. Or you did have a lot going for you, and you forgot that. You were sitting next to a beautiful blond and you forgot that. I can reset my personal compass to a changing longitude. But many people feel annoyed, agitated, checkered, disappointed, and upset for reasons that ultimately refer to a sense of freedom. So look at any individual situation or idea we give a passing salute to and further reference the concept of freedom and what freedom means to you in this particular situation. As an exercise, you could write your thoughts under a headline, such as what does freedom mean to me in this situation. It is a valid headline because it is your headline. What does freedom mean to me as a garbage collector, as a translator of a foreign language, as a teacher, as a pursuer of knowledge in international events or sports, as a connoisseur of the movies? Take for example the movies, do you censor yourself and only go to certain movies. If you want, you are free to do this. You might want to avoid certain movies that are excessively or gratuitously violent. The degree of self-censorship is subject to personal freedom of choice with its various applications and continuing consequences.

We tend to look at freedom as some sort of global concept or right, but we need also to look at it on a more individual basis, and ponder its more personal meanings, resonance’s, and those personal practical applications. Freedom could be just another vantage point, taking in another view, the ability to bring something else into the forefront of my thoughts, helping decipher the language of the new and changing circumstances of the world I’m in. Freedom could be the right to seek in my own way, in whatever I want to seek, to take that more winding road with a different view when everybody else wants the straight path to the point of arrival. And then what is freedom herself pointing to for me, where does that finger of freedom point for me. The freedom to go back, in more than just memory only, it might be nostalgia but I really still like the Beatles and the tunes of the days gone by. I can’t go back to those concerts because I don’t have a time tunnel back, but I can still go back to the songs by record.

Maybe we can find encouragement within this freedom. For example, any ray of hope that might be found as we loosen those tightly held reins can be helpful towards feeling at home with this newly minted freedom, finally found along the way on a forming pathway. The most difficult paths might lead to a comforting oasis. Say for example, I run into tremendous traffic going to the beach. I begin to equate this with my upcoming experience at the beach. I finally get to the beach, everything is perfect, the setting, the scene, and the waves are just what I like. I find my oasis. So if I had turned around because of the difficult traffic, I would have missed this. So sometimes we need to realize although the trip to Oz might be difficult, it isn’t necessarily telling as to what Oz will be like. We never know when and where exactly the oasis can come up. The road to nirvana can be bumpy but we can still refer to nirvana in our thinking and our imaging’s if we want to. But maybe that oasis never came for you. It was a long and difficult road leading to another long and difficult road. But remember that this doesn’t mean that oasis wasn’t there, you might have just missed it, by taking a wrong turn and you might still find it, somewhere outside of the forest of your present difficulties.

And why was there so much traffic on the way to the beach. Everybody is looking for that oasis. Any large gathering, a popular concert, a packed movie theater or football stadium, represents a oasis for a large group of people.

I go to the racetrack, I bet my horses, I am free to make varied bets. Recently, I went to the racetrack, and bet a dollar to win on all 13 horses in a particular race. It was the Breeders Cup and all the horses had to be of a certain quality just to race, but yet some of these horses were in the range of 50 to 1 in this race, so there I had a chance at some long shot money. As it turned out a favorite came in and I got back only 7.50 back on the 13 dollars. But I was free to bet in this particular manner, the ticket I purchased showed one dollar to win, horses 1 thru 13. There is the freedom to make my bets and then change my bets if I wish.

I might say, I don’t want to tackle numbers in a work situation. So I wouldn’t be a financial analyst then. Don’t try and tackle something if it really is too big for you, imagine being in the NFL and trying to tackle refrigerator Perry or Ed ” Too tall Jones”. It would be a quite impossible for most people. Be realistic in what you are trying to tackle and this will free you up for more reasonable tries without going ahead with the feeling that you have to go overboard to make due.

And then this freedom of course includes freedom not to. This may be a way of holding to your position by not compromising your original stand. I want to good relationship with the opposite sex within a certain context or framework. This is not happening. So I can say I am free to do nothing in this area if I can’t find something within this context. Sometimes your best stance is to do nothing. Hold the line. You are free not to compromise your general outline. For example, I say I will not work in an office or a concern unless it’s with reasonably honest people. You find yourself in an office where dishonesty is rampart although it is highly unlikely that anybody will ever get caught. However, in your personal freedom watch, you are watching from the lens or scope of freedom, which allows you to quit this job, separating yourself from the situation, which is outside of parameters, which you will hold or adhere to as your choice. This freedom could include freedom from more extreme or widening risks or risk extraneous to your prior thinking on a subject including such thoughts and actions you are willing to take on. There are inherent risks to freedom and all its undertakings, but you don’t need to go overboard if you don’t have to. I saw a segment on TV where in a country where there resided one of the top ten poisonous snakes in the world, an individual captured one of these giant snakes with his bare hands in the outer forest, and held it from behind by the neck with his bare hand as he was getting it’s venom bring back to the science labs so the anti venom can be worked on, all the while talking to the camera about what he was doing. Maybe a good day job for this person, but not for me. Suppose he lost his grip on the snake and it turned for a quick bite. I think they said he would have about 7 minutes from that point. There was no anti venom yet because that is what he was working on. So we have the freedom to keep our parameters and basic outline, or to chuck it to the wind forever. Or we can change the parameters if we want to the degree we want. We can change 10 degrees, 30 degrees 50 degrees if you like, or go for the utmost and do a 180-degree turn.

I don’t have to assume all the risk upfront. I can work with the smaller outline as well as the larger outline. A common example is dating. I could say I want to go to the play and the amusement park for this date. But I might not want to also outline the date to try and determine whether this person is going to be a life’s mate. By doing this, I am trying also for a bigger outline than I necessarily have to, making the task seem larger and maybe more unapproachable. I am possibly increasing the perceived risk scenario when I don’t have to. Not only do I have to find the amusement park for the date, I only have to figure out on this date whether this person is a potential life mate, a tall task. I can just assume the smaller risk of today’s dating outline absence of imposing far reaching decisions.

Freedom could be the freedom to see the limits our dreams. You could have a dream job, a dream relationship, a dream trip in mind. All this might not be so easily obtained, but you can maintain that freedom in your vision, in how far can you see, and in seeing whether this was that ideal and truth which you really would have been happy with if in freedom you were able to see your dreams through. So freedom in its outlines sometimes deals with a sense of sight, we go forward with the open eyes of our choosing, ready to see if not greet the welcoming possibilities, not with eyes blindly following a preset agenda that could suddenly fall away, nor giving a blind eye to other not planned for truths or falsehoods as they come into sight. Seeing from your own personal lookout point, from your individual lighthouse where you can scan the tempestuous seas, from your watching point where you can at least begin to find out. And you could enlist friends, allies who can help in your walk towards freedom, looking in and out and beyond for you from this side or that side, scanning the new horizons on your behalf.

Think of the football scout looking at prospects for the pro’s or college at the QB position. He goes to a game, watches this QB prospect for two sets of downs and reaches a conclusion. Would you say this scout did a good and thorough job? He couldn’t even sit through the complete game or even a half a game. Sometimes we scout situations for ourselves or even make conclusions as to our own abilities without doing the proper homework or making conclusions in a quick summary fashion that just doesn’t let us project properly. We are finalizing our plans over very little evidence where more evidence can be had. Or the lights dim a little bit so I might as well pull the plug completely. This scout could have watched the complete set of plays on offense, and he might not have come to a qualified conclusion but he would have given himself a better chance to come up with a more objective and useful scouting report regardless. You can be free not to jump to conclusions so often especially when you didn’t do your homework and you know you didn’t.

Maybe your dream job was to be a TV repairman and when you go there you were half disappointed. But freedom did see me through to getting job, it is a good job, but I wanted to get there and find out if it was the final dream and maybe didn’t meet with me at that level. When you play your next deck of cards, deal in some freedom cards. Search for that freedom which finds out, which explores further into the still hopefully ample fields of tomorrows dreams.

There might be such a thing a soiled or spoiled freedom it’s less than I would have wanted ideally. So I have granulated coffee instead of its pure form. But hey I still wanted to stop at Starbuck’s and enjoy hanging out, so I’m here. And I’m still drinking coffee.

This idea freedom might cut across the time line. Can I free myself from what I thought about in the distant past, from the happenings and views of yesterday and the day before? Should I carry all things forward, or should I leave some things behind? For example, there have been people who have invested 4 years of their time in medical school, and did well in school, then decided they didn’t want to be a doctor. They took a more circular route to somewhere else. Or they did become a doctor but switched specialties. People have studied law for years and subsequently passed the bar exam and then practiced law. All free choices to divert from chosen fields of study, made without being forcibly compelled by the prior efforts to continue on a chosen path. And then I am free to selectively incorporate that which I will from my past journeys including that which has already told me yes I can. That word itself, selection, is such a key word. Who is doing the selecting for me and why? But we do sometimes carry the heavy baggage into the future, when we could just lighten up and drop it at the next station.

I also might think, what moves have I made towards what I want to do. I might be so entrenched in indecision, that looking back I realize I have made just about no moves on the chessboard. And in the game of chess, you have to make some moves, to get anywhere in the game. You can’t always know what the move will later entail due to the dynamics of the game itself. I can try this or that, but I never have perfect knowledge of how things are going to play.

It might not be worth it to go into a Herculean effort when the dam will burst or things will cave in as soon as you diminish or relinquish your efforts a bit. You might be holding things up or together by a shoestring.

A friend once told me, his major criteria for anything is, “Is it worth it?” Bring that question right to the forefront for consideration and it will help for sure.

Can I be free from the need to project into a future that I don’t see yet? Can I back away from the sunrise, by getting there or trying to get there before clarity and vision come? If I interview a prospective employee do I need to project that he or she will be a 5 year employee when I don’t even know if the company or its markets will be there in 5 years? Do I have to base a future on my numerous observations of the past days, adding them up into their cumulative sum which then forms a nice summary to project off and then projecting them into the next horizon, and thereby conclude in knowing fashion that this will happen when the only guarantee I’ll ever have is that there is no guarantee. Today is not the sum of yesterday. In fact those numerous observations might not do it, so you have to start today with something else.

But maybe that first impression, that first goal, is correct at least in part. I first wanted a blond, my preferences in women have since evolved and now I also like brunettes But that doesn’t mean if I do meet a blond now, that my original goal is now invalid or wrong for me now, that I cannot go back to the original superficial blueprint.

When I grew up in America , the standard lunch was a hamburger French fries and a coke. Things have evolved since then, the menus have expanded, and McDonalds and the like have chicken, fish, and so on. But that doesn’t mean I can’t go back and have my original order that was the staple of its day, like baseball, cracker jacks and apple pie. Look at some of the nostalgia, what people hold to, the people that restore cars, the searching again for the right stuff, all pointing to a restored feeling or experience I still want to revisit in some way. I want a classic coke as it was my first love. Or that favorite show that I still want to see from years back that has become associated with a personal era. Where is the DVD? We might associate seeing a movie with a certain time of our lives when we were actually happy for a moment.

As I sift through the newly emerging evidence, do I give up the old automatically? The original blueprint might have been good as it still holds some fading allure. Look at some people that would still go back to the old fashioned automate for lunch, or I might still want a root beer float after all these years, and even if Gilligan never got off that island, I still go back to that see that show again.

There is also the freedom not to do everything, be everything, and refer to every thought and idea at once. You can isolate on ideas and approaches that you want to pursue now, letting go of approaches that might have been mightily engrained in your thinking but you are free to drop for now in order to isolate on another approach. There is freedom of cadence and personal pacing. The freedom to isolate on and focus on even a specific instance of thought and carry it through to new possiblities.

Then we are also dealing with in simple, small, close by freedoms that might make a difference. The freedoms involved are so close or small that we don’t even realize it’s an issue of freedom. I might have to wear a suit and tie again at work after being in a casual dress environment for so long. These freedoms are so small we take them for granted, but they would be highlighted if they were taken away. Suppose they discontinued my favorite candy, my favorite drink, or my favorite show on TV. All of the sudden, what I assumed would always be available isn’t there anymore. There are no blonds left on the planet, I have to settle for a brunette. I could now only take a hot shower once a week because of the water shortage. Where did my hot shower water go? It ditched me. I can’t get the type haircut I want anymore, what I liked went out of style.

A personal example was when I played my first year of little league baseball, at every at bat I was badgered by the assistant coach who I guess meant well to keep my elbow up and swing level. I couldn’t swing then freely for the fences. I had no home runs and a low batting average for the season. The following year, with a different coach who left me alone to swing away for the fences, I could drop my hands and elbow without constant instructions to do otherwise and go back to my more natural swing and I did have some nicely hit home runs and a much higher average to boot.

But maybe a compromise can be reached. In order to swing more freely, I’ll agree to some adjustment in the rules of the game, maybe a pop fly to the infield is now an automatic out. I want this freedom, but I’ll allow for another rule that relates to this freedom to come in as a compromise between the elements being discussed.

We can make a bargain with the day, forgetting my previous lapses in relation to what I wanted then and now. But does the deal we make with the day, the passage of time, the changing circumstances of our life, include those cherished freedoms. Or did I deal them out this time, muffling those voices that call me forth to somewhere new, bargaining them away, bartering away some freedoms for a safer but less free vision of who I was then and who I could be now. Have you sold your rights, folding your hand against your hallowed beliefs, vanquishing and banishing the freedoms from your own personal kingdom and fiefdom, letting freedom pass by like the last fading rays of the falling sun, letting freedom pass you by yet one more time, leaving you alone as the forgotten companion and friend.

Then, you may have bartered away freedom when there was no give and take. You give up rights, but get nothing in return. Going back to the baseball example, you not only have you freedom taking away to swing freely, maybe you don’t even get to play the field now, you are only the DH. The bartering away from freedom netted you nothing.

And then there is that primal call to freedom, that call of the wild. You see this take form with people that take more extreme risks like skydiving or something like that. You might want to tap that ability to take on risk but also channel it in a way that will get you to another day. See another sunrise.

But there can be a subtle loss of freedom within particular goals, however small. I want to read the whole NY Times, so I end up being not free to read say just the one article. I find myself lacking unless I read at least 10 articles. Why this seeming shortfall is this seen as a free fall on my goals when reading just the one article can be quite valuable as well. I need to give myself freedom to find value and if it is only in one or two articles I can make it too so be it. I find myself riddled with guilt that I cannot seem to meet my prior goals. Instead of trying to solve the riddle, I let guilt rain upon it. My newspaper is all wet with the guilt I rained upon it, and I can’t read anything now. Are you going to get the crossword puzzle done on the Sunday Times by running on a guilt trip? Solve the puzzle. I may still want to cover more territory but I can cover less or more territory based on what I want to do in freedom. And if I cover less territory, I don’t have to take a guilty trip to guilty land, and cover my wagon train with guilt because I didn’t make it all the way west. I can’t read any fiction because it will not translate into a set of knowledge that will net me dollars, so I have to wait until my bank account is swelling with money before I can afford to spend time on this pursuit. So in effect, I am in a way not free to read fiction now, I’m effectively locked out on reading fiction for now, and although I could enjoy this and I have the capacity for this now, my bank account doesn’t let me. My goal of a lot of money in the bank has been a mountainous chore shading away other chances, and has usurped and obscured my present interest in maybe relaxing and reading some fiction. Reading fiction has become objectionable as I let the search for the gold further obtuse my other interests. I never get to that other place. I lose my other views from my high mountain, I got to the summit of Everest but I was above the atmosphere and I can’t see those other earthly opportunities or even pour myself another cup of soup.

Everything is a crapshoot, but it is less of a crapshoot if you can go freely into areas of your strengths that we might have seen had we not been stopped by the voices that say no. We not only voluntarily inhibited our weaknesses, but even our strengths. Why haven’t given myself a license to operate within my strengths? I have these good qualities, I sweep them under the deck, and so I end up with an immaculate deck, that looks great from the distance with such an impeccable view from afar. The perfect noonday sun sparkles on this shining deck. But, where I am on the deck? Where are you on the deck? Where are we on the deck? In fact, I can’t find any of us there. Had we really obtained the ideal view? The landscape was so beautiful, but never full, the occupant sign continually says vacant.

There were beautiful scenes and posh landscapes waiting for us. But I never got there. I heard you never got there. In fact, none of us made an appearance there.

What are my strengths really? What are my weaknesses? It is not so easy to sift through and separate the two. Passion could spur us on to new heights or catch us in our greatest weaknesses. Where does passion lie then, in our strengths or our weaknesses? Or does freedom have its say here?

By the common lumping together process, we classify our weaknesses as strengths or vice versa. The truth is that our greatest strengths can be found within some of our seeming weaknesses. Those are the nuggets of gold that we must find as we sift through.

My strengths could have been posted on the most wanted trail. Where were my strengths post and prior, now and then? You could picture those safe havens in your mind. That safe haven could be revisiting both in your mind and in a reality that is presenting itself in the form of hints. Where are they rolling out the red carpet for you? If this situation isn’t royal and regal it isn’t the safe harbor. If that level of engagement isn’t there, they might cast you out sooner if not later. Even your thoughts can leave the safe harbor, instead of rolling out the red carpet for ourselves, we dynamite against ourselves in our own thinking. If your own thoughts cast you out, then you haven’t even found a safe harbor in your own contemplations. The thought, I can’t hit the jumper, or the rising fastball, doesn’t get us in the game. The safe haven should also be seen as such by you. It certainly is not a place that is a lightning rod for the negative. And this place could be your place of thinking. What is the location of your thinking? Get back to those thoughts that will harbor your best assets in freedom.

An example of all this could be someone who wants to do something, yet ultimately does not see it being a safe harbor. More than likely, they will procrastinate until they can see what about this could form into a safe harbor.

See it you can catch things on the bounce. You still have a chance on the bounce back, maybe on the very next bounce. There are opportunities off the bounce. Every chance that you take is a chance that is taken.

Situations might form into a web or network. You might have a network of friends and relationships that overlap or network of business contacts. Or a web of interests and choices that relate in some way. But these interests as they become complex have the potential to become tangled. If you have ever gone fishing on a party boat, there is potential to really tangle the lines, and it can be very difficult to untangle the fishing lines. In the same way, we need to operate freely and try to avoid and then get out of ways we can get tangled up in these webs. A simple example could be a group of girls who are friends in high school. Gossip can spread among these mutual friends and one friend could get in trouble with most of the group. So gossip could cause entanglements in these webs of friendships, just like having several fishermen get their lines tangled up with each other on the fishing boat. This example shows how the free choice to gossip can have a resonance within a given network or web of relationships beyond its initial scope. Of course a web or network can be a rich and fruitful web. A bunch of mutual friends who keep in touch over the years with each other is an example of a rich web. Or you take a number of courses where there is helpful overlap as to the learning and this is a rich network of knowledge which has formed.

Change can be in two directions, not just one, or even make it three. So this is another thing to consider, I may be changing in two areas rather than just the one I seem to think about most. I need then to see therefore in two directions, and also look in two directions as I’m changing in two directions.

I can get tangled up again, I can trip over myself because I think I’m changing in only one direction, when it is two or more directions that my current movements are changing in. I might think even that this is a bit odd or strange, and therefore, count me out. But there are so many things you have done, in ways that were both acceptable to you and others, that there might be a chance that you could have a similar feel for this, this thing that seems so alien to your hopes right now.

But really I’m just trying to fish. How can I do this with freedom when my lines are so tangled?

You might be just as interested elsewhere. A little bit more freedom might do the trick or be the trick of the trade. This freedom could include a shakeup of the thoughts we hold so dearly about ourselves. I can put those closely held thoughts, at a bit of a distance, or at a little less of a premium. The problems indeed are coming through so close to the situation that we lose sight of the objective mirror as we pass by. Our present opinion of ourselves in based partly on the more subjective reality held by me only. We might be victims of our own gloomy prognosis that leaves us looking in the dust of formerly good opportunities. Can we sometimes settle in on a less gloomy view of our potentialities and ourselves? Ease up a bit on the brakes you have put on your personal freedom train and try to keep your train ride moving in some smooth, positive, and flowing forward fashion. At least give yourself a chance to peruse some of the evidence that you might be wrong as you sift further through the sands of possibility, that you could let the movie have a different ending or somehow find and believe for a better ending, or a different story line that had more appeal to the wider audience of me and them, that you might still be able to move in another chosen direction, rather than continually and conditionally resubscribing to the disrupting thoughts that blanket across your landscape, a twirling and twisting subscript that soon becomes predominate in your own personal movie, clouding your way. Can you cancel your subscription to disaster now? I have these thoughts that have now become corrosive and swollen with negativity. It is far easier to paint all with the same negative brush, swelling the storm, then to search out the good parts that still remain in the mix containing some good yet to be mined. Instead, leave the picture as is with some of those good scenes in the mix. Try to mine the positives. There are ways you can go on the still sunlit course, either automatically or not automatically. Or try to hang in there until the sunrise comes for you

Ever see a movie, particularly when the hero or main character is trying to escape. You root for that character to escape, and try to find with him or her the way out. Why not root for yourself, to find your way out?

Some decisions I make automatically, if the sea is too way strong, it is letting you know by the swells to 40 feet, and I just know I can’t handle it, I might automatically get me and my surfboard out of the water and get back to the babes on the shore of Baywatch . It’s an automatic decision. There is no second guess or even a first guess. If I get an A, I am almost automatically happy with the best results. That is the letter I want to see and it starts with A. But other projected courses are not so automatic and require considerations based on the ability move freely. Even if we get to where we seem to want to be, there is some crossing over that is involved that isn’t automatic. My personal belief system about myself can be shrouded with inconsistencies and inaccuracies that hold me back and keep me from what should be automatically a fairly good choice to make. Since I just can’t get my better thought processes to the forefront right now, doesn’t mean I live by what I can’t get to yet. If I had real confidence, I would automatically take this chance and walk through the good opportunity. The traveling beliefs about myself that I put on active file, on automatic pilot, that check me away at the door of new territory that might contain the golden opportunities that will bring me home to happiness. It’s as if I am skating with the hockey puck, nobody is there to check me, and I think what is going on, so I check myself against the boards. In my previously conceived notions of myself I haven’t considered other spectrums of my possible talents. I shroud my thinking. My one-dimensional ponderings haven’t considered that I may be multi-dimensional in my talents. I’ve blasted away at the whole rock. I have not gotten to the optimistic side of the fence yet. I haven’t told myself the whole story by just sticking with the negative. I’ve beclouded my own skyline. We haven’t exactly given scintillating reviews of ourselves to ourselves, further limiting fuller considerations of what might have yet been possible for me, jettisoning my own potentialities to a lesser form. I’ve giving myself a head start away from the better chances. Usually when someone says, you have a head start, it refers to advantages. But not the way we work things when negativity gets going first in our thinking.

Not only do I not want to be famous I have in fact defamed myself. We have continually declared ourselves ineligible before anyone else has or before the game has even begun. Are you socially engaged to a level of satisfaction, intellectually engaged to a level of satisfaction, have you got the lantern on those thoughts that puts you more in the light?. Can you center your thoughts on something else other than the worst-case scenario and just deal with it if it does when it happens? For example as we take in the bad news, do we need to center our thoughts on it? Centering on good things now may even leave to a fullness of those good things now. A flower blooms centering in the sunlight. Free up your thinking to a more rounded view, towards yourself and you’re your circumstances, giving some credence to the brighter side of things, not that you have to stay captive to the optimistic, but just visit there and see what is going on in that neck of the woods, also trying to give some weight to all the viable ideas you could choose from, not just the negative, which you can probably put in the corner anyway for all the good it has done you in these ramparts.

Going back to the example where I automatically get out of the surf if the waves are 40 feet high. But how about if I am facing waves that are 20 feet high? Even those waves are a bit high for my surfing ability but I am not sure. The decision isn’t automatic. Should I surf now or not? Right here is my rendezvous with freedom. This dance isn’t going to be with Ms. Automatic but with Ms. Freedom. Since the decision isn’t automatic, I will make a free choice. As I move away from the automatic I am moving into areas of freedom that contrast with my more automatic decisions. I am outside the friendly zone of automatic and I have to get used to dealing with the zone of maybe or maybe not. It isn’t much of a decision to grapple with to leave the 40-foot surf alone. But the surf I’m facing now offers more pros than cons but still some cons. I could get some relatively but not totally safe thrills on these waves, but my facility and experience in still more with 10 to 15 foot waves and this does represent an uncertain leap for me.

When someone says to you, “ Don’t automatically assume.” Consider that they might be right. How much and how often, even in the areas where we have a lot going for us, do we automatically assume maximum trust in our prior beliefs, approaches, expectations, and interests in somewhat erroneous fashion. How much should we be so automatic about without looking into freedoms play in the situation. I go out in the summer I automatically assume it will be at least 60 degrees. But what of the anomaly that has happened, that one day in the century when it’s 30 degrees in the summer. I just assumed that would never happen.

We let these negative thoughts rent space in our head. But at what cost do they rent? Can we free up that space for some other tenants?

Don’t totally rely on good bloodlines and circumstances. What good is the great horse with all the good bloodlines, and it never gets out of the barn for the race?

Are you still married to the darkness of the day or can you finally break free and start to divorce yourself from those negative forces? Can you finally get on equal footing with freedom or at least get a foot in the proximal door of freedom’s domain, finally beginning to that first big step into its province. We have tapped danced around freedom for so long we don’t know where and who we are anymore, as we list for a place on the hierarchy of possibilities, we never had a meeting with freedoms demands and invitations, even as freedom knocked on our door not only once but again and again, nether while we dimmed the light on our remained sight of what could yet be.

You don’t have to take on the full force of freedom you can take it in smaller doses. We don’t have to always have a grand meeting with freedom we can also meet freedom in her minutia, in her more minute form. Size up freedom to the situation. Not everything is at the level of détente.. You don’t have to be the leader of the free world to talk to anyone in this world, to talk to this girl, to jump in this nicely heated ocean for another soothing swim. Free yourself from the stifling and stilted worries that have got you swaggering like a ship in yet another storm of make believe.

We can ride the wave of freedom but then we can also get off that wave. We have freedom to ride a wave and stay on its crest or get off it if we choose. Opportunity can be seen from that crest, that panoramic view, from that higher wave, where I have views of new and multiple landscapes, which might yet have widespread applications. Jason Gardner tried to catch that big wave to the NBA but he didn’t have a good camp for the NBA scouts and went back to college for another season. He didn’t surf that big wave to the NBA this time but there will be another chance, another wave for Jason. Another Golden Fleece may yet be found. He did get another view from that wave and then went back. By the way he was just MVP of a major preseason college tournament for his college team the Arizona Wildcats.

Take some of your freedom pills in the morning with our vitamins. Freely have a freedom sandwich for lunch for a change instead of the usual tuna or turkey. And then take a relaxed walk along the highway of freedom afterwards, enjoy the sights, the price is right. Then take a d

About the Author

How To Do Parelli Without The DVD?

Honestly, I don’t care what other people may think of the Parellli program. It feels right to me, and for me, and it’s what my horse was started in with her previous owner. I’d like to continue it and form that beautiful connection with my horse.

If you know what is on the dvds, you can usually find it on youtube. For instance, if you look up seven games parelli and scroll through, their will be a tutorial on the seven parelli games. You can buy stuff on ebay or just get the cheaper clever duplicates. I would suggest buying at least a book from parelli though since it won’t be more than 30 dollars and will help you better understand his techniques and mindset. My horse is a 4 year old arabian and was trained with parelli. He is my proof that it works because he is usually calmer and more responsive than the older, more seasoned “show” horses. Parelli is great because not only do you never hurt your horse, you also develop a bond. My horse follows me EVERYWHERE! You basically need to start with the seven games:
1 Gain trust from a horse by playing the Friendly Game. Allow the horse to stand freely without being tied. Rub hands all over him until he accepts them everywhere. Then use a lead rope, bags, blankets or anything else to rub on him to “desensitize” him. The lets him know he is not going to be hurt.
2 Remind a horse to move away from pressure rather than push against it with the Porcupine Game. Use fingers to press against the horse, not releasing pressure until he responds by moving away. Start with soft pressure, only advancing to harder pressure if there is no response.
3 Teach a horse to respond to applied pressure by playing the Driving Game. This game gets the horse to move without having to touch him. Start out close to the horse and get him to move away and around by tapping the air with a lead rope or hands. Move further away once the horse responds to the implied pressure.
4 Send a horse forward or backward without touching him by playing the Yo-Yo Game. Stand facing him and wiggle your finger, then arm and then the lead rope if you get no response. Once he moves backward, stop all movement so he knows that is what you want him to do. Practice until he moves backward at the wiggle of your finger.
5 Motivate a horse to move freely while keeping him easily controlled with the Circling Game. Send him in a circle by leading his nose in the desired direction. Allow him to circle you by passing the lead rope behind your back when he goes in a circle. Let him make two passes and then gently pull on the lead rope, which signals him to return to you.
6 Instruct a horse to move sideways with the Sideways Game. Let the horse stand loose with a halter and lead rope. Face his nose to a fence or wall so he doesn’t move forward. Using fingers to “push” his body in the desired direction. Use the steps in the Porcupine Game for this procedure.
7 Begin the Squeeze Game with a large open space between you and a wall or fence. Send your horse between you and the object by leading his nose in the desired direction. Slowly close the gap each time he passes through. This game can help when bringing a horse through a gate or into a horse trailer.

The main goal of the entire parelli system is to gain the trust of your horse. If you can do that she will be more willing to do whatever you ask.

You could go to Parelli classes if they come to town or if you have a parelli using friend, you can borrow their dvds

Good luck

Alex Details More of ‘Obamacare’ as a Trojan Horse for Total Enslavment on The Alex Jones Show 1/6

How One Children’s Book Writer Is Inspiring Children in Writing and in Art

Quantum physics for kids doesn’t exactly sound like the latest trend. But children’s book author Kimberly Wickham – the artist and writer behind the new Angels and Horses children’s book series sensation – is transforming the way parents, educators, and children themselves think about contemporary children’s literature, with a series of books and artwork that explores the whimsical, fanciful, and even mystical possibilities available to creative children today.

The Angels and Horses series, which is comprised of Angels and Horses, Summer of Magic Horses, and the upcoming Angels, Horses and Other Worldly Lessons, manages to combine the warmth and humor of a children’s horse story with hints of magic and an inspiring focus on positive and creative thought. Tina, our young heroine, begins the series as an insecure middle-schooler dealing with more challenges than she thinks she can handle, among them the illness of her mother and the taunts of bullies in the schoolyard. Her pet horse Dancer, her closest friend, gives her some solace, but Tina is still troubled. But when her guardian angel Marguerite arrives on the scene, Tina is introduced to the full metaphysical possibilities of the universe beyond the Cosmic Lattice.

But this isn’t the magic of “Harry Potter.” Rather, the ideas that underpin the Angels and Horses series are based firmly in the real-world concept of the “Law of Attraction,” popularized in self-help phenomenon “The Secret” – that at a quantum level, the universe is filled with far more wonder than meets the eye, and that positive thinking can genuinely affect the way the world works. Thus, the lessons that Tina learns can be practiced by children themselves – an exciting treat for children heartbroken that they never received Hogwarts entry letters on their eleventh birthday.

Wickham’s art, which ties into the themes of her book – from the “Cosmic Lattice” to her beloved horses, is available for purchase separately from her illustrations – in Giclee Print, Print, or Card format. The whimsical drawings and paintings bring Wickham’s ideas to life, and are perfect decorations for a child’s bedroom or classroom, or as greeting or Christmas cards.

Wickham’s writing and art is available through Trafford Publishing and at http://www.kimberlywickham.com

About the Author

Kimberly Wickham deals in selling children story books online including best fiction children books, short story books, classic children’s books and many more story books for child at affordable rates.

Children’s book about a playground horse that disappeared and came to life?

I had this book in the early 1970’s but it could have been an older book. It was about children that visited a playground and rode on a horse made of metal I think (could have been wood) and then it disappeared, but a real horse appeared in the field, suggesting that the horse had come to life. It was one of those really simple stories, but so appealing to young children. It was a book short enough to read at bedtimes and would love to find it so I can read it to my daughter. I remember lovely illustrations, but unfortunately not the title or author? Any ideas or suggestions of what the book might be, pls contact. Many thanks.

“Gigi, the Story of Merry-Go-Round Horse” by Elizabeth Foster

http://www.amazon.com/Story-Merry-Go-Round-Horse-Elizabeth-Foster/dp/0962616508/sr=1-3/qid=1165262522/ref=sr_1_3/104-8412583-2845536?ie=UTF8&s=books

Dark Horse Comics Presents: The Chinatown Interview Pt.1

History Lesson for Girls: a Novel Excerpt

One Day I saw them, our dream horses, and on that day I pulled over to the side of the road and cried. There they were, Appaloosas and roans and bays, and I thought I saw, squinting into the last bit of sunlight, a gray. All the horses moved together, a makeshift herd — maybe they’d heard my car, or maybe it was a chill, the first winter breeze, almost imperceptible on a summer day. So many years later and now here they were in front of me. The horses trembled, shifted, and then became calm and separated out again, twelve or twenty of them, more than enough for the Alison and Kate Horse Training Company.

She saved me. That’s the first thing you should know about Kate. It was the year we moved to Weston, the year my parents went haywire, the year my back started curving out of control as if it were the life of the party. She was five feet seven and had long brown hair bleached by the sun, and her father was an Egyptian emperor. Was he for real? Real enough for a small suburban dynasty. Real enough to pass on a legacy.

I think of Kate all the time. I think of her like I’ve got this little silver Egyptian cat in my pocket, a little silver talisman that won’t go away. I think of her, and then I think of him, too, Tut Hamilton, sham shaman in suburbia. I can’t forget him, any more than I can forget her.

The thing is, she saved me that year, and then it was my turn. That’s what friendship is. That’s how to make history.

I was thirteen when my parents and I moved to the fancy town of Weston from maligned and honorable Norwalk, two towns over. We were ready for anything, ready for the good things to start happening, and the first thing that went wrong was the blue room.

Mom wanted her studio to be blue, despite the fact that most painters prefer a room absent of color, a blank wall, a clean palette. She’d had a vision, you see, a dream of a blue room.

My father offered to paint the room for her, but she would choose the color, of course. She and I went to the paint store together.

“These men — they’re painting the world, creating color wheels, color contrasts, color inspirations — without any real conception, no awareness at all, of what they’re doing. They could be artists — but no, no — instead of using these glorious choices — all the glory, all the opportunity, Alison — they just sit around drinking coffee out of a thermos and painting houses tan, tan, and tan again. How dreary . . . “

She continued talking as we got out of our Corolla (it also happened to be tan) and walked the short distance from the parking lot to the shopping center. I did hope she’d stop, or at least lower her voice, before we got to the store. She had a way of causing a commotion, despite her size. She was a tiny, fragile person, swathed in scarves and perfumes and charms.

Men of uncertain age and weight looked our way as we came in: Scheherazade and the too tall, too bony, too elbowy stalk, in a back brace, beside her.

My mother breezed by their troubling, huntery expressions, and we settled in before the paint chips. I’d just turned thirteen, my back was curved, and my parents were curved, too — bohemians in Connecticut, the Land of Plenty. Either all the colors looked good to me or none of them did. Somehow it seemed that this, like everything else, could go either way.

Mom, however, was confident. She hummed with satisfaction, picking out various small, hopeful cards from the rack, cocking her head, pursing her lips — rejecting one, then the other, until she came to her blue.

Today they’ve gotten hold of Weston and thrown up these monstrous vault homes, decorated with pillars and neo-this-and-that architectural details, but in 1975 the lovely colonials were what stood out, the historic touch. Some even had plaques near the doorways saying things like Paul Revere Slept Here in 1782 or In 1801, Here Stood Weston’s First Mill. The split-levels such as ours, built in the aesthetically challenged sixties, were scattered like tawdry cousins among these statelier, storied homes. Still, moving to 12 Ramble Lane was a big step up for us, and my parents had attached hopes to the house, obvious as the taped-up notes left behind by the house’s former owners (“Use 5-watt bulb MAX!” “Filter hose needs to be checked 2X year!”). Mom had torn down their notes impatiently the first day we moved in, replacing them with a sign of her own. Purple felt with silver letters, it hung on the door of her soon-to-be-blue room, her first real studio: “Artist at Work.” She could turn it to face in or out, indicating whether she was “open” or “closed” — a novel idea in a mother. Dad’s office was in the basement (he had another at the university), but most of all he seemed keen on a certain green hillock in the backyard, where he could sit cross-legged and rumble with a middle-aged Om.

We were all dressed up now, decked out in zesty Marimekko. And although the first two weeks in Weston passed in a kind of misty, glorious disappointment, most of all we felt lucky to be there, in a town of lilacs and curving roads and studio doors that shut and hillocks and a barn.

Dad stood on the ladder. He’d painted all the edges first, near the ceiling and floors and windows and corners, and then he’d taken out the roller and started in on wide swaths of Prussian Wildflower.

“A bit dark, isn’t it?”

“Well, it’s what your mother wants. It’ll lighten up as it dries, too, Allie Oop.”

This cheerfulness was disconcerting. He’d been duped into thinking he could please my mother.

“It looks different from the little card.”

“Goddammit,” Dad said. A slop of paint had fallen to the floor.

The fact of the matter is, both my parents were fish out of water in Weston. Mom with her dreams of being a painter and Dad with his day job and his poetry books, including the award-winning one, all lined up on the mantel. They were attempting to piece together a life with art at its center and also (not that I was fully aware of this at the time) making choices based on what might be good for me, their daughter. Art geeks, adversaries, people who drove old cars: They weren’t part of the PTA crowd, and they weren’t swingers, either. Mainly they were simply my parents, and it was extraordinarily embarrassing, but seemed pretty natural, that they were so weird.

“Look, you can’t tell anything from the card,” he said. “Take a rag to that spot, would you, please?”

“Why do they have the cards, then?”

“To beguile the willing, Alison.”

“Why would they do that? They would never do that.”

“You don’t think so? Think about the visceral and dark depths of the workingman’s resentment, darling, and you might have another idea.”

The son of Irish immigrants and bardic descendant of many a workingman, my father looked like he was a half second away from falling off the rickety old ladder — either him or the tray of Prussian Wildflower.

“Do we have any more 7-Up?”

Dad concentrated on his next swab of the roller. His somewhat long and unkempt beard, a poet’s beard, bobbed precariously close to the wall.

“Dad?”

He grunted. He smoothed the roller down, then over, making a reverse blue cloud in a white sky. “Try the garage.”

Copyright © 2006 Aurelie Sheehan

From the book History Lesson for Girls by Aurelie Sheehan Published by Penguin; June 2007;$14.00US/$17.50CAN; 978-0-14-311190-0 Copyright © 2006 Aurelie Sheehan

About the Author

Aurelie Sheehan is the author of the short story collection Jack Kerouac Is Pregnant and the novel The Anxiety of Everyday Objects. The director of the creative writing program at the University of Arizona, she has received a Pushcart Prize, a Camargo Fellowship, and the Jack Kerouac Literary Award. She lives in Tucson with her husband and daughter.

For more information, please visit www.aureliesheehan.com

Anyone have an interesting and true horse story?

I’m a bit bored, so I was wondering if anyone has a good story to tell about their own horse or another horse they know. It can be sad, funny, exciting, heart-warming, whatever. My own stories only consist of a heart-warming story about getting my own horse and the progress she has gone through after hardly being looked at before I got her, and a very sad story about when one of my favorite horses died. Add in some detail to your stories if you want, just don’t make it into a novel lol.

You will not believe this but. My horse was in my house!!! I had just got here at an auction and I lived in town at the time so I walked her two miles to my house and kept her in my back yard until, I could find a place to board her. She was 10 months old, and jumped up onto our deck, I could not get her off, so I had to walk her through the house, not once or twice put five times. Now she is a very sweet two year old here is her then and now pictures maybe? I have also moved. Sorry kind long.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3368/3597360286_cf472ecebd_m.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3367/3596551273_bc8cc7a563_m.jpg

The first one is my mom on the porch closing the sliding glass door. My dog had gotten a hold of a box of things and chewed them up,

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3396/3604640507_5b597e651e.jpg?v=0

Meet Blackjack – Star of the Morgan Horse series

Arabian Horses Are Generations Old

The Arabian horse has been called the most beautiful of all and he is unmistakable in character and appearance. It is the purest and oldest of all breeds and this variety has been carefully bred for thousands of years and there is evidence that dates them back over 4,500 years.

Take the time to read a book on the history of the Arabian horse and you will see how it has influenced other horses around the world. They spread their bloodline all over the world during the Muslim conquests in the 7th century.

The Arabian horse has a reputation for being intelligent, high spirited, very strong, and is one of the most easy to recognize horse breeds. As with most breeds, it was traded throughout its history and cross breeding occurred as they intermingled with other horses. It is believed that the other less desirable breeds were improved upon when their speed and endurance was introduced into the bloodline. In fact, their influence is most obvious when looking at the blood lines in the majority of the thoroughbreds in the world.

These horses are highly sought after by breeders today and great efforts have been made to ensure the purity of the breed. They possess dense, strong bones, and solid hoof walls; that enhances their ability to maneuver well in the desert sand.

The Arabian Horse Breeders Alliance was created to help breeders through education, competition and by making others realize the potential and beauty of this animal. They also want to unite the breeders to ensure that these unique animals will continue being valued for generations.

The Breeders World Cup first Annual horse show has scheduled an event for April 19-22, 2007. The main goal of this group is to become one of the premier purebred Arabian horse shows in the world. The show will be an opportunity for owners, breeders and enthusiasts to come and talk to their peers and compare notes. It will be a showcase for the natural beauty, nobility, excitement, and unique characteristics of the horse breed and will provide a lively and entertaining experience for existing breeders and those new to Arabian horses.

If you are interested in learning more about this horse, you do not have to go far. There are horse farms in every region of the United States and throughout the world dedicated to the breeding of this magnificent creature. In addition, there are shows throughout the country and the world that focus on this one horse.

While you may never own an Arabian horse, that does not mean that you can not truly appreciate the splendor and beauty of this animal. If you are a horse lover, consider attending one of the many shows where you will have an opportunity to see hundreds of these horses. This can also be an opportunity to introduce your children to these animals-their care, breeding, and overall appearance will truly enchant every child that has an opportunity to see them.

But watch out, they will probably want one of their very own as a pet.

About the Author

For more information on horses, try visiting http://www.interestinghorses.com – a website that specializes in providing horse related tips, advice and resources including information on Arabian horse.

what are the most popular cities for children’s horse books?

Marguerite Henry wrote a whole series of horse books set on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia. That’s not exactly a city, but it might be a place to start.

Latawnya, The Naughty Horse-A Dramatic Reading

How One Popular Children’s Books Author Expresses Her Creativity Through a New Medium

Anyone who knows Kimberly Wickham’s whimsical and mystical Angels and Horses series knows her talent, not only for creative writing, but for the visual medium as well. The exquisitely drawn artwork that decorates the three books in the series “Angels and Horses,” “Summer of Magic Horses,” and the forthcoming “Angels, Horses, and Other-Worldly Lessons” is perhaps to be expected; Wickham spent over twenty years studying and working to become an arts educator, and holds degrees in Art, Teaching, Art History, and a master’s in Humanities. But now Kimberly Wickham is branching out – her artwork, in cards, Giclee paintings, and print form, is available for stand-alone purchase through her website, http://www.kimberlywickham.com

Wickham’s unique style reflects the philosophy that underlies her Angels and Horses series of popular children’s books. The books, which detail the adventures of lonely middle schooler Tina and her beloved pet horse Dancer as they discover metaphysical principles of the world around them with the help of TIna’s guardian angel Marguerite, explore the “law of attraction,” a concept popularized with the recent publication of self-help phenomenon “The Secret.” According to this law, anything is possible at the quantum level, and positive thinking can literally “change the world” for you. Wickham’s art reflects this belief in a world of magic – chairs collapse into waves, horses sit up and talk – inspiring children to believe in a new way of thinking.

Among the works you can find on the site are:

THE COMFORTING HORSE – picturing a horse sitting upright wrapping its powerful legs around the shoulders of a crying young girl, keeping her safe and warm.

CHAIR COLLAPSING INTO ITS WAVE POTENTIAL – in which a simple household object comes apart at the quantum level and become one with the surrounding environment.

OVER THE COSMIC LATTICE – a magical entry on horseback to a world much richer and more mysterious than our own.

About the Author

Kimberly Wickham deals in selling children story books online including best fiction children books, child story books, short story books, classic children’s books and many more story books for child at affordable rates.

I need to know the name of a children’s book of scary stories?

All I can remeber is two stories from the book. One had a man riding on his horse being chased by an evil woman on horse back possibly taking place in Mexico.
Another had a girl lost in the wilderness during winter. She finds a sled and an evil elf or a leprechaun wants to kill her. She ends up convincing the creature to help her find her way home so he can have her evil mother and sisters. Any clue? I read this in 1999.

idk
maybe short and shivery?

Childrens Literature Commercial

Caring For A Horse Of Your Choice

Everyone remembers the “Simpsons” episode in which beleaguered Homer – not yet the walking punchline he was to become in later seasons – factory himself near collapse, winning next shifts at the Kwik-E-Mart with Apu, to offer a mare for early Lisa.

All ends well for the Simpsons, but the bother and feeding of cattle sincerely isn’t light work. First, there’s the subject of quarters. After all, your new Thoroughbred battle pony isn’t just vacant to fit in the closet. Horses entail shelter from barrage and encircle, such as a shelter, lasting or shed; this is especially loyal if your trust the mount’s fuzz midstream (for show), in which project you may also hardship a stallion blanket. In genial, sunny toughen, your pony desires shade. Your steed also wishes, year-globular, grazing land – commonly between 1-3 acres of fodder per animal fills the charge. And there’s the all-important problem basis (keeping a pony cooped up 24-7-365 is just cruel).

Most Americans charger owners, not having access to these clothes, rent a freedom for their pigs at a boarding club. These, of course, are not reduced – and some livestock, especially stallions, aren’t best reserved in such community environments anyhow, as they will tend to combat with other animals.

Even if you live in a moderate climate and keep your mare out to field usually, she or he wants a place to shelter from the rainfall, as the insulating coat of fuzz doesn’t work almost as well when it’s wet.

If you can keep you charger on argument of your own, make surely, when feeding the mount, lookout out for laminitis, a debilitating order that can come from drinking the opulent, abrupt-emergent early-spiral and fall pasture (such grassland is high in fructans and other non-structural carbohydrates). Similarly, if you’re fluky enough to be able to rely on a birth adjoining water mine, verify every day to make certainly the brook hasn’t dried up, dead torpid or urban downcast-green algae (lethal to livestock).

Finally, be watchful in selecting lattice resources. Wire is a terrible option for small pens (they’ll run into it); that goes twofold for cruel lead, which is condemned in almost every mount management book (but widely worn in the Western US). If you do use cable, use it in a superior pen (where the stallion won’t constantly be upcoming into call with grille), use a even and clearly obvious cable (perhaps tiring bamboo enmesh with intently spaced strands), keep openings between strips too small for a hoof to fit through, and preserve your wire fence charily.

To help with the visibility problem, as well as the durability of the fence, you might consider using a firewood top player (no risk of trampling that down). Wood or synthetic-firewood fences make a rather more steep, but correspondingly better, more resilient wealth.

Horses ought to eat 1.5-2.5 % of their body load in food every day. The most usual sources for pouring this heavy nutritional hardship are meadow, hay, grain, and pellets sold commercially. Again, keeping your steed fed is not mean.

Horses’ coats should be groomed every day, ideally; in the existent world, you should at least coach your pony before every pester to stop abrasion (for the charger, not you). A grooming regime includes the following rudiments: A globular, fleeting-notched tool called a curry, used to loosen backlog from the stallion’s coat and spawn refining artless oils; a stiff-bristled great brush which cleans the larger materials stirred up by the curry; a lenient-bristled body brush used for dust; the tresses brush (regularly large-jagged; some people austerely use a person hairbrush for this part); a hoof choose for cleaning the horse’s feet and preventing injury; fly spray, which needs no explanation; a metal or false tool, the sweat scraper, for, well, scraping away sweat; and cutters or scissors to keep certain areas abrupt-maned (these include the “bristle lane” behind the ears so that the control lays total, and fetlocks).

You’re perhaps wondering how to soak a horse? (Or perhaps your wondering why everyone goes to all this perturb, even for an animal as stunning as the horse?) This charge can be done with a plain garden hosepipe and human bathe (however horse rinse is vacant for the punctilious); however, many horses, under conditions of normal clothes and tear, never need a bath. No, I’m not kidding.

About the Author

Want to find out about horse nutrition and horse pedigrees? Get tips from the Horse Info website.

From the grown-ups to the kids: Would you say that popularity in high school was far too trivial..?

In hind sight, would you say the fight for popularity was futile? Do you wish that you had spent more time really cracking the books and studying?
I for one, wish I had not given a flaming horse’s ash about anything but my grades. Skipping school and smoking weed and worrying about fleeting relationships was a total and complete waste of my time.

and this is not?

its never too late to go back to skool