THE PREGNANT DEER

email forwarded by Kamalini Kanapathippillai. 

In a forest, a pregnant deer is about to give birth. 
She finds a remote grass field near a strong-flowing river. 
This seems a safe place. 
Suddenly labour pains begin.

At the same moment, dark clouds gather around above & lightning starts a forest fire. 
She looks to her left & sees a hunter with his bow extended pointing at her. 
To her right, she spots a hungry lion approaching her.

What can the pregnant deer do? 
She is in labour! 

What will happen? 
Will the deer survive? 
Will she give birth to a fawn? 
Will the fawn survive? 
Or will everything be burnt by the forest fire? 
Will she perish to the hunters' arrow? 
Will she die a horrible death at the hands of the hungry lion approaching her? 

She is constrained by the fire on the one side & the flowing river on the other & boxed in by her natural predators.

What does she do? 
She focuses on giving birth to a new life.

The sequence of events that follows are:

- Lightning strikes & blinds the hunter.
- He releases the arrow which zips past the deer & strikes the hungry lion.
- It starts to rain heavily, & the forest fire is slowly doused by the rain.
- The deer gives birth to a healthy fawn.

In our life too, there are moments of choice when we are confronted on αll sides with negative thoughts and possibilities. 

Some thoughts are so powerful that they overcome us & overwhelm us. 

Maybe we can learn from the deer. 
The priority of the deer, in that given moment, was simply to give birth to a baby.

The rest was not in her hands & any action or reaction that changed her focus would have likely resulted in death or disaster.

Ask yourself,
Where is your focus?
Where is your faith and hope? 

In the midst of any storm, do keep it on God always. 
He will never ever dissapoint you. NEVER. 

Remember, He neither slumbers nor sleeps...

Scarred Communities

Psychosocial Impact of Man-made and Natural Disasters on Sri Lankan Society

Daya Somasundaram

Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna and a Consultant Psychiatrist

February 2014

520 pages

SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd

Instructors
For more information, please contact Customer Service at 1-800-818-7243
Individual Purchasers
Hardcover	ISBN:	9788132111689	$69.95

·  About

·  Contents

Scarred Communities is a qualitative, psycho-ecological study of the long-term effects of disasters—both manmade and natural—on Sri Lankan communities. The book studies the effects of war and the 2004 tsunami on families and communities. The concept of collective trauma is introduced to provide a framework in understanding how basic social processes, relationships and networks change due to these disasters.

The methodology employed is a naturalistic, psychosocial ethnography of northern Sri Lanka, drawing from the author’s participation in psychosocial and community mental health programmes among the Tamil community. Participatory observation, key informant interviews and focus-group discussions with rehabilitation workers and officials were used to gather data.

The author also analyses the various causes of modern civil war, ethnic consciousness, terror and counter-insurgency operations and their consequences on people. Though the study revolves around Sri Lanka, the phenomenon of collective trauma has an international relevance for communities across the globe caught in civil and ethnic strife.

This book is a sequel to Scarred Minds (SAGE, 1998), which deals with the effects of chronic civil war on individuals.

Mandela and Gadaffi; The myth of the saint and the mad dog.

Click on the web-link below to read the article:-

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?pli=1#inbox/144a0c72a7d21c66?projector=1

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http://thepowerhous.wordpress.com

Cause of the decline of the Harappan civilization 4000 years ago.

email from jks weerasekara

Long-Term Drought Doomed Indus Valley Civilization, Researchers Say

The decline of Bronze-Age civilizations in Egypt, Greece and Mesopotamia has been attributed to a long-term drought that began around 2000 bc.

Now palaeoclimatologists propose that a similar fate was followed by the enigmatic Indus Valley Civilization, at about the same time.

Based on isotope data from the sediment of an ancient lake, the researchers suggest

that the monsoon cycle, which is vital to the livelihood of all of South Asia, essentially stopped there for as long as two centuries.

The Indus Valley, in present Pakistan and northwest India, was home to the civilization known as the Harappan Civilization.

It was characterized by large, well-planned cities

with advanced municipal sanitation systems

and a script that has never been deciphered.

But the Harappans seemed to slowly lose their urban cohesion, and their cities were gradually abandoned.

The link between this gradual decline and climate has been tenuous because of a dearth of climate records from the region.

So Yama Dixit, a palaeoclimatologist at the University of Cambridge, UK, and her colleagues examined sediments from Kotla Dahar, an ancient lake near the northeastern edge of the Indus Valley area in Haryana, India, that still seasonally floods.

The team assigned ages to sediment layers using radiocarbon dating of organic matter.

In various layers, they collected the preserved shells of tiny lake snails (Melanoides tuberculata), which are made of a form of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) called aragonite.

The team also looked at the oxygen in the argonite molecules, counting the ratio of the rare oxygen-18 isotope to the more prevalent oxygen-16.

Two-hundred-year hiatus

Kotla Dahar is a closed basin, filled only by rain and runoff and without outlets. Thus precipitation and evaporation alone determine its water volume. During drought, oxygen-16, which is lighter than oxygen-18, evaporates faster,

so that the remaining water in the lake and, consequently, the snails' shells, become enriched with oxygen-18.

The team's reconstruction showed a spike in the relative amount of oxygen-18 between 4,200 and 4,000 years ago.

This suggests that precipitation dramatically decreased during that time. Moreover, their data suggests that the regular summer monsoons stopped for some 200 years.

The result, reported last week in Geology,

supports the idea that monsoon failure led to the civilization’s decline, although David Hodell, a co-author of the study and a palaeoclimatologist also at the University of Cambridge,

hastens to add that uncertainties in the shell and archaeological records mean that the dates could be off by some 100 years in either direction.

m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4895673?ir=Science

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The Cockroach Theory for Self Development.

email forwarded by  Lesley Sirimanne.

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.

The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but ...it landed on another lady in the group.

Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama. The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behavior?If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?

He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos. It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it's my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me. It's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.More than the problem, it's my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.

Lessons learnt from the story:Do not react in life. Always respond. The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of, just and right to save a situation from going out of hands, to avoid cracks in relationship, to avoid taking decisions in anger, anxiety, stress or hurry.

Share with friends and family.

God Lives Under The Bed

Piyusha Atapattu	10:05 PM (8 hours ago)
to

lovely -please read to the end slowly

email from Piyusha Atapattu      I think this is perhaps one of the BEST email 'forward' I have ever read.  I hope you will enjoy it half as much as I have!!        Don't start reading this one until you've got more than a minute to just 'scan' over it.  It deserves some time for reflection. GOD  LIVES UNDER THE BED  I envy Kevin.   My brother, Kevin, thinks God lives under his bed.   At least, that's what I heard him say one night.  He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen, 'Are you there, God?', he said. 'Where are you?   Oh,   I see. Under the bed...'  I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room Kevin's unique perspectives are often a source of amusement. But that night something else lingered long after the humor. I realized for the first time the very different world Kevin lives in.  He was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties during labor. Apart from his size (he's 6-foot-2), there are few ways in which he is an adult.  He reasons and communicates with the capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he always will.  He will probably always believe that God lives under his bed, that Santa Claus is the one who fills the s pace under our tree every Christmas and that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them.  I remember wondering if Kevin realizes he is different. Is he ever dissatisfied with his monotonous life?  Up before dawn each day, off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to walk our cocker spaniel, return to eat his favorite  macaroni-and-cheese for dinner, and later to bed.  The only variation in the entire scheme is laundry, when he hovers excitedly over the washing machine like a mother with her newborn child. He does not seem dissatisfied. He lopes out to the bus every morning at 7:05, eager for a day of simple work.  He wrings his hands excitedly while the water boils on the stove before dinner,  and he stays up late twice a week to gather our  dirty laundry for his next day's laundry chores.  And Saturdays – Oh, the bliss of Saturdays! That's the day my Dad takes Kevin to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the planes land, and speculate loudly on the destination of each passenger  inside. 'That one's goin' to Chi-car-go! 'Kevin shouts as he claps his hands. His anticipation is so great he can hardly sleep on Friday nights. And so goes his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips. He doesn't know what it means to be discontent..  His life is simple. He will never know the entanglements of wealth or power, and he does not care what brand of clothing he wears or what kind of food he eats. His needs have always been met. He never worries that one day they may not be. His hands are diligent.  Kevin is never happier than when he is working.  When he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the carpet, his heart is completely in it.  He does not shrink from a job when it is begun and he does not leave a job until it is finished. When his tasks are done,  Kevin knows how to relax. He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others.  His heart is pure.  He still believes everyone tells the truth, promises must be kept and when you are wrong, you apologize instead of argue.    Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Kevin is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God.  Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to God, he comes as a child. Kevin seems to know God - to really be friends with Him in a way that is difficult for an 'educated' person to grasp. God is his closest companion.  In my moments of doubt and frustrations, I envy the security Kevin has in his simple faith.      It is then that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine knowledge that rises above my mortal questions.  It is then I realize that pe rhaps he is not the one with the handicap.     I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances - they all become disabilities when I do not trust them to God's care. Who knows if Kevin comprehends things I can never learn?   After all, he has spent his whole life in that kind of innocence, praying after dark and soaking up the goodness and love of God. And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts, I'll realize that  God heard the simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed. Kevin won't be surprised at all! When you receive this, say a prayer. That's all you have to do. There is nothing attached. This is powerful.   Just send this to other people, please. Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive. There is no cost, but a lot of rewards.  FRIENDS  ARE ANGELS WHO LIFT US TO OUR FEET WHEN OUR WINGS HAVE TROUBLE  REMEMBERING HOW TO FLY

Singapore.

 email from jks weerasekara

Why does Singapore top so many tables?

Singapore is a small nation with few of its own natural resources. Yet in the past 50 years it has transformed itself into one of the world's economic powerhouses. Here, Tenna Schoer, a Danish journalist based in Singapore, counts some of the measures where the country comes top of the class.

1. Low crime rate
Take a ride on the subway in Singapore and you'll quickly notice that it is only the tourists firmly holding on to their bags. The locals are very relaxed about their belongings and show no hint of fear that somebody might snatch their smartphone. Unsurprising perhaps when you consider that Singapore has one the lowest crime rates in the world.
Crime has fallen in each of the past three years. Last year had the lowest recorded crime rate in more than two decades - there were 80 days in which not a single robbery or "snatch theft" was recorded.
Not only do you not need to worry about your belongings, your life isn't in very much danger either.
According to UN data, Singapore has the second lowest murder rate in the world (Data excludes tiny Palau and Monaco.)

Only 16 people were murdered in 2011 in a country with a population of 5.1 million. Compare that to similarly sized Norway which had 111 murders and Slovakia with 96 murders in the same year.
You don't have to look that hard to discover why this might be, though. The little city state is well known for its harsh punishments for crime, even for low-level offences. Recently, a security guard was sentenced to three months in jail and three strokes of the cane for spray-painting "democracy" on a war memorial.
The police are also putting in place a network of cameras that will eventually cover all public housing blocks and car parks. In Singapore there are seemingly few concerns about "big brother is watching" when it comes to fighting crime.

2. The healthiest people in the world

Keeping fit and losing weight is official government policy

When the sun is up, so are Singaporeans, doing their morning exercise. Take an early stroll in the beautiful Botanical Gardens and you'll find young and old, men and women jogging around the pond or doing tai chi.
Maybe that's one of the reasons why Singaporeans are ranked as the healthiest people in the world. Based on health-related indicators from the United Nations, World Bank and the World Health Organization for 145 countries with at least one million people, one survey placed Singapore in an overall first place with a health grade of 89.45%.
However, like most developed countries Singapore is also seeing an increase in obesity. So, in order to shape a healthier workforce, the country's Health Promotion Board recently announced the "1 million KG challenge".
This campaign is trying to get Singaporeans to collectively lose one million kilograms within the next three years through more physical activity and healthier eating behaviours.

3. The easiest place to do business
Roughly, half of those living in Singapore are here on a temporary basis, working for the many foreign companies that have a regional office in Singapore.
These businesses didn't just choose the city state because of its convenient location close to the rest of Asia and the Pacific.
Last year, Singapore was named by the World Bank for the seventh consecutive year as the best country to do business in. The bank highlighted Singapore's standards for trading across borders, dealing with construction permits and protecting investors.

4. The largest manufacturer of jack-up oil rigs

Singapore is a leader in the construction of jack-up offshore oil rig platforms

Singapore doesn't have a drop of oil to its name but it dominates the oil industry in one crucial sector: it is the world's biggest maker of jack-up rigs, the platforms used for off-shore oil exploration and drilling.
Since the 13th Century, the country has benefited from its strategic location at the confluence of major shipping lanes through the Strait of Malacca. Today, it remains a magnet for the world's shipping industry.
Until recently, when it was overtaken by Shanghai, Singapore was the largest port in the world.
Out of its shipping heritage grew two giants of the oil industry, the local conglomerates Keppel and SembCorp, which have been transformed from humble ship repair centres to global leaders, helping Singapore command 70% of the world market.
The Singaporean marine and offshore industry employs some to 75,000 workers and had a total output of 12.9bn Singapore dollars (US10.3bn, £6.42bn) in 2011, one of the fastest growing sectors in the country's economy.

5. One of the least corrupt countries in the world
Situated in a region where corruption is sometimes a part of life, it's notable that Singapore scores as well as it does in the international rankings for corruption, currently number five on the list of least corrupt countries in the world.
Most Singaporeans praise the Republic's first and long-serving prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, for building an environment almost free of corruption. But several years before Mr Lee took office, Singapore decided to fight corruption by establishing the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau in 1952 in order to attract foreign businesses to invest in their land.
Today, when it comes to any kind of corruption the country doesn't distinguish between white or blue collar crime. It tries all cases according to Singapore's stringent penal code, with long-term jail terms and large fines up to 100,000 Singapore dollars (£50,000).
Singapore also keeps the salaries of politicians and civil servants high in order to repress economic incentive to engage in corrupt activity.

6. Where millionaires are minted in the shortest time

Conspicuous wealth is rarely hidden away in Singapore

Take a walk in almost any residential car park in Singapore and you'll find a handful of luxury cars such as high-end Audis, BMWs and Mercedes, a couple of Jaguars, and at least one Ferrari or Maserati.
This luxury doesn't come cheap in the first place, never mind after adding a car sales tax rate of 150% plus the 84,000 Singapore dollars ($42,000) it costs to obtain the certificate to own the car. (Not to mention the 90kph/60mph speed limit in Singapore.)
But wealthy Singaporeans don't mind spending several hundred thousand dollars on a luxury car. Why? Because they can.
According to a recent wealth report from Barclays Bank, over half of Singapore's wealthy people have taken less than 10 years to accumulate the majority of their wealth, the quickest rate across the globe.
Not only does money grow fast, the concentration of millionaires is also among the highest in the world. With 8.8% of the population with a private wealth of at least one million US dollars, Singapore comes in as number five on that list.

7. Top of the class

Education is a top priority for government, with teachers held in high regard

In 1965, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew created the master plan behind the modern Singapore, a "first-world oasis in a third-world region", as the now 90-year-old Mr Lee has put it.
Having few natural resources, Singapore invested heavily in education in order to build and maintain a well-educated work force. Currently, approximately 20% of government spending goes into education.
According to the latest OECD report on education performance around the world, it seems like that effort is paying off.
Based on rankings achieved in mathematics, science and reading literature, Singapore comes second in the overall results, just behind Shanghai. Some 12.3% of students in Singapore attain the highest levels of proficiency in all three assessment subjects.
Students work hard and do more hours of maths and science than the OECD average. Not only do the students feel a notable pressure from their "tiger parents" as well as the society in whole, there's also a sharp focus on the teachers.
Teaching in Singapore is a highly respected profession. They are selected from the top third of each cohort, and to keep them on track with the newest teaching techniques they are entitled to 100 hours of professional development every year.
The country's education system is often criticized for not producing "out-of-the-box" thinkers, but efforts are being made to change that. The Ministry of Education recently cut academic content to create space for schools to develop critical thinking.

8. The lowest drug abuse in the world
Most places in the world have a neighbourhood known for its drug problem, but not Singapore. The country has the lowest level of drug abuse in the world when it comes to opiates, cocaine and ecstasy, and the second lowest for cannabis and amphetamines, according to a UN World Drug Report.
Punishments for possessing drugs are harsh - possession or consumption of cannabis can earn you up to 10 years in prison, a 20,000 Singapore dollar (£10,000) fine, or both. And the zero-tolerance approach can also mean a mandatory death sentence.
Getting caught trafficking 30 grams of cocaine or 15 grams of heroin will put you on death row, where some 34 people are currently facing execution.

9. The third-largest gambling market

Singapore's casinos now contribute significantly to the economy

The quick moves of the slim hand reveal both anxiety and routine as the young woman places her bet on the roulette. In front of her are stacked several piles of tokens worth more than 5,000 Singapore dollars.
It is Thursday night and the giant casino is buzzing. Singapore legalised gambling only three years ago and licensed two large casinos to attract more tourists. Visitor numbers have jumped nearly 50% since.
What's more, the casino industry paid 2.2bn Singapore dollars (£1.1bn) in tax and contributes an estimated 1.5-2% to Singapore's GDP.
There is a long tradition of gambling but to keep scandals (and suicides) to a minimum, locals have to pay an entrance fee of 100 Singapore dollars, whereas a foreign passport gives you free access to the glittery machines and freedom to win or, more often, lose money.
Singapore's casino industry pulled in an impressive US$5.85bn in 2012, up 8% on the year before, putting it in third place globally. That's close to Las Vegas' US$6.2bn, but some distance from the world's number one gambling market, Macau, which generated US$38bn.
Though the Singapore casinos have seen a decrease in visitors as the novelty factor fades away they still attract around 17,000 people a day.

10. The most unhappy people in the world
In Singapore you can find almost anything you desire but one thing in short supply, apparently, is happiness.
A recent Gallup report revealed that Singapore's wealthy population is the unhappiest, or least positive, in the world, less happy than people in Iraq, Haiti, Afghanistan and Syria.
When asked if they had been well-rested, treated with respect, if they had smiled or laughed a lot, and had done or learnt something, only 46% of the Singaporeans replied "yes".