Stop and smell the flowers (click me)

They smell good.


Red roses are given as a symbol of love, beauty, and passion.

Poppies are a symbol of consolation in time of death. In the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, red poppies are worn to commemorate soldiers who have died in times of war.

Irises/Lily are used in burials as a symbol referring to "resurrection/life". It is also associated with stars (sun) and its petals blooming/shining.

Daisies are a symbol of innocence.

(from Wikipedia)

Take advantage of what you have now, because you may not have it again.

Let the wind blow through you hair

while you still have some.

-Dave Weinbaum-

Depressing Stuff you may Not Want to Know But Should

Click on the title for the link to the page.

The page lists 3 (war) tragedies in the past with a kind of wonder 'why don't people know about these?'
The top lists:

Casualties
Hiroshima 70,000–80,000
Battle of Manila 100,000
Nanjing 300,000

And you can read about those. I had not heard of the bottom two of course and I can say -- look at the articles, but be prepared to be depressed. 

The videos on the linked page are probably good to watch but also depressing.
The comments are worth reading.

I am glad to know these things. All I ever hear is about Hiroshima. I visited Hiroshima about a month ago when I was in Japan, went to the Peace Park and saw the museum. (That was depressing too.) It's really sad and horrible... but you also have to realize these other incidents and understand that there can be horrible and wonderful people everywhere, and America is not always at fault. < Which is the vibe I get from so many people, it kind of disgusts me.

I understand that Hiroshima is usually brought up because people are so afraid of atomic bombs (and rightly so), but we need to remember that we also should be afraid of people... especially people in charge. 

For a brighter note, and a look at the good people out there, look at this article FEE: Nicholas Winton. It's the story of a man who almost single-handedly and much out of his own pocket saved hundreds of Jewish children in Nazi Germany.

I am not an orator and I don't understand these things as much as I probably should, but I see it as a responsibility to let people know when I discover important things like these. No one wants to be sad, no one wants to know that people are able to commit these sorts of crimes, no one wants to feel guilty that they haven't done anything or that they did do something, but a lot of life is doing things you don't want to do and acknowledging facts and feelings you don't like.

If something's beautiful, something's got to be ugly.
If something's good, something's got to be bad.

You can't have something without nothing.

If no task is difficult, then no task is easy.

Things are up high because other things are down low....

- Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu)