Do you ever find yourself doing something your parents used to do when you were a kid, despite the fact you hated it back then.
If I could do what my parents used to do back when I was growing up, it would make my kids less selfish. These days kids follow what the friends say.
Even though I looked after all their needs, even taught them, so they wouldn’t have problems in school, they not only fail to appreciate it, they do not hesitate to tell me I know nothing.
I’m not sure if all the kids do that, but my kids certainly are guilty of it.
I recall the first year of teaching in a small town in North America, I had some very outspoken kids, who cared little that the teacher could hear them, one of them addressed his mother as that ‘Woman’ when I heard it I could not take it lightly, I had to tell him, it wasn’t very nice to address his mother as ‘that woman,’ it was disrespectful. He looked at me and showed a, ‘I don’t care what you think attitude.’
Two weeks later we had our “parent teacher interview,” I told the mother about this incidence, she clearly was embarrassed. She assured me she was going to take care of his bad behavior.
Next morning, I could see a drastic change in his behavior, he was extremely polite and never behaved improperly.
Not everything parents say or make kids do can be taken as negative, it is a learning process for the kids,and parents are the best people who can give their kids that knowledge!
I spent eleven years of my life as a happy go lucky child with very little to complain. Suddenly at age twelve things were different, I wasn’t carefree anymore. My most important person my Dad passed away.
I with the rest of my family had to move to a place which never felt like home. My mom had difficulty making ends meet. We were scared not knowing what the future holds for us.
Suddenly instead of Dad my eldest brother took over the family affairs. He was inexperienced, young and lacked patience which was crucial for the head of a large family.We moved from our Granpa’s village to Comilla . We were hardly settled in our new home, when our eldest brother decided to get married. No one in the family was prepared.
To make matters worse my older brother tried his hand in business, which was completely out of his league. Within a year he lost all the money Dad left for us.
I was barely fourteen but understood what a difficult road lay before us. My second eldest brother was an accountant,he came to our rescue. Whatever he contributed wasn’t enough to meet the family’s needs. My fourth brother agreed to help out.
We were doing fine but we lost all our enthusiasm in life, we spoke softly, we tried to focus on our studies. We believed education will bail us out of our misery.
Slowly but surely we were moving along hoping the coming days will be brighter.
I completed my high school exam successfully. I studied four years in two different colleges. After completion I went on to do my masters degree followed by an education degree. For me the years were passing ever so slowly, I needed to work to support myself to avoid being a burden to the rest of the family members.
After completing my education I took the first job offered to me. I taught for eleven months. I then moved to the bigger city to try my luck. I got the job I wanted but was unaware there were some strings attached, the position included looking after seventy-five kids ranging in ages from five to twelve.
I found myself waking up at 5 a.m and going to bed at midnight. This took a toll on my health. I could not complain , I decided to bide my time and leave this place at the first available opportunity. It came when I received a scholarship to study in England. The administration put a number of road blocks on my way to freedom. I was able to break those barriers by my firm resolve.
I went to London for a year and, completed the diploma of ,’Teaching English as a Foreign language.”
When I came back there were jobs I could get but there was a catch none of the places had living quarters for teachers. I stayed six months at home, I was waiting to get a place to live in the city where I intended to teach. Luckily I got one but it didn’t last long because it was a girl’s college hostel and some of the students didn’t like us(other women and I)to live in the hostel, because we were not students.
There were five of us we managed to rent an apartment on the fifth floor. There was no elevator in the building, once we came back after work we never went out it was difficult to climb those stairs more than once.
After a few months I was married to a physician who lived in Montreal. I stayed with my husband’s parents in a remote village which was accessible only by boat. Seven months after my marriage I came to Montreal to join my husband.
My husband was not allowed to practice in Montreal because he was not a Canadian citizen. To be eligible to practice he’d have to wait for two more years, this was the condition only In Quebec.
Our destiny moved us to Gander, Newfoundland , fortunately my husband was able to practice there because he was an immigrant. We made Gander our home hoping to move back to Montreal after two years. A year later my husband’s boss who had promised to hand over his practice to my husband died in a highway accident. A year and a half later my husband had a myocardial infarction. After this incident we gave up the idea of moving out of Gander.
I taught In Gander for a while. My husband had health issues particularly with his heart, we decided to move to the capital because the facilities were much better.
My life after age twelve until I completed my education was the worst years of my life. It was better after I finished my education and started working.
Young people face more challenges today than me, ours was different we were not bombarded with technological advance.
A new service is invented for me to send messages to people in the future. First I’d be so overwhelmed I wouldn’t know who deserves a message in the future from me.
After hours of pondering and nights of uneasy sleep, I’ve decided future messages can only be sent to those who are yet to step into this amazing world of ours.
Since I think I’ve gathered enough experience from the past and present, I have so to speak a lot more knowledge than the ones who will be coming.
The names of people hopefully will be the same, who is going to try to invent newer names. I like the existing names such as Henry,Jack,George, Neal and Philip. I’ll deal with one of these keeping in mind ,their minds are squeaky clean.
1.Henry is a name I’ll strike off the list because of Henry v111.
2. A person named Jack was not so good either.
3. George: there were too many dopes,so I cannot use it .
4. Neal: according to research I’ve done ; a person named Neal was a stupendous bad ass.
5. Philip: They say is a very stable and honest man.
I have chosen Philip out of five names I’ve researched,he is the one who is honest and stable man according to sources.
Since he is yet to be born and raised my message will be thus:
Dear Philip ,
This is a message for you. Please get rid of all the things that have caused pollution. Treat all your fellow humans equally. Give opportunities to do better to all humans. Wipe out hunger.Provide homes for everyone. I hope you will take this message as a serious one.
The one subject that has interested me for a long time is the study of Philosophy. Since it is connected with reality,existence,knowledge,values,reason,mind and language. I feel I will learn a lot from studying reality,existence and all the rest.
When I am curious about something and ask why that is so,I am told this is reality. Reality in a layman’s language would be it is what you see. I think it is deeper than what I see.I am not convinced with this answer.
I know it comes from the Greek word Philosophia,which means love of wisdom.
The sky and the air free of the piteous groans of the oppressed
Only when the battle fields are cleared of jingling bloody sabres
Shall I, weary of struggles,rest in quiet,
I,the great rebel.”
This is a part of the poem of Kazi Nazrul Islam. He was imprisoned, tortured,poisoned slowly, still he did not give up fighting for the country he loved. This is one of the characteristics of an individual that makes him immortal. His name will remain in the hearts of people for generations to come.
He was born on the 25th May 1899 in a small village named Churulia near Asansol,Burdwan district of undivided Bengal, in India.His father was Kazi Faqeer Ahmad.He was the Imam and caretaker of the local mosque and mausoleum. He had two brothers and a sister. He studied in a madrassah ‘It was run by the mosque. He learned to read the Quran at an early age. He was only ten years old, when his father died. He started working in his father’s place to support his family. In a short time he was able to take the job of the Muezzin in the mosque where he studied.
Despite his poverty,he continued to study. He worked with theatrical groups. He learned the art of writing poetry,drama and literature. He made strong verbal attacks against the British Raj in India. He preached revolution through his poetic works.’ Bidrohi,the Rebel’ was his most famous Bengali poem.It was collected in a volume titled,”Agnibeena” in 1924. The first anthology of his poems.
His poems depicted elements of romanticism,heroism and love.He called for rebellion against all forms of oppression including the oppressive acts of the British Raj in India. It is believed he got his inspiration from Walt Whitman’s ,’Song of Myself’.
His activism landed him in prison. He wrote ‘Deposition of a Political Prisoner’, while in prison. He worked for the freedom of the downtrodden masses in India.
He enrolled in schools whenever he was capable of paying the fees,he loved to study . He had an insatiable thirst for knowledge,which he acquired whenever he got the opportunity.
Throughout his career he wrote short stories,novels and essays.He was well-known for his poems. He wrote and composed music for nearly four thousand songs.
At age eighteen,he joined the Indian army. He enrolled in the British army for two reasons; his inclination to study the unknown,secondly the call of politics. He was posted in Karachi cantonment. He wrote his first prose and poetry in Karachi. He read extensively and was influenced by Tagore and Saratchandra Chattopadhay,also the Persian poets, such as Hafez,Rumi and Omar Khayyam. He learned Persian poetry from the regiments Punjabi Maulvi. He practiced music and pursued his literary interests.
At the age of forty three this vibrant poet lost his voice and was silenced forever,he also lost his memory. He died in Bangladesh in 1976 at the age of seventy-seven!
Sabethville 