Fate

I just met my parking neighbour and complimented him on his new car. He needed a larger vehicle because his wife has been in a nursing home since a stroke, and when he picks her up and wants to take her out, he can fit her more easily in the new car. She weighs 95 kilos, he tells me. 

He is a rather small man in his 70s. Then there's his daughter, a beautiful young Turkish woman, who was in a serious traffic accident five years ago and has been physically disabled ever since.

As I listened attentively, he revealed other stories in his family. His older daughter has a severely physically disabled nine-year-old boy. He suffers from asbestos and receives a good pension, but a lot of it goes towards his wife's health and care. 

And he doesn't feel comfortable here anymore anyway, far from his homeland, and he can't go back at his age. Fate has been unkind to me, he said.
All I could answer him was, if you look closely, everyone has to endure these kinds of blows of fate. And it's spring!

But with a positive attitude, this fate is easier to experience. There's also another kind of fate: the changeable kind. People believe they can change their own destiny, and I prefer that kind of fate.

I watch TV

As you already know, I'm not a big fan of watching TV." To sum it up in one sentence: If you want to grow personally and lead a healthy, happy, and successful life, the first thing to do is get rid of your TV.

Anyone who thinks even the slightest bit that TV can relax, inform, or entertain is on the wrong track. In the long run, watching TV not only makes people stupid, it also makes them sick. 

Children are especially at risk. For some "adults," it's often already too late to control their TV consumption.

I found the image above quite apt for reflection. It shows the empty TV casing as an installation. (What each person wants to put in there is quite individual.)

But it's not just TV that condemns us to passive "participation." Very similar dangers lurk in front of the PC. Content or not, active surfing, choosing from more than "just" 36 TV channels. None of this should obscure the fact that real life still takes place. And, as with TV, it's not just the content that causes negativity. No, eyes, posture, passivity, and ultimately the flood of stimuli leave their mark in the long run.

I'd like to label this post "Think " because, of course, everyone will decide for themselves.