I had the opportunity to spend some time with a friend in one of the recent evenings of July, and as we spoke at length about several subjects, and I came to the conclusion that she was not doing so well. On the outside, she looks good, she smiles and laughs at all sorts of things. By appearances, she does well. But, if you enjoy reading body language and word use, one would recognise that she isn't actually really well.  When everyone disappears, I wonder what is left in her head and heart.

    One of the many things we spoke about was the people we surrounded ourselves with. She has her own set of friends and family, I have my own, and we have few people in common. One thing I noticed was that she was often put down by her family and her friends were no more encouraging. Some of them even brought her down to share in their misery, when she had no part of it. That, among other things.

    In a somewhat refreshing change of pace, this will be slightly shorter than the previous entries. And, excuse the delay, there were slight hindrances during the week that prevented me from thinking and writing much.
    Everyone has problems. You, me, that guy you chat with over the internet on a daily basis, that girl you stalk daily on Facebook, and that homeless person who sleeps under the bridge. We often find ways to hide our problems from others; using the bottom of a beer bottle to mask our lips, a fake smile plastered on a face that does not share the smile, jumping from one relationship into the next hoping to find the one. Others bury themselves in work, hoping to achieve much and have a rewarding career. But at the end of the day, everyone wonders: is this everything there is to life?
    What holds us back from experiencing good things in life?

    Every single day, all over the world, we learn of the rather frightening silly things that the governments of the various countries around the world do to themselves. What good it was that ever made their decisions sensible and useful for the people they are supposed to be serving is lost completely, and we are left scratching our heads wondering what in the world it was they were thinking.

    Today, the news spread that the vehicular discriminatory system, popularly referred to as coding, but should be called "numberism", was going to be expanded to ban vehicles twice a week, instead of just once. Prior to that, there was news that China had executed a citizen of this country who was caught smuggling drugs, and that the government had tried to appeal said smuggler's conviction. And shortly before that, we had more news that Social Security was now becoming mandatory for domestic helpers, who, according to some asking around, earn less than minimum wage.

    The world we live in is a depressing place. So focused on death and depression, it is highly likely that we are going to have all sorts of problems, frustrations and difficulties. As I am fond of saying, such is life. Knowing this to be true, what can we do?

    I have heard several rather depressing stories of how people give up on all sorts of things; one of which I heard today. And I am going through such a rather depressing stage in my own personal life as well. We often view life with the perspective of "problems are hard. Why is it so hard? Why can I not see any good happening in my situation?" Just how do we avoid these things?