MY LIFE IN QUOTES - CHOOSE KIND

“When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind”  -  Wonder by R.J. Palacio

                                                                                                                                            

Driving through the narrow  streets of my town on my way to school,  caught in a long, slow serpentine of vehicles, I focus on the beautiful song coming  from my phone, it's one of my Youtube lists. Sufjan Stevens  Should Have Known Better  casts a hopeful glare even to the very grey sky above. 

Here we are. Two endless processions of teenagers flow on both sides of the street. They procede slowly but, anyhow, faster than my car.  Ok, patience, not yet there, but almost there, the school is not that far. A quick look at the car clock: 8:01 I’m supposed to be giving my first lesson of the day in 14 minutes. Will I make it in time?

Sufjan Stevens is now singing Futile Devices and I wish I could stay in the car listening to music all morning long. But that’s not me, no, not really me. I’m not lazy, I love my job, I can’t wait to see my students. What’s this sudden wish of having nothing to do or nobody to see?

I  really don’t understand what  happens to me sometimes. For example,   why  have I  been obsessively listening to the same songs these days?  I should stop and I blame them for  my recent exceptionally moody mood.  But they are just beautiful love songs and my mood must certainly have some other reason to be. I decide I  don’t actually want to know.

HAPPY PEACE DAY, DEAR FRIENDS!

Today,  21st September, is the International Day of Peace, also known as Peace Day. It was brought into being by United Nations Resolutions in 1981 and 2001. Each year, hundreds of students take part in a student observance of Peace Day at the United Nations which includes Messengers of Peace. 

"The people of the world have asked us to shine a light on a future of promise and opportunity. Member States have responded with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development... It is an agenda for people, to end poverty in all its forms. An agenda for the planet, our common home. An agenda for shared prosperity, peace and partnership." stated UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon. 

But is this mere utopia? 

Let's see if unforgettable and undeniable peace makers can  help us find the answer

STORYTELLING QUOTES OF GREAT WRITERS

(from guest blogger Lucy Adams) 

We easily notice the changes new technologies bring into our world. But do we think about their origin? Obviously, we don’t.  But so do writers – true idea generators who faster than others feel the nature of impending changes…Among the many writers who left a rich legacy, there are many of those who gave us a new vision.

The history knows a lot of great writers who formulated new ideas and eventually created an intellectual and – perhaps even more important – an emotional support of the future. The mighty of this world see challenges and opportunities in ordinary things; they often expose already existed but unnoticed before problems, point out smoldering conflicts, help us to understand the new challenges of the time and give us new hopes.

SUFFRAGETTES - A MOVIE, AN ANNIVERSARY & A QUOTE

The Anniversary: 6 February, 1918

Let's start with the anniversary, then. The campaign to gain women the vote in Britain had run for decades by 1918. Thinkers such as J.S. Mill had long advocated the reform.  It was WWI which moved the game on – war has often be the locomotive of history. Women had taken on male roles; the armaments industry had based its production on the work of women. As the war progressed, politicians began to discuss how to bring about the change so that justice should be done.  Thus on March 28 1917 the Commons with a huge majority, and the Lords by a far closer margin of 134 to 71, passed the Representation of the People Act, also known as The Qualification of Women Act; on 6 February, 1918 it received royal assent and passed into law.