One Day For the Year to end

Looking back on 2011 and forward to 2012
 
A day that comes once every year
Repeats once every 365 days
Returns every 12 months
Reminds us of a year gone by in 52 weeks
 
Was 2011 a year well spent
To learn new skills and talents
To earn new friends
and nurture old relationships
 
OR
 
Was it a year squandered
On wasteful pursuits?
Damaging activities?
Burning bridges?
 
What was it for you?
A good year 2011
or a Bad year 2011
 
What will it be in 2012
A year of promising future
Or a year of challenges!

Countdown 2011 - Three days to go

In just three days, under 72 hrs we will be saying bye bye to another year. Most people are planning to celebrate the arrival of the new year by attending parties, midnight drinking binges, dancing the night away, etc. What is the big deal about New Year, I still don't understand. Except for changing calendars, what else happens on January 1? Government's don't change; fiscal policies remain the same; elections don't take place; nothing changes in the solar system or in the universe. The earth continues to revolve around the sun. Sometimes I think New Year is just another excuse for people to party and for corporations to sell stuff in the name of new year. Then there is the New Year resolutions, most people in America resolve to exercise more and lose weight in the next 12 months. Who gets to benefit most from this resolution? The people who make and stick to the resolution benefit the most, no doubt, but they are not the ones who derive maximum benefit. Gyms, health clubs, personal trainers, coaches, sports clubs, nutritional supplement manufacturers and sellers, etc are the one's who make the real money at this time of year. People who wish to lose weight sign up for memberships to all these places and buy products, services that they hope will help them lose weight and attain a beautiful body - high school slim - that is what they call. I don't know when humans will give up this frenzy of event-based lifestyles and live according to what they need and when they need.

Getting a Second Chance!!!

Once an individual takes to crime, especially murder, it is almost impossible for him/ her to lead a normal law abiding life again. Imagine an individual who has killed about 40 people and still getting a second chance at life? Wouldn't that be something shocking even to think of? Or would it be heartening to think of, saying that the individual is finally reformed after years in prison?

When I was at Bonham, TX recently I came across this story board i.e. the story of a Texas gunman neatly printed and framed, hanging outside one of the quaint downtown shops. The display has the City of Bonham emblazoned, so I am assuming that the city has put it up. The story in the board is self-explanatory for everyone, but I need to explain why I am blogging about it.

As I read it one thing became clear to me, despite the fact that there is so much importance given to life and people today in the US, it was not so in the past. This guy John W Hardin has been referred to as "The most dangerous gunman in Texas" but still his story supposedly endorsed by the city, hangs prominently in the city square. He killed so many people and then turned to religion and law in prison. This enabled him to enter the bar in Texas and become a lawyer and established a practice. It is a different matter that he couldn't stick to law and was killed by a sheriff later.

The point I am trying to make is that even after killing 40 people this guy was given a chance to lead a normal life. Would that be possible now? in any other country? Should it happen? What about the families of those killed by him? How did they feel when he started practicing law? I don't know the answers to these questions but these things continue to bother me...