Date	My Thoughts on the Subject	Topic
	India in the eyes of an american teenager. Three years ago I went on a trip that would change my life forever. This trip wasn't an average trip to Florida or Europe, staying at fancy hotels or having fun days at the beach - this trip was to Calcutta, the largest city in India; a place where tourists rarely visit and where there is some of the most desperate poverty on earth. I was your average teenager, 16 years old, without a clue about what's true in the world or the reality of living conditions in a third world country. My grandmother, a college professor and peace/human rights activist, was invited to Calcutta to speak at an International Philosophers for Peace conference. To my surprise my grandmother invited my cousin and myself to go with her, and since I am the type of person that loves new experiences and sees life as an adventure, I couldn't wait until we left for this exceptional opportunity. After at least 24 hours on three different planes we finally arrived in Calcutta, India. Upon exiting the plane a bundle of new sensations and emotions hit me all at once. I was shocked to discover a completely different world in front of my eyes. One of the first things I noticed was the different smells around me, scents I could not identify and had never smelled before. There was also intense humidity, the air felt “thick” and created new effects on my body that I hadn‘t experienced before. Then there were the sounds, completely different from any I had heard before there was constant horns blaring, constant chatter, constant noises from the energetic people of the city of droning over the streets; and then there were the sights. The buildings and my surroundings were simplistic as if I had stepped back in time - no fancy seats, coffee shops, carpeted floors, etc., but instead just the basics. Outside, all of the cars I saw looked as if they were from a 1950's movie, and compound colors were everywhere. Everything seemed crowded, loud, busy and stuffy. I also noticed that we were not looked at in a friendly manner by the people we passed, but curiously, and we seemed to be stared at a lot which would give me a uncomfortable feeling. The strongest feeling I felt of all, however, was the feeling of shock and disbelief as I passed and observed the poverty that was evident all around me. I felt uncomfortable walking to the taxi and seeing so many people in need begging and pleading as if their lives depended on it, for what would seem like a petty amount of change to anyone living in America. There were so many children in rags with no shoes running in the streets, I had never seen anything like this before. We were told to not give out any money due to the fear of attracting a crowd, but I gave to the people anyways. After a couple days of getting situated in our hostel and adapting to the environment and culture, I decided to learn as much as I possibly could about the local people and what their average daily lives were like. Since I believe that good people who have had the hardest times in life should be honored with the most respect, I decided to give most of my attention to the families and people who had practically nothing in life - the ones I could see living on the streets right outside my hostel door, but I knew they needed and deserved more than just my attention. Across the street from our hostel was a small dump where garbage was dropped off daily. Three families with at least 13 children between them, lived in that dump and relied on the garbage as a resource of food. I persuaded my cousin to walk the streets with me and to get to know those families and children. As soon as the people living in the area saw that we viewed everyone as equals they began to open up to us and even treated us like celebrities. Most of them had never met an American before so we had to answer lots of questions. My cousin and I began staying up late with the families in the dump, eating our meals with them, playing games with the kids and having a purely good time. Everyday I bought out the candy jars in the local shops for the kids we befriended and they loved it. We also took each of the kids shopping for new cloths and toys. It felt very rewarding to see their faces fill with huge smiles and to hear the children’s laughter despite the hard life they were dealt. It was so amazing for me to see the people (especially the children) maintain happiness and joy despite the horrible conditions they are forced to live in. Their attitudes convinced me that I needed to revamp my thought process to always stay optimistic despite negitive circumstances, and to reevaluate the things in life I believe I can not live without. These experiences humanized all the great people living in poverty for me. Previously, poverty had been just a concept to me, something I heard talked about, or saw images of on TV. Sometimes I even felt a whim of compassion, but ultimately I was ignorant of the fact that desperate poverty truly exists in this day and age. The shock I originally felt over the things that slowly became my daily reality sparked an epiphany. I suddenly realized how incredibly blessed I am to have been born in America with freedoms and opportunities just laid out before me for the taking. I made a decision to never take anything for granted again and I wanted to use my opportunities to help others in need. I made the decision to obtain as much knowledge as I could about poverty and the true living conditions of others around the world. My eyes were opened wide to how different a third world country is compared to a first world country, and I realized that so many people in America are blinded with their own busy lives and their pursuit of luxury and getting ahead, that they - just like I was - cannot fully comprehend the reality of true poverty. After seeing all of the horrible things these people were forced to live with, it had me questioning the people in power’s motives and efforts to make the world a better place. I warned my brain to never let greed overcome my morals and to never blame another person for the problems I face because the quicker I can accept responsibility for my situation the faster I will propel forward. One of the most important lessons I learned from this trip was that time is way to short to obsess over materialistic objects and to be self-conscious about everything. Most people in the world have very limited opportunities for advancement compared to me, and if they had the chance would work a million times harder than someone who had taken that chance for granted - the person with limited opportunities would honor and appreciate the chance, and view it as a sacred gift. This trip also opened my eyes enough to realize that my life will be simply meaningless unless I raise my bar above mediocrity and use my life to make a positive difference in the world. This has to become a necessity. My experiences in India convinced me that I have the opportunity in life to do anything I want to do, and I can choose whether these things are easy (self-seeking) or hard (sacrificial). I need to set my goals to the highest point possible and not settle for the path of least resistance. I know I will stumble and fall along many steps of my journey but as long as I keep my goals focused and learn from my mistakes - and never give up on my goals, then I can accomplish them and make a positive difference in this world. After returning home from India, my grandmother, cousin and I decided to continue supporting the families living in the dump. My grandmother set up a program called “The Calcutta Project” and through it we have made sure that every child living in that dump has the opportunity to go to school by ensuring that each one has a school uniform, the books and materials they need, at least one hot meal per day, and a mentor who visits the children weekly, helps them with their work and takes them on field trips around the city, etc. Offering the children an education was the one thing we believed we could do that would open up a million more opportunities for them in life and spark their curiosity and hunger for knowledge; and hopefully, even change the destiny of their future generations. My grandmother, cousin and I returned to Calcutta this past summer, along with my younger brother who is now 16, to check on the progress and condition of the families living in the dump, to meet new people, and to further expand my knowledge of their culture. Again I observed the difference between their way of life and my own and realized how easy it was for me to ‘forget’ when things were not staring me in the face. I was surprised at how much I had slipped back into my old attitudes and ways of thinking and behaving without even realizing it. I experienced a sense of depression and disappointment over this realization, I had a sense of failure and felt defeated; but then Lolitta remembered me, and hugged me, and showed me some of the things she has learned. As a result of this trip we are now trying to raise the money to purchase property in India that can be used by the mentor for his work with the families. We are also trying to establish a program for the adult family members to learn trades so they can earn a legitimate living. We also set up a website to raise awareness about the families and hopefully we will sell the things they make to raise the funds needed to support these projects. These two trips to India have molded me into the person I am today and will continue to influence me throughout the rest of my life. Although it is difficult not to revert back to old habits, I am determined to no longer wallow in a sense of guilt and feeling defeated because that just robs me of time and potential. For the future I will continue my quest to obtain as much knowledge as I possibly can, and I will strive diligently to reach my goals. I know that eventually I will reach my destination - to change the world for the better.	The Calcutta Children's Project
6/10/08	Why Not Live For Good? There are two choices every person needs to make throughout their lives.  People can either choose to live their lives to make things better in the world they live in, or they can choose to make things better for only their self. There are also two different ways people can think, people can choose to view their thoughts of everyday situations in life either positively or negatively. People now a day’s especially don't understand the power of good, they see it and they feel it but they rarely understand it. From a young age people are taught how to act and what to believe and they base their day by day decisions on this information which leads to a manifest destiny, this means that whatever they believe about themselves or their future will become their future. The problem with all of us today is that we don't believe in ourselves enough anymore, everything is based on reason, facts and science instead of dreams and imagination.... we have no faith. The pressures of stress, anger and judgment come from negative thinking, people who constantly think negative can’t see the good in a situation without good having to slap that person in the face, when the world has beaten a person’s dreams, hopes and faith down so hard that they give up allthey think about is how  they’re sick of being let down. The problem is that people hardly ask the question 'Why is everything going wrong?' they just assume that's the way it is. But I'm telling you that's not the way life has to be. Everybody has a conscious that gives you a good feeling when you do good or a bad feeling when you choose to do bad. It seems that consciously choosing to do the wrong thing always eventually has a consequence, but when the people around you are always warning you about a consequence, possibly before you even make the wrong choice, you begin to become curious and wonder why it’s wrong to do it. People tend to constantly focus on teaching others what not to do instead of focusing on teaching others what to do. When people hear what not to do they get curious and wonder Why not? But aren't able to understand why without learning for themselves from the experience. So when a person chooses to make the wrong choice a consequence will often follow the decision, but the consequence isn't meant to hurt a person its meant to teach a person why there choice was wrong in a positive way, however much to often your friends or family members will treat you negatively when you make a wrong decision saying things like "I told you, you shouldn't have done that, now look at all the trouble you caused us" or "how could you be so stupid and deliberately disobey me" Instead of showing you why your decision was wrong or helping you get through the hard times. When you do something wrong you know it and you fear that others will notice it aswell, your ashamed of your actions, but instead of people listening to your true feelings and assuring you every things going to be alright like you need them to do, the people around you love to show you how wrong you were just so they can seem like their advise was right all along, the only reason that there advise is right is because they made the same wrong decision in their life before and had to deal with the consequences to. All people learn from experience and it’s the only way a person can figure out the truth for themselves, so instead of acting negatively to someone for making the wrong decision even though you told them not to, try to only think of what will help the person positively, and instead of telling someone not to do something tell them what and how to do something and why it’s the right thing to do, so there is no point getting mad at somebody for doing the wrong thing when you could focus on what you can say to help that person positively. When a person faces consequences they learn through out there life, but when their yelled at and punished for making a wrong choice they start to fear a consequence and begin to become prosecuted for learning about life. Everyone has to make the wrong choice before they can know why to make the right choice, but the way the world handles wrong choices is currently only negatively effecting people, one of those negative effects is fear. The fear provoked by the way we negatively handle situations starts to cause people to not want to be honest and inevitably not want to take responsibility for their actions... and so excuses are made. If you don't take responsibility for your actions because of the fear of the consequence than you will never be able to learn from that situation and it will block you from taking the next step you need to take to move on in life. We all need to learn from our mistakes and be honest with ourselves on what we need to do to be able to get where we want to be in life and to free ourselves of life's worries, because all we have is this ONE life and it’s the only one that we will ever get and when your old you don't want to look back and think about all the things you worried about and didn't do,  then what you need to do is see the truth today. The way to start is by thinking positively. When you make a wrong choice you shouldn't worry about all the bad things that are going to happen, instead think about the good that will happen after you deal with the bad, or instead of thinking of the time you wasted think of the time you still have and do something about it, negativity brings you down and out and positivity brings you up and optimistic and leads to the next steps in your life. Excuses are the things that escalate problems, not truth, if you admit being wrong on a decision you made then that's the end of it and in the future you will look back and think how scared you were telling the truth and wonder why you were scared cause it all worked out for the best, the quicker you see that truth is the key to moving yourself to where you want to be than the quicker your whole life will become worry free. This truth makes me wonder why our current president and our government won’t take responsibility for their actions. We invaded Iraq without any right to do so, and now over 4000 American troops have died and close to a million innocent Iraqis have died from our mistakes, but instead of our administration taking responsibility for all of the death and chaos that has occurred they are still making stupid excuses. How is the problem of terror ever going to be fixed if we the people don't recognize that the choices that are being made have been the wrong choices? Only more and more negative consequences will occur until we don't take full responsibility for our actions. Bush has justified his mistakes through excuses of fear, and everyday more people choose to make the wrong decisions simply because of the fear of the consequences, the American people are scared of what might happen if we leave Iraq without realizing that every extra day were there, more death is occurring and is effecting the family's who have lost lives, that can only lead to pain and to suffer pain without a vindicated reason will turn to hate which will be directed towards America as a whole, and our wrong choices are going to continue to pile up consequences until we face are fears and accept our responsibility. We can fix things by choosing to make the positive choices that will help others and only then will our country and the people begin to become strong and worry free. All we got is our self to make the right choice that will help us in our future, if you want things to be good than make good choices because with Love, peace, faith and truth you will fear nothing.	Making the Choice for Good
09/25/08	Wake Up People! American people have grown up in a society that developed  beliefs and values on materialistic objects instead of the beliefs and values that truly advance people into eternal happiness.Almost everyone in America has trouble with being an individual because of a feeling from fear, that’s developed from noticing being judged in a way that isn't you, which often leads to a person trying to adapt into group or way of society in order to make sure people don't see them as something they're not. Americans work more time for stuff than any country in the world, this is because in order for the average American citizen to fit in properly with our society, they need to adapt to the standards of living. These standards mean dedicating your life and all your hard work to be able to have things like a big house, multiple cars, T.V's, computers, temporary vacations, and a variety of other ''things'' that according to the world are suppose to make you happy. But the truth is that all of these 'things' only provide temporary pleasure to a person, and when the pleasure is used up people naturally desire  more and more which will inevitably lead to misery instead of eternal happiness and spiritual enlightenment or the answer to life itself. If a person is real with their self and with others than nobody is going to have the power to judge you and bring you down, you can sense truth within yourself, and if other people do try bring you down negatively or differently from who you are, you will be able to pity them, their primitive fake attitudes are only going to lead them to drama and distress for their own future. People need to look for happiness and not just buy it, happiness comes from seeking truth in the world and doing something to help others and not only yourself, seeking truth means to make sense of what is real, and the truth about feelings you create is that they should be used to show good not bad. If you try doing these two things you will find yourself with more joy, confidence and friends than you could have ever imagined.We also need to acknowledge that there are consequences for the ways we live, not only the stress you brand yourself with from expectations, from bills, credit, or money problems (that can ruin a family), but also how our standards of living is maintaining an ongoing cycle of poverty in 3rd world countries. This means our selfishness is now putting stress and restraint on others. Now unless you have been to a 3rd world country poverty may seem unreal to you, only because you can’t imagine children suffering horribly and nobody stopping it, but never be ignorant to the truth, poverty is a reality and the saddest part about it is that America has had the wealth and resources to be able to end poverty for a long time. Instead American corporations choose to exploit the poor by moving their companies for selfishness and use the poor to work for penny's a day under degrading conditions. After they have produced massive amounts of goods paying hardly anything for it. They still dont even consider to pay the poor enough respect so they can feed their families or afford basic shelter. They then can ship there product to America where there is high demands for these name brand products and a person from America would be so influenced by the media and others (standards of living) to go to a store to buy brand new clothes and end up paying $160.00 for a pair of Nike's, while the corporation who owns Nike probably only paid $2.00 to have that shoe made (2 people get screwed and one gets Rich).So to conclude, I believe so many people are wasting their potential by focusing their minds and values on 'things', instead of themselves. We are all being distracted away from seeing how incredible human potential is and what really matters on this earth ...life...love...peace...happiness...harmony, sense, feelings and truth. The Moment Is Now people, so be yourself and accept truth then speak it...... do not fear, because in the End nothing will matter only Your Actions.	What Do You Value in This Life?
	Look forward Time always continues and people seem to never be able to enjoy the present without worrying about their past. People also waste their time worrying about what’s going to happen in their future. We begin planning the things we must do in the future to obtain happiness, instead of taking the steps in the present. For example children cannot wait to start school, but elementary school is only fun for so long. Then they begin looking forward to middle school and when middle school gets old they can’t wait for high school then college. When that person can’t find happiness in school any longer they believe there job will make them happy. Next they realize their job doesn’t fulfill their desires and look forward to retirement. Life becomes a never ending cycle. The problem with thinking this way is that once you reach the goal you planned on achieving you still are not content. It’s hard to realize your attempts at happiness are not working before it’s too late, naturally your subconscious sets another goal automatically but that goal may or may not lead to joy. We become stuck in a deceptive cycle for happiness until were on our death bed and feel as if we have achieved nothing with our life. There are only two things every living person has in common and those are birth and death. Other than being born and dying, there’s no certainty’s with life. Every second of life turns into the past, and the past is worthless compared to the future, so our happiness must be achieved in the present. Now is the moment to do what you need to do in order to be happy, we must constantly take steps to benefit and advance our self. Actions that are good somehow lead a person towards the true desires of the soul. Nothing is certain in the future anyways, and nothing in the past matters so don’t let either effect your decisions today. The moment of now should always be used to make strides towards the better you. Worrying about the past or the future will never increase your chances for success; in fact every time you do worry you decrease the feeling of fulfillment in your life. Fearing the future or over analyzing the past influences bad choices during the moment. Analyzing the past is not inherently a bad thing; people need to learn from their mistakes so they can become a better person in the future. It’s also important to imagine a better future, because it’s our responsibility to make the world a better place than it currently is. Today is the day you should take an unbiased look at our society, choose to acknowledge all that could be fixed weather it’s your life that needs to be fixed or the world around you, it’s up to you to look. Society has some serious issues, but with dedication you can start taking your steps right now. Often it’s difficult to believe in something without seeing or knowing its truth, but if you were to only have faith you would know that the positive steps you take today will directly result in a more fulfilling tomorrow. This idea has been flawless and history has proven its results, goodness and hard work will always be the ultimate route towards success.
	Way to Live Dude….              Time continues and people are never able to enjoy the present without worrying about the past, or worrying about what they are going to do in the future. This puts people on a schedule for happiness. They start planning things they need to do in the future to achieve happiness, instead of taking the necessary steps in the present. For example, Kids can’t wait to get into middle school, then they can’t wait for High School, then college, then they think their job will make them happy, but still they can’t wait until they finally retire. It’s a never-ending cycle!             The only problem with thinking this way is that, as soon as the person gets to the goal they planned to achieve, they still are not content. And instead of realizing that their attempts at finding happiness aren’t working, they end up just setting up another goal for happiness. So many people get stuck in this deceptive cycle of happiness, until suddenly they realize one day that they’re on their deathbed, and they have achieved nothing.             There are only two things every living person has in common and those two things are Life and Death. Other than being born and dying, nothing else is certain in the future to come. Every second we live becomes the past, so in order for a person to become happy in the future, one must take the steps toward happiness in the present.             These steps should be ones that benefit and advance oneself. It seems as though actions of goodwill somehow lead a person towards a future filled with the true desires of their soul. Now is the moment to do what you need to in order to be happy.             Nothing is certain in the future anyway, and nothing in the past matters so don’t let either affect your decisions today. Make strides constantly towards making yourself better. Worrying about the past or future will never increase a person’s chance of success; in fact, this will probably decrease one’s feeling of fulfillment in life.             Fear of the future or over-analyzing the past often influences one to make bad decisions. Analyzing the past is not an inherently bad thing, people must learn from their experiences, so that they can become even better. It’s also important to imagine a positive future, while knowing that it’s our responsibility to make our world a better place for our children than it is now. People today need to take an un-biased look at our society, and acknowledge all that needs to fixed, either in their own lives or for good of the world around them. The issues we’re facing today are no small fries, but they can all be resolved with time and dedication. We just need to realize that the first step to a solution is the one you take right now             Often, it’s difficult to believe in something without seeing it or knowing it to be true, but have faith that the positive steps you take today will directly result in a more fulfilling tomorrow, this idea is flawless, as history has proven, goodness and hard work will always be the ultimate route to success.
	Illusion is the opposite sense of self. This means your appearance is not the real you. As we interact with people every day we realize they can only interact with are appearance, are appearance is the external part of yourself, and you only see the external you as an illusion. But as you may have noticed while looking through your eyes, you are not looking at your appearance; you are looking at all that appears in front of you. If you were looking in the mirror at your reflection, you would be able to sense the external part of yourself. However the majority of our life is not spent in front of the mirror, so this means are external self has very little to do with who we truly are. Internally we have the power of our real self. So what I’m saying is that technically are appearance has nothing to do with the way we act around others, but unfortunately in today’s world it has everything to do with the way we act. Since we only see what appears in front of us, our eyes have no idea what the face appears like at any given moment of time, and when were all alone we rarely ever wonder what we appear like. When we are around other people however, we are much more likely to be conscious of how we externally appear. Why is this? This is because we interact with appearances, we notice how others appear and we notice how we make others feel with our appearance. Are face has the power to express are internal feelings to others also, and most of our communication powers come from the way we express are face. We usually program our mind to react to the feelings of others automatically with our expressions. We have programmed our expressions subconsciously within our mind by knowing our appearance well enough to express a feeling. Other people begin only noticing how we express our self externally and after they get to know you a little they will start noticing the way you internally feel inside. We focus way too much of our time wondering about our external self because we feel it’s the only way we can present our self to the world. I’m here to tell you that your appearance is the dumbest thing you could ever pay attention to while living your life. The person who is always unsure about the way they appear is the same person who will always be vulnerable to worries and anxiety the world has to dish at you. First of all when someone is interacting with you for the first time, they notice the whole you. This means that they are not going to think you’re ugly just because you smiled a certain way or turned your head a certain angle. When we think too much about the way we appear we start appearing as someone were not. Second of all it’s not how we look that makes are reactions powerful, but it’s the feelings we create with them. We react as our true self when we don’t care what our external self appears like to the person were talking to. When a person gets angry you can tell right away that they no longer care about their appearance anymore, but you don’t need to be angry to communicate with others in a way that truly expresses your real feelings. Third of all, as I said before, you don’t appear as your illusion, this is because we spend the majority of our time communicating with are whole self. And you created your whole self from all that appeared in front of your eyes. So this means that the self we created with our entire lives has nothing to do with the way we look, so what’s the point in giving your illusion power over the internal you, when your internal self has and always will be the real you? External worry makes no sense for our lives because we all interact are best while communicating our internal feelings to others. Fourth of all are external self aka our appearance, is always changing, whether it’s dark outside or light in your house, you will never look the same. Not to mention the damage time does to your appearance. The fact of the matter is that if you communicate to others as only an appearance you will never have the luxury of being the same person throughout extended periods of your life, not to mention you will forget how your internal self feels, your feelings will be controlled by the reactions of others and your life will have been primarily an illusion. These are some reasons why it’s dumb to pay more attention to your external self than you’re internal, but there are many more reasons for instance you’re potential or your dreams, without realizing it your appearance can take your attention away from the things that are truly important to your life.  Now I realize girls have it harder than guys when it comes to ignoring how you externally appear. Girls have make-up and make-up hides the real external you behind a mask making it even harder to be the real you. Not to mention the attention girls get all the time from being so attractive. This attention makes it almost impossible not to notice the way guys feel about the way they externally appear, therefore girls rarely have the opportunity of letting their internal self show. Plus other girls choose to notice the parts of your appearance that guy’s would never notice, in an attempt to make you feel insecure. The girls in today’s world must realize that they have an internal self that is far more important than their attraction, but it’s up to them to be original. Guys will notice how sexy you are and your friends will always try to act the prettiest, but you have the power to be more than just an illusion, and if you can overcome your external self you will start to be noticed in a way that builds you up and no man nor girl will have the strength to tear you down.                 There is a reason no human on earth can trust their reflection as a representation of their true self, this is because of the laws of opposites. Do what I tell you to do and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Now first off notice what your appearance feels like without a mirror in front of you, when you’re doing this you are not sensing your appearance you are just imagining your appearance as your looking out of your eyes. Next notice the difference between doing this while your all alone, and doing this around someone your attracted to, remember you still have not noticed the feeling of your external self as an reflection. If you noticed that the feeling of your appearance changed from when you were all alone, compared to while you were interacting, then there’s a power struggle going on between your internal self and your external self. Now I want you to notice exactly what it feels like from your eye’s point of view, without looking at your face, notice what it feels like to see from your eyes. Now go in front of a mirror…… can you notice the difference between your perceptions? When looking in the mirror you no longer saw your world from your eyes, instead your world saw you. Your attention automatically becomes consumed with your external self the moment you notice that the reflection is yours. It is impossible to focus on your internal self while looking in the mirror because your sense is stolen by your illusion. It is not good to spend a lot of your time in front of the mirror because the more you remember the way you appear, the more conscious you are of your external appearance, and less conscious of your internal feelings. Your internal self see’s the world as it truly appears and the external self doesn’t see anything but your illusion and begins to care for its nothingness. Your internal self truly is the only attractive part of your being. Your external appearance will change as time moves forward and will never be reliable or trustworthy, plus the external you will never be sensed by others the same way you sense yourself in the mirror. The internal self is the same self you were born with and it is the one you will die with. Only you can see the way you do from your eyes point of view, so this makes the world you see yours and yours only. Although your appearance will always change as your time runs out, your internal self never has to change. You are the only one who knows the real internal you, others may become attracted to it, yet unlike the external self, it will never become unattractive for no reason. Be yourself, be more than an illusion.
	03/21/08 Reflecting Back on how The Calcutta Children's Project had it's Miraculous Beginning Almost five years ago I went on a trip that would change my life forever.  This trip wasn't an average trip to Florida or Europe - staying at fancy hotels and having fun days at the beach - this trip was to Calcutta, the largest city in India; to a section of town that tourists rarely visit; and where there is some of the most desperate poverty on earth. I was your typical teenager - 16 years old, and without a clue about what's true in the world or the reality of living conditions in a third world country.  My grandmother, a college professor and peace/human rights activist, was invited to speak at a conference in Calcutta for the International Philosophers for Peace.  To my surprise she invited my cousin Colin and myself to go with her; and since I am the type of person who loves new experiences and sees life as an adventure, I couldn't wait until we left for this exceptional opportunity! After at least 24 hours on three different flights, we finally arrived in Calcutta, India.  Upon exiting the plane a bundle of new sensations and emotions hit me all at once.  I was shocked to discover a completely different world in front of my eyes.  It was incredibly surreal. One of the first things I noticed was the different smells around me - scents I could not identify and had never smelled before.  There was also intense humidity.  The air felt "thick" and created new effects on my body that I hadn't experienced before.  Then there were the sounds, completely different from any I had heard before - and constant - constant horns blaring, constant chatter, constant music of sorts droning over a loud speaker; and then there were the sights. It felt as though I had stepped back in time.  The buildings and my surroundings were very simplistic, no fancy seats, coffee shops, carpeted floors, etc., but instead just the basics - wooden benches and concrete walls.  Outside, all the cars I saw looked as if they were from a 1950's movie; and compound colors were everywhere.  Everything seemed crowded, loud, busy, and stuffy.  I also noticed that we were not looked at in a friendly manner by the people we passed, but rather, curiously; and it seemed as if we were constantly being stared at by others, which made me feel uncomfortable. The strongest feeling I felt of all, however, was the feeling of shock and disbelief as I passed and observed the poverty that was immediately evident all around me.  I felt stunned and awkward walking to the taxi while seeing so many people in need begging and pleading, as if their lives depended on it, for what would seem like a petty amount of change to anyone living in America.  There were so many children in rags running in the streets with no shoes on their feet, in and out of cars - I had never seen anything like this before.  We were told not to give out any money due to the fear of attracting a crowd, but I gave to people anyways. After a couple of days of getting situated in our hostel and adapting to the environment and culture, I decided to learn as much as I possibly could about the local people and what their average daily lives were like.  Since I believe that good people who have had the hardest times in life should be honored with the most respect, I decided to give most of my attention to the families and people who had practically nothing in life - the ones I could see living on the streets right outside my hostel door, however I knew they needed and deserved more than just my attention. Across the street from our hostel was a small dump where garbage was dropped off daily.  Three families with at least 13 children between them lived in that dump and relied on the garbage as a resource for food.  I persuaded my cousin to walk the streets with me to get to know those specific families and children.  As soon as the people iving in the area saw that we viewed everyone as equals they began to open up to us and even treated us like celebrities.  Most of them had never met an American before s we had to answer a lot f questions. My cousin and I began staying up late with the families in the dump, eating our meals with them, playing games with the kids, and having a purely good time.  Every day I bought out the candy jars in the local shops for the kids we befriended, and they loved it.  We also took each of the kids shopping for new clothes and toys.  It felt very rewarding to see their faces fill with huge smiles and to hear their laughter despite the hard life they were dealt.  It was so amazing to me to see the families, and especially the children, maintain happiness and joy despite the horrible conditions they are forced to live in.  Their attitudes convinced me that I needed to revamp my thought process to always stay optimistic despite my circumstances, and to reevaluate the things in life I believe I cannot live without. These experiences humanized for me the great people living there in poverty.  Previously, poverty had been just an illusive concept to me, something I heard talked about, or saw images of on TV.  Sometimes I even felt a whim of compassion, but ultimately I was ignorant of the reality that desperate poverty truly exists in this day and age - the day and age in which I live. The shock I originally felt over the things that slowly became my daily reality sparked an epiphany.  I suddenly realized how incredibly blessed I am to have been born in America with freedoms and opportunities just laid out before me for the taking.  I made a decision to never take anything for granted again, and I wanted to use my opportunities to help others in need.  I made the decision to obtain as much knowledge as I could about poverty and the true living conditions of others around the world.  My eyes were opened wide to how different a third world country is compared to a first world country, and I realized that so many people in America are blinded with their own busy lives and their pursuit of luxury and getting ahead, that they - just like I was - cannot fully comprehend the reality of true poverty.  After seeing all of the horrible things these people were forced to live with, it had me questioning the people in power's motives and efforts to eliminate this poverty and make the world a better place for all.  I warned my brain to never let greed overcome my morals and to never blame another person for the problems I face, because the quicker I can accept responsibility for my situation, the faster I will move forward. One of the most important lessons I learned from this trip was that time is way too short to obsess over materialistic objects, and to be self-conscious about everything.  Most people in the world have very limited opportunities for advancement compared to me, and if they did have the chance, would work a million times harder than someone who had taken that chance for granted.  The person with limited opportunities woud honor and appreciate the chance and view it as a sacred gift. This trip also opened my eyes enough to realize that my life will simply be meaningless unless I raise my bar above mediocrity and use my life to make a positive difference in the world.  This has to become a necessity.  My experiences in India convinced me that I have the opportunity in life to do anything I want to do, and I can choose whether these things will be easy (self-seeking) or difficult (sacrificial).  I need to set my goals to the highest point possible and not settle for the path of least resistance.  I know I will stumble and fall along the many steps of my journey, but as long as I keep my goals focused and learn from my mistakes - and never give up on my goals - then I can accomplish them and make a positive difference in this world. After returning home from India, my grandmother, cousin and I decided to continue supporting the families living in the dump.  My grandmother created a program called "The Calcutta Children's Project" and through it we have made sure that every child living in that dump has the opportunity to go to school.  We ensure that each child has a school uniform, the books and supplies s/he needs, at least one hot meal per day, and a mentor who visits the children weekly, helps them with their work, and takes them on field trips around the city, etc. to expose them to life outside their dump. We chose to focus our resources on providing the children with an education because we believe that offering them an education is the one thing we could do that would open up a million more opportunities for them in life, spark their curiosity and hunger for knowledge; and hopefully, even change the destiny of their future generations. My grandmother, cousin and I returned to Calcutta the summer of '07, along with my younger brother who was then 16, to check on the progress and condition of the families living in the dump, to meet new people, and to further expand my knowledge of their culture.  Again I observed the difference between their way of life and my own and realized how easily it was for me to 'forget' once things weren't staring me in the face.  I was surprised at how much I had slipped back into my old attitudes and ways of thinking and behaving without even realizing it.  I experienced a sense of depression and disappointment over this realization.  I had a sense of failure and felt defeated - but then Lolitta remembered me, and hugged me, and showed me some of the things she has learned. Little Lolitta, so sweet, and the one child I connected with the most during my first trip, was now so much older - and she was safer because her future was brighter.  She was now less likely to end up in prostitution, or a mother by 14, trapped in a life-long cycle of begging and desperate poverty; because now she has a goal she is striving for - she wants to be a teacher and to visit me one day in America. As a result of this trip we are now trying to raise the money to purchase property in India that can be used by the mentor for his work with the families.  We are also trying to establish a program for the adult family members to learn trades so they can earn a legitimate living.  We also set up this web-site to raise awareness about the families and hopefully we will sell the things they make to raise the funds needed to support these projects. These two trips to India have molded me into the person I am today and will continue to influence me throughout the rest of my life.  Although it is difficult not to revert back to old habits, I am determined to no longer wallow in a sense of guilt and feeling defeated because that just robs me of time and potential. For the future I will continue my quest to obtain as much knowledge as I possibly can and I will strive diligently to reach my goals.  I know that eventually I will reach my destination - to change the world for the better. Written by Josiah Eck
	unbury the treasure of ideas We have idea's everyday, and our ideas are purely ours. Whether you can notice it or not, we have the power to sense the good within our ideas, also it’s our choice to act on our ideas. We must accept that our bad ideas are purely ours as well, and we choose to act on these ideas also. To act on our ideas means to move our life in a direction. There are two truths about the directions our idea's lead us, the first is that our good idea's lead us to the truth, the second is that our bad idea's direct our life towards destruction. The truth is that when we direct our life with are good idea's, we feel good about who we are. But when our ideas lead to destruction, our life is constantly moving towards the realization that we made the wrong choices. God is the only one who truly knows the reality of our ideas, and only God knows the outcome of our choices, but you must believe you know what God knows through your power of sensing truth. It’s your responsibility to sense the truth of your entire being.         It's because we know the difference between good and evil that we can sense the directions of our life. Ideas that are revolutionary feel more powerful, than your basic idea’s; this is because we sense the truth within our ideas. Your most powerful ideas come directly from your imagination; I am going to teach you how to listen to your imagination so your idea's can become limitless Josiah’s Ideas  ·         Imagination is the key to potential, but since our imaginations appear illogical to the beliefs of this world our imaginations are destroyed by negative thought. We make ourselves believe that the person we truly are is the wrong person to be and we prevent ourselves from our known potential. ·         The ultimate and highest sense able to be obtained is “truth” which allows us to love all that we have been blessed with. ·          Through changes in time, changes in our beliefs of our “self” occur (appearances = reason). In which the devil has taken the opportunity upon him to make us feel negative about ourselves. However if you are able to see that negative behavior is a self destructive force, we logically have the choice as humans to conquer our negative senses and feelings, to only see the positive senses and feelings. To only see the positive in everything and choose to believe the positive in everything despite what the world tells us to believe. This can be done by believing in the positive truth m ore than the negative truth, the positive truth is that we have power over the evil in this world, and the negative is that evil has the power over us. ·         By believing in our appearance (the external self) we are subconsciously letting the world beat us down, consciously, because this world is nothing more than an appearance in itself. ·         When were in a negative state of mind we don’t have the ability to see the devils plan because he already has control over us. But also we have lost the power to see God’s plan for our life. This is our entire truth. In a positive state of mind we have the power to sense, seek, and find all of the truth within the world. Also we have the power to understand the devils plan. The devil thinks his plan is ingenious and infallible, but because of its negativity it is self destructive, therefore entirely imperfect. With the positive truth we can overcome this world and all the negativity that comes from it. With the truth we see that God is good and that everlasting truth is, in order to survive in this life, do what truly feels right. ·         God can create something out of nothing! God created the devil and the devil created the evil spirit out of his own intentions. God created the ability to see truth despite what our senses tell us is truth...AKA the imagination. God created the mind. God created truth with his self this means that Gods truth is what held all creation together. God created the Holy Spirit which is all that is good and positive about truth. God created the power within direction, and geometry which is power to humans God created the reason for all belief with his self. God created the universe and this is an expression of God’s perfection God created nature and this perfection created human nature. God created the senses and created human senses out of nothing this is why humans must have faith in God. ·         The fruit of life comes from all that’s within it, not all that’s outside it. This means that your direction should never be towards what you don’t have, but towards every blessing that you do have. This is why Heaven and hell are boundaries. Because all too often we blame the bad choices on circumstance instead of taking responsibility for our actions the sooner we acknowledge that we created the reason to choose the choice we made, then the sooner we take control of our future. Just because the world is evil doesn’t mean that we are evil. ·          a.      Gods choice = Lifeb.      Life = Changec.       Change = New Feelingsd.      New Wants = New Carese.      To Care = To want to change a feeling positively or negatively ·         Your wants lead to your choices just as your choices lead to your wants ·         Your power of choice is the power that gives you control over your future, and the feelings of your future are created through your choices in the present. ·         Time = A motion of positive and negative feelings. ·         Imagination = The power to ignore the sense of power. (Attraction, money, time, etc.) We can ignore the GOOD things or the BAD things. ·         Knowledge + The Motion of Truth Positive Beliefs = Positive feelings in self Negative Beliefs = Negative feelings in self Human = the true choice between good and evil Human Beyond negative belief = The Enlightened Mind ·         The opposite of choice is life. However God existed before opposites, Choice, and life were even imagined. ·         Because humans can choose to create a life, they have the power of God. But human life is the way it is because of the choice of the devil. Angels do not have a choice of life but do have a choice over their power. ·         The thing that makes this world real is the human belief contained in it, besides its mass, this world is completely illusion. ·         We will always have our imagination, but our circumstances will always have the power to change our imaginations beliefs. We were born with an imagination that imagines positive better things for our lives. Yet our imaginations are born into a world with circumstances which allow us to imagine bad things about our self and potential. ·         The truth is altered within the mind by negative forces. Truth can be found by noticing the positive forces. The only limit to our imagination is truth of Gods self.  God = Truth = No Boundaries. Imagination in humans = limitless power of the pos. and neg. forces within one’s mind ·         God’s choice created the positive force, Gods destruction allowed the negative force to be imagined. ·         Imagination = The medium of the mind. ·         Imagining positive better things despite the negative feelings and beliefs of others creates positive outcomes which in return create more positive feelings and beliefs. ·         Unpreventable feelings and beliefs can alter your belief system, but with your own choice of perception we can choose to see all unpreventable circumstances as either positive or negative. ·         Our choice is generally bound to the way we feel about self, but the way we feel about ourselves are bound to nothing but our beliefs. ·         Our actions are what make who we are recognizable to the world we live in. ·         The devil’s greatest trick was making humans believe we don’t have the power that God truly gave us. ·         The force that brings mass down is gravity, and we surely feel that. The force that lifts us up cannot be seen or felt with our senses. And only by trusting in our senses, we believe our bodies do not have it. ·         The Earth is the medium of all good and evil forces, and although human desire is driven towards evil, evil will NEVER have the power to overcome good. Because good was created before evil and evil is only the illusion of good (its reflection). ·         Externally we cannot prevent things from making us feel bad. But only when we believe in the bad does the bad truly exist. ·         For our imagination to have power we must believe in the power of imagination. ·         To not let our beliefs be influenced by all of the numerous negative forces in our life, this is the key to know ourselves beyond what the world tells us to be true about ourselves. Ourselves is the sense we create for others. The world will make us feel bad about our external self despite the fact that it is our internal self which expresses our true self.
	The study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance.Think for a second about what communication is, well first it’s a feeling, then with that feeling you know how to create words with your thought, and with words you have the power of forming meaning through your voice. This meaning corresponds with your original feeling, and you express it with your body, face, tone, and eye movement to another person. That person senses your meaning visually and through being able to hear you. After that person comprehends what you mean they assume they know how you feel and they try and express that they know how you feel. That’s the first reaction, until it’s back and forth back and forth, new feelings arise and then new reactions are formed. Ya see all interactions start with an action by a reaction and that begins the basis of communication. Subconsciously you have programmed emotions into your reactions, and usually we don’t have to try to react we just do it. We have spent most of our life perfecting our act for others, and this act is known by others as our Self. It’s like my mom telling stop acting like that, be yourself, my mom perceives the real me because she knows the real me. A Performance is our life, we perform for God, mothers, brothers teachers, girls, doctors, on radios, on television, and while on stage. It doesn’t matter where we are or who we are with, we are always performing, except maybe when were sleeping but even then we perform for ourselves through dreams.
	Can you Dig It? The mind has a right side that’s creative and a left side that’s logical. Your mind has the power to make sense of knowledge! The mind also is the source of your reactions; your mind reacts to the problems you will encounter well alive on earth. The mind is controlled by self with beliefs. Your beliefs can be positive or negative, and are created from the way you feel with yourself. Positive beliefs help you feel better about your everything, and your everything is your life. Negative beliefs negatively affect the way you feel about your everything, and you feel worse about the person you are. Your mind has control over your everything with belief, we notice both positives and negatives within this world and with a choice we have the power to make beliefs for our self. So with a mind we have control of our internal feelings and with belief we control the created truth of our external feelings.   We only have one life, and with this life we have infinite options because we have the power to choose. With our life we have only so much time. Time is the motion of our life and with this motion we can direct our life any way we please with our choices. With life we are born with the knowledge of good and evil and it’s because were born with this knowledge that are choice has true meaning. Our flesh always directs are wants towards personal power however are God directs our wants towards good. Once we begin gaining meaning with our life from our choices we start gaining knowledge in the mind that will last a lifetime. Our life starts from a neutral point of being, because our choice doesn’t exist yet. Our life would not exist without movement or direction, because we have the power to move and direct are will, we have the power to sense the feeling of control, and the sense of control allows us to sense the chance we call life. One life is one chance to choose good, with a choice we search for either more or less, God gave us Jesus, and to believe in Jesus is the perfect choice, Jesus is the truth of our life.   We only have one perception. This perception takes in are everything.  Notice the power of being able to see the world through your own eyes, and you will notice your perception. You experience your entire life on earth through your perception. The power of having your own perception, is a God given power to process feelings for yourself, and is your power to sense all the feeling’s encountered during your life. You process all feelings though your personal perception, and then find the meaning of that feeling logically. Also you see yourself through your perception while looking in the mirror. From birth you have always had a perception of your own everything, you only have one everything and this everything moves along with you as time goes on. Your everything is always changing with your experiences. Your experiences are always changing with your choices, your choices are always being influenced by your thoughts and your thoughts were created from sensing feelings through your perception, but overall you only have one everything. Life has to begin somewhere. A human’s life begins on earth. God’s life has always been everything. God created the circumstances for more life to exist. But life is life, which means you either have it or you don’t. If you have life you know your living, for your life to be real you have to be able to choose, because without a choice your life has no real power. Even God had a choice, he chose to create perfection so the earth would bear the fruits of life, and therefore everyone could have a life like he did. This world were born into has every feeling imaginable within it, and all man has to do is choose what he/she wants to do with his or her life. Because our life is real, we really have control. Control gives us the power over all positive and negative feelings we will encounter. Control gives us the power to create our own beliefs. The beliefs we create during our life stick with us as are time runs out, God’s beliefs are the truths that glue all of our senses together. With a life we control our life.
	Lifes a Garden Dig It - Joe Dirt    Life isn't something incomprehensible, life has a source and this source is its truth, this truth is perceived by human eyes as God. All that have life obviously must sense their living. We wouldn’t have the potential to be conscious with out a real life, so this is the first truth we have to notice. So how did God realize he was living? While life started somewhere, it's quite evident, cause if I'm not living than what am I? If life didn't start somewhere than how does it exist? This is the question that makes God's existence common sense. Life can only have one truth so this means there’s only one answer, yet this simple answer has created questions to complex four our happiness. The questions can lie to you about life and create feeling's that don't make sense, however the answer will always and has always been good. Because were born on earth the truth cannot be made sense of automatically, it is our responsibility to discover our own truth with the real life God gave us.If God were to present his being to us directly, while we were alive on earth the truth would make perfect sense to our real mind. Every individual has the power to seek truth at their own pace; meaning God gave us his truth so we could have free will. Our own truth isn't too confusing for us, we know weather our choices are leading us in the direction we want four our life or if there not. We all believe in our own truth, however only our individual will can lead us to knowledge, and with knowledge we can purify our truth and expand it closer to God's truth. There always will only be one real truth but our real truth is the power to direct our will towards the real truth. We know when we get closer to God with knowledge because the more truth that makes sense to us is the more meaning our life has. It is important to look for the truth in everything. In order to go beyond what was true in the past you have to go beyond the great ideas of that time. Time has the tendency of holding on to past genius, knowing the future can only become better from past knowledge. Time has a truth, and it's always your sense of now. Consciously your moment of now will only decrease as you age. Your past never again will be real, and the future has yet to exist so what ever age you are at this very moment is the only truth about your time. The problem is that way to many of us sense our time as a whole instead of its reality. I’m not saying its bad to dream about your future of remember your past, but I will say that it's bad to waste your attention on the motion of time. The motion of time is sensed at all times during our life, and this motion can only be perceived by the individual, so to perceive your time as either good or bad is illogical cause times only real in the moment of now. So it's very important to only use your attention in the moment your life’s occurring