Baking Cookies...

Alright, well, I've been told that I don't have enough photos up... I've also been told that this is a particularly good photo of me. Well, this is what you get for now. I also plan on putting up a photo of my bedroom when I've finished spring cleaning. Tomorrow.

Anyway, so Samira says that our society is about change, and yet when someone does change, everyone goes berserk. I've found this to be true. (By the way, Sam, where can I find this wise friend of yours? I'd like to meet him/her). I've had some interesting conversations this past weekend about societal change. Some of my friends are hopefuls, while I remain ever the cynic.
I do sincerely believe that the world will have to change someday, because it needs to. However, I need proof. As usual.
Our world is extremely two faced. We have expectations of others yet we, ourselves, are not willing to fulfill that same expectation. Take as an example my post about my travels. A close friend of mine said that she liked it because it was "honest". That comment struck me as interesting, because we like others to be sincere, honest - truthful, even! Yet when was the last time that you felt comfortable being "honest" with someone? Perhaps it was with a good friend (I'm not trying to say that I'm better because my post was supposedly honest. In fact, I remind you that whether or not it's truly honest is for me to judge and you to perceive), but chances are that it was not with, perhaps, a prof at university. Our society is not built to reward honesty with its desert.
A line from Hamlet has always stuck with me. He says to Polonius, who has just stated that he'll treat the players as they deserve: "God's bodykins, man, much better! Use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping? Use them after your own honor and dignity. The less they deserve, the more merit in your bounty. Take them in." (II, ii)
Anyway, I digress with one of my favorite lines... Oh, yes, a formal apology to Sahar: I'd use a Macbeth quotation, except for I do know in whose presence I write, and my blood freezes at the very thought!
I had was talking to another friend, just this past weekend. She's studying nursing, and she says to me that nursing students are learning to speak their mind in the workplace. So, when they see a nurse who's been on the job for 20 years and continues to use an outdated method, they should suggest the new method. I looked at her and smiled. Don't get me wrong, I hold her in the highest regard, yet I wonder at this system. Outwardly it may seem openminded and encouraging new ideas, but what do we see with every young up and comer who goes to his/her boss and says "Sir/Madam, this method is outdated" - listen, when you tell someone that you don't like their method, you're telling them off. No matter how you put it, chances are that they will take it personally. The first few times they'll let you have your fun, but after that... good luck!
No, I've had personal experience with this... Even provided my supervisor with solid proof, and while he accepted that there was an issue, he laughed off my suggestion. We're all proud of what we've accomplished, and no wet-behind-the-ears kid is going to make us look bad, right?
We're looking at a society that does not have for its primary vision the advancement of human civilization. It's merely attempting to survive. And if you're on your death bed, survival means saving as much energy as you can so that you can keep your cellular processes running. It takes a lot more energy than you think to keep your eyes blinking, your heart pumping (especially when you're sessile), and your nerves feeling.
Shoghi Effendi, who was a man of many professions, but whom I see somewhat as a visionary stated that:
"Never indeed have there been such widespread and basic upheavals, whether in the social, economic or political spheres of human activity as those now going on in different parts of the world. Never have there been so many and varied sources of danger as those that now threaten the structure of society. The following words... are indeed significant as we pause to reflect upon the present state of a strangely disordered world: "How long will humanity persist in its waywardness? How long will injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst men? How long will discord agitate the face of society? The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably defective." (italics added by author - T.H.)

Another thought: I've been asked several times lately who I plan on voting for. Firstly, as a Baha'i, I believe that a secret ballot is just that, secret. So, I'll treat the question lightly when I'm asked, but you'll never truly know who I support. But this I will tell you now: I haven't a clue who to vote for.
This happens to me each time an election of some sort comes about. Canditates, analysts, and the news will discuss "the issues" that whatever group they seek control of face.... But it strikes me that "the issues" don't really ever get mentioned. We discuss what each candidate will do about them, but never literally list them! Sp tell me, is abortion an issue? Taxes? Foreign policy? Or University tuition? It's like the issues have been divied up between the candidates each time. They have a dinner party where they discuss the benefits of confusing the populace by calling an election at the busiest time of the year (did it ever occur to you that if they're really all about the money, then technically, it'd be in their best interests to work together... funny thought, eh?), and they decide who will have to use which "issue" (who chooses these things? I personally don't think that abortion is a matter that I should choose a prime minister over... maybe his sex life should worry me more... and now THAT was low!) as their platform. When a platform is selected, the idea is that they don't discuss anything else. So I notice that a lot of our prospectives, when a question is asked that they can't answer (because they agreed with the others not to deal with it - that or their speechwriters didn't forsee that exact question...), they say "well, that's not a real issue that Canadians care about". Again, did anyone ask the normal, everyday Canadian? (Polls are PROVEN to be inefficient and inaccurate tools of census - take Anthropology 111).
Anyway, that's it for me today. Take care!