50 Things Men Should Know

1 Knowledge is Power.
2. Somebody has already learnt what you need to know.
3. The best move lies very close to the worst.
4. Sometimes you just have to turn it off.
5. Never hope against hope.
6. Never trust a weeping man.
7. No honest man go unpunished.
8. You are just like your old man.
9. Know your way home.
10. Always stand on ceremony.
11. Dogs are good.
12. Less is more.
13. Sports proverbs are profound and existentially useful.
14. Sports proverbs are banal and make little sense.
15. Some men just never learn.
16. Sometimes a women can be one of the boyz.
17. We like to watch.
18. Fashion is fleeting but style is eternal.
19. The grass may look greener on the other side, but its just as hard to cut. Little Richard.
20. All the glory in the world fits in a kernel of corn. Fidel Castro.
21. If there is miscommunication blame yourself not the audience. You are the message. Roger Ailes.
22. All good work is done in defiance of management. Bob Woodward.
23. Attack power with wisdom
24. Have a sense of humor about your appearance.
25. Word are deeds.
26. Don’t watch TV.
27. Its a small world but not if you have to clean it.
28. Winning and losing – both are confusing.
29. Always unzip your fly before you take a leak.
30. Admit Nothing.
31. A long shot pays more that the odds.
32. Be the brother you never had.
33. Get off first, finish tough, and get away clean.
34. Great poem make good prayers.
35. The future is bright.
36. The future is bleak.
37. Leave no friend untested.
38. No women is convinced of her beauty.
39. Sex is still worth it.
40. Work well with others.
41. You gotta have soul.
42. It doesn’t count if you don’t keep score.
43. love thy enemy.
44. Know where you money goes.
45. You can’t eat honor.
46. The best things in life aren’t free.
47. You only live once.
48. You only die once.
49. You might as well laugh.
50. Don’t worry be happy.

My Philosophy of Happiness – His Will

My Philosophy of Happiness – His Will

I should, first of all, advise my heirs to learn to desire the thing that happens, and not try to mould events to their desires. It was silly of the poet Omar to write:

‘Ah love, could you and I with Him conspire, to grasp this sorry scheme of things entire. Would we not shatter it to bits, and then remold it nearer to the heart’s desire?’

That way lies unhappiness, destruction. It is not sorry scheme of things, and the business, the duty of man, is to get himself into harmony with it.

I would counsel my heirs to seek satisfaction, not in the flux of circumstances, but within themselves; I would have them resolute, self-controlled, independent but not rebellious. Let them seek communion with that Eternal Reality which I call Allah and you call God! For that is the twin problem of existence…to be at once entirely yourself and altogether at one with the Eternal.”

I say that you should endeavor to suit your desire to the event and not the event to your desire. If a wall tumbles down and crushes my foot I must say: “That is the best thing that could happen to me.”

An uncle of mine had a son who was killed. The father gave thanks to Allah for the event. You think that he did not love his son! You are wrong. He loved him dearly. I confess that I may not yet have risen to such a spiritual height. But I believe that I shall rise to it. I know that this is the way to happiness.

I should have a word to say to those who deem themselves unfortunate from a worldly point of view. I should say to them, do not look up and lament that you are not as well off as those above you, look down and congratulate yourself that you are better off than those below you.

To a man who looks with such eyes upon the world it is not a prison but a garden. A marvelous garden – the garden of the Lord. I shall invite my heirs to feast their eyes on the miraculous beauty of the earth; rivers and seas to slake the earth’s eternal thirst, hills like the tents of a great encampment, forests like an army with banners; wide open spaces, dawns and sunsets the indomitable arch of the sky.

All these great gifts are freely given to the man with open eyes, open hands and open heart. But the eyes must be clear, the hands and heart be strong. I would impress upon my heirs the absolute need to be healthy. If they neglect their body, they will be at odds with the universe.

Aim at Absolute Fitness

Therefore I say: Keep your bodies clean – bathe them frequently, wear clean clothes, eat clean food, drink clean water breathe clean air. I know that society may make it difficult for some of its citizens to get these things. Instead it should make it easy.

But we are not, as individuals, to put the onus on society. As I have said, it is our business to “use” events, conditions, limitations. If we cannot be as fit as an as Achilles champion, we may aim at absolute fitness and be well content with the fitness we achieve.”

Never forget this: The society in which we live cannot give a man happiness. If we miss that you miss my point altogether. Society can give a man space to breathe and freedom to move in it; it can afford him the means of keeping himself healthy and making himself strong. But happiness never depends on one’s surroundings; it depends altogether and exclusively on oneself.

Of course, health is not static, but dynamic. I can only judge a race horse for example when I have seen it in motion. Therefore I shall speak to my heirs of the vital importance of exercise. And since to take joy in your activities is one of the secrets of health, I should counsel them to play games.

Naturally my heirs will be riders of horses. That is in the blood. The ‘Horse and the rider’ have been the sign manual of my race for a thousand years. But I speak of concerted games.

Knowing something of tennis and a little golf I can advise them to play those games. Knowing very little of cricket except as a spectator, I must be content to regard that great game with benevolent neutrality. But play games! Play them joyfully, vehemently, with all your heart.

Civilized Society

My final word would be to civilized society at large. I have already suggested that society should give a man space and means to make himself healthy. Now pursue the implication and tell society that it should give the individual peace. That is what a government is for, it is the final test; if a government cannot give us that, it is not worth having. I am a pacifist.

I would have the whole world unite to defend itself against aggression. Your nationalist instincts may be opposed to this. But see what those instincts have done for you! You have broken Germany. Yes! but you have broken yourselves. I don’t say that you were at fault, I don’t say that you could have avoided doing what you did. For the pre-war Prussian was – no, not criminal, impossible. But I do say that war is always a ghastly mistake, and that this last war was almost the death-blow to civilization.

And so in my testament I should say to the rulers of the earth. Prove yourselves: Prove that you are worth having: give the world peace!

Published by the Ismailia Association of Pakistan, 1977

Lailatul Qadr

Lailatu Qadr is the night of power and evidently we do not have a certain date it falls  on. Most Muslims pray all through the last ten days of the Ramadan. Some have fixed dates which range from 21st  through the 27th  and some believe that the last ten days are the most powerful of the entire month.

I always wonder what these events should do and how we can make them special for us. One perspective which is the obvious one is that these special days are a reminder for forgetting minds. Humans greatest quality and perhaps the weakest one is forgetting. Greatest since it will be devastating to remember all the undesirable events that happen in our lives and weakest since in the name of forgetful beings we attribute all our short comings to the fact that we do not remember. Laitul Qadr and other such events are just a jolt in the course of our lives to remind us that we need to contemplate live here after and give it some thought. In the hustle bustle of our lives we are always trying to balance evrything that we do and often times we are unable to see through the wide angle lense.

I would suggest that when we pray one or several night during Ramadan just ask ourselves what do I believe and and where I want to go? Contemplating like this will hopefully give us sense of direction and we will perhaps remember our purpose a bit longer.

Reset S430 Service A or B Indicator

TO RESET THE SERVICE A OR SERVICE B on this car:

1. Turn key to the #2 position. People have said the door has to be shut. On my car it does not. (Shut it anyway!)
This position is the one just before the car starts. Do not start the car.

2. Scroll menu button on upper left of steering wheel to show the mileage.

3. Use the arrow up/down to show the SERVICE A or SERVICE B icons….there will be one or two wrenches showing.

4. HOLD the trip reset button (on the left of the instrument cluster) IN for ten seconds and release.

5. HOLD the trip reset button in ANOTHER THREE SECONDS and release.

6. This should reset it and it should not appear again when you initially start the car. Works on my car anyway.

Navroz Mubarak

Today is the Navroz it is also the first day of spring. It was wintry condition in Dallas we had quite a bit of snow (ya snow) last night and it almost felt like winter. The forecast is better for the coming days. Navroz had been also a day when I feel that the winter is over and life will begin again. I wish the new year to be the best for all the people I know and don’t know.

I sought to hear the voice of God!

“I sought to hear the voice of God and climbed the topmost steeple, but God declared: “Go down again – I dwell among the people.”
— John Henry Newman

I particularly like this poem since it reminds me that we are doing so much for God but so little for people. Living in Texas I am fascinated by the amount of money spent on and in the Churches, Mosque, Synagogues and other places of worship.  I was at a friend’s house and saw a picture of a Mosque in Dubai that will cost 1.5  billion Dollars WOW! I am not sure why we cannot use the same money to make God happy by helping people. Who are we trying to impress?