Author: ganu_hanu

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Heads of Countries & Moral Values

While having dinner, Hanu started the conversation with the news, “We have different kinds of leaders as heads of countries; and neither of them are having good moral values. It is surprising that even in democratic countries they have elected leaders without any moral values or sometimes lack a good value compass. I can understand that countries with dictators have not choice, while it surprises me that in places where the people elect their rulers they have chosen poorly. “

Ganu, after setting down the dish, said, “Yes, most leaders in today’s world do not have a moral compass or lack values the people want in the leaders. However, in history even great leaders who are remembered today had poor values and evolved from that point to be great as we remember them today. A lot of truth about past leaders has been muddied. It is only a few authors who give a realistic picture of these great rulers. “

” Author Brad Meltzer said in a recent (Oct 3rd 2017) interview “today’s generation is lacking heroes to emulate and look upto, to guide them in their lives” continued Ganu, “In the past, too it is there have been  kings, conquerors and heads of state who are not to be emulated as not all of them had strong moral or character or principle values. Consider, somebody like Ghengis Khan who butchered his enemies and troup to gain what he wanted.”

“Hmmmm, ” said Hanu, pensively, “Now that you say it, I am reminded from history that Henry VIII, who wanted to divorce his wife (wives); changed England from the pope who was the religious head to himself being the head for England; mostly for his selfish reasons..  He was the first monarch to separate religion from state politics. By his ruling he also made marriage a civil contract between two consenting adults. It is difficult to state that he had good values to emulate or adopt. “

“Yes, ” said Ganu, ” And in more recent times, consider Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) who hid from the American people during his 4 terms as President that he suffered from polio. I would consider that the president hid a truth about himself to get elected to the next term. At that time, the populace were not kind to somebody with disability; even though, he is considered one of the greatest presidents of the country. He lacked honesty to the people.”

“How about Indira Gandhi, PrimeMinster of India in the 70s, declared emergency rule to keep herself in power, before the judge could come to court the next day; and pronounce his verdict. She further to secure her position as head of state, curtailed her own countrymen in Punjab and Assam, from upudating the electoral rolls to folks who are eligible to vote. “

“That is news to me, ” said Hanu,” I brought this up as I feel Donald Trump, ex president of USA and French president Emmanuel Macron are heads of state whose personal and moral values have a lot to be desired. I feel these and others in other countries lack moral strength to be considered as icons for young children to emulate or hold in high esteem.”

“We must remember that when we elect a head of state we do not look at their moral values, their religious beliefs and their personal lives as a criteria.” said Ganu, “We elect those who articulate our ideals and our needs. Having elected the official, I feel we must give them the bandwidth to implement what they promised or stated.”We must remember that when we elect a head of state we do not look at their moral values, their religious beliefs and their personal lives as a criteria. We elect those who articulate our ideals and promise to fulfill our needs.”

“It is nice to have the head of state, have moral values, strong principles and an upstanding character; however, it is not a requirement. This is not clear to the folks who elect them. After all, we are electing them to represent us in the government. They want a job and we elect the best who can do the job. I emphasize, we are not electing a head of state as an icon for our children or guide them in life. That is each parent’s and well wisher’s job. “

“I remember we had a chat about a site we saw sometime back when saw a Donkey on the roof. We put the donkeys to govern us and we need to live with it until they finish their term.”

“Yes I do remember. You brought up Brad Meltzer and I would like say on his own blog I am reading ‘…obvious ones like Nelson Mandela or Sesame Street creator Joan Ganz Cooney. There’s also policemen like Frank Shankwitz, who helped a little boy with leukemia ride a toy motorcycle and then used the idea to come up with the idea for the Make-A-Wish Foundation…or Team Hoyt, where father pushes his son in a wheelchair through marathon after marathon. Look around. Heroes are far more local than you think.’ “

“Yes, ” said Ganu,”Heroes are local and all around us. Some of them live next door to us and we need to recognize this.”

References

  1. https://ganuandhanu.com/2020/09/19/donkey-on-the-roof/
  2. https://bradmeltzer.com/About/QA
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What type of person are you?

DoersTalkersCritics

Hanu was walking home after a jog.

“Good morning, Hanu!” said Si, Hanu’s neighbor. Had a good jog?”

“Yes,” said Hanu, “I did. How are you?”

“I am well. I just heard on the news that Elon Musk is now the richest man on Earth. That is awesome! Imagine being the richest man on Earth!” said Si as they walked together to Hanu’s house. “Apparently, when he was told this information, he said, ‘How strange. Well, back to work.’ He still wants to work after being declared the richest man!”

“Yes, he is a doer!” said Hanu.

“What’s that? ” asked Si.

“Well, it is said that there are three types of people: doers, talkers, and critics. The talkers are the folks who talk about doing things in their lives. They will tell you that they’d do something if the circumstances were right and if they had the resources to do it. But if you gave them the right environment, they would stop at the first sign of difficulty!”

“Hmmm…so tell me more about the other types,” said Si.

“The doers are action people. They have no time to talk about the things they do because they are so focused on actually doing them. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘What you do in life thunders so loud that I can’t hear what you say.‘”

“That is something to ponder,” said Si. “What is the third type?”

“Aah, the third type, the critics, will criticize you if you succeed or fail in your actions as a doer. They also give the talkers something to talk about. A talker will hear a critic and say, ‘Somebody tried to do something and failed. I feel that I could have done it differently.’ In a way, a critic is an experienced talker.”

“So how do the doers handle these critics?” asked Si.

Hanu said, “They do not respond to these critics. In fact, doers don’t have time to listen to them, or talk to them about how they got where they are! Oh, I just remembered I told Ganu that I would be home in an hour to go over to aquarium. I’d better be getting along…”

Si responded, “All this about doers, talkers, and critics just because Musk said ‘Back to work!’ If I am not mistaken, it was Eleanor Rosevelt who said, ‘Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.‘ It seems like she was defining the critics, the so-called experts whom journalists call upon to critique. I sometimes feel that newscasters themselves are talkers and critics. What do you think?”

Si looked around and suddenly noticed that Hanu was nowhere nearby. But Si realized that it did not matter; Hanu was a doer, and Si wanted to be like Hanu.

While walking over to the store, Si remembered a quote from Richard III: “Talkers are no good doers: be assur’d, We go to use our hands, and not our tongues.” I hope I am a doer, thought Si.

References

  1. Elon Musk quotation https://www.goalcast.com/2021/01/13/elon-musk-worlds-richest-ask-give-fortune-away/
  2. Eleanor Rosevelt quote https://www.antarcticajournal.com/eleanor-roosevelt-quote-damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-dont/
  3. Richard III, Shakespeare https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_III_(play)
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How many years?

AGE?

Hanu walked into the room a little vexed. Ganu, who was reading a book, noticed Hanu’s frustrated expression. “What is going on?” asked Ganu.

“It’s difficult for me to explain to others that the new decade starts on January 1, 2020 and not 2021. How do I explain this to them?” asked Hanu.

“I can assure you it is not easy, as it deals with inequalities and counting, ” said Ganu. “Let me see if I can do this with a simple example–how many numbers are there between 3 and 6?”

Hanu answered, “That’s easy: only two. They are 4 and 5. Now if you had asked me, ‘How many numbers are there between 3 and 6, including the first number?’ I would have answered that there were three numbers: 3, 4, and 5.”

“Yes,” said Ganu, “that is correct. And if we included the last number we would have four: 3, 4, 5, and 6. This is a counting problem; as you can see, if I were to ask you how many numbers are between 0 and 4 (including both), then there are five numbers and not four. But sometimes people think there are only four, because 4-0=4. This came up in the media in a big way, during the change in the millennium. Many people thought that January 1, 2001 was the year the new millennium began, since 2001-1=2000. “

Hanu interrupted, “But they are not including the first year in the subtraction. It should be included!”

“Yes. Similarly, you can understand how people can get confused about the start of the decade. They are simply not including one year. I think you can also extend this to age.”

“Hmmm…wait,” said Hanu. “If somebody is born in 1981, and we wanted to know how old they are in 1987, wouldn’t that depend on the month in which they were born?”

“Yes,” said Ganu, “but even if they were not born on January 1, we can determine how old they will be turning that year. So in 1987, the hypothetical person you mentioned will be turning 7, not 6.”

“Got it,” said Hanu.

“It can be expressed in inequalities as follows,” continued Ganu. “1981 < your current age </= 1987. So that yields six years. But 1981 </= your current age age <= 1987 gives the age 7 years, because it includes the first year. Good luck in convincing your audience about the decades.”

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Donkey on the Roof!

One day, Hanu and Ganu went on a pleasant drive. Suddenly, Hanu saw an interesting sight and pointed it out to Ganu, who was driving. 

They both saw a donkey on a house braying loudly. Clearly, it was scared and trying to balance itself on the roof so as not to fall. Hanu laughed out loud and said, “There is a sight one does not see every day! A donkey on a rooftop! I wonder what it is doing up there?”

Ganu replied, “Yes, it is not every day one sees that sight. I wonder how it got up there?”

“Huh?”

 “Well,” said Ganu pensively, ”it could not have climbed up there by itself. It was probably put up there by somebody. “

Ganu continued, “A donkey is an extremely stubborn and strong animal, so it would be difficult to convince it to get up on a roof.  It seems that more than one person would have had to put it up there–maybe even more than two. How do you drag it up to there roof? You would have to carry it up a ladder or string it up. You see what I mean?”

“Yes,” murmured Hanu.

“So I think it must be scared, being in an unfamiliar place. It is braying loudly in fear. It probably does not know how it got up there and wants to come down, but does not know how. It is unfortunate that in today’s world, the heads of many countries are elected into positions, but they find they cannot do the job and want to come down. I fear that they are talking more and doing less,“ said Ganu.

Hanu said pensively, “Interesting that you should bring the world situation up. The media is bringing up many things regarding the state of the countries and criticizing their methods. I am reminded of this quotation from Dickens: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.’”

Ganu responded, “Aah, a good quote from Dickens’ book Tale of Two Cities. Yes, that quotation is usable any time. One of my favorite books.”

Hanu said, “You say that we put the current leader in his position. However, I did not cast my vote for today’s leader in the last elections. So I feel he is not my leader but he is the leader of the others who voted him in.”

As they arrived at their destination, Ganu said, “Well, that is not entirely true. You may not have voted for our today’s leader, but we as citizens of this country have voted for have democracy. And in a democracy, we agree that the people shall elect the leader by a majority vote. So, in short, if the donkey is put in a leadership position then we, by agreement, have decided he should be the leader. After all, that was what the majority of our country voted for during elections.  Aha, here we are at our friend’s place. Let us talk more later.”

They got out of the car and knocked on their friend’s front door.