₦airaland Forum

Gimme a break - someone, anyone PLEASE define "smart"!!!  Only when there's a consensus on the definition of the word, and only then, can there be a real debate!  Is being "smart" being able to memorize the first 50 digits of pi?  Or is it continuing to feed your family when you've lost your job, or your home?  Is being "smart" giving up a self-destructive addiction once and for all?  Or is it amassing millions of dollars through some scam?  Could "smart" be the basis for one ethnic group's ability to survive hundreds of years of subjugation, slavery and second-class citizenship?  Or could "smart" be the basis for another ethnic group's ability to exploit the natural resources of a foreign country in order to survive?  Hell, I think my dog is smart.  When I tell him to "shake", I don't think he raises his paw out of some slavish devotion to me, rather he does so because he knows he's going to get a biscuit. When he sees me heading out the door, he grabs his collar and leash - he wants to go for a ride, too. I think that's "smart". But should I also think my dog is dumb because he ignores my requests for him to come back into the house?  Some posts pointed to certain ethnic groups excelling academically, and to others as being "slow" (I thought this was particularly unfair, and baseless).  From a purely logical standpoint, I contend that this question cannot be answered until there is presented a standard definition of the word "smart".

Chinani - thank you, Hurricane Katrina is my soapbox. To everyone - 50k was referred to in some posts as "chicken change". It wouldn't by any stretch of the imagination be considered a windfall here in America either, but you know, a foundation could be established, to which corporations and individuals could donate. With proper advertisement and honest usage of the original funds, this amount of money could really help the lives of others. Peace to all.
lm

Bolex - ask your mother, or grandmother, or auntie, or sister, or friend, who's smarter. Better yet - define "smart". Is it a baby spider who knows how to weave its web the moment it's hatched? Is is a blade of grass that penetrates man-made cement? Intelligence is God given - it has nothing to do with gender. You wouldn't eat were it not for the 3/4ths of the world's population largely made of women who cull and harvest the world's basic food sources. Ditch your smug chauvinism and be thankful that God put the women and men in your life who are essential to your growth and being.

When I had my son - I was so distressed over what my mother thought about my parenting capabilites. She said, "I think you're a wonderful mother". I was so happy and relieved. I tell my son, everyday I speak with him, "I love you". I know that tomorrow isn't promised - the point of power (love/laughter/living) is in the present.

  I would immediately establish a foundation for Hurricane Katrina survivors.  The primary focus of this foundation would be to provide mental health/counseling and medical services for victims and families of victims of Katrina. A former co-worker and I had the blessing (yes, BLESSING), to reunite my girlfriend, who lives here, with her brother, who lived in New Orleans for the better part of his life.  What he described about the events that unfolded made everything I saw on the news appear to be a fairy tale.  He was working in a bakery and just days before Katrina, he was doing his usual duty of clearing dough from a baking machine.  His hand got caught in the machine, and as the most astute of you are probably guessing, yes, his hand was mangled and burned.  Under "normal" circumstances, he would have been transported to the hospital, where he would have received immediate care for his injuries.  Sadly, the hurricane hit, and he ended up in the Superdome, where he went for six days without any medical treatment (not to mention food).  As a consequence, gangrene set in, and today his hand is a bizarre landscape of thick, ropy scars, pink and black melted skin, and four and a half fingers (one finger was subsequently amputated).  Do you know what it's like to drive a car, or attempt to put a housekey in a doorknob without a whole hand?  Well, he does.  He said he saw a National Guardsman shot at point-blank range right before his eyes.  Apparently, a drug-dealer didn't appreciate the Guardsman's interference with his transaction.  My friend said the whole Superdome shook when the worst part of the hurricane hit - said it sounded like Armegeddon and at that point the people around him were praying to die.  The nightly news only alluded to the filth caused by lack of bathroom facilities.  Well, my friend Adam said the feces was piled 2 to 3 feet high and by the 3rd day, people simply relieved themselves outdoors because the ammonia fumes from the urine were making people pass out.  He told me the other day that he wasn't sure how he would live out the rest of his life because he has nowhere to go "back to", and Colorado Springs is so alien to him - keep in mind that he's had to establish a whole new support system, let alone acclimate to a much higher altitude.  The emotional and physical effects of this disaster are in their infant stage - if I had 50,000$,  I would use every nickel of it to help give these survivors much needed psychiatry and medical treatment, so they could regain at least a semblance of a normal life.

this is the saddest thing I've ever heard! And it makes me angry. I will never blame poor people for doing what they think they have to do to survive. Desperation can drive people to do things they never considered. I cried when I saw this on my local news. It's just appalling. I am saying a prayer for Lagos tonight.

tears,
Linda M.