My Latest in Xtra: Single & Secure

Though I am no longer a single lady, when I wrote this piece I was! I am lucky I found my She-ra.

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Nature vs. Nurture

If everything has an beginning and an end, the only thing infinite is the possibility of a new. For as many times as we repeat ourselves acting volatile, greedy, impetuous or cold, we have had the opportunity to adjust these hereditary behaviours and further our development by breaking formed habits.

I have been having some interesting conversations with people lately about their ideas of how we develop to be the people we are as adults, is it more nurture or nature? The response seems to be split when it comes to opinion, some say nature, others say nurture. For me the options themselves answer the question.

I think that nature and nurture are equally as important to one-another when formulating our personalities and choices. Nature is just that, natural, like survival instincts. Upon the first few months of our development we learn our "first round" of likes and dislikes. Now what I mean by the "first round" is that at this juvenile age we are still not as susceptible to the societal and behavioural pressures that teachers in school, the news, forums of institutionalization and so on will place on us. Moreover, the concept of morality (however much it is an ideal rather than a reality) has only vaguely come into play and this will also influence our psyches when we become more cognitive as children.

Nurture, like nature involves a level of psychology, but instead of being applicable to the public forum, I think nurture relies more heavily on the impact of your home upbringing - more directly relationship with family. They say that we repeat what we see and I think this is a feasible observation but not merely enough to be the only clutch to explain all human actions. While we can repeat what we see, we can also be outraged and discouraged by the way our parents and siblings were with us. Through the process of nurture we have the ability of changing ourselves in adulthood to break the pattern of what we disliked as youth.

As humans we are given education that will both enlighten us to be good people and teach us how to acquire selfishness so that we can gain through the fulfillment of what we think are merit desires. Nature and nurture are in a constant state of conflict with each other but the distribution of there impact is equally as vital in making us who we are.

Damyanti

Take a step back to see forward. Touch me deeply to see the surface of my emotions sink into a well of needed change. I have always been the anchor by her side. I am her protector and she is my idol.

Over the years so many tears were shed for the pain he caused us. She stood strong and kept a roof on the table and food on our plates. She is my saving grace, she is the one I am proud to call my own.

You see I am nothing extraordinary if you see her, she is the all-encompassing womb that realized me to be.

I see her age and her kindness remains forever young. Each day she rises around 8am, she then makes chai and fiddles in the kitchen, then showers, does her hair, puts on her make-up (not much at all, for she doesn’t need much to show the depth of beauty). Then she prays. I know she pray for me, my brother, my sister and I. She is mother.

She worries because she cares about our health, happiness and it hurts her to see us struggle. No woman can touch me more than her; no woman can replace her as the centrepiece of my heart.

Taking a step forward requires me to see how proud I want to make her of me. Love is everything she made of me.

Haiti 2010: Fury's Earthquake

Why does the world function if nobody really cares? This is a question we can all ponder once we realize the implications of death. The world is at a point where Mother Nature seems a bit pissed off by the fact that we have an apt to take for granted what you are given. Human nature, no?

It is time to wake-up. Now is the time for us to open our hands towards the togetherness. Everything that is worth something really hurts when lost. Healing is a necessity for survival and destruction is always unjust without at least the idea of hope. I am telling you brothers, I am telling you sisters...time is the essence/the time is now. Change towards peace and giving a damn.

I believe that we need to be good and kind. Karma is not only an idea it is nature. In life and death, joy and pain we attract energy. An earthquake shakes the whole world. An earthquake has just shaken the world of Haiti. Our world is our responsibility. Catastrophe is devastating and nature seems like it has a roar as loud as our need to build edifices of ego and stature. Nostradamus, dinosaurs. We all perish so life can continually evolve and we can be reminded that the fittest may survive longer but we are are mortal.

Through the concrete we need to dig to save our people. When stone falls on human bodies they are helpless. A woman living on the street trying to find shelter and hide her crying child from the bodies. Our power as humans needs to find us now. God help us help ourselves is what we should pray (or think if you're not religious).

I sat today to watch the news and I saw that the hospitals in Haiti have dead babies that have died before getting care. How does this happen through all the pretty pictures? You do yoga and I meditate cause we all need silence. You can’t ignore the cry of life asking for help. Animals, plants we are distinctive as humans because we have the means to have more advanced care for our world. More than the actual life that sustains us. Simple. Technology is nothing without cultured cause for it.

Hundreds of thousands die today in Haiti. This was the most fatal earthquake in two centuries. Help is a cry.