Feelings and Dealings

The book includes 10 chapters all about different aspects of life. The aim is to make the reader laugh, learn, and enjoy.

The poems are mostly about social issues, human conditions, and life lessons. There are a few poems about mathematics that I could not resist not to include. I am known for sharing jokes with my students, friends, and family. So, I have included some of my better/funnier jokes in the form of poems to break away from serious issues presented in other chapters. I hope you like them.

LIFE AND COMPASS

Human beings live on the tip of a compass and move forward with their own chosen speed, my friends

They seemingly go through different paths, but finally return to their starting points, and that is how the story ends.

HAPPINESS

Happiness could come by enjoying little things in life—that is the key:

Simple and obtainable things like early morning walks, a hot coffee or tea.

Happiness could be living in a country where you belong and feel free.

Happiness could be seeing beauty in things that in the past you did not notice or see.

Happiness could be witnessing two lonely people fall in love, live together, and become we.

Happiness could be enjoying things you have, own, or can get for a small fee.

Happiness could be seeing the changes that happen to your favorite things, like a tree.

Happiness could be talking or praying to the Lord in a peaceful place while bending on your knee.

Happiness could be swimming in a pool, river, a pond, ocean, or in a sea.

Happiness could be loving everybody and everything from A to Z.

Happiness could be whatever your heart and mind desire it to be.

These are my observations. If you disagree, please share your ideas with me.

Growing Up

At three years old, “Mommy, I love you.” At fourteen, “Mom. whatever.”

At sixteen, “My mom is so annoying.” At eighteen, “I am leaving this house forever.”

At twenty-one, “Mom, you were right.” At twenty-five, “Mom, I want to come home—I miss you.”

At thirty-five, “I need your advice mom, I do not know how you managed time? You know better.”

At fifty, “I do not want to lose my mom. She is so dear to me. I do not know what was I thinking?”

At seventy, “I would give up everything to have my mom here with me again, she was so dear

Know all I can do is to think of her and teach it to my children if I could

A great life lesson that formal education cannot teach or explain further.

Paradox of Our Time

Words of George Carlin

We have taller buildings but shorter tempers; we do not ask why.

Wider freeways but narrower viewpoints—most of us frequently lie.

We spend more but have less; buy more but enjoy less. This is now our lifestyle:

Buy bigger houses but have smaller families; more conveniences but less desire to use them or passion to try;

More college degrees but less common sense; more knowledge but less insight when it comes to judging;

More experts but fewer problem solvers; more medicine but less wellness—we harm our bodies to get high.

We drink too much, smoke a lot, spend too recklessly, yet laugh rarely or not at all.

Drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired … we are quick to say goodbye.

We read too little, watch too much TV, change channels frequently, but hardly hold a conversation (we find it dull);

Have no longer set social values, talk too much, love very little but hate intensely till the day we die.

We know how to make a living but not a life; make things larger but not better at all.

We have conquered outer space but not our own inner space, for we do not understand body and mind’s close tie.

We have cleaned up the air but polluted our souls; conquered the atom but not our own prejudice—we have built a virtual wall!

We build more computers but communicate less. We rush. We do not share our love; —dress casual, hardly wear formal clothes and tie.

We have two-income families but a higher rate of divorce; more money, less time for each other, more broken homes;

More fast foods, bigger portions, slow digestion; big mouth and small brain; more ego, less mindfulness; we are no longer considerate or shy.

We use more disposable items, one-night stands, less accountability, throwaway morality, quick changes—yet do not know why.

Less seriousness, less care, less kindness, more selfishness, greed … all to the level that makes a sensitive individual cry.

It Is Not All about Looks

Teach the little ones, including daughters, that it is not all about being beautiful like a doll.

It is more about being bold, silly, strong, confident, independent, and intelligent above all.

Let them know that real life is hard, unkind, complex, unpredictable, uncertain, and sometimes unfair.

The beauty will fade away; she could become lonely, in need of taking care of herself, and even get sick and fall.

Nature or Nurture

Boiled water softens the hard potatoes, as we all have seen and know.

At the same time, it hardens the eggs. It may seem natural, though

The conclusions to which we arrive may need some deep thinking and knowledge.

It is our nature that plays the key role here, though I cannot explain how.

Maybe what happens is not in fact the cause but rather the nature of our reactions.

It is our decision to let nature change or affect our lives, or we can just adapt and let it go.

Circle of Life

Here is my view of the circle of life, which although true is more like a joke:

It starts with a gentleman who is too afraid of his wife to drink beer or have a Coke.

The gentleman’s dog is afraid of him and immediately sits down when he calls its name.

Their only playful cat is scared of the dog and hides under their bed to avoid a possible poke.

Who is scared of the cat? I guess we all know: our smart friend, the little mouse hiding in the basement.

To complete the circle, guess who is scared of the mouse? Well, the bossy lady of the house we spoke.