Top 10 tips for happiness by Pope Francis

Speaking in the Argentine Weekly "Viva" this week  ( which was also the second(?) or third (?) week of the massacre in Gaza)  Pope Francis shared with the world his recipe for happiness.

Readhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/pope-francis-issues-top-10-tips-for-happiness-9639488.html

1.  ' Live and let live '  which is similar to the saying in Rome ' Move forward and let others do the same."

Image 1

I think it very much depends on who is holding the gun and the money-bag.


2.   "Be giving of yourself to others."   People need to be open and generous ......

Image 2.  "We are left with nothing.  Our vocabulary is full of words:demolition, detention, beatings, killings and closures."  From War on Want, Association of Gaza Artists.  I bought a series of these postcards in the early 1990s.

Well, the Palestinians have been very giving ; of their land, their homes, their livelihood, their children and their lives.


3.  "Proceed calmly in life"

Image 3.  Mor Ostrovski, an Israeli Defence (?) Force (IDF) sniper,  calmly aiming at the back of the head of a Palestinian boy.

Read http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/18/israeli-sniper-photo-child-crosshairs-instagram_n_2711977.html

It's easy to be calm when you are holding the gun and clutching the money-bag.


4.  A healthy sense of leisure.  The Pope said  "consumerism has brought us anxiety."

Here's a picture of fulfilling consumerism.

Image 4.  " Spot the baby in the buggy!"  A mother doing her post - Christmas Sale shopping in Leicester.  Picture from the Daily Mail.

 The Pope further added, " ... set aside time to play with the children and turn off the TV when they sit down to eat."

 Looking for sustenance in the rubbish dump in Catholic Philippines.

As for eating in front of the TV, the urban poor of the Philippines survive on food scraps from trash bags.

Read  http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/30/world/asia/philippines-pagpag-slums/

For the past month or so,  there should be a warning sign about watching TV while eating.  You may just about throw out your stomach contents if you are confronted with this.

 5.   Sundays should be holidays.  Sunday is for family.

As for the families of these children, there will be no dinners on Sunday or Monday or Tuesday etc, etc  only grief and heartache.

As for this Rabbi, he has chosen which children do not deserve the Pope's vision of a family Sunday.

6.  Find innovative ways to create dignified jobs for young people.

Young Palestinians will not face unemployment problems because they have been culled by the Zionists.  For those who survive, there won't be problems like 'drug addiction' and 'suicide' which was referred to by the Pope.  They just live in abject poverty and fear and degradation.

Perhaps the Pope was thinking of young people in United Kingdom, a nation who are great friends of Israel. Their young people have no worries over their tomorrows.

 7.  Respect and take care of nature.  Environmental degradation " is one of the biggest challenges we have."

Often on my trips to New Zealand to visit the spouse's relatives, I have to endure questions or comments about how terrible Malaysia is with regards  to deforestation and environmental vandalism.  But when I observe how treeless NZ is - and how sheep are more populous than humans, I reckon they take the prize for hypocrisy when it comes to deforestation.

Read  http://envirohistorynz.com/2012/08/05/burning-new-zealands-forests/

According to the above article, one small burn-off of forest on the east coast of North Island, in the 1900s, destroyed 30,000 acres of indigenous forest.  We are rapped on the knuckles for cutting the forests for oil palm, the Kiwis do it for sheep.  We are regarded as vandals when the slash and burn technique is used for forest clearance.  Well, the Kiwis did it many, many years ago as from the 1900s because they found this technique  low-cost and efficient.   According to the same article " the rate of forest loss in NZ is the highest in the world."  So, 'goosey-goosey gander, whither shall you wander?  Upstairs and downstairs in the master's chamber.'

I took this photograph of a forest clearance on the road somewhere between Kuching and Lubok Hantu in the mid-1980s.

Now take a look at this one.

The image above shows a clear-cut forest in Oregon (Credit Calibas).

Read http://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/north-american-forests-in-the-age-of-man/

And here's another self-righteous "green" country - Great Britain - selling off their woodland "to meet financial targets imposed by successive governments."

Read  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-the-true-scale-of-britains-woodland-selloff-6278861.html

Sermon for the Day:  People who live in glass-houses should not throw stones.


8.  Stop being negative.  "Needing to talk badly about others indicates low self-esteem."  That means "I feel so low that instead of picking myself up I have to cut others down."

Image 6

Image 6A

Oh dear, if the two groups above do what they do because they suffer from low esteem, where do the Gazans fit in?  According to the Israelis they are no different from cockroaches.



9.  Don't proselytize:  respect other's beliefs.  Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!!!
 -
Long, long ago Christian missionaries came on the coat-tails of Western Imperialism to convert heathens, but especially Muslims to Catholicism and later Protestantism.

See http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-camel-and-arab-metaphor-for-allah.html

Today we do not see any less fervour in capturing the souls of  Muslims and others.  The method may have changed but the desire and objectives remain the same.

Read  http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/september9/1.34.html?paging=off

Sermon forToday :  Fine Words Butter no Parsnips.


10.  Work for Peace. " We are living in a time of many wars."

Peace will not come if there is no Justice.

The Pope further added, " the call for peace must be shouted."  It all depends on who shouts the loudest and on what and whose terms?

The British, the Balfour Treaty and the Zionist State of Israel.

Image 7

Image 8

Image 9

Finally, my gratitude to the Pope for showing me the path to happiness.  I do apologize if  my translation seems jaundiced and unpalatable.  But we do not live in a fair and promising world - especially for the Palestinians and Gazans and many, many others.




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I do recommend Mohammed Jehan Khan's blog  http://mohammedjehankhan.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/understanding-israel-history-facts-and-quotes/

It is one of the best on Palestine and Zionism.  Furthermore, he draws his own cartoons - a remarkable young man - wish we could have a homegrown version like him.  Images 1, 4A, 6, 6A, 7, 8, and 9 were taken from his blog.  Thank you Mohammed Jehan Khan.