Life after 40 years of work

Take any group of 100 people at the start of their working career and follow them for 40 years until they reach retirement age and here’s what you’ll find, according to the Social Security Administration:

• Only 1 will be wealthy
• 4 will be financially secure
• 5 will continue working, not because they want to but because they have to
• 36 will be dead
• 54 will be dead broke – dependent on the meager Social Security checks, relatives, friends and even charity for a minimum standard of living.

There is NO blackboard in the sky.

"There is no blackboard in the sky on which God has written your purpose, your mission in life. There's no blackboard in the sky that says, "Neale Donald Walsch. Handsome guy who lived in the first part of the twenty-first century, who .. ."And then there's a blank. And all I have to do to really understand what I'm doing here, why I'm here, is to find that blackboard and find out what God really has in mind for me. But the blackboard doesn't exist.

So your purpose is what you say it is. Your mission is the mission you give yourself Your life will be what you create it as, and no one will stand in judgment of it, now or ever."

- Neale Donald Walsch

Religion and Patriotism in a personal note

Religions, belief systems cannot be presented with facts. The only evidences are provided by results of people's lives, way of their thinking, way of their behavior. On that scale rating, in my life I have not met worst people than "Jesus-Freaks". Those Christians are the most afraid, scared, greedy, judgmental, spiteful people I ever met. I have met Muslims, they are saints compare to the Christians I met. I met Wiccans their lives and reflection of thoughts are far long beating Christians, just like Buddhists and Atheists. No facts or proves, but as Jefferson said: "For it is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be judged.” And that is how I look at it.

As for me. No religion there. Nothing we could name anyway. My life started to get better immediately I threw Christianity out on the window in 2000. The next 8 years was going up on the hill. Then 2008 I got a bad hit, I messed up a few things and gone down on a spiral, my gf broke up with me I almost married to, lost most of my investment on wall street and lost my job eventually. And now things getting better again. But it has nothing to do with God. Anything I every achieved or lost in my life was fully my own responsibility and only I can get credit or blame for that. If I believe in something, that's me.

But again everyone finds their path. There is NOT only one way to true happiness. Many. So people choose whatever they feel comfortable with. You choose your way I choose mine, no one has to convince anyone. Without facts.

As for USA, well it's a country with people in it. Nothing special. It's a place to live and die (although I'm not sure about the last one), and if things turn out the way that I won't feel good here anymore, I'll just leave. There are 190+ countries in the world and I lived only in 3 so far. If the hatred and the so called "patriotism" will keep going the way like this, with that deeply arrogant attitude that USA is the greatest nation and every other countries are insignificant, I'll move to Mexico or Canada. I have been thinking of Peru too. Beautiful country.

Fortunately there are still a lot of people here who are able to look at others as a human being, without labeling them by country or origin, so it's still fine. As it's been said: "You can't choose where to born, but you can choose where to live." And I stay where I am happy :) If things are happy here, I love it. But most importantly I love peace... and miss it often.

History of Yule

The Pagan holiday called Yule takes place on the day of the winter solstice, around December 21. On that day (or close to it), an amazing thing happens in the sky. The earth's axis tilts away from the sun in the Northern Hemisphere, and the sun reaches at its greatest distance from the equatorial plane. As a festival of the Sun, the most important part of any Yule celebration is light -- candles, bonfires, and more.

In the Northern hemisphere, the winter solstice has been celebrated for millenia. The Norse people viewed it as a time for much feasting, merrymaking, and, if the Icelandic sagas are to be believed, a time of sacrifice as well. Traditional customs such as the Yule log, the decorated tree, and wassailing can all be traced back to Norse origins.

The Celts of the British Isles celebrated midwinter as well. Although little is known about the specifics of what they did, many traditions persist. According to the writings of Pliny the Elder, this is the time of year in which Druid priests sacrificed a white bull and gathered mistletoe in celebration.

Four thousand years ago, the Ancient Egyptians took the time to celebrate the daily rebirth of Horus - the god of the Sun. As their culture flourished and spread throughout Mesopotamia, other civilizations decided to get in on the sun-welcoming action. They found that things went really well... until the weather got cooler, and crops began to die. Each year, this cycle of birth, death and rebirth took place, and they began to realize that every year after a period of cold and darkness, the Sun did indeed return.

Winter festivals were also common in Greece and Rome, as well as in the British Isles. When a new religion called Christianity popped up, the new hierarchy had trouble converting the Pagans, and as such, folks didn't want to give up their old holidays. Christian churches were built on old Pagan worship sites, and Pagan symbols were incorporated into the symbolism of Christianity. Within a few centuries, the Christians had everyone worshiping a new holiday celebrated on December 25.

In some traditions of Wicca and Paganism, the Yule celebration comes from the Celtic legend of the battle between the young Oak King and the Holly King. The Oak King, representing the light of the new year, tries each year to usurp the old Holly King, who is the symbol of darkness. Re-enactment of the battle is popular in some Wiccan rituals.

Source: about.com