“The Wizard of Oz” is an incredible film based on L. Frank Baum’s fairy tale “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. The special effects are amazing for when the movie was made (1939), and the story and acting are equally amazing.

Life in Kansas

The movie begins in Kansas, presumably at around the turn of the century. Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) is an orphan girl of about twelve who lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry on a farm. Dorothy is concerned because her dog Toto had bit the stern Almira Gulch (Margaret Hamilton, who later portrays the Wicked Witch of the West), and Dorothy fears the worst from her. She tries to get advice from her three farm hands Hunk (Ray Bolger, who later portrays the scarecrow), Hickory (Jack Haley, the Tin Man), and Zeke (Burt Lahr, the Cowardly Lion), but they don’t take her concern too seriously. Almira returns with an order from the sheriff authrorizing for her to have Toto destroyed, whence she places Toto in a basket and rides away on her bike. Toto escapes from the basket and returns home while Miss Gulch is riding away. Dorothy then decides she needs to run away with Toto, so she runs to the house of Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan, who later plays the Wizard as well as other roles). He sneaks a peek at a photo of Aunt Em, then pretends to see her in a crystal ball and tells Dorothy he sees her crying in order to try to dissuade her from running away. Dorothy and Toto then hurry back home. Meanwhile, a cyclone begins to appear. By the time Dorothy returns home, everyone is hiding in the storm cellar. Dorothy goes to her room, where the wind blows the window out of its frame, hitting her head and knocking her unconscious. She awakes to find her house being carried away by the cyclone. She looks out the window, first seeing some people she knows, then she sees Miss Gulch riding her bike and being transformed into a witch and her bicycle into a broomstick. A few moments later, the house lands along with Dorothy and Toto in Munchkinland, a wonderful village with small houses, trees, and brooks (now shown in vivid color).

Munchkinland

Dorothy is greeted by Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, who arrives in a bubble and tells her that her house fell on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her. The Munchkins, the inhabitants of the land, come out and introduce themselves to Dorothy. Once they verify that the Wicked Witch is in fact dead, they celebrate, praising Dorothy. But then the Wicked Witch of the West appears, who happens to be the sister of the Wicked Witch of the East, and threatens to get even with Dorothy as well as Toto. Glinda makes the ruby slippers of the Wicked Witch of the East appear on Dorothy’s feet so that the Wicked Witch cannot harm her. The Wicked Witch then disappears. Dorothy expresses her wish to return home to Kansas. Glinda and the Munchkins tell her that in order to get home, she needs to follow the yellow-brick road, which leads to Emerald City, where lives the Wizard of Oz, who can get her home.

Dorothy’s Journey

Dorothy takes their advice and begins her journey along the yellow-brick road to Emerald City. Along the way, she runs into a talking Scarecrow who claims he needs a brain, a Tin Man who says he needs a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who needs courage. The four end up journeying together to see the Wizard, who hopefully can solve all their problems. The Wicked Witch tries to stop them a couple of times. As they finally see Emerald City from a field of poppies, she casts a spell to make them fall asleep, whence Dorothy, Toto, and the lion fall asleep. The Tin Man and the Scarecrow are immune to the spell, however, so they call for help. Glinda casts a counterspell by making it snow, which wakes everyone up, whence they continue to the gate of Emerald City.

Emerald City

Once they arrive, they try ringing the bell, but the man at the gate tells them shows them a sign on the door saying, “Bell out of order, please knock”, whence they knock on the door and he answers them. Then they tell them they came to see the Wizard, but he tells them no one can see him. He finally lets them in when Dorothy shows him the ruby slippers she’s wearing, whence he says, “Now that’s a horse of a different color!” He then takes them through Oz on a horse whose color changes several times. From there, they’re taken to a salon and pampered in various ways. As they’re about to see the Wizard, the Wicked Witch flies overhead on her broom and forms in skywriting “SURRENDER DOROTHY”.

The Wizard

Finally the four are led in to see the Wizard, who appears in a large room in the form of a large floating head surrounded by fire and smoke. He tells them that he can only help them if they bring him the broomstick from the Wicked Witch. Shortly after they leave, the Wicked Witch sends out a host of flying monkeys, which capture Dorothy and Toto and carry them back to the witch’s castle.

Dorothy’s Capture and Rescue

Once inside the castle, the Wicked Witch tries to get Dorothy’s slippers but can’t, realizing that they won’t come off as long as Dorothy is alive. Thus, the witch tries to kill Dorothy, turning over an hourglass and telling her that she’ll die as soon as the sand runs out. Meanwhile, Toto escapes from the castle and joins up with Dorothy’s friends, who then go to try to rescue her. They manage to find her and rescue her from the castle just as the last sand falls from the hourglass. Once outside, the witch sets the scarecrow on fire. Dorothy douses him with a bucket of water, some of which splashes onto the Wicked Witch, causing her to melt, leaving behind her dress, hat, broomstick, and a few wisps of steam. To everyone’s surprise, the witch’s soldiers are delighted that she is dead, having been liberated, and they praise Dorothy for killing her.

Return to the Wizard

Now with the broom in hand, the four return to the Wizard and ask him to deliver on his promises, but he still refuses. Toto then runs to a curtain and grabs it, revealing a man behind the curtain working at a control pad. The Wizard’s voice says, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” Soon they discover that this man really is the Wizard in disguise. He turns out to be very good as a man, though, and solves each of their problems. First he hands the scarecrow a Diploma, then hands the Tin Man a heart-shaped clock, and finally gives the Cowardly Lion a medal of honor for helping to rescue Dorothy and fight the Wicked Witch. He then tells the four that he arrived in Oz from Kansas in a hot-air balloon and offers to take Dorothy and Toto back with him in it. But just before takeoff, Toto spots a cat outside and runs out of the balloon basket to chase it. Dorothy goes after Toto, whence the Wizard, no longer able to control the balloon, floats off by himself.

“There Is No Place Like Home”

Dorothy fears she’s trapped in Oz along with her friends, but then Glinda appears. She tells Dorothy that she and Toto had the power all along to return home, the power residing in her slippers. She tells Dorothy that she didn’t tell her this at first because she wanted her to learn a lesson, namely that true happiness lies in her own backyard. After Dorothy says goodbye to her friends, Glinda tells her to tap her heels together and repeat the words, “There’s no place like home.” She follows these instructions and sure enough returns home to Kansas, shown once again in sepia tone. She finds her friends surrounding her in her room, expressing gratitude that she survived the cyclone. Dorothy recants her journey. Everyone tells her that it was a dream, though she insists that it was real. In any case, she is delighted to be back and concludes that there really is no place like home.

Picture yourself in this situation; you are a young recruit at the Virginia Military School for cadets, never have experienced war, but you are being trained for one. Confederate forces are on the edge of defeat, losses are heavy, then the call comes from headquarters, “Send all recruits to the front lines immediately.” How would you react to this news?

During the civil war, before the battle of new market, the Virginia Military cadets (age range between 12 and 18 yrs old), were called up to join the battle. They faced a powerful union army; they did not receive support from the older confederate soldiers, in fact, they teased because of their age.

These cadets made a difference:

1. The older confederate soldiers ran while the cadets stayed in formation; bombs exploding all around them.

2. The cadets were the first group to charge the Union army line under heavy fire, fought courageously, captured the hill, thus forcing the Union army to retreat.

Nobody thought these boys would be the reason the confederate army was victorious at the battle of new market. In our own personal life, we are fighting a different battle; we are fighting a war against self-defeat. We are striving everyday to find happiness and success, but the armies of self-defeat are always attacking; this is why we need to be courageous and continue to fight our personal battles until we are victorious, just like the cadets. This is an important lesson on how to achieve success through self-improvement.

1. Don’t be afraid to take the hits. In the movie “Rocky Balboa,” there was a moment when Rocky was talking to his son about not being a coward or making excuses when things do not go right in our life. Life is about getting up after when we have failed; that is how ordinary people succeed and find happiness in this life. They keep moving forward, especially when times are dark and dreary. You have 2 options in life; you can stay down and let life continually beat upon you or you can rise, dust yourself off and fight, the latter is what makes ordinary people winners.

2. Don’t let your weaknesses keep you down. Being courageous simply means that you know what your weaknesses are and that you are doing everything in your power to strengthen them. Tony Horton, P90X creator, once said and I quote, “Rome was not built in a day and neither was your body… just show up… keep pushing play.” End quote. If you have trouble writing an article, just keep practicing until you become an expert. If you have a dream of becoming a doctor, do what it takes to study and learn all the material until you become an expert. If you have a weakness in speaking in front of a large group of people, practice in front of your family or a small group of people until you become an expert.

Be courageous everyday of your life and you will find happiness, you will become a better person. In conclusion to this article, I hope that you have learned this important lesson on how to achieve success through self-improvement.

Richard Feynman was my hero when I studied physics. Although I never got to meet him in person before he passed away (in 1988) he made a great impression and impact on me. In addition to being a real maverick, Feynman was also a very pragmatic scientist – if a theory could not be used to describe a phenomenon in nature, it was rubbish, it did not matter how “sophisticated” it was mathematically. Mathematical elegance was never a criterion Feynman used to assess a physical theory, he knew better than that. Therefore, to this day it is still so nice and inspiring to read Feynman’s articles and books, which have a “straight-to-the-core” approach, stripped of all unnecessary philosophical mumbo-jumbo. Especially in these times, when most theoretical fundamental ‘physics research’ is about extra dimensions, strings that are too small to ever be seen, and other fantasies and dreams, it is extra nice to occasionally be able to clear the head with Feynman’s much more effective, and down-to-earth, approach. It always feels very novel and refreshing. Feynman knew that the sole purpose of physics is to describe nature. A quote among many: “It doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are. If it doesn’t agree with experiments, it’s wrong”. The “serious student” who really wants to understand physics still has got a lot of golden-nuggets to learn from “Feynman’s red” – his famous Lectures in Physics (three volumes) – although they originate from the early 1960s when Feynman, for the first and only time, gave the introductory courses in physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This was, incidentally, just a few years before he got his Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965.

Despite my, and many others, “idolizing” of Feynman, I have since come to identify less and less with Feynman, and increasingly with Fritz Zwicky, who also worked at Caltech – but in contrast came up with many new, and wild, courageous and controversial ideas.

While Feynman undoubtedly was a genius (“I’m Smart Enough to Know That I’m dumb”), and did work of Nobel Prize-class in many different areas of physics, he never really invented anything completely new – probably a consequence of his practical pragmatism. Zwicky, however, was the first to suggest dark matter (to explain the motion of galaxies already in 1933), suggested & named the “supernova” (1934) as the final phase of really big stars, and that supernovae result in neutron stars – dead stellar remnants with a mass larger than the sun – and (correctly) hypothesized that they produce most of the mysterious cosmic rays that just had been discovered shortly before. Zwicky also realized that galaxies could act as gravitational lenses.

Despite all of this today being accepted hypotheses; Zwicky was seen by many contemporary physicists as a “crackpot” – perhaps especially by the “father of the atomic bomb” Robert Oppenheimer, who had a huge influence on, particularly American, physics research for a long time. Therefore, it took very long before many of Zwicky’s ideas became widely accepted.

Because I, myself, with the (testable) hypothesis Preon Stars, “have made a Zwicky”, it is perhaps not surprising that my sympathies and my identification increasingly have drifted from Feynman to Zwicky. And unlike Feynman, neither I nor Zwicky have received the Nobel Prize. Not yet anyway…

Forwarding of this publication is allowed provided the following web address is included

http://www.FunPhysics.org.

In all the assassination cases in India, there are certain things in common. The leaders refused to have special security even though they were warned in advance about the seriousness of the situation. The reactions were terrible with killing and counter killing by mutually opponent groups. Later it was found that the killers were highly motivated by extreme brain washing by those who hold grudge against those killed.

But now, the times have changed. The democratically elected leaders also have full security and protection at par with dictators. Yet, they fall prey to assassin’s bullets. We shall see in this short fiction the assassination attempts on a democratically elected leader and subsequent fall out thereof.

THE STORY:

The intelligence reports were quite alarming!

The latest reports informed that the suicide squads of the inland terrorist groups have zeroed in for a master plan to kill the mass leader and the Head of the State Mr X.

The matter was discussed in a closeted cabinet meeting.

“My beloved leader Sir, (to mention the name of the leader is totally prohibited because it is considered a disrespect to the beloved leader). We shall give our lives to save you. Can anybody touch you?” Almost all the ministerial colleagues assured in chorus.

“Our most beloved Sir” the deputy chief Ramsingh addressed him. Among all the ministers, he was the only one who could talk face to face with the chief. “I would suggest you not to come out for some days. You may address any function through direct relay of T.V.”

The chief had a hearty laugh. “Do you mean I am a coward? Have you forgotten the fact Mahatmaji refused to have security? I am a follower of Gandhi and belong to that category of leaders. If I die for the country. Let me do so because I take pride in dying in that fashion. So let me not hide in my den. Let me travel as usual.” So saying, he concluded the cabinet meeting and went to his cabin to attend to other routine works.

The imminent event happened within the next two days. Mr X was attending an official function which was to take place in an auditorium. The function was to declare open a picture of Gandhi. When he was walking the ramp to reach the podium, a young man in his twenties appeared from nowhere and bullets from his machine gun pierced his body and tore it into pieces. The improved modern technology made it possible that the assassination was telecast live. The assassin did not waste his time in shooting himself to death.

The satellite televisions did not waste any time and telecast the bodies of both the assassinated and the assassin repeatedly.

The party workers were provoked immediately. Arson and vandalism were leashed out with immediate effect. Shortly, the State was under the control of antisocial elements, rowdies and hooligans. Unable to bear the loss, some fanatic members burnt themselves to death. The entire State was in a State of chaos.

Suddenly all the channels stopped their relays. Only an announcement, “Please stand for an important announcement” was telecast. After repeating for nearly fifty times, they started telecasting “Our leader is not dead, he is very much alive.” They repeated the announcement again and again. Radios also announced the same massage. All the available wireless, electronic media and satellite channels repeatedly announced “Our beloved leader will appear and address the people of the State.”

The senseless violence came to a halt. Yes, finally the Head of the State appeared on T.V and other media. With folded hands he thanked the public for their massive support.

“My dearest brethren, you are the blood of my blood, you are the nerves of my nerves. Nothing has happened to me and I have come out successfully from the treacherous murder attempt of our opponents, who are actually cowards. It is not so easy to take away the life of your beloved leader” he declared.

Immediately the violent mood was converted as mood of joy and festivities.

But how did he escape the assassination attempt?

The secret became public in a day or two. The person killed was a replica of Mr X whose name was Kasi who has represented him on various occasions in the past also.

“People just mistake Kasi as me. When it involves only ribbon cutting without inviting any lecture he used to duplicate me,

“This time, I told him not to go because intelligence reports were totally adverse, but he refused and went to represent me. That brought his end.”So saying to his close aides he wiped off tears (!) flowing down from his eyes.

As a sop, he gave Rupees 50 million to Kasi’s family and 1 million each to the families of those who self- immolated, numbering to nearly 8.Thus, the voices against the gory deaths of 9 innocents were silenced

But there were some voices of discontent as reflected in some television talk shows. Speakers were raising objection to the Head of the State deputing another man on his behalf thereby sacrificing an innocent life to save himself. Some street plays were held to condemn the incident. People compared Kasi to “Aravan”, a character in Mahabharatha who was sacrificed to save the lives of Pandavas, the five brothers. They portrayed innocent people who sacrificed their lives by immolating themselves to fire beetles who just jump into fire and die, being attracted by it. Opposition leaders asked, “Is it the way for the leader to protect himself especially when he declares himself as a follower of Mahathma Gandhi who boldly, with open chest faced bullets?”

Mr X pooh-poohed the entire opposition and continued his work. Power corrupts, absolute power absolutely. By the enormous power he possessed he silenced all the voices who opposed him.

Everything was silent, rather appeared silent for some months.

He re-started visiting his concubine’s residence, of course, with all his security official car etc.

He took his seat in the luxurious sofa, which he gifted to his sweet heart wearing a ‘lungi’ (coloured dhoti) and with bear chest. “Sweet heart, please give me a cup of milk”. His voice was so sweet that it showed the other side of his personality which none of his colleagues nor party workers could ever hear. “Okay darling, why milk? I shall send badham keer” which meant sweetened milk with almond “I shall send through Sita, my servant maid. I have to go to bath room”. So saying, she gave him a deep kiss and left.

In five minutes, her maid brought the keer. On seeing that young and beautiful maid,the leader was surprised. “Oh, you are here! How are you? Have you spent all the money I gave?” he asked taking the cup in his hands.

“I am fine sir” so saying she fell to his feet and caught hold of his feet with both the hands.

“Okay, you leave my foot”, he shouted.

But she did leave nor let loose her grip.

In a split of a second she pressed a button affixed to the belt in her lap.

There was a big explosion. The leader and the servant maid were torn into pieces.

The whole room came down with a huge noise.

The lady who was in the bath room was also buried in the debris of the bath room.

Some security staff also were killed in the blast.

Thus the story of the great leader came to an end.

The incident was relayed by all satellite T.V stations. But the pity was that none believed it. “He will not die, He will come back as we saw in the past,” they hoped.

Satellites have to work hard by showing his body twice or thrice to make them believe. There were no self-immolation, no protests because everything were done already.

The intelligence chief was reporting to the cabinet. The earlier deputy chief Mr Ramsingh had become the chief and presided over that meeting.

“Sir the suicide bomber was the second wife of Kasi. Young and beautiful, she was married to him just two years back. We all know that Kasi was killed ten months back being mistaken as Mr X. The Government gave huge compensation. She was not given any share in it. Somebody had totally brainwashed her to avenge her husband’s death. She was very strongly motivated. The trainer knew very well that the chief would be casual in his concubine’s house. Hence he chose that place for assassination. Kasi’s second wife Sita joined there as a maid and was waiting for the opportunity. She became a human bomb to kill him instantly.

Only good thing is, this time there was no aravan to substitute Mr X nor fire-beetles to self-immolate,” he concluded.

After a pause, he continued, “But we do not know the main conspirator who motivated her to take revenge. No doubt, some terror group has supplied the arms, but there is a master mind behind the entire conspiracy. We are trying through various ways, but so far no clue,” he concluded with a deep sigh.

There was a mysterious smile in the countenance of the chief Mr Ramsingh which none noticed.

Three months later:

“Look, this is the photograph of the fellow who mercilessly killed your mother and the head. Should not you avenge it?”

The concubine’s son was getting brain washed by somebody who was showing him the photograph of present chief Ramsingh.

The game of brain washing goes on and on.

As a marketing consultant with more than 35 years of experience, I often work with extremely opinionated clients who apparently have missed their true calling in life, that of a marketing professional. While their credentials may be impressive (doctors, lawyers, executives), they usually have nothing to do with marketing. Yet, they approach the marketing task as one for which they hold all the answers. Even I, after 35 years, do not purport to be so fortunate. After all, marketing is much like investing. One can never know truly what will happen. There are many variables and markets can be fickle, if not downright unpredictable. Strategies which worked for one product or service may not work for others. In my experience, diversification is one of the safest strategies of all. Don’t put your all your eggs in one basket.

Perhaps that may seem cowardly, coming from a seasoned marketing expert. Where is my conviction? Where is my resolve? Well, when the economy submerged, I left them both on the back burner where they are simmering until the bulls return. Until then, I advise all clients, humble and obstinate alike, that prudence is a virtue, regardless of how “certain” the strategy.

So, is it also cowardly to allow a client to “bully” me into implementing his marketing strategy, often using his own unproven marketing concept, or worse yet, that of his offspring? To that I have a few possible answers:

• 1. He is the client and it is his money we are spending.

• 2. I have advised him of my opinion and he has chosen to dismiss it.

• 3. If the effort fails, he can’t blame me.

• 4. The customer is always right.

Let’s take these points a little further. What kind of marketing expert allows a client to waste his hard-earned money on something which may not work? Is such a business practice ethical, or even moral? First of all, neither of us knows for sure whether his strategy and/or concept are worthless as a marketing effort. In fact, I am aware of plenty of homemade marketing efforts which have been quite successful, regardless of how amateurish they may first seem to professionals like myself. Plus, marketing often relies on creativity, resorting to ideas which are fresh, new and unprecedented. And, in an industry which runs rampant with obnoxious, supercilious marketing “gurus,” I happen to consider myself unique in that I rarely insist that my way is the only way. In all modesty, I do not believe that and never insist on anything.

Rather, I believe that he as successful business client and I as successful marketing consultant are approaching his marketing goal as equally competent, intelligent human beings – actually, business owners – with common results as our objective. We both want to emerge from this experience with a positive outcome, a profit, hopefully, with winning teamwork to thank for the effort.

But, I am not naive. While that may be my take on the situation, with some clients the truth is quite different. Why such clients seek my services in the first place often eludes me. What I usually decide is that they need an accomplice to do the visual “dirty work” while they do the directing. In my experience, the “dirty work” usually consists of the graphic design or marketing “package” which to many a client is utterly worthless, possibly because they have no expertise in performing this function. Ironically, to me, this is the most important piece of the puzzle. Without a professional and appealing presentation, the entire effort should have just stayed on the shelf.

It is funny (peculiar) that clients like this usually don’t seem to have any ability to discern an excellent presentation from one that is flawed, so they rarely object to the part of the job I take most pride in. This is lucky for me, because even if their concept or strategy may be less than ideal in my opinion, packaged with my strong, winning presentation, it stands a pretty good chance of success.

However, as I’ve intimated previously, this type of client is often one who enjoys dominance over others with whom he is working, which keeps him blind to the benefits of collaboration. Since I am not possessive about the work that I do, it matters very little to me whether this client values my input. The bottom line is that I am running a business where clients of all kinds are given respect for their opinions, goals and ideas of implementation. I work very hard to guide them toward a successful experience regardless of the obstacles. While I prefer a client who respects my experience and advice, and luxuriate in those who give me free rein to handle the job without their input, I still am willing to work with any client despite the possibility of personal humiliation or insult. What matters is that the clients feel successful working with my company and compensate me accordingly. In business, that is the true gauge of value.

Reiterating the question of the day: Who is better qualified to decide marketing strategy, marketing expert or client? From an experience point of view, it would seem that the expert is more qualified. But, in light of the changes in the economy which has thrown precedents out the window, perhaps the client has just as much validity being the marketing strategist, if he can accept that the expert has talents and insights which bring more value to the table than the client does as a singular player. The best answer is both. The client knows intimately his own business and the behavior of his customer while the marketing expert knows marketing (which is his business) and the behavior of the markets. Together, client and marketing expert create quite the formidable team. It is how well they play together that will determine their success.

In a good marriage, we would do just about anything for our spouse. A marriage is a relationship where, ideally, you would go to war for your spouse if you had to. People who are happily married generally have the outlook that they and their spouse are a pack of two and that they will defend that pack should anyone threaten it.

However, it can be difficult to stay with this stance throughout the course of your marriage. And when you see it starting to fade, you can feel resentment and confusion. A wife might say: “I never let anyone bad-mouth my husband. If someone insults him or criticizes him in my presence, I always defend him. The other day, my mom commented that he had not been very helpful when it came to my son’s birthday party. I immediately informed her that my husband had worked nearly two days’ straight and that he offered to help, but I told him to get his rest. However, when the roles were reversed, he did not do the same for me. I heard his mother criticize me at that same birthday party. She made a snide comment that I bought the cake instead of made it. This infuriated me. And my husband looked at me as she said it and he knew I was angry. But do you think he defended me? Nope. He just changed the subject. My anger would probably be petty if this was the first time that this has happened, but it is not. He really never stands up for me. At least not anymore. He will not join in the criticism, but he never corrects or shuts down the person who is criticizing either. It makes me very angry and it hurts me. I feel that it is your duty to have your spouse’s back. Even when I don’t agree with my husband, I always have his back. Always. It makes me wonder if he loves me as much as I love him. It makes me wonder if he is weak and cowardly. I don’t respect this about him. And I want to change it. How can I?”

I am not sure that you can (or should want to) change your husband’s core personality. But I believe that there are things that you can do to encourage him to display more of the behaviors that you are looking for. But first, I’d like to discuss why you might be seeing differences in attitude about this between yourself and your husband.

Differences In Temperaments: Just because two people are married, this does not mean that they look at life and at circumstances in the same way. Some people are just not confrontational. I know because I am one of these people. Now, I would always defend someone who is helpless and I would not stand by if the person doing the criticizing was being malicious or cruel. However, in some instances, I feel that it is best to just let things go. For example, my mother is a pretty negative person – about everything and about every one. She will criticize the most wonderful things, just to stay in her negative comfort-zone. I love her, but it is just in her nature to point out the negative instead of the positive. At this point in her life and mine, I no longer point this out all of the time. I have learned to tune this out. And I made the decision to let most of it go. Who knows how long I still have with my mother on this Earth? I don’t want to spend all of that time arguing with her about petty things. If she lived with my husband and I, and her attitude was affecting my marriage, then of course I would have to say something. But since I only see her occasionally and her comments do absolutely nothing to affect my bottom line, it is easier (and in my opinion more productive for everyone) to just let it go.

I make this point because I want you to consider that your husband’s non-confrontational temperament does not mean that he doesn’t love you. It might mean that, like me, he has chosen to just ignore the slights. He might feel that his mother is old-fashioned and although her cake comment was ignorant and catty, he is choosing to let an old woman have her opinions and not cause a big issue about it on a day that should be happy for his child. I understand his thought process somewhat.

Knowing When It’s Appropriate And Necessary To Speak Up: At the same time, sometimes someone is truly disrespecting your spouse and getting into a habit of treating your spouse badly. I believe that in this case, it’s appropriate to speak up. And the person who should speak up should be the person closest to the offender.

For example, early in our marriage, one of my husband’s uncles stayed with us for a short time. This uncle was a bit of a chauvinist. I was sick with the flu. But that didn’t stop the uncle for expecting me to wait on him. My husband ignored the request and got up to fix the uncle something to eat. The uncle replied that this was my job. And my husband – not in a nasty way – replied that in our household we both had that job, that I was sick, and that while we were in our house, we were going to do things our way. The uncle shut right down and he has never treated me that way again.

The point is, there is a fine line between things you can let go and things that are mean-spirited and likely to continue if you say nothing. If you feel strongly that you in a situation that just can’t and should not be let go, you can try something like: “honey, I feel that this is very disrespectful to me and harmful. I think that one of us needs to address it. Since you are closest to this person, I suggest that you need to be the one to address it. But if you would prefer it be me, then I will.”

This is usually enough to inspire your spouse to address things that just can not be ignored. But keep in mind that you have to be careful in these situations. Sometimes, saying something can start a war amongst family and friends and make things worse. So it’s important to choose your battles. But if the issue means a lot to you, there is nothing wrong with communicating this to your spouse.

If your have been thinking about getting even with this guy who broke your heart it is a natural feeling and you can take your sweet revenge by playing these mind games to make him feel terrible that he gave you up.

You are single and you are happy

Deal with your pain on being dumped or the anger you may feel for your ex in private and try to get on with your life. Go out and have fun and let the guy who broke your heart see that you are happy and leading a great life and that you don’t need anyone, least of all him, to make you happy.

Give him the shock therapy

Just channel all your anger and frustrations in a positive way and join a gym or get into exercising, you will not only feel good but end up looking great too. Your improved physical appearance will make him wonder about what is happening in your life; it will be a shock for him and he will be forced to think that you have moved on.

Let him see you enjoying with your friends

Go out with your friends and be seen in the places where you know he will be present and let him see you having a time of your life, if you have to pretend a little – do it. Keep your weekends busy socializing and let him be curious about this change in you.

Get along with his friends

You must have mutual friends when you were together, hang out and enjoy being with them. They will surely talk about you in his presence and when he hears positive things about you he may regret his decision to leave you. What’s more, he may get the impression that you are doing well and not getting depressed thinking about him.

Make him jealous

Hang out with one of your close male friends and flirt with him to make your ex jealous. Even if he is dating someone, he will not like to know that you are seeing someone; as that’s the way most men think.

Ignore him

If your ex tries to make contact with you just ignore him. If he calls you, don’t answer his phone and keep your distance if he wants to meet you. Let him realize that he is getting what he deserves and that you have no interest to renew the friendship with him.

Be genuinely happy

Get friendly with members of opposite sex and go out with someone who is much better than your ex. Let him see you enjoying yourself with your new friend, this is definitely going to make him feel worse that he left you.

Bernard Shaw calls “Arms and the Man” an anti-romantic comedy. The main purpose of the dramatist is to satirize the romantic conception of life. Shaw has no faith in emotion and sentiment. Throughout the drama he denounces the idealism and insists on realism. He does it through humor of character and humor of situation at the same time.

The play “Arms and the Man” is not a farce, a true comedy. The purpose of a comedy is to ridicule and expose some humor or social weakness or flaw. It laughter at human weakness or flaw, but the purpose of the laughter is to drive the flaw. Though there are a lot of farcical, loud, laughter in the play, but it has a serious purpose and this way it makes a difference from a farce. Shaw, this way a comedian but with a serious purpose. He rouses mirth but he also rouses thought.

In “Arms and the Man” the dramatist’s intentions are comic and the use of anti-climax is the tool through which he achieves his comic intention. Sergius and Raina become comic figures as the insincerity of their romantic love and their romantic attitude is exposed. Raina and Sergius come down to the level of Louka and Bluntschli. The dramatist has succeeded in his comic intention. He shows that it is not heroic but something horrible and brutal because soldiers are not heroes but fools and cowards who fight only because they are compiled to fight. Sergius’s heroic victory appears in a comic light when it is discovered that he could win only because the Serbian gunmen had the wrong ammunition with them. Sergius makes love to Louka as soon as Raina’s back is turned, soon after “the higher love scene”. This way Shaw has shown the flaw of romantic ideals of love and war, his purpose in writing the play. He has given a number of fun and humor for his readers and audience, but same time he has also achieved his serious purpose.

Shaw wanted technical novelty for the modern drama which consists in making the spectators themselves the persons of the drama and the incidents of their lives its incidents, the disuse of the old stage tricks by which audiences had to be induced to take an interest in unreal people and improbable circumstances. He thinks that Shakespeare has put us on the stage but not our problems. Shaw believes that the most important peculiarity of modern art is the discussion of social problems. Shaw points that Shakespearean drama is an inferior specimen of art because it is romantic in its situation, conventional in its ideas, and pessimistic in its temper. Shakespeare generally borrows the plots of the dramas from others. These stories are mostly romantic and wonderful, and introduce all sorts of extravagant incidents and situations. Shaw objects not only to the romantic sentiments in Shakespeare’s drama but also to the romantic situations to be found there. But he confuses genuine romances and its sensational counterpart. As a matter of fact, Shakespeare chooses the extraordinary incidents in order that he may be able to portray the deepest passions. In the greater dramas of Shakespeare there is no extraordinary situation which is unrelated to human emotions. The situations may be extraordinary but they are made real by the genuineness of passions that have been struck.

In Shakespeare’s dramas there are no heroes according to the standards of Shaw. His lovers are not self-acting. He is forced to borrow motives from the more strenuous actions of his personages who come from common stock pit of melodramatic plot.

Shakespearean dramas are based on a view of life and art fundamentally different from Shaw’s. Shaw’s philosophy of life has no connection with the existence of art in human nature. He thinks that the really bad man is as rare as a really good man and to him life is, in spite of poverty, disease and misfortune, a huge game or show while Shakespeare considers evil as an essential element in common human nature.

Shaw insist that “A dramatist’s business is to make reader forget the stage and the actor forget the audience, not remind them of both at every time”…..His plays have generally very slender plots, the artistic interest being denied more from the exhibition of character through startling situation than from the weaving of a complex story.

Shakespeare’s genius is so different in almost every way from Shaw’s that despite Shaw’s conventional pretense of despising Shakespeare’s intelligence any comparison between them is idle foolishness. Most of Shakespeare’s great characters are creatures of passion- love, hate, jealousy, greed of power and the reality of the characters, combined with the marvelous power and beauty of the language in which they reveal themselves, carries reader and spectator away by conquering his imagination. Shakespeare is supreme in the realm of poetic drama; Shaw’s greatest gifts are not in the sphere of poetry but in the field of wit, of ideas, of flashing intelligence. He neither can nor wants to imitate Shakespeare as a creator of character, because he is too deeply concerned with his own problem.

As a leader, there are certain qualities and characteristics of lions that you might find useful to consider – for yourself and your “pride.” Let us just take a few minutes to explore these and as with all metaphors, we aren’t going to beat this one to death.

1. Protective

You don’t have to watch very many Discovery Channel shows about lions to see how very protective they are – of territory, themselves, their young, and so forth. As far as being more lion-like, what do you need to be protective of? Protective of yourself? Your money? Your children? Your partner? Your spouse? Your business? Your colleagues? Your position? Your beliefs? So, exactly what do you need to be protective of?

2. Brave

Being lion-like means you are brave and courageous. Naturally, you choose when and where to be brave vs. timid, courageous vs. cowardly. We all make choices every day. Look for opportunities today and every day where you can be brave. It does make a difference, both for you and for others.

3. Willing to fight

Hmm…we know that lions will fight when need be. They don’t pick fights but because they are willing to protect their food, their mates, their territory and so forth, they will fight if necessary. What is the one thing you are willing to fight for?

Many readers are parents and my guess is that many parents would be willing to fight for their children. Or maybe you are a professor who is willing to fight when you see other faculty members being bullied. Maybe you are a teacher who is fighting for particular students who need your “protection.”

What is it for you? Really. What are you willing to fight for? The one thing?

4. Hunters

LOTS of people are concerned right now about financial issues. Someone wrote to me recently that she had overheard middle school girls in the bathroom at a movie talking about how they needed to come up some ways to earn money because after the legislature was over, their parents weren’t going to be able to give them money for the movies any longer. You might be one of the people who is “hunting” for money. You might be hunting for it for your own personal situation or you are hunting money for projects at work or for community needs and the like.

But what else do us lion-like folks hunt for? You might describe it thus:

• Bravery to find what really makes me happy
• Bravery to ignore what others feel is successful and find my own success
• Bravery to dare to make dramatic changes in the path of my career that will also change my personal life…and vice versa

What are you hunting? And just like a lion on the Savannah, you may or may not find it, but you hunt regardless.

5. Group members (part of a pride)

6. Loners in the big scheme of things

The last two – being part of a group (i.e., a pride) and also being somewhat loners in the big scheme of things – let’s think about these together.

As a person who is seeking ways of staying positive, no matter how crazy things are around us, we need both to see ourselves as being part of a pride – a team – a family – a group – an association – a community – or whatever you might call it. We have to deliberately assemble our group – small or large – that will assist us in our – if I can use this word – survival. Lions aren’t part of prides for no reason. There’s a reason. You need a “pride” of your own if you are to “survive” in your positive place.

And, here’s the other part (at least as my little brain considers this), we are also loners in the bigger scheme of things. What I mean by that is, just as lions are not hanging out with all the other animals but rather hang out – sometimes completely alone – but certainly mostly just with a few other lions, we also may need to separate ourselves sometimes.

The San Bernardino killings occurred on December 9th, just 9 weeks after the Oregon student shootings. Will I be surprised if another mass shooting erupts between my writing this article and its publication? Not at all. For mass shootings have now become part of the American landscape.

We feel not only horrified but helpless too. What can we do to prevent these kinds of tragedies? We keep calling for better mental health services and, at least, a modicum of gun control. Such actions would help. But they are political issues that won’t change overnight. They require altering attitudes, spending mucho money and creating nationwide systems to implement the changes.

So, is there anything that can be done right now to help prevent, or, at least, lower the frequency of, mass shootings?

Yes, there is. And the answer is solidly backed by psychological research. We need to demand that the media report these types of shootings in a non-sensational way. When they don’t, they make the shooter a media star. This is what many of these disturbed minds want.

Perhaps the most poignant example of this is the shooting at Roseburg, Oregon. When Sheriff John Hanlin announced the details of the shooting, he said “I will not name the shooter… I will not give him the credit he probably sought prior to this horrific and cowardly act.”

It wasn’t long, however, before a CNN anchor took a different approach, bragging, “We do know his name and we are reporting it. His name is (xxxx)… He listed himself as (xxxx blog name). In his blog, he wrote, ‘When they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are… Seems the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.'”

The Oregon shooter was right about being in the limelight. The names of the killers of JFK, RFK, and Lennon now live in infamy. By committing a heinous act, they raised their status from “nobody” to “somebody.” Recent killings have gravitated from assassinating high-level people to committing mass murder. Fashion is fickle… even when it’s deciding your style of murder.

These new killings are generally perpetrated by a person who is alienated, angry, and feels like a “nobody.” What does he do with those powerful feelings? He sits on them – for a period of time. Then, he takes action. The form of the action is shaped more by what’s outside of him then what’s inside. That is, he decides what action to take by copy-catting others. As he watches the media sensationalize shootings, he discovers his path to fame. Simply pull the trigger and be “somebody.”

So what should the media do? Stop reporting these shootings? Of course not. The media needs to do its job. It needs to cover the news but it doesn’t need to sensationalize the event. News media can practice, as we all must, restraint.

But these are sensational stories. What’s the press doing wrong?

They are hyping the story, not reporting it. What’s the difference? Let me paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who when describing his threshold test for pornography said, “I know it when I see it.”

Hyped reporting is when the story is repeated ad nauseum, spiced up with interviews from grieving relatives, shocked bystanders, even children on site.

Hyped reporting is when dramatic footage is shown over and over again, along with grisly photos and any other tidbits of information that stir our emotions.

Hyped reporting is when the goal is to hook the audience by revving up their emotions so that the buzz does not quickly die down.

But aren’t we, the listener, to blame too? After all, we are the end consumer, gobbling up these news stories, pictures and videos like juicy junk food? Of course, we have a role in this. Though we are not creating the hype, we are consuming it. But if we are smart, we will demand that reporting on this epidemic of mass murders be done in a completely different way.

What if the media set a policy of strict blackouts on publicity for these killers? No names, no photos, no identifying information, no interviews with family members, neighbors, teachers etc. Do you think this would diminish the frequency of such attacks? I do. And my opinion is backed by psychological science, which has documented that media coverage is contagious. This is true for mass shootings and for suicides.

If you agree with me, get active. An immediate step you could take is to contact media sources you watch, listen to or read. Ask them to go along with this blackout. Tell them not to wait till the next mass murder. Do it now. Then ask your social media friends to do the same.

Then, an additional step you can take is to contact your legislators. Ask them to create laws which make such blackouts mandatory. Is this squashing freedom of the press? No, it is squashing freedom of the mass murderers. Anybody against that?

© 2016