Environmental Benefits of Planting Trees

Planting trees in your neighbourhood really is one of the best things we can do for the local environment and for the planet. Besides producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide and contaminants from the air, trees have many other social and environmental benefits.

Trees are like the lungs of the planet. They purify the air and provide habitat for birds and other wildlife. Trees also help to reduce ozone levels in urban areas. Trees reduce urban runoff and erosion by storing water and breaking the force of rain as it falls. Trees also absorb sound and this further reduces noise pollution.

In summer, planting trees can also help cool our home. In winter trees can act as wind breaks for our home. Besides, trees shade buildings, streets and homes. If enough trees are planted in cities, the over-all micro climate improves and total energy use for heating and cooling is reduced. Planting trees can help to reduce the overall high temperature of your city.

Just a moment around trees makes one feel good. Trees add to the beauty of Nature. They are friends of humanity. We as humans can play an active role in planting more and more trees to help offset deforestation and have a healthy environment.

Curbing Crime Rate among Youth

Crimes and criminals have been a part of the human society since times unknown but over the last few years crime rates have risen sharply in metropolitan cities all over India. The more alarming issue is that while earlier greed, lust and power motivated crimes, but today most of the cases are cynical in character. The latest phenomenon in the crime scenario is the involvement of today’s youth even in the most heinous and inhuman acts. National Crime Records Bureau has stated that the people in age-group 16-19 are responsible for a shocking 47% of the total crimes being committed in the country on an average. Crimes related with cyber world, kidnappings, ransoms, murders, rapes behind tinted glasses in moving vehicles, even ragging and road rage fatalities are largely committed by the juveniles who are yet to begin their journey as adults. In my beliefs, the adults are largely responsible for the direction in which today’s youth is headed. There is an urgent need to implement stringent laws and provide value education through schools and other media to ensure curb on crimes among youth.

Use and Abuse of Examination

Examination paves our way and provides a real test of knowledge and education. Someone has rightly said that the gold begins to melt when it is put to the test of fire. The moment we enter examination hall, we begin to stagger and our mind becomes full of anxiety and confusion. The students can be seen under a peculiar grip of fear with their mind and soul under stress and tension.

We should always remember that our worthy teachers and students work very hard around the year. If no examinations are to be held periodically, none would be able to know the result of their fruitful labour. Furthermore the examinations present a goal before us and we become aware about the amount of work to be completed with stipulated time. Examinations are the real tools that inspire us and inculcate in as well planned habit of studying. They lay down before the parents and society an assessment of the students. In this way examinations are very important. People think that examinations are not only terrible things but evil things also.

They destroy our self confidence and give us inferiority complex. They do not test our merit or knowledge but our capacity of retaining facts in our mind. It has also observed that the brilliant students find themselves down while dullards get top marks. This makes the students crippled and tension ridden.

We cannot do away with the examination. It needs reforms and improvement. If the paper setters, examinees are careful enough, a great reform can occur in the system.

The Increasing Violence among the Youth

The recent years have seen an unprecedented increase in the violence among the youth, often lethal violence all around the nation. Anecdotal evidence of increase in violence by young people against women, children and old people, of abduction, molestation, of road rage and other violent actions to get whatever they want is alarming. This epidemic has caused serious concern to parents, families and the public in general. This has shaken the very roots of the idea of building a peaceful, secure society where the youth become torch-bearers for the progress of the nation. Obviously, the personal losses, the trauma, the emotional pain due to the violent acts are immense. There is a growing fear that our institutions are unable to maintain social order. Brutal violence and the fear of violence have changed the way people live and think and have raised many questions for someone to answer.

One of the strongest influences on the young minds today is undoubtedly media which mainly constitutes television and cinema. The vulnerable youth today are constantly exposed to the media which has a lot to show by means of vulgarity and violence. Scenes of gory violence in films and some of the TV programmes provoke the youth to develop negative and dark thoughts which may, one day, turn into real life deadly scenes. Since media plays a serious role in influencing the youth, it can, in fact, be utilised in increasing awareness among the young. The media has a tremendous potential to communicate, educate and enlighten the ignorant masses to guard against this terrible spread of violence among the youth. The media can be used as a positive channel to direct the energy of the youth in the constructive mould.

Bullying-A Menace

Bullying in school is a worldwide problem that can have negative consequences for the general school climate and for the right of students to learn in a safe environment without fear. I comprises of direct behaviour i.e. teasing, taunting, threatening, hitting and stealing that are initiated by one or more students against a victim. While boys typically engage in direct bullying methods, girls who bully are more apt to utilise more indirect strategies. The key component of bullying is that the physical or psychological intimidation occurs repeatedly to harass and abuse. Students who engage in bullying seem to have a need to feel powerful. Students who regularly display bullying are generally defiant, antisocial and apt to violate school rules.

Bullying is a serious problem that can dramatically affect the ability of students to progress academically and socially. We can take strict measures to overcome this problem. A parental awareness campaign can be conducted during Parent-Teacher Meetings. An initial questionnaire can be distributed to students and the feedback of the survey can help alleviate the problem. Teachers too can work with children at class level. Learning in a safe and fear-free environment should be further ensured.

Growing Old

The old age, an integral part of human life, is the evening of man’s existence. It is unavoidable, unwelcome and often the problem-ridden phase of life. It is really interesting to note that everybody wants to live a long but not an old life! As we think of old age, visions of loneliness and neglect emerge in mind. The picture gets all the more tragic with the failing health and illness.

Every phase of life has its problems but with energy, strength and courage, in youth one can overcome these difficulties. But in old age, man becomes dependent on others largely due to his physical infirmity. Even his own children, to whom he dedicates his life, do not find time for him. The problem gets accentuated especially as the world ceases to have any resemblance to what the elderly were once accustomed to and changes at a bewildering pace with every passing moment.

 At this age, they also begin to realize that time is now not their friend. It passes very quickly. After the loss of someone close to them, they come face to face with their own mortality. For spiritual persons, Godly matters gain more importance.

Growing old is a point in time, a chapter at the end of a journey that began long ago. Those grown old should take satisfaction in the accomplishments obtained. We, as their younger counterparts should take care of them when they most need us.

The memories of the departed souls haunt us throughout our lives

The loss of a loved one brings with it a lot of pain and anguish. We tend to relive the memories and the good times spent together and this eventually brings sadness with it. If this is not dealt with care, it might turn into episodes of depression and denial. We must learn how to deal with the grief over the loss of a loved one effectively. What is important is to understand that not everyone responds to such loss in a similar way. Different people grieve differently. Although it is not an easy exercise, one must understand that it is essential to accept the loss and move on. Keep those memories that make you happy and forget those which haunt you; for memories are a medium to remember and savour the past and not become a nightmare.  

God’s presence can be experienced in all His creations

The Divine spirit permeates the entire Nature. It can be experienced in all forms of life. It exists in man, birds, animals and trees. The same spirit binds us together. Hence there is an understanding of one another which is possible between the different forms of life. Man, thus is able to communicate with all forms of living beings on earth. He can talk to the birds, animals and trees. He shares the same energy that they possess. It is possible only for those people who intensely listen to them. Man can find a meaning in the singing of a bird, rustling of leaves or roaring of a lion or river. When this is possible he experiences God that exists in all His creations.

Grandparents need our love and support in their old age

All of us need love and care, especially those who are vulnerable. Grandparents, in their old age feel neglected and lonely when nobody turns up to care for them. At the pace with which the present generation is moving, we are more comfortable in admitting our old grandparents to various old age homes. As a result, the number of old age homes have increased manifold in the past decade. The grandparents selflessly gave away their prime years of life in taking care of us and providing us with everything that was in their reach. In return, the least all of us can do is to spend a little time with them, be patient with them and love them with all our hearts. Only if we set an example in front of our kids, will they ever take care of us when we grow old.

The need to care for Birds and Animals

Birds and animals have also been created by the same God who created Man. They have equal right to live and survive on this mother Earth. Most of these animals and birds with rampant poaching have been endangered and may become extinct. As such there is an urgent need to take care of these species. The world would no longer seem the same if these birds and animals cease to exist. Many animals and birds which once existed in large numbers have either become extinct or can now be found in very few locations. It would be a terrible sight if humans were to exist on their own, in a huge plastic world. If we don’t take initiatives to save the fauna, our future generations will never know what it feels to look up in the sky and see the birds take off into the air; they will never understand the joy of petting a stray animal.

Importance of Individuality in Life

Individuality is essential in life for a number of reasons. Balance is necessary or there would be so much of chaos in this world. It is amazing to see how each of us is made differently from each other. Even siblings or the most identical twins in the world have significant qualities or an element that distinguish them from each other and that’s how individuality works. Individuality helps us to learn from each other. It is true that we learn from our own mistakes but most often, these mistakes involve other people. We all serve as examples for each other. None of us learn much staring at the mirror. Individuality helps us to learn so much about other people even though we might belong to the same country or city or even the same family. Everyone is so different from each other. Also, we might think we know someone for years but we never truly know anyone fully. There is always something new to learn about people and that’s because the human personality is so dynamic. We are always changing and evolving into something much more. We do not have permanent likes and dislikes; we have constantly changing personalities. This in short is what makes the world interesting. Individuality is thus essential in life.