The Asylum

 

 
A story by Kahlil Gibran
 

I was strolling in the gardens of an insane asylum when I met a young man who was reading a philosophy book.

His behavior and his evident good health made him stand out from the other inmates.

I sat down beside him and asked:

‘What are you doing here?’

He looked at me, surprised. But seeing that I was not one of the doctors, he replied:

‘It’s very simple. My father, a brilliant lawyer, wanted me to be like him.
“My uncle, who owns a large emporium, hoped I would follow his example.
“My mother wanted me to be the image of her beloved father.
“My sister always set her husband before me as an example of the successful man.
“My brother tried to train me up to be a fine athlete like himself.

“And the same thing happened at school, with the piano teacher and the English teacher – they were all convinced and determined that they were the best possible example to follow.
“None of them looked at me as one should look at a man, but as if they were looking in a mirror.

“So I decided to enter this asylum. At least here I can be myself.’

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and just for the sake of blog space..........

Lion & Nurse

An African lion has been filmed 'embracing' the woman who nursed him back to health in an animal shelter in Colombia. Ana Julia Torres runs the Villa Lorena shelter for abandoned and maltreated animals.

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People in Cali, Colombia, are shocked to see the bond between a large African lion and a woman who saved it from abuse, involving long, affectionate kisses and hugs between the pair.Ana Julia Torres, who runs the Villa Lorena animal shelter in Cali, fed and nursed Jupiter the African lion back to health years ago after it was found abused and emaciated in a traveling circus."It is amazing to see an animal like that be so sweet and affectionate," said Torres. "This hug is the most sincere one that I have received in my life."Torres, 47, said her work rehabilitating animals began more than a decade ago when a friend gave her an owl that had been kept as a pet.Later, when she asked her students to bring their pets to school, she realized many families illegally kept wild fauna from Colombia's biologically diverse jungles in their homes.The number of animals under her care grew, and now Jupiter is among 800 recovering creatures at Villa Lorena, where Torres looks after, among others, burned peacocks, limbless flamengos, blind monkeys and mutilated elephants.

Most of the animals are caged, though some, like iguanas, roam freely around the grounds of the shelter, which are enclosed by a 13-foot wall.Torres said she relies on donations and her modest teacher's salary to run the shelter."We dedicate our lives to the care of these animals without one single peso from the state," Torres said.Torres said many of the animals were rejected as infants by their parents in the wild or found abandoned on the streets of Cali.Torres said because she opposes exhibiting animals in circuses, she decided to keep her shelter closed from the public.
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SUPERMOON ???? AGAIN DEC 26 ???

In astrology, a supermoon is a full or new moon that coincides with a close approach by the Moon to the Earth. The Moon's distance varies each month between approximately 354,000 km (220,000 mi) and 410,000 km (254,000 mi).Speculations of a link between the occurrence of supermoons and natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunami are extremely tenuous. Arguments have been made that natural disasters coinciding with years in which supermoons occurred were influenced by the Moon's increased gravitational strength, though because of the monthly alternation between lunar apogee and perigee such an argument cannot be supported unless the disaster in question falls on the actual date of the supermoon,It has been argued that the Indian Ocean tsunami and earthquake on December 26, 2004, was influenced by a supermoon which occurred 2 weeks later on January 10, 2005.However two weeks before a supermoon the Moon is at the opposite point in its orbit: its apogee (greatest distance). Thus a supermoon effect is impossible.Most recently, astrologers argued that the Sendai earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, was influenced by the March 19 supermoon, the closest supermoon since 1992. The problem with this claim is that on March 11 the Moon was actually closer to apogee than perigee, at approximately 400,000 km (240,000 mi) from the Earth, which is further than the average distance between the Moon and the Earth throughout the Moon's orbital cycle.While some studies have reported a weak correlation between shallow, very low intensity earthquakes and lunar activity, there is no empirical evidence of any correlation with major earthquakes.

LIST OF SUPER MOON DAYS