Category: General

Posts about life & other things in general

Some consideration

This week I decided to give a personnel agent the boot because of the second no-show of one of their candidates for an interview without any notification whatsoever.

I probably would have let it slide if the agent actually apologised after I notified her of the first no-show.

This gets me down to the topic, if any of these candidates or even the agent had shown some consideration, and did the right thing, one of the five candidates that had an interview scheduled might have been the right one.  But since none of them showed any consideration, I decided to do the same, and cancel all the remaining interviews, and move my business to another agent.

Unfotunately this trend of showing no consideration for our fellow South Africans is becoming more and more evident nowadays.  On our roads, in our shops, everywhere.

Until we don't start showing some, our country is never going to be the awesome place it could be…

The message that I'm trying to convey here, is that next time you do something that could influence the lives of others, have some consideration for the repercussions of your actions.

The world is my dustbin

What is it with South African drivers and their need to hear glass break on tar wherever they go?  In the last 3 years the amount of borken glass on our roads has gotten much worse, and the other worrying fact is that it is mostly alcohol bottles being broken on the roads.  A lot of green glass, and often you can still see the labels stuck to parts as well.

I'm getting quite sick of this, because of the amount of time I spent on the road on a bicycle, I have to keep on dodging glass, sometimes in the face of oncoming traffic.  Unfortunately bicycle tyres have a similar price to car tyres, and I cannot afford to keep on replacing them on a too regular basis so I have to dodge the glass.

It also seems that most South Africans think that our beautiful country is one big dustbin, no need to walk to the nearest bin to dump rubbish, just drop it where you want.

All of us are directly or indirectly paying for waste management services, why not use it?

You do not see this problem in other countries, because there you would get a severe fine, or even jail time for dumping your rubbish on the street.  These countries have a proper strategy in place.  It's called visible policing, and their cops aren't too lazy to enforce even the simplest of rules, by the book!  Why can't our cops do the same?

Spam

The blog spammers have found my site, so I've had to disable anonymous posts.  When I get around to it, I'll install CAPTCHA support and enable it again, but for now, just register if you would like to comment.

Finally

Exactly 5 months and 1 day after placing my order for ADSL, Telkom finally got around to converting my line.  Not installing a new one, just converting an existing one.  This is after about 30 phone calls to the ADSL department, and 2 emails to the complaints department.

Telkom

<RANT>

After checking out all the options, I decide on getting an ADSL line for internet access, as this will cost me less than my current dialup costs from home.  This decision was made after confirming with the idiot at the telkom helpdesk that my ISP charges stay the same.

Now after getting the line installed after almost 4 months of waiting for them to upgrade the exchange, they want to nail me with a R199 a month ISP charge.  Bend over and take it without vaseline! 

F#$K!!!!

</RANT>

So, I will be changing ISPs then, can anyone recommend a CHEAP good one?

What would you do?

Two Choices

What would you do? You make the choice! Don't look for a punch line; There isn't one! Read it anyway. My question to all of you is: Would you have made the same choice?

 

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:
"When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

 

The audience was stilled by the query.

 

The father continued. "I believe, that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes, in the way other people treat that child." Then he told the following story:

 

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play, not expecting much. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

 

Shay struggled over to the team's bench put on a team shirt with a broad smile and his Father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

 

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

 

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing the other team putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

 

The game would now be over, but the pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

 

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the head of the first baseman, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far but made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

 

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"

 

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to second base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and he too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

 

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"

 

Shay reached third base, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams and those watching were on their feet were screaming, "Shay, run home! Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the "grand slam" and won the game for his team.

 

That day, said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world.

 

Shay didn't make it to another summer and died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his Father so happy and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

 

AND, NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people think twice about sharing.  Public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

 

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people on your address list that aren't the "appropriate" ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the "natural order of things." So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up that opportunity to brighten the day of those with us the least able, and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

 

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

 

May your day, be a Shay Day, sunny today tomorrow & always!