The main
center of Vilnius under three types weather moods (gray, black and white):
To see more pictures from Vilnius go to Flickr
The main
center of Vilnius under three types weather moods (gray, black and white):
To see more pictures from Vilnius go to Flickr
Posted at 09:21 PM in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
FREEDOM SERIES. PART 1: ABORTIONS
Killing a baby or a woman’s right to
decide ? Isn’t this a provokative question ? Type “abortions debate” in Google
and you will get 2,030,000 search results. Just read one page, which is from
the Wikipedia. It tells you about two major groups in the abortion debate. The Pro-choice movement, which generally
supports access to abortion and regards it as morally permissible, and the Pro-life movement, which generally
opposes access to abortion and regards it as morally wrong.
To stay prudent, I am listing three links
to the Wikipedia pages below this essay. All major arguments of both groups are discussed there. However, I going to stress the arguments of
pro-choice group. By asking two simple questions, I identified myself as its
supporter.
When does life begin ? It
depends what is meant by “life”. In my opinion, life begins at the moment of birth.
Who should decide ? The woman. Not her parents, boyfriend, husband, not the government,
not the church.
There is also one more very
important question, which is often overlooked because of the tension in the debate.
And that is, is there anything that can be
agreed on to make these hard
choices better ? I will cover this question as well.
The philosophical and ethical
arguments about abortion are extremely complex. Let me go straight to the main arguments
of the pro-life group and show the contra logic of the pro-choice group, which
I belong to.
The major pro-life argument states that abortion is
like killing a human being.”No one is allowed to kill a human being under any
law, so why is it permissible in this case?” they ask. The best answer I know
was given by Mary Anne
Warren, in her famous article arguing for the permissibility of abortion. Pro-life opposition to abortion is based on
the following logic:
Warren, however, thinks that 'human being' is used in
different senses in (1) and (2). In (1), 'human being' is used in a moral sense
to mean a 'person', a 'full-fledged member of the moral community'. In (2),
'human being' means 'biological human'. To help make a
distinction between 'person' and 'biological human', She thinks there is a series of properties that characterize a person:
The embryo has at most one consciousness (and
this only after it becomes susceptible to pain—the
timing of which is disputed), and hence is not a person.
Even more than that Judith Jarvis
Thomson in her well-known article A Defense of
Abortion argues
that abortion is in some circumstances permissible even if the embryo
has a right to live. Her
central argument involves a thought experiment.
Imagine, Thomson says, that you wake up in bed next to a famous violinist. He
is unconscious with a fatal kidney ailment; and because only you happen to have
the right blood type to help, the Society of Music Lovers has kidnapped you and
plugged your circulatory system into his so that your kidneys can filter
poisons from his blood as well as your own. If he is disconnected from you now,
he will die; but in nine months he will recover and can be safely disconnected.
Thomson
takes it that you may permissibly unplug yourself from the violinist even
though this will kill him. The right to life, Thomson says, does not entail the
right to use another person's body, and so in disconnecting the violinist you
do not violate his right to life but merely deprive him of something—the use of
your body—to which he has no right. Similarly, even if the embryo has a right
to life, it does not have a right to use the pregnant woman's body; and so
aborting the embryo is permissible in at least some circumstances.
Next is a thought that abortion deprives
the victim embryo of a
valuable future. However, this argument
seems really odd to me. With that kind of logic, every spermatozoon has a
future and using contraception can be considered murder. But we don’t really think that condoms are
weapons of mass murder, do we ?
Besides the ethical debate, there
are strong social reasons to allow the free choice of abortions, which do not
really have an answer from the opponent’s side.
Steven D.
Levitt and John Donohue in their famous book “Freakonomics” linked
legalization of abortion to the subsequent drop in crime. Abortion was
legalized in the US United States
Lots of research and pro-life
activists argue that there is no relationship between the two events and cast doubt
on every single figure from Levitt’s research. It is obvious that numbers and
correlations can be viewed from a different prospective. But Levitt’s logi is
hardly disputable: unwanted children have an increased risk of
growing up to be criminals, and legalized abortion reduces the number of
unwanted children. Consequently, legalized abortion will lower crime in the future.
The second social argument is very
down-to-earth and quite simple. However, I believe it is the most powerful one.
If you make something illegal, it will never disappear. It will still exist
illegally.
It is easy to model the situation when
abortion is fordidden in one area of our global world. For instance, imagine abortion would be prohibited in Ukraine Europe
I can’t understand what an
anti-abortion activist would do in order to address a such risk. As a matter of
fact, pro-life activists know it can not be fully answered.
Just to mention the medical
arguments, I would like to quote an extract from a Time magazine article, “The Grassroots Abortion War” by Nancy Gibbs ( Thursday Feb 15 2007
Despite restricted access, abortion remains one
of the most common surgical procedures in the U.S. for women and, according to
the Guttmacher Institute, fewer than 0.3% of patients experience a complication
serious enough to require hospitalization. First-trimester abortions in
particular are considered extremely safe. After years of debate about breast
cancer and abortion, the U.S. National Cancer Institute in February 2003
gathered the world's leading experts to review the data and assess the risk.
They stated that their conclusion that "induced abortion is not associated
with an increase in breast cancer risk"was "well established,"
the institute's highest rating for research findings.
The same Time magazine quotes a nurse
who does abortions an every working day “Abortion is a reality.
For me, I feel it can be a lifesaving choice for a woman. But decreasing
abortion is a goal we all strive for."
The future solution to the abortion
debate is right there, described in the same Time article. It called Pregnancy
Support Services Center
In my view the best available option
for the abortion problem is a network of such help centers. Their mission would
be to help a woman face an unplanned pregnancy. The center must offer true and
fair information about reproductive options. Given a choice, a women has an
option to talk with representatives of both groups. And to be honest, I know
that pro-life activists will do a great job to try to save a life, like they
are doing it now in Asheville Pregnancy Support Services in Asheville North Carolina U.S.
The CEO of the center tells “When
we do the ultrasound, we ask the girl how she's feeling," I ask what she
would like to put on the picture for her baby book. One girl put ANGEL. Some
put the name they've picked out for the baby." She points to the
translucent image on the screen. "One put little
miracle!!!!"
I am absolutely
sure that if a pregnant woman does see an angel in the picture no anti-abortion
laws would be required. But if she does not see a miracle, it is her right to face
reality”.
Links to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_debate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_aspects_of_abortion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_aspects_of_the_abortion_debate
Posted at 01:44 PM in Essays | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
One evening I was sitting in a pub discussing world politics with a friend. He asked me, “ If you were an American, what would you be: Republican or Democrat ?”. As usual, I thought about economics first. My confident answer was “Republican. One needs to work to obtain money, low taxes, and little intervention of government into business”.
But the same evening while walking down my beloved Shevchenko boulevard, I admitted that my answer was not quite complete. It occurs to me that despite a real conservatism in political and business issues, my social views are extremely liberal. In terms of them, I should answer “Democrat”.
Social topics are not so hot in Ukraine since economic issues prevail. But as quality of life increases the discussion will shift towards important issues like abortion, drugs, prostitution, gay&lesbian lifestyle, etc.
My general opinion is very simple. Let people make their choice. Hence I want to call my upcoming essays “The Freedom series”.
Acknowledgements
I gratefully acknowledge and express appreciation to
- My one outstanding and really conservative friend, as our argument about abortions gave me the idea for this series and the inspiration to work on the first essay.
- my teacher of English who was patient enough to correct numerous mistakes in writing and interested enough to express his own attitude on the issues.
- The Ukrainian government for the enormous number of official holidays in May. That fact allowed me not only to study 4 days for my finance exams, but also dedicate the end of 4th day to writing.
Posted at 01:37 PM in Essays | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
To live, to love, to learn and leave a legacy
1 How many people on their deathbed wish they’d spent more time at work ?
“The enemy of the best is good”
We are constantly making choices about the way we spend our time, and we are also leaving the consequences of this choices.
2 The urgency addiction
Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant.
It’s become a status of our society – if we are busy, we are important ; if we are not busy we are almost embarrassed to admit it.
3 To live, to love, to learn and leave a legacy
Doing things faster is no substitute for doing the right things
What is “north” ? Is it a matter of opinion ? It is something we should vote on ? Is it subject to democratic process ? No, because “north” is a true reality independent of us.
4 Quadrant 2 organizing: The process of putting first things first
Where there are no gardener, there is no garden
We live our life in terms of goals – not in sense of role playing, but in the sense of authentic parts we’ve chosen to fill.
Posted at 07:24 PM in Books read | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
As book said "If you haven't done so, write your goals on your worksheet now" and at the same time I got goals assignment at my English class, here it is:
Fyodor Dostoeyevsky wrote "For the secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for". And as anyone other I do have own many dreams, wishes, plans, desires, intentions.
As I am reading the book called "First things first" by Stephen Covey I have used his methodology to outline my true life goals. He says" We live our lives in terms of roles – not in the sense of role playing, but in sense of authentic parts we have chosen to fill" We may have important roles at work, in the family, in the community, or in other areas of life. Much of the pain in life comes from the sense that we are succeeding in one role at the expense of other. That is a trap to avoid.
Roles | Goals |
Man | To love and to be loved To create a family To travel with loved woman all over the world |
Work manager | To put my best effort into my team's success To create and implement new business ideas To improve constantly professional knowledge and skills |
Free time manager | To find enough time for my hobbies To live healthy lifestyle |
Son and brother | To help and support my parents and sister |
Friend | To spend some time together with friends and often organize jointed social activities |
Money manager | Make money work for me, instead of working for money |
A citizen | To actively support politicians whom I trust |
A socially responsible person | To support charity initiatives To promote healthy lifestyle To fight against global warming |
Posted at 06:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
At our last meeting I heard this quotation and I thought “That sounds right. It must be one of universal rules”. I imagined smokers who wants to quite. The only thing they need to quit smoking is strong desire to do it. Nothing else. I believe social environment and physical addiction are secondary.
Next I thought about an another case. What if I have a desire to become rich by winning a lottery ? My will could as strong as need for water in the desert Sahara. But, will I win even if I play all my life ? Not necessarily. As simple as that pure luck is the component of success in some of our beginnings.
And, finally, third case. What if I decide to become to make a career of a singer. I might have desire to sing. By some lucky chance I will find a producer and come to the stage. But for the true success in my singer career I will certainly need a talent. A skill is what is equally important to desire and luck in any success path.
Therefore I realized that statement “failure is a proof that desire was not strong” is quite limited in its application. Sometimes your best is just not good enough. In the majority of the real life situations not only desire, but also luck and skill are major ingredients of success.
Posted at 11:46 AM in Quotations | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
http://www.humanmetrics.co
Your Type is
INTJ
| Introverted | Intuitive | Thinking | Judging |
| Strength of the preferences % | |||
| 44 | 38 | 1 | 44 |
INTJ type description by D.Keirsey
INTJ Career Choices
by Jung Career Indicator™

INTJ type description by J. Butt and M.M. Heiss
You are:

Posted at 07:55 PM in Everything | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
So that a finish of big epoche in Toastmasters, 10th project is a last one in Competent Communicator manual. I liked the comparison of my evaluator, he said" first speech is like first sex and 10th speech is like a mature sex". I remember the passion and my trembling arms when first came to the stage in September 2006. It took me 18 months to finish this path...
And this last speech I really enjoyed my audience and myself with the deepest tiny pieces of my soul. This speech was very special and personal, I did gave it my own feeling straight from my heart...
So here is video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2XYr2iyT1s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fJYdnhTxQE
Here is the original text of the speech
Download project_10_by_doctor_mark_gray.docx
Here is wonderful anger management technique - every time you are angry with your partner try writing her a Love Letter
Posted at 10:05 PM in Toastmasters | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
A few years ago I watched a movie, which name I don't even remember. It's not important anyway. What is important is the song. I loved it so much. I remember myself looking for it in the Internet a few years ago. And failure to find it…
It became one of my dreams to listen it again and hear "It's a beautiful day". A lot of times I recollected those words through those years, especially on the sunny days. To my amusement in Rivne - Kyiv I listened to it again on Tuesday. This time I made more successful search.
Even the day in the song is not quite beautiful
But it felt truly deeply happy when I found it…
The song is called Beautiful Blues
You may listen part of it here
http://www.last.fm/music/Eels/_/(God+damn+right)+It's+a+Beautiful+Day
Here are the words:
EELS LYRICS
"Mr. E's Beautiful Blues"
The smokestack spitting black soot into the sooty sky
The load on the road brings a tear to the indian's eye
The elephant won't forget what it's like inside his cage
The ringmaster's telecaster sings on an empty stage
Goddamn right it's a beautiful day
Goddamn right it's a beautiful day
The girl with the curls and the sweet pink ribbon in her hair
She's crawling out her window 'cause her daddy
He just don't care
Come on
Goddamn right it's a beautiful day
Goddamn right it's a beautiful day
The clown with the frown driving down to the sidewalk fair
Finger on the trigger let me tell you gave us quite a scare
Goddamn right it's a beautiful day
Goddamn right it's a beautiful day
The kids flip their lids when their ids hear that crazy sound
My neighbor digs the flavor still he's moving to another town
And I don't believe he'll come back
Goddamn right it's a beautiful day
Goddamn right it's a beautiful day
Well i don't know how you take in all the shit you see
No don't believe anyone and most of all
Don't believe me
Believe you
Goddamn right it's a beautiful day
Goddamn right it's a beautiful day
Posted at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 06:17 PM in Everything | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)