"Do not speak unless you can improve the silence." I've often wondered what Twitter feed, the blogosphere and Facebook would look like were there to be a filter that removed any content that did not improve the silence. Take Twitter, for example. Users post roughly 1,200 Tweets per second. Facebook has 500,000,000 active users - …
Tag: twitter
Secret O’Life
While driving to vote this morning I heard a James Taylor song that I have only heard once before. Entitled "Secret O'Life", Taylor suggests that the secret of life is "enjoying the passage of time." A simple idea, to be sure, but one that eludes many people in their frenetic quest for happiness and satisfaction. …
Stop Cyberbullying!
A memo from the new Headmaster of my son's school yesterday caught my eye and attention. He spoke of the "good and bad" of the internet, particularly as it related to children and borrowed a quote from columnist Michael Daly of the New York Daily News to emphasize his point: There have always been cruel …
A Mind Free of Unnecessary Things
Wumen Huikai was a 12th century Chan master who wrote many beautiful lines of verse. One of my favorites, called 10,000, delivers a poignant message: Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season …
Fuddy-duddy Daddy
You may accuse me of becoming a fuddy-duddy and I'm sure I deserve the title in more ways than one, but it seems to me that Western culture, known for its materialistic roots, is becoming increasingly dependent on the drug of instant gratification. When I was young, email, online shopping, Twitter, Facebook and so many …
The Role of Empathy in the 21st Century
Whether or not you are religiously inclined, the statement purportedly spoken 2,000 years ago by a man whose worldview spawned a number of organized religions including Christianity - "Judge not that ye be not judged" - is worthy of deep consideration. Judgment, the arch-rival of empathy, is an insidious and pernicious human invention. The millennium-and-a-half …
Gregory Hake 