Random Rantings

Earth Hour was a movement started in Sydney a year ago to make a statement and send a message nationally and internationally for the need to take action against Global Warming. On the 31st of March 2007, over 2 Million Sydney businesses and households switched off their lights. They found that the reduction in greenhouse gas emission during Earth Hour was equivalent to 48,161 cars off the road in a year.

Spread the word about “Earth Hour”! A simple action taken by us can make a huge difference in combating global warming. On the 29th of March ‘08, from 8 pm – 9 pm make a small contribution towards reducing greenhouse gas emission in Colombo with a simple act. Log on to http://saveplanet.mobi to find what you can do in Colombo and for more information about earth hour log on to www.earthhour.org

Here are a few things we can do to help with the cause.

Individuals

· Register and Spread the word.
· Opt to have One light switch on and use candles
· Refrain from using electrical items for 1 hour
· Refrain from Charging your mobile phone & remove the plugs from the sockets
· Opt to have a candle lit dinner whether at home or at a restaurant. How Romantic
· Stay home that hour – think of the amount of C02 you will reduce.
· Have a candle get together with family and friends.

Organizations

· Turn out the lights in your building between 8pm – 9pm
· Communicate to employees and customers – say you support Earth Hour
· Use it in your communications & spread the word.
· Make a change everyday

Please pass this email around to all your family and friends and let’s make a difference together! Let us as individuals and organisations take a stand and organise our own earth hour. TAKE ACTION Today For Tomorrow! Make it a CSR project in your organisation.

“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

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Sahanaya’s hoping to run a stall at MedEx this year and need volunteers to man the stall from March 26th to 1st April, from 9am - 8pm. It would obviously be on a shift basis.

You might have to drop in one day before the Exhibition so that you can be briefed on what to say to people who’d visit the stall. It would be great if some of you could volunteer atleast for a few shifts. If anyone’s interested pls contact Sheriene at Sahanaya on 2685960 so that she can draw up a roster.

We’re also planning to have a Jumble Sale on the 5th of April as a fund raiser for Sahanaya. If any of you have anything that might be of any second hand value (meaning decent, usable condition) clothes, books, shoes, ornaments, toys, or even any dry rations (unpackaged even is fine) you can get via a contact that we can sell at cost or less than cost, would also be great.

It would be much appreciated if you could go drop off any stuff at Sahanaya on any week day between 9 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. The address is 96/20, Kitulwatta Road, Colombo 8. (The road between the Borella Cemetary and British School). Or if you can collect some stuff at a place convenient to you (pref in Colombo), we could maybe arrange for the stuff to be picked up on a certain day or something like that.

Please feel free to spread the word k? Thanks so much guys!!!

The ‘bitter truths’ of life are things that some hear about, a lucky few are forewarned about and most are left to learn about through experience. I unfortunately have, for the most part of my life fallen into the latter category. I’ve learnt that sometimes the best of friends can make the worst of enemies. I’ve learnt that a trust once broken can never truly be repaired. I’ve learnt that life doesn’t always seem fair, but given time, things usually balance out. I’ve learnt that you can never please everyone and that you shouldn’t waste your whole life trying to. I’ve learnt that once you let laziness in, it will consume you. I’ve learnt that age doesn’t determine your maturity. I’ve learnt that you shouldn’t place your happiness in other people’s hands. I’ve learnt that great expectations, more often than not, lead to great disappointment…

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They just don’t make TV like they used to, do they? Can you imagine a kid growing up in the year 2020 not knowing what Sesame Street is? Or worse yet, find it too “childish” for their viewing? I shudder at the thought! How could anyone grow up not knowing Big Bird, Bert & Ernie, Elmo and Oscar the Grouch? I mean, every parent must know the saying I’m sure? “Take all your vitamins, eats lots of greens, have an afternoon nap and Watch Sesame Street…it’ll make you healthy wealthy and wise!!!” It was shows like Sesame Street that made our childhood so special and well, ‘child-like’ as it were.

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