Life - Being Accountable, Yet Keeping it Lite!

Hi,

It has been a long time ... How are you? Yesterday when I was heading back home, I thought a few things which I felt sharing with you.

Life is a gift or a pain? Have we ever counted how many moments in a day we were happy or sad? Is that happiness or sorrow because of our mistake or the other? There are definite answers to everything in the world. But, it depends on whether you want to accept it or not. If you ask me, for all the 'effects', the 'cause' is you. You started something which gave that 'effect'. But does that always mean you are the one who did that mistake? Not actually!

Certain things have to start. When I say 'Certain Things', it can be any work, a conversation, an acquaintance, a project, your own vision, a desire or anything. Who starts it is not of concern. But once started, how you attribute yourself to the series of events that happens around it, makes you accountable for the happiness/sorrow that you got.

To be simple, A desire to buy a car is bound to happen for anyone. If you buy as per your plan you are happy else, you are sad. But the desire by itself is not the cause for your sadness. How did you approach towards accomplishing your desire, makes you accountable for the happiness/sorrow the desire caused. If you had put all your efforts towards buying the car and your mind is convinced of your efforts, you need not worry about it at all. Start finding the external factors which caused your desire to fail and try approaching/complaining that factor rather than blaming you. More than complaining, we will have to actually think of circumventing that factor the next time, when you aim to approach that desire again.

Keep life simple. Do your best and leave the rest on God. I bet it is simple. 'Life is a gift or a pain' should not be our debate. Keep it aside. What you want to do today to be happy is what that pays in a long run. Think like your whole life is just today, is a usual cliché to be happy in life. But that doesn't mean no planning is required for future :-)... Be cool and do your best.

Spend time with your family and friends, everyday. It’s very hard to get people who love your presence. A small mail or a minute of chat will not digress you out of your vision. A smile exchanged daily is worth millions of talk. See life as a piano [or any musical instrument] and think of how to bring beautiful melodies out of it. Remember, it’s the person who plays the piano brings in it a cacophony or euphony. Learn that art! As they say 'A lazy man always blames his tools', there is no point in blaming the piano [life], for what you played on it.

Blame yourself and make you accountable for the RIGHT mistakes only. Keep life as light as possible. Stop debating on 'life - a gift or pain'. If you still keep doing the debate, you will forget to live it.

Yours lively,
_Mani

Taxation as explained by an economics professor

I got this as a forward from one of my friends. Worth and Interesting, a read!

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Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got TEN times more than I!" "That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen,
Ph.D. Professor of Economics
University of Georgia