Earth Song

...TiVo Sux

And now for something completely off topic...

I bought a TiVo PVR recently, hooked it up to my various and sundry entertainment equipment, and everything was just grand. Except I started finding myself watching more TV than ever before... But that is not their fault... Their lack of even a shred of real customer service, however, earns them a place in hell. They want customers to pay money every month for their service, but are not willing to provide any real customer service in return.

... everybody has their own contributions to make?

At any rate, it seems to me that we're all wired differently. Meetings that appeal to me, like tosos and Gosho study, would bore the pants off of some people. In my mind, let them have their colourful dances, I'll take dissecting the Gosho for 500 please Alex.

...Buddhism is about opening our eyes?

Other religions have shown a remarkable inability to impart personal and moral responsibility on people. The only hope (as I see it) for human beings is for them to realize that harming another harms themseleves. And the only way for people to make this realization is to begin appreciating the law of cause and effect. The only effective way I know of to show that this law holds true is to try out this Buddhism.

The reality is, people are so disillusioned, they seek spirituality wherever they can find it. They are inherently trained in our society to distrust any other human being, so they drift aimlessly through seminal works in every religion. In doing so, they seek out small gems to quench their thirst for fulfillment. I say gems because they are rare, small, because in their restricted exposure and narrowed focus, they miss the wider view, the big picture.

...trust is is a lost art?

Americans don't trust anything anymore it seems. At least, _I_ don't trust the majority of the strangers I meet. I've just read too many e-mails offering to pay me a handsome cut of a big pile of cash if I'll just help this poor western African gentlemen get some money out of his country (see 419 scams). Our TV commercials constantly imply that cleaning products will scrub our floors for us, that obesity can be solved with a pill, and that we really need to take some random drug, (just ask your doctor). Not to mention that I've had some bad experiences with contractors, salesmen, etc... The list goes on and on. So my society has trained me to ignore commercials, politely refuse to talk to door-to-door salesmen, and clearly speak the words "add me to your do-not-call list" instead of hello when answering the phone.