I love memes. My old and now practically defunct blog was at one point only dedicated to doing memes. I like how they bring people together and especially like the memes consisting of lists of questions, because of the randomness of it, the summarising skills necessary and the somewhat surprising insights they give on people. Sure, you can't say you "know know" someone after reading their meme, but it never fails to show some little detail of them that you previously ignored, or at the very least it will confirm what you thought. Unfortunately, quite a lot of said lists are not exactly appropriate for this blog.
I am hideously busy. Tomorrow I need to wake up at 4 to go to the school trip to Barcelona I've been organising for the past year. Biiiiig massive deal. There is a ton of deep karma that has been moved by this situation, and one massive experience that is sort of coming together. At the moment, however, I don't have the time to put my thoughts into words and write a proper entry for this blog. I still need to pack my bag!!!
Because of that, I think this is the right time to start a new series: Buddhist quotes.
I've been meaning to speak about this topic, which generally deals with the role of women in Nichiren Buddhism, for quite a while. Being a woman myself, it is obviously something close to my own heart, but I do believe that any person with a genuine humanistic spirit, be they a man or a woman, should be interested in the topic of equality. Discrimination is discrimination, whether it's done on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, pizza topping preference, IQ, it is still discrimination, and as such it is not conducive of a happy society based on humanism and fundamental respect. In many ways, discrimination is the polar opposite of respect.
I don't know about you, but me, I have a thing with bad spelling. And bad grammar. It might have something to do with me being a teacher, and a languages one at that. That said, some TEACHERS I know are guilty of some of my biggest pet peeves. The other day, an English teacher in my school corrected me when I said "I wouldn't do it if I were you", saying that "were" is for plural, and the snotty deputy head of English, who at least knew that "if I were you" is correct, had the nerve to give both of us a condescending smile and say that there was no rule for that. No, darling. There is a sodding rule. You are just ignorant. And arrogant. Pretending you know stuff when you don't, and ASSuming that because I'm a foreigner you automatically know better than me. Look up the word "subjunctive" and then we'll talk.
And yet more awesome stuff from SGI-USA. This is a short video that explains very clearly our daily practice of Nichiren Buddhism. Have fun and Happy chanting!
