Help The Poor...

2007-03-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog… Writing to “bring the awareness of helping the poor”… sounds like a group discussion topic isn’t it??... It might be a good topic to discuss in a four-wall air-conditioned room or this one might be a good blog to read... but in our everyday life this is what we are coming across in our whole country…

Everyday when I am traveling in local train running between Tambaram-chennai... I was happen to see many people who are blind, with no legs, no hands... Begging on the platforms and in the trains… But this is not the only place to see these peoples...

Like that, one day early morning when I was traveling in my local train... I saw a blind old man who is crying and asking for food... He was with his son who was around 5-6 yrs old… The boy was asking for food with those empty hands with a bright smile in face (In that unknown age we might have played computer games with keyboard or with toys with those hands)... Everybody is relaxing in the train without bothering them. Some are reading newspaper, talking and enjoying in the footboards, some are singing prayer songs… as it is usual in my traveling train... Whenever I see such peoples I will really feel of helping them with something... but as that boy is so young… I thought if I help him with some money it would encourage him to do the same thing again... So I didn’t help him at that time…

And after some time the same boy was very happy and his father. The reason for that happiness was only causing some good-hearted passenger offered him a food packet. Never thought an 8-10rs-food packet, which was hardly anything, can make a person so happy. After few minutes the young boy shared that food packet with his father.

I was about to look after the person who has helped them… Because it’s hard to see somebody helping with food… A Christian lady wearing a white dress helped those two peoples with a food packet which she has carried may be for her morning breakfast I think... She might be from a Christian religion… But her helping heart has made her to help for a religion called Humanity. If we human beings are not helping our own human religion then what is the use of telling this is my religion with our differentiating senses???...

In the same train other peoples are singing prayer songs for god without knowing where the god is... I wish if we get many such helping peoples like her… Then our India will definitely be out of the poverty line…

When will people understand???

When they will have love with other human beings… We are listening to the award winning songs like "Where is the love? - Black eyed peas "… but do we listen to the people who are really in need of love??...

Whomever person you are, from whichever religion, city, state, and country… I request you from the bottom of my heart… Please treat them like human beings never ignore them. They are just like us but a bit unfortunate.

You might be relaxing while reading in sitting air conditioned room and might close this blog and forget everything and continue your life. Even tomorrow you might come across a poor person... u might again ignore the person in need. Will you be happy?? Why cant we make sure that we are there for them???… Why can’t we give them the confidence in living???...

I am not just asking u like tat...I am requesting you all who are reading this… PLESE HELP THE POOR at least in a small way... Tomorrow again u will be reminded about the poverty of the country in some other way, Tomorrow again you will come across few people who need help, Tomorrow again few may ask you for help with lots of hope in eyes. Will u help those poor peoples…??? Keep these in mind… “We all are born with empty hands!!!” Lets show our richness thru our heart in the form of helping others…...

The Printing Press History

2007-03-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

Johannes Gutenburg invented movable type for the printing press, and changed renaissance books.

Originally from China, the printing press revolutionized life in Western Europe during the Renaissance. A German goldsmith by the name of Johannes Gutenberg (1399-1468) was the first European to adapt the Chinese model for western languages, with the use of movable type. Gutenberg produced the first printed book, a standard version of the bible used in the Christian Church. It became known as the Gutenberg Bible.

Early Books

Early books in Europe were very labor intensive. Each page was cut from a single piece of wood. This made the books short and prohibitively expensive. Until the 1450s the only way a person could obtain a copy of written work was by copying it himself (highly unlikely, given the illiteracy rates of the time) or to commission a costly manuscript. Beautifully decorated manuscripts were expensive and difficult to read, because of their spiky, gothic lettering.

Movable Type

Gutenberg discovered a method of making individual letters on punches, known as movable type. This technique made it much easier and faster to print books. Gutenberg continued to use gothic script in his printing press, mimicking handwritten illuminated scripts. Early books were written in Latin, the universal language of the church and of academia. However, as more publishing houses sprang up throughout Western Europe, that began to change.

Renaissance Publishing

Publishing houses were soon located in not only Germany, but also Rome, Paris, Cologne, Lyon, Augsburg, and Venice. Roman printers began using script based on the cursive letters of humanist’s handwriting. This Roman script would become the standard penmanship by the end of the sixteenth century.

Printing houses throughout Europe quickly realized the benefits of printing books in the vernacular, or everyday language of an area. This opened up reading to many more people than the use of Latin. The rapid spread of printed books written in the vernacular led to a dramatic increase in literacy rates around Western Europe.

Reading for Pleasure

During the Middle Ages reading was done as a social activity, with one person reading to a group or audience. People would gather in salons, at court, or in coffeehouses (think a Medieval version of Starbucks) to hear a reading. With the availability of cheap books and pamphlets, more and more people were reading in the privacy of their own homes. A shift in subject matter also encouraged reading for pleasure. Early books were written mainly about religious or academic subjects. By the 1500s, a person could visit a book fair and peruse books written about a variety of topics, including Medieval romance, medicinal treaties, prayer books, political ideology by Machiavelli, and exciting recounts of explorers and adventurers.

Cha..Cha..Changes

All this reading helped spread new information and ideas across Europe, from the British Isles to the Ottoman Empire and beyond. In keeping with the Humanistic ideals of the day, people constantly engaged in thought provoking conversations and debates. They began to question old institutions and beliefs. One monk, living in the small German town of Wittenberg, would forever change not only the history of Western Europe, but the entire Christian religion. When the monk, Martin Luther, posted his 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenberg in 1517, he started a movement of protesters, who wanted to celebrate Christianity as they saw fit. They believed the Christian Church to be corrupt and too preoccupied with secular (worldly) matters. Copies of Martin Luther’s 95 theses (undoubtedly printed on a printing press) were passed all around Western Europe, and the Protestant Reformation was begun.